An Old Cabin Ruined
An old cabin ruined, chinkless,
logs rotting collapsed, yet
two walls remain wind howling
through, offering little comfort
like bones weather-worn picked clean
and stacked, dreams vivid yet awake forgotten
Are bones left to tell a tale of failure?
Nothing is failure, only experience
Chart a course, live, let your bones
a stranger tell a tale
what hearty soul sought shelter here
that I might live a fool
that I might leave my old cabin ruined
like so many spent bones
and cause another to wonder.
About this poem
In the Olympic Mountains there are a number of well preserved pioneer cabins. A number of these cabins are found on the very popular and, well frankly, overrun Elwha trail. While these cabins are great specimens and important examples of our pioneer heritage, I am more intrigued by the number of barely recognizable ruined structures that one can stumble on while taking some of the lesser known non-maintained trails and off trail routes throughout the Olympics. Many of us have our favorite spots not found by following any marked trails or guide books. These are places we could show you, but we won't. This poem was inspired by just such a little ruin I stumbled upon when traveling from Mt. Townsend cross country then out the East Fork Quinault. Sorry, I can’t be more specific. more »
Submitted by GCTHOMAS on January 21, 2024
- 28 sec read
- 7 Views
Quick analysis:
| Scheme | AX XX XX BA AX XX XA B |
|---|---|
| Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
| Characters | 505 |
| Words | 95 |
| Stanzas | 8 |
| Stanza Lengths | 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 1 |
3 fans
Translation
Find a translation for this poem in other languages:
Select another language:
- - Select -
- 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
- 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
- Español (Spanish)
- Esperanto (Esperanto)
- 日本語 (Japanese)
- Português (Portuguese)
- Deutsch (German)
- العربية (Arabic)
- Français (French)
- Русский (Russian)
- ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
- 한국어 (Korean)
- עברית (Hebrew)
- Gaeilge (Irish)
- Українська (Ukrainian)
- اردو (Urdu)
- Magyar (Hungarian)
- मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
- Indonesia (Indonesian)
- Italiano (Italian)
- தமிழ் (Tamil)
- Türkçe (Turkish)
- తెలుగు (Telugu)
- ภาษาไทย (Thai)
- Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
- Čeština (Czech)
- Polski (Polish)
- Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
- Românește (Romanian)
- Nederlands (Dutch)
- Ελληνικά (Greek)
- Latinum (Latin)
- Svenska (Swedish)
- Dansk (Danish)
- Suomi (Finnish)
- فارسی (Persian)
- ייִדיש (Yiddish)
- հայերեն (Armenian)
- Norsk (Norwegian)
- English (English)
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"An Old Cabin Ruined" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/179057/an-old-cabin-ruined>.
Discuss the poem An Old Cabin Ruined with the community...
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In