Cooked Too Long
He works under the high peaked sun,
his skin tan now,
his hands rough
from everyday excursion,
so unlike me,
watching, waiting from the window.
Long after the sun has left the sky,
after night has fallen,
he comes in,
smelling the long simmering supper,
thanking me with his eyes
rather than words.
We were both still too young
to inherit the responsibilities
we received of tragedy,
we weren’t expecting
Fate to draw blood so soon,
using his own scythe.
It was only the two of us,
left in loneliness,
shivering in silence,
struggling to keep our heads
above the deadly well of debt.
As my brother looked up,
finished with my contribution,
words could not explain
the comfort coming from him,
the care he shared,
letting me know we’d be all right.
Font size:
Submitted on May 01, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 39 sec read
- 1 View
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABCADEFAGHIJKLDMNOPPQRSTAUVWX |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 723 |
Words | 133 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 29 |
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
"Cooked Too Long" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/68542/cooked-too-long>.
Discuss the poem Cooked Too Long 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