literature

River Home

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LMW-The-Poet's avatar
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Literature Text

I want to run away -
Down to the lake,
And by the rocks -
Lie against the pier,
And watch the water -

Pretend I'm home,
By the old river where
I spent more time
Than in that house,

Home where once
I had wished that
My ashes would be
When I ended my life,
Because heaven was less
Of an image of home
Compared to the river
Where I spent my time

The river where I used
To run away to,
Rather than going back
To the house
Where I could do nothing
But wish
That it would all just end
My version of home is by the rivwr where I grew up.
Where the slaps of water on the banks told me it'd okay.
© 2014 - 2024 LMW-The-Poet
Comments10
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zuko4444's avatar
:star::star::star::star-half::star-empty: Overall
:star::star::star::star::star-empty: Vision
:star::star::star-empty::star-empty::star-empty: Originality
:star::star::star::star::star-half: Technique
:star::star::star::star::star: Impact

I think anyone can relate to this because many people have their favorite spot(s) to be in silence and feel at peace. This is even more relatable for me because I like being by any body of water, be it a river, creek, lake, or ocean; just being near flowing water brings me peace.

I sense a lot of nostalgia in this piece due to the use of past tense and that desire to go back to the river. For the speaker, the river seems like it would be the key to her freedom from whatever her situation is at the house. This could almost be taken symbolically. Since the speaker and the reader don't know where the river goes, it could mean that the speaker wants to be anywhere but the house and not caring where she ends up.

Even though we get very little detail about the house, it sounds like it's a prison to the speaker; it's all stated in the last five lines of the poem. There are also the lines "I had wish that / My ashes would be / When I ended my life" that adds to this misery.

Overall, you did a nice job with this poem. I think you could have added a bit more imagery while at the river to help us get a sense of why you feel it's your place of peace. However, the minuscule references to the old house works great, it keeps it an ominous mystery.