Analysis of Song 23 – Lives in Transit
Jonathan Walker 1977 (South Africa)
Lives in transit passing everywhere
Never really anywhere
Children of the extra-terrestrial
Here on a love visa
We press forward as pilgrims
Citizens of a kingdom we've never seen
Aliens to all lands we follow the God-man
Lord of the other worldly
We hold no allegiances or entitlements
Claim no possessions or value
Subscribe neither to labels nor factions
Only the name by which we are united
We welcome the refugees of Babylon
Together we sing, dance and dine
While those left behind watch in hate
Hurling curses in vain against our guide
This piercing wind is just winters futile resistance
A desperate grasp at days that already belong to the sunlight
Beyond the trail we stop by quiet waters and find rest in green pastures
Rest but not the end, just a brace for a new birth.
| Scheme | AAXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX |
|---|---|
| Poetic Form | Tetractys (20%) |
| Metre | 10101010 101010 1010100100 110110 1110110 10010101101 100111110011 1101010 11110010100 11010110 0110110110 10011111010 110010110 01011101 11101101 10100101101 1101111010010 010111101001101 010111110100110110 111011011011 |
| Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
| Characters | 762 |
| Words | 138 |
| Sentences | 1 |
| Stanzas | 5 |
| Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
| Lines Amount | 20 |
| Letters per line (avg) | 32 |
| Words per line (avg) | 7 |
| Letters per stanza (avg) | 128 |
| Words per stanza (avg) | 28 |
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Submitted on June 19, 2016
Modified on March 05, 2023
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"Song 23 – Lives in Transit" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 3 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/84667/song-23-%E2%80%93-lives-in-transit>.
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