Analysis of Ramblings of an Old Man



It’s sad that wisdom comes along when we are so damn old.
The lessons that you’ll learn in life are worth much more than gold.
I prefer to treat my age as simply time that I have earned.
Some facts of life you'll come upon are painful when they’re learned.  

The lessons I'm about to share were gathered through the years.
Some of them came naturally and some were bought with tears.
I’m confident my age has given me the right to muse.
Who knows? I may have some advice that some of you could use.

Don’t search for fame and fortune if you’ve overlooked your health.
The first person you must respect will have to be yourself.  
Promises won’t mean a thing if once one had been broken.  
Love is proven many ways and not just simply spoken.  

If you’re as pretty as a flower, just prepare yourself to wilt.
Don’t ever point a finger cause you’re seldom without guilt.
You can’t appreciate your wealth until you know what it has cost.
Several things are never missed until you know that they are lost.

Just when things are going well, they all can fall apart.
You’ll never know what pain is ‘til you’ve had a broken heart.
So many sights in nature simply take away your breath.
You won’t know how sweet life is ‘til you’re face to face with death.

Life’s simplest of pleasures will be sleeping like a log.
You can’t know true devotion if you’ve never owned a dog.
The most hurtful thing you do can simply come from what you say.
Kindness won’t do you any good until you’ve given it away.


Scheme AABB XXXX XXCC DDXX EEFF GGHH
Poetic Form Quatrain  (50%)
Metre 11110101111111 01011101111111 101111111011111 11111101110111 01010111010101 11111000010111 11001111010111 11111101111111 1111010111011 01101101111101 10011011111110 11101010111010 1111010101010111 11010101110011 110101101111111 101110101111111 1111101111101 11011111110101 11010101010111 11111111111111 1101101110101 11110101110101 011011111011111 1011110101110101
Closest metre Iambic octameter
Characters 1,554
Words 305
Sentences 26
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 48
Words per line (avg) 12
Letters per stanza (avg) 192
Words per stanza (avg) 46

About this poem

Sometimes, I'll look back on events and think to myself. "Boy, I wish I had known that sooner". As they say, "Too Little Too Late", I guess that qualifies as 20-20 hindsight. Whatever it means, I have taken some time to jot down a few of such things.

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Written on November 09, 2023

Submitted by npirandy on January 10, 2024

1:32 min read
259

Randy West

I'm 76 years old and a combat veteran from Vietnam. I used to compose poetry while on ambush patrol as a way of staying awake on watch, since falling asleep could be hazardous to my health. I started early in life though, because, as a child, I would write little tidbits to my mom for the heck of it. more…

All Randy West poems | Randy West Books

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