A Lifetime - a pantoum about life and death

A Lifetime

All our years passed us by,
Memories of our life together,
Laughter, tears, marriage, family,
Your hand holding mine.
Memories of our life together,
Joyful and sad.
Your hand holding mine,
You promised me forever.
Joyful and sad,
Every day was ours.
You promised me forever,
I knew you'd keep your word.
Every day was ours,
The good and the bad,
I knew you'd keep your word,
You never broke a promise.
The good and the bad,
Laughter, tears, marriage, family,
You never broke a promise,
All our years passed us by.

Writer's Analysis:

My chosen structure for A Lifetime was a pantoum, and it was inspired by a dream I recently had.

The opening line in the first stanza, All our years passed us by, indicates that this poem is about someone who has spent their lifetime with the person they loved, and they are now at the end. The three lines that follow are drifting memories; line three uses a asyndeton to convey more details of the narrator's life succinctly.

The second stanza continues with the memories theme, and concludes with the line: You promised me forever. Here we wonder, was the promise kept, or broken?

Stanza three shows that every day, the joyful and the sad, was theirs. It also shows the narrator knew in their heart that the promise of forever would be kept.

Stanza four not only repeats the memories of days gone past, but also reminds us that the narrator knew the promise would be kept.

Stanza five closes with the asyndeton from the first stanza, reflecting an almost recollection of a life shared together, as well as the unbroken promise of forever. The final line is a poignant reminder that all their years had passed them by, and they were at the very end.

Ultimately, A Lifetime is about a life shared and the unbroken promise of forever.

The overall theme of this poem is about death and a reflection of life when so very near to the end. But whose end is it? The narrator, or their loved ones? In that regard, I have left it open for interpretation.