Uncertainty
No one knows uncertainty like the single mother
Standing outside in her nightdress
At four in the morning with the dew-sodden
Lawn sticking to her bare feet.
Her daughter clutches the stuffed rabbit
She refused to leave behind and
Clings to her mother’s leg,
Hiding her face in fists of cotton fabric.
An infant boy squirms in the woman’s arms
And squalls against her shoulder.
His body is slick, and his face is
Redder than the flames reflected
In her glassy eyes as she stands slack-faced
Watching her present turn to smoke
To be swept away by who knows what wind.
About this poem
A musing on how swiftly catastrophe can happen and unmoor a life.
Font size:
Written on June 02, 2014
Submitted by jeremyt.40101 on June 16, 2023
- 31 sec read
- 8 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABCDEFGHBABIJKL |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 570 |
Words | 105 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 15 |
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
"Uncertainty" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/162076/uncertainty>.
Discuss the poem Uncertainty 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