Jeff Buckley

A river flows and so it goes

down the way, a cold wind blows.

Something floats atop the river

as a man looks, he feels a deep shiver.

A song sings from beneath the waves

the cold water becomes a deathly grave.

No song breaks the rising tide

no person to be at the floater's side.

With final breaths in air “whole lotta love” is heard

as the man in the river's spirit rose like a bird.

Yet melody echoes haunt the deep

as the man's songs will never sleep.

His music lingers through the waves of time

forever stuck within his prime.

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The inspiration for this poem is the death of singer and music maker Jeff Buckley who drowned in the Mississippi River I chose this because he was a truly incredible artist and I think the circumstances of his death are interesting with the final song he sang being whole lotta love by Led zeppelin I thought it could be put into poetics but the message I was trying to convey with this poem is that even though someone can lose their life their work will be remembered and continue on to be remembered throughout time and by people. Some lines I’m proud of are the final 4 lines as they really help convey my message the most and it gives the poem a nice conclusion as well as having a good rhyme scheme. Some of the poetic devices in my poem is an AABB rhyme scheme which makes up the very format of my poem another is the alliteration when I Say “song sings” or “lotta love” I also try to use symbolism with the cold representing death and the bird of course being his spirit yet another poetic device that is featured heavily is use of the four elements specifically water I see water as a great renewer so I used that to represent death and movement of time as well as a sadness which adds more depth and interest to the poem enhancing my writing