I'm going to get into all kind of trouble for this, but since no one else offered anything . . . I will. And yes, I have experience with poetry too. It's required if you want your prose to sing. So, yes, I studied poetry extensively.
Don't let that get around.
Overall, I really liked it. It reminded me of Angelou's
Still I Rise poem, but about the rise and regrets from adulthood and then death. That's a compliment in case you're wondering.
There are a few words that I feel can be added and removed to ease the flow that I'll mark now:
I long to wake to
the sound of bird song.
Long to see the crimson and
(the) (Comment: added this to emphasize parallelism) gold of sunrise splashed across
a blank canvas (Consider continued parallelism and alliteration: the sky).
Tramp the
blue mountains (Consider alliteration: hills of home) of home, breathe deep
ly the intoxicating smell of pine and carpets of heather.
I long for my youth and the bygone years
(Comment: loved the alliteration and assonance here) when my hormones raged, when teenage girls cast coy
(Comment: love the alliteration here too) looks in my direction and whispered
girlie secrets.
Oh that my children were children once more
that I could sit my grand-children
(grandchildren) one on
either (Consider continued parallelism: my) knee, and tell and them the stories that
once made my eyes wide with wonder.
I long to rise
up from this casket of oak and walk once more among
(Comment: Again, wonderful alliteration) the living.
I long for life.
(Consider:
I long
For life.)
(Please now note the double meaning emphasized when the lines are separated.)Overall, I really like it. Well done. Sad, but I like tragic endings.
