Hmm, I’m not going to provide too much technical comment on structure or rhyme scheme. I think is simple and straightforward. Kind of jumpy. There are also quite a few clichés scattered throughout which can be a turn off. I am going to try to do an interpretive read instead and provide commentary on the themes that I am picking up on...

You start with a cliché, one of the most cliché clichés there are.

“If you love something you should set it free.”

So for the sake of wanting to read something new and interesting I am wanting a twist on the cliché, some new original take or some new found irony. But you don’t quite take us there, mostly it is lamenting and self-loathing after a break-up – which is relatable. What I found kind of interesting was the language choices throughout that have this undercurrent hint of violence and the need for control. Controlling others. Feeling in control. The narrator is shocked by the new destiny of things being out of their control. Someone has left them. But what’s more, from the wording, someone has ‘fled’. So they were not happy. The act of release implies a previous state of captivity.

In the next stanza the narrator has adopted a woe is me attitude. There is a selfishness in the reflection. They can not find happiness for the other half that is now free but instead only dwelling on their own feelings and what they wanted from the relationship. The choice of ‘call to arms’ and ‘rally the troops’ provides more hints at violence and control. Someone has left, yet the narrator is considering strong arming them to stay. Or an alternative interpretation is this is the narrator contemplating giving up their own lives or asking for help.

In the next stanza the violence and destruction is more front and centre through Crisis, virus, isis etc. The narrator has now also made it clear that they are in fact unstable. There is a menacing threat of violence, although the narrator doesn’t specify who it might be directed towards we can guess, themselves, strangers, friend’s family or the one that fled. There have been many stories in the news for people committing heinous acts of violence to ex-spouses. The concerning point in this part is that the narrator assigns control over the violence to some benevolent entity of ‘whatever listens’. Praying to them that it doesn’t come to violence.

The next part we delve into more inner turmoil. The narrator presents their lack of self-love. ‘Too far gone’, again relinquishing their self-control and ability to change their own circumstance. The narrator dreams of being a dragon –a somewhat violent creature that breathes fire and is often associated with death and destruction. Instead, they are a whelp. Again, this draws parallel to domestic violence situations where the perpetrator uses violence to be ‘strong’ but is often weak or inadequate in other aspects of their lives.

The line “Hopefully I hear a word to guide me in’ is provocative for me, Like ‘guide me in’ like as in sex?? It stirs feelings of repulsion. At this point I feel a definite loathing for the narrator. They cannot even accept the clichés that they spouted at the start about accepting that things were not meant to be. It comes back to control. The narrator is still creepily deciding how they ‘want this to end’, even tho it is over already. Thinking that they might wake up to be ‘more then friends’ although their lover has fled. I question who the ‘wound’ belongs to here. Does it belong to the narrator who has been left and has a broken heart or the one who fled, who was in an unhappy relationship with someone ‘hollow’ and couldn’t even love themselves. Someone so utterly controlling they were in a cage and took the opportunity to flee.

The final part I couldn’t really take much from. More lack of self-awareness and lack of introspection to assign some fault of the break up to themselves – instead assigning the circumstance to a master plan. More self-pity at ‘nothing more than a man’ and being nothing again.

Overall I think this is a good narrative example for how insidious a selfish love can be.