Farewell Ode To The Olympics

Well my Olympic stay is over and what a time it was

Now have to get back down to earth and bid bye to all the buzz

Volunteer pledge completed over 80 hours done

But doesn’t mean there wasn’t time for me to have some fun

Walked every street within my reach took in all the sights

No matter where I looked saw lineups in the lights

I zipped across tall buildings cheered alone and in a crowd

Daily belted out our anthem sang it loud and sang it proud

Canadian flags waved freely everywhere the eyes did go

Young, old, newcomers all wanting their pride to show

Though all countries were represented seemed only one had fans

Our sea of red and white engulfed the streets and unified the clans

The athletes you were awesome thanks to you we were all here

You persevered with courage passion overtook your fear

Your efforts were inspiring your disappointment shared

No matter how you did or placed you have to know we cared

We followed every move you made in contest or plainclothes

Although we hoped for gold for all, eh that’s the way it goes

Vancouver you were a gracious host you welcomed all of us

You really were hospitable with fanfare and the fuss

I enjoyed my stay with you and all others I have met

It will be a long time in my life before I do forget

Although body wide exhausted hungover with a grin

I have lots of treasured thoughts to remind me where I’ve been

So thank you for the memories all packed to haul back home

Now it’s a return to my reality and time to end this poem

On that note I bid goodbye to a world class celebration

I’m so thankful for all it did to unify our nation

Three weeks of energy invested well but there will be a withdrawal

But I’m comforted by the truth that it will be shared by all

by Carole Bertuzzi Luciani

This poem is an example of an ode. An ode is a lyric poem usually marked by exaltation of feeling and style, varying length of line. Usually it praises someone or something. In this case, this poem is an ode to the 2010 Winter Olympics. I liked this poem because it was written by someone who was actually here during the olympics and really got to experience it first had. I think the author of this poem managed to capture the essence of a spectator of the olympics perfectly, and it really reminded me of my time as a spectator during the olympics. This poem is written in quite a simplistic manner, but again, in regards to my theme I think these are the kinds of poems that suit it best, as 'the olympics' is a light subject to touch on, so if the poems were too loaded with figurative language and too many poetic devices, they would take away the essence of the subject. As well the simplicity of this poem makes it very light and there is some humour added here and there too. However, there are some literary devices used in this ode such as rhyme (every two lines rhyme - the whole poem is almost made based on rhyming couplets), assonance (although we hoped for gold for all), metaphors (sea of red and white), and alliteration ('flags waved freely', 'treasured thoughts').