The Beast — Summary

The forest was a peaceful place Always bustling with life Never stopping, forever moving A world that at no time did stop.

Many creatures had come and gone From fearsome giants, to tiny souls As time marched on, so had they Leaving new beginnings behind.

So it was, in that quiet wood That one day the ground did rumble And the critters scattered about in terror For they knew not what was happening.

What now came this way, The animals wondered. What new creations were coming That could cause such a ruckus?

It was then that they heard it. The terrible sound of thunder; As if the heavens themselves had Come crashing down upon them.

Shadowy clouds billowed above the trees As the massive silver beast came forth, Letting lose a shrill scream As it barreled through the woodland growth at breakneck speeds

The animals could not stop the terrible thing Even as it laid waste to their homes Even as the very air around them became thick With the monster's fiery breath

The plants began to wither and die As the water boiled under the metal monster's presence And the animals, afraid for their lives Fled with what little they still had.

Fear permeated through the air As the poor animals knew There would be no escape For any of them.

And just as quickly as it came, it was gone. So too was the forest, now barren and ruined Where what was once green and living now was rotten and brown With no one to remember, and no one to forget.

Show the whole poemHide the poem

Learn Poems app

Try the Learn Poems app

Everything from the website trainer, and more: new exercises, voice recording and sharing, reminders, quick review.

The forest begins as a lively, ever-moving place where creatures have come and gone for ages. Then the ground rumbles, thunder roars, and a huge silver "beast" tears through the trees, screaming and breathing fire. The poem never names it, but the imagery of metal, smoke, speed and a shrill scream suggests a train, or some similar machine, crashing into the natural world.

The speaker watches from the animals' side, and the feeling is mostly helpless fear. The creatures don't understand what is happening, can't stop it, and know there is no escape. The plants wither, the water boils, and the animals flee with almost nothing.

The mood shifts from calm to dread to emptiness. The ending is the bleakest part: the beast vanishes as fast as it came, leaving a barren, rotten wood. The last line, "no one to remember, and no one to forget," suggests a loss so complete that even grief has nobody left to carry it.

Read also

More by BomberJacknut

All poems
AnxiousBomberJacknut

I'm very hypocritical

Tonight, I spoke with the devil How strange, he looked like me A beckoning hand, an awful grin Is this what I'm meant to be?
ContemplativeBomberJacknut

Before Our Eyes

World's gone beautiful; Yes, the world's gone beautiful. The flowers bloom And the sun shines brightly,