A Ballad Of Past Meridian
George Meredith 1828 (Portsmouth, Hampshire) – 1909 (Box Hill, Surrey)
I
Last night returning from my twilight walk
I met the grey mist Death, whose eyeless brow
Was bent on me, and from his hand of chalk
He reached me flowers as from a withered bough:
O Death, what bitter nosegays givest thou!
II
Death said, I gather, and pursued his way.
Another stood by me, a shape in stone,
Sword-hacked and iron-stained, with breasts of clay,
And metal veins that sometimes fiery shone:
O Life, how naked and how hard when known!
III
Life said, As thou hast carved me, such am I.
Then memory, like the nightjar on the pine,
And sightless hope, a woodlark in night sky,
Joined notes of Death and Life till night's decline
Of Death, of Life, those inwound notes are mine.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 39 sec read
- 86 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | XAXAA BCBCC DEDEE |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 680 |
Words | 130 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 5, 5 |
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"A Ballad Of Past Meridian" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/15413/a-ballad-of-past-meridian>.
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