Modern Love XIII: I Play for Seasons, Not Eternities
George Meredith 1828 (Portsmouth, Hampshire) – 1909 (Box Hill, Surrey)
'I play for Seasons; not Eternities!'
Says Nature, laughing on her way. 'So must
All those whose stake is nothing more than dust!'
And lo, she wins, and of her harmonies
She is full sure! Upon her dying rose,
She drops a look of fondness, and goes by,
Scarce any retrospection in her eye;
For she the laws of growth most deeply knows,
Whose hands bear, here, a seed-bag--there, an urn.
Pledges she herself to aught, 'twould mark her end!
This lesson of our only visible friend,
Can we not teach our foolish hearts to learn ?
Yes! yes !--but, oh, our human rose is fair
Surpassingly! Lose calmly Love's great bliss,
When the renewed for ever of a kiss
Whirls life within the shower of loosened hair!
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 39 sec read
- 84 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABBAACCADEEDFAAF |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 706 |
Words | 131 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 16 |
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"Modern Love XIII: I Play for Seasons, Not Eternities" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 20 Sep. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/15516/modern-love-xiii:-i-play-for-seasons,-not-eternities>.
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