Reflections From The Flash Of A Meteor
George Moses Horton 1779 (North Carolina) – 1883
So teach me to regard my day,
How small a point my life appears;
One gleam to death the whole betrays,
A momentary flash of years.
One moment smiles, the scene is past,
Life's gaudy bloom at once we shed,
And thinly beneath affliction's blast,
Or drop as soon among the dead.
Short is the chain wound up at morn,
Which oft runs down and stops at noon;
Thus in a moment man is born,
And, lo! the creature dies as soon.
Life's little torch how soon forgot,
Dim burning on its dreary shore;
Just like that star which downwards shot,
It glimmers and is seen no more.
Teach me to draw this transient breath,
With conscious awe my end to prove,
Early to make my peace with death,
As thus in haste from time we move.
heaven, through this murky vale,
Direct me with a burning pen;
Thus shall I on a tuneful gale
Fleet out my threescore years and ten.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 50 sec read
- 128 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | XAXA BCBC DEDE FGFG HIHI JKJK |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 849 |
Words | 164 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
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"Reflections From The Flash Of A Meteor" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 26 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/15746/reflections-from-the-flash-of-a-meteor>.
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