Eternities
Gilbert Keith Chesterton 1874 (Kensington, London) – 1936 (Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire)
I cannot count the pebbles in the brook.
Well hath He spoken: "Swear not by thy head.
Thou knowest not the hairs," though He, we read,
Writes that wild number in His own strange book.
I cannot count the sands or search the seas,
Death cometh, and I leave so much untrod.
Grant my immortal aureole, O my God,
And I will name the leaves upon the trees,
In heaven I shall stand on gold and glass,
Still brooding earth's arithmetic to spell;
Or see the fading of the fires of hell
Ere I have thanked my God for all the grass.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 14, 2023
- 31 sec read
- 32 Views
Quick analysis:
| Scheme | ABBA CBXC DEED |
|---|---|
| Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
| Characters | 536 |
| Words | 105 |
| Stanzas | 3 |
| Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4 |
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"Eternities" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/15973/eternities>.
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