Danger
Helen Hunt Jackson 1830 (Amherst, Massachusetts) – 1885 (San Francisco)
With what a childish and short-sighted sense
Fear seeks for safety; recons up the days
Of danger and escape, the hours and ways
Of death; it breathless flies the pestilence;
It walls itself in towers of defence;
By land, by sea, against the storm it lays
Down barriers; then, comforted, it says:
"This spot, this hour is safe." Oh, vain pretence!
Man born of man knows nothing when he goes;
The winds blow where they list, and will disclose
To no man which brings safety, which brings risk.
The mighty are brought low by many a thing
Too small to name. Beneath the daisy's disk
Lies hid the pebble for the fatal sling.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 14, 2023
- 34 sec read
- 166 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABBCABDAEEFGFG |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 626 |
Words | 116 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 14 |
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"Danger" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/17058/danger>.
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