Song: One Hard Look

Robert Graves 1895 (Wimbledon) – 1985 (Deià)



Small gnats that fly
In hot July
And lodge in sleeping ears,
Can rouse therein
A trumpet's din
With Day-of-Judgement fears.

Small mice at night
Can wake more fright
Than lions at midday.
An urchin small
Torments us all
Who tread his prickly way.

A straw will crack
The camel's back,
To die we need but sip,
So little sand
As fills the hand
Can stop a steaming ship.

One smile relieves
A heart that grieves
Though deadly sad it be,
And one hard look
Can close the book
That lovers love to see--

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 10, 2023

29 sec read
95

Quick analysis:

Scheme AABCCB DDEFFE GGHIIH JJKLLK
Closest metre Iambic dimeter
Characters 478
Words 96
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 6, 6, 6, 6

Robert Graves

Robert von Ranke Graves was an English poet, scholar/translator/writer of antiquity specializing in Classical Greece and Rome, novelist and soldier in World War One. more…

All Robert Graves poems | Robert Graves Books

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