Cares
Victor James Daley 1858 – 1905
HAVING certain cares to drown,
To the sea I took them down:
And I threw them in the wave,
That engulfed them like a grave.
Swiftly then I plied the oar
With a light heart to the shore.
But behind me came my foes:
Like a nine-days’ corpse each rose,
And (a ghastly sight to see!)
Clutched the boat and grinned at me!
With a heavy heart, alack,
To the land I bore them back.
Not in Water or in Wine
Can I drown these cares of mine.
But some day, for good and sure,
I shall bury them secure,
Where the soil is rich and brown,
With a stone to keep them down,
And to let their end be known,
Have my name carved on the stone;
So that passers-by may say,
“Here lie cares that had their day,”
And sometimes by moonlight wan,
I may sit that stone upon—
With a spectre’s solemn phlegm—
In my shroud, and laugh at them;
Or—who knows, when all is said?—
Maybe weep because they’re dead.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 53 sec read
- 48 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | AABB CC DD EE FF GG HH AA II JJ KK LL MM |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 886 |
Words | 179 |
Stanzas | 13 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2 |
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"Cares" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 2 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/37491/cares>.
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