To write one song, I said
Philip Larkin 1922 (Coventry) – 1985 (Hull)
To write one song, I said,
As sad as the sad wind
That walks around my bed,
Having one simple fall
As a candle-flame swells, and is thinned,
As a curtain stirs by the wall
— For this I must visit the dead.
Headstone and wet cross,
Paths where the mourners tread,
A solitary bird,
These call up the shade of loss,
Shape word to word.
That stones would shine like gold
Above each sodden grave,
This, I had not foretold,
Nor the birds' clamour, nor
The image morning gave
Of more and ever more,
As some vast seven-piled wave,
Mane-flinging, manifold,
Streams at an endless shore.
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Submitted by RobertHaigh on June 10, 2020
Modified on April 30, 2023
- 32 sec read
- 202 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | AXABXBACADCD EFEGFGFEG |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 558 |
Words | 107 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 12, 9 |
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"To write one song, I said" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/53613/to-write-one-song,-i-said>.
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