Gertrude's Prayer
Rudyard Kipling 1865 (Mumbai) – 1936 (London)
That which is marred at birth Time shall not mend,
Nor water out of bitter well make clean;
All evil thing returneth at the end,
Or elseway walketh in our blood unseen.
Whereby the more is sorrow in certaine--
Dayspring mishandled cometh not againe.
To-bruized be that slender, sterting spray
Out of the oake's rind that should betide
A branch of girt and goodliness, straightway
Her spring is turned on herself, and wried
And knotted like some gall or veiney wen.--
Dayspring mishandled cometh not againe.
Noontide repayeth never morning-bliss--
Sith noon to morn is incomparable;
And, so it be our dawning goth amiss,
None other after--hour serveth well.
Ah! Jesu-Moder, pitie my oe paine--
Dayspring mishandled cometh not againe!
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 25, 2023
- 37 sec read
- 172 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ababbB xxxaxB cxcxxB |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 723 |
Words | 123 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6 |
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"Gertrude's Prayer" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 10 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/33221/gertrude's-prayer>.
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