One Morning
Because that I am weak, my love, and ill,I cannot follow the impatient feetOf my desire, but sit and watch the beatOf the unpitying pendulum fulfillThe hour appointed for the air to thrillAnd brighten at your coming. O my sweet,The tale of moments is at last complete--The tryst is broken on the gusty hill!O lady, faithful-footed, loyal-eyed,The long leagues silence me; yet doubt me not;Think rather that the clock and sun have liedAnd all too early, you have sought the spot.For lo! despair has darkened all the light,And till I see your face it still is night.
Words in this poem
- fulfill v. t.
- To fill up; to make full or complete. [OE. fulfillen, fulfullen, AS. fulfyllan; ful full + fyllan to fill. See Full, a., and Fill, v. t.]
- brighten v. t.
- To make bright or brighter; to make to shine; to increase the luster of; to give a brighter hue to.
- tryst v. i.
- To mutually agree to meet at a certain place.
- gusty a.
- Subject to, or characterized by, gusts or squalls; windy; stormy; tempestuous.
- lied n.
- A lay; a German song. It differs from the French chanson, and the Italian canzone, all three being national. [G.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
One Morning is in the public domain. This text is taken from Shapes of Clay (1903), Project Gutenberg ebook #12658; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Ambrose Bierce, One Morning, in Shapes of Clay (1903), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12658, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bierce-shapes-of-clay/one-morning.html, id L28181.
Form and metre
One Morning is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABBAABBACDCDEE. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABBAABBACDCDEE illA · feetB · beatB · fulfillA · thrillA · sweetB · completeB · hillA · eyedC · notD · liedC · spotD · lightE · nightE
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Because that I am weak, my love, and ill, | 10 | ·········· |
| I cannot follow the impatient feet | 10 | ·/˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| Of my desire, but sit and watch the beat | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| Of the unpitying pendulum fulfill | 10 | ·····/˘˘˘/ |
| The hour appointed for the air to thrill | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| And brighten at your coming. O my sweet, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| The tale of moments is at last complete-- | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| The tryst is broken on the gusty hill! | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| O lady, faithful-footed, loyal-eyed, | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘/˘· |
| The long leagues silence me; yet doubt me not; | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Think rather that the clock and sun have lied | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| And all too early, you have sought the spot. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| For lo! despair has darkened all the light, | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| And till I see your face it still is night. | 10 | ·········· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.