If Only You Knew It
I dare never speak up to you,For you to look down would not do,But always you are there each day,And always I wander this way.Our thoughts go by stealth to make search and renew it,But neither dares question nor give answer due it;If only you knew it!
When constantly I could be found,You often in pride on me frowned;But now that I rarely appear,I see that you wait for me here!Two eyes, oh, two eyes made a snare and then drew it,And who would escape must beware, and eschew it!If only you knew it!
Yes, if you but guessed, this might beA poem for you made by me,Whose billowy lines just now flyUp where you stand graceful and high!But look you, this knowledge, to no purpose grew it,I farther will go, Heaven guard, lest we rue it,--If only you knew it!
Words in this poem
- stealth n.
- The act of stealing; theft. [OE. staple. See Steal, v. t.]
- beware v. t.
- To avoid; to take care of; to have a care for.
- eschew v. t.
- To shun; to avoid, as something wrong, or from a feeling of distaste; to keep one's self clear of. [OF. eschever, eschiver, eskiver, F. esquiver, fr. OHG. sciuhen, G. scheuen; akin to E. sky. See Shy, a.]
- billowy a.
- Of or pertaining to billows; swelling or swollen into large waves; full of billows or surges; resembling billows.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
If Only You Knew It is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems and Songs, Project Gutenberg ebook #6619, the Arthur Hubbell Palmer translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, If Only You Knew It, in Poems and Songs (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bjornson-poems-and-songs/if-only-you-knew-it.html, id L29256.
Form and metre
If Only You Knew It is 21 lines in 3 stanzas of 7 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABBCCC. The metre is anapaestic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 80%).
See other poems in anapaestic trimeter.
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 AABBCCC youA · doA · dayB · wayB · itC · itC · itC
- 2 AABBCCC foundA · frownedA · appearB · hereB · itC · itC · itC
- 3 AABBCCC beA · meA · flyB · highB · itC · itC · itC
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 anapaestic trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I dare never speak up to you, | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| For you to look down would not do, | 8 | ········ |
| But always you are there each day, | 8 | ·/······ |
| And always I wander this way. | 8 | ·/··/˘·· |
| Our thoughts go by stealth to make search and renew it, | 12 | /········˘/· |
| But neither dares question nor give answer due it; | 12 | ·/˘·/˘··/˘·· |
| If only you knew it! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| When constantly I could be found, | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| You often in pride on me frowned; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| But now that I rarely appear, | 8 | ····/˘˘/ |
| I see that you wait for me here! | 8 | ········ |
| Two eyes, oh, two eyes made a snare and then drew it, | 12 | ············ |
| And who would escape must beware, and eschew it! | 12 | ···˘/·˘/·˘/· |
| If only you knew it! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Yes, if you but guessed, this might be | 8 | ········ |
| A poem for you made by me, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Whose billowy lines just now fly | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| Up where you stand graceful and high! | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| But look you, this knowledge, to no purpose grew it, | 12 | ····/˘··/˘·· |
| I farther will go, Heaven guard, lest we rue it,-- | 11 | ·/˘··/····· |
| If only you knew it! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
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.