Love Song
Have you love for me,Yours my love shall be,While the days of life are flowing.Short was summer's stay,Grass now pales away,With our play will come regrowing.
What you said last yearSounds yet in my ear,--Birdlike at the window sitting,Tapping, trilling there,Singing, in would bearJoy the warmth of sun befitting.
Litli-litli-lu,Do you hear me too,Youth behind the birch-trees biding?Now the words I send,Darkness will attend,May be you can give them guiding.
Take it not amiss!Sang I of a kiss?No, I surely never planned it.Did you hear it, you?Give no heed thereto,Haste I make to countermand it.
Oh, good-night, good-nightDreams enfold me brightOf your eyes' persuasive mildness.Many a silent wordFrom their corners heard,--Breaking forth with gentle wildness.
Now my song is still;Is there more you will?All the tones, to me returning,Laughing, luring, soar;Did you wish me more?Still and warm the night is yearning.
Words in this poem
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- trilling n.
- One of tree children born at the same birth. Wright. [Cf. G. drilling.]
- biding n.
- Residence; habitation. Rowe.
- countermand v. t.
- To revoke (a former command); to cancel or rescind by giving an order contrary to one previously given; as, to countermand an order for goods. [F. contremander; contre (L. contra) + mander to command, fr. L. mandare. Cf. Mandate.]
- enfold v. t.
- To infold. See Infold.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Love Song 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, Love Song, in Poems and Songs (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bjornson-poems-and-songs/love-song.html, id L29248.
Form and metre
Love Song is 36 lines in 6 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABCCB. The metre is trochaic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%).
See other poems in trochaic 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 AABCCB meA · beA · flowingB · stayC · awayC · regrowingB
- 2 AABCCB yearA · earA · sittingB · thereC · bearC · befittingB
- 3 AABCCB luA · tooA · bidingB · sendC · attendC · guidingB
- 4 AABCCB amissA · kissA · itB · youC · theretoC · itB
- 5 AABCCB nightA · brightA · mildnessB · wordC · heardC · wildnessB
- 6 AABCCB stillA · willA · returningB · soarC · moreC · yearningB
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 trochaic trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Have you love for me, | 5 | ····· |
| Yours my love shall be, | 5 | ····· |
| While the days of life are flowing. | 7 | ······/ |
| Short was summer's stay, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Grass now pales away, | 5 | ···˘/ |
| With our play will come regrowing. | 8 | ·/······ |
| What you said last year | 5 | ····· |
| Sounds yet in my ear,-- | 5 | ····· |
| Birdlike at the window sitting, | 8 | /···/˘/˘ |
| Tapping, trilling there, | 5 | /˘/˘· |
| Singing, in would bear | 5 | /˘··· |
| Joy the warmth of sun befitting. | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Litli-litli-lu, | 5 | ····· |
| Do you hear me too, | 5 | ····· |
| Youth behind the birch-trees biding? | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Now the words I send, | 5 | ····· |
| Darkness will attend, | 5 | /˘·˘/ |
| May be you can give them guiding. | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Take it not amiss! | 5 | ···˘/ |
| Sang I of a kiss? | 5 | ····· |
| No, I surely never planned it. | 7 | ··/˘/·· |
| Did you hear it, you? | 5 | ····· |
| Give no heed thereto, | 5 | ···˘/ |
| Haste I make to countermand it. | 8 | ····/˘˘· |
| Oh, good-night, good-night | 5 | ····· |
| Dreams enfold me bright | 5 | ·˘/·· |
| Of your eyes' persuasive mildness. | 8 | ···˘/˘/˘ |
| Many a silent word | 5 | /·/˘· |
| From their corners heard,-- | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Breaking forth with gentle wildness. | 8 | /˘··/˘/˘ |
| Now my song is still; | 5 | ····· |
| Is there more you will? | 5 | ····· |
| All the tones, to me returning, | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Laughing, luring, soar; | 5 | /˘/˘· |
| Did you wish me more? | 5 | ····· |
| Still and warm the night is yearning. | 8 | ······/˘ |
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.