A Birthday
WHAT shall I do to keep your day,My darling, dead for many a year?I could not, if I would, forgetIt is your day; and yet, and yet—It is so hard to find a wayTo keep it, now you are not here.
I cannot add the lightest thingTo the full sum of happinessWhich now is yours; nor dare I tryTo frame a wish for you, since IAm blind to know, as weak to bring,All impotent to aid or bless.
And yet it is your day, and so,Unlike all other days, one beadOf gold in the long rosaryOf dull beads little worth to me.And I must keep it bright, and showThat what is yours is dear indeed.
How shall I keep it here alone?—With prayers in which your name is set;With smiles, not tears; and sun, not rain;With memories sweeter far than pain,With tender backward glances thrown,And far on-lookings, clearer yet.
The gift I would have given to you,And which you cannot need or take,Shall still be given; and it shall beA secret between you and me,—A sweet thought, every birthday new,That it is given for your sake.
And so your day, yours safely still,Shall come and go with ebbing time,—The day of all the year most sweet,—Until the years so slow, so fleet,Shall bring me, as in time they will,To where all days are yours and mine.
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,]
- rosary n.
- A bed of roses, or place where roses grow. [LL. rosarium a string of beads, L. rosarium a place planted with roses, rosa a rose: cf. F. rosaire. See Rose.]
- clearer n.
- One who, or that which, clears.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Birthday is in the public domain. This text is taken from A Few More Verses, Project Gutenberg ebook #49518; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Susan Coolidge, A Birthday, in A Few More Verses (1889), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #49518, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/coolidge-few-more-verses/a-birthday.html, id L23423.
Form and metre
A Birthday is 36 lines in 6 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABCCAB, complete in 4 of its 6 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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 ABCCAB dayA · yearB · forgetC · yetC · wayA · hereB
- 2 ABCCAB thingA · happinessB · tryC · iC · bringA · blessB
- 3 AB--AB soA · beadB · rosary · me · showA · indeedB
- 4 ABCCAB aloneA · setB · rainC · painC · thrownA · yetB
- 5 ABCCAB youA · takeB · beC · meC · newA · sakeB
- 6 A-BBA- stillA · time · sweetB · fleetB · willA · mine
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| WHAT shall I do to keep your day, | 8 | ········ |
| My darling, dead for many a year? | 8 | ·/˘··/·· |
| I could not, if I would, forget | 8 | ······˘/ |
| It is your day; and yet, and yet— | 8 | ········ |
| It is so hard to find a way | 8 | ········ |
| To keep it, now you are not here. | 8 | ········ |
| I cannot add the lightest thing | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| To the full sum of happiness | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| Which now is yours; nor dare I try | 8 | ········ |
| To frame a wish for you, since I | 8 | ········ |
| Am blind to know, as weak to bring, | 8 | ········ |
| All impotent to aid or bless. | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| And yet it is your day, and so, | 8 | ········ |
| Unlike all other days, one bead | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| Of gold in the long rosary | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| Of dull beads little worth to me. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And I must keep it bright, and show | 8 | ········ |
| That what is yours is dear indeed. | 8 | ······˘/ |
| How shall I keep it here alone?— | 8 | ······˘/ |
| With prayers in which your name is set; | 8 | ········ |
| With smiles, not tears; and sun, not rain; | 8 | ········ |
| With memories sweeter far than pain, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| With tender backward glances thrown, | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| And far on-lookings, clearer yet. | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| The gift I would have given to you, | 8 | ·····/·· |
| And which you cannot need or take, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Shall still be given; and it shall be | 8 | ···/···· |
| A secret between you and me,— | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| A sweet thought, every birthday new, | 8 | ···/˘/·· |
| That it is given for your sake. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And so your day, yours safely still, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Shall come and go with ebbing time,— | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The day of all the year most sweet,— | 8 | ········ |
| Until the years so slow, so fleet, | 8 | ········ |
| Shall bring me, as in time they will, | 8 | ········ |
| To where all days are yours and mine. | 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.