Forecast
ALWAYS when the roses bloom most brightly,Some sad heart is sure to presage blight;Always when the breeze is kindliest blowingThere are eyes that look out for a gale;Always when the bosom’s lord sits lightlyComes some croaking proverb to affright,And in sweetest music grieving blindlySits the shadow of a sorrow pale.
Though to-day says not a word to sadden,Still to-morrow’s menace fills my ear.Less intent on this than that I hie me,Fearful, eager, all the worst to know,Missing that which might the moment gladden,For the prescience of a far-off fear,Which again and yet again flits by me,Clouding all the sunshine as I go.
There is manna for the day’s supplying,There are daily dews and daily balms,Yet I shrink and shudder to rememberAll the desert drought I yet may see.Past the green oasis fare I, sighing,Caring not to rest beneath the palms.All my May is darkened by December,All my laughter by the tears to be.
Must my life go on thus to its closing?Lord, hold fast this restless heart of mine;Put thy arm about me when I shiver,Make me feel thy presence all the way.Hope and fear, and travail and reposing,All by thee are cared for, all are thine,Quick to help, sufficient to deliver,Near in sun and shade, in night and day.
Words in this poem
- blindly adv.
- Without sight, discernment, or understanding; without thought, investigation, knowledge, or purpose of one's own.
- sadden v. t.
- To make sad. Specifically: (a) To render heavy or cohesive.
- gladden v. t.
- To make glad; to cheer; to please; to gratify; to rejoice; to exhilarate. [See Glad, v. t.]
- clouding n.
- A mottled appearance given to ribbons and silks in the process of dyeing.
- sunshine n.
- The light of the sun, or the place where it shines; the direct rays of the sun, the place where they fall, or the warmth and light which they give.
- oasis n.
- A fertile or green spot in a waste or desert, esp. in a sandy desert.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Forecast 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, Forecast, in A Few More Verses (1889), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #49518, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/coolidge-few-more-verses/forecast.html, id L23427.
Form and metre
Forecast is 32 lines in 4 stanzas of 8 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABCDABCD, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is trochaic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
See other poems in trochaic 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 AB-CAB-C brightlyA · blightB · blowing · galeC · lightlyA · affrightB · blindly · paleC
- 2 ABCDABCD saddenA · earB · meC · knowD · gladdenA · fearB · meC · goD
- 3 ABCDABCD supplyingA · balmsB · rememberC · seeD · sighingA · palmsB · decemberC · beD
- 4 ABCDABCD closingA · mineB · shiverC · wayD · reposingA · thineB · deliverC · dayD
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| ALWAYS when the roses bloom most brightly, | 10 | /···/˘··/˘ |
| Some sad heart is sure to presage blight; | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Always when the breeze is kindliest blowing | 10 | /·······/˘ |
| There are eyes that look out for a gale; | 9 | ········· |
| Always when the bosom’s lord sits lightly | 10 | /···/˘··/˘ |
| Comes some croaking proverb to affright, | 9 | ··/˘/˘·˘/ |
| And in sweetest music grieving blindly | 10 | ··/˘/˘/˘/˘ |
| Sits the shadow of a sorrow pale. | 9 | ··/···/˘· |
| Though to-day says not a word to sadden, | 10 | ········/˘ |
| Still to-morrow’s menace fills my ear. | 9 | ··/˘/˘··· |
| Less intent on this than that I hie me, | 10 | ·˘/······· |
| Fearful, eager, all the worst to know, | 9 | /˘/˘····· |
| Missing that which might the moment gladden, | 10 | /˘····/˘/˘ |
| For the prescience of a far-off fear, | 10 | ··/˘˘····· |
| Which again and yet again flits by me, | 10 | ·˘/··˘/··· |
| Clouding all the sunshine as I go. | 9 | /˘··/···· |
| There is manna for the day’s supplying, | 10 | ··/˘···˘/˘ |
| There are daily dews and daily balms, | 9 | ··/˘··/˘· |
| Yet I shrink and shudder to remember | 10 | ····/˘·˘/˘ |
| All the desert drought I yet may see. | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| Past the green oasis fare I, sighing, | 10 | ···˘/˘··/˘ |
| Caring not to rest beneath the palms. | 9 | /˘······· |
| All my May is darkened by December, | 10 | ····/˘·˘/˘ |
| All my laughter by the tears to be. | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| Must my life go on thus to its closing? | 10 | ········/˘ |
| Lord, hold fast this restless heart of mine; | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| Put thy arm about me when I shiver, | 10 | ········/˘ |
| Make me feel thy presence all the way. | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| Hope and fear, and travail and reposing, | 10 | ····˘/·/·˘ |
| All by thee are cared for, all are thine, | 10 | ·····˘···· |
| Quick to help, sufficient to deliver, | 10 | ···˘/˘·˘/˘ |
| Near in sun and shade, in night and day. | 9 | ········· |
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.