Opportunity
BUT yesterday, but yesterday,She stood beside our dusty way,Outreaching for one moment’s spaceThe key to fortune’s hiding-place.
With wistful meanings in her eyes,Her radiance veiled in dull disguise,A moment paused, then turned and fled,Bearing her message still unsaid.
And we? Our eyes were on the dust;Still faring on as fare all mustIn the hot glare of midday sunUntil the weary way be done.
So, fast and far she sped and flewInto the depths of ether blue;And we, too late, make bitter cry,“Come back, dear Opportunity!”
In vain: the fleet, unpausing wingsStay not in their bright journeyings;And sadly sweet as funeral bellThe answer drops, “Farewell! Farewell!”
Words in this poem
- wistful a.
- Longing; wishful; desirous. [For wishful; perhaps influenced by wistly, which is probably corrupted from OE. wisly certainly (from Icel. viss certain, akin to E. wit). See Wish.]
- veiled a.
- Covered by, or as by, a veil; hidden.
- glare v. i.
- To shine with a bright, dazzling light. [OE. glaren, gloren; cf. AS. glær amber, LG. glaren to glow or burn like coals, D. gloren to glimmer; prob. akin to E. glass.]
- sadly adv.
- Wearily; heavily; firmly.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Opportunity 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, Opportunity, in A Few More Verses (1889), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #49518, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/coolidge-few-more-verses/opportunity.html, id L23463.
Form and metre
Opportunity is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABB, complete in 4 of its 5 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 AABB yesterdayA · wayA · spaceB · placeB
- 2 AABB eyesA · disguiseA · fledB · unsaidB
- 3 AABB dustA · mustA · sunB · doneB
- 4 AA-- flewA · blueA · cry · opportunity
- 5 AABB wingsA · journeyingsA · bellB · farewellB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| BUT yesterday, but yesterday, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| She stood beside our dusty way, | 8 | ··˘///˘· |
| Outreaching for one moment’s space | 8 | /·˘··/˘· |
| The key to fortune’s hiding-place. | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| With wistful meanings in her eyes, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Her radiance veiled in dull disguise, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| A moment paused, then turned and fled, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Bearing her message still unsaid. | 8 | /˘·/˘·˘/ |
| And we? Our eyes were on the dust; | 8 | ··/····· |
| Still faring on as fare all must | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| In the hot glare of midday sun | 8 | ·····/·· |
| Until the weary way be done. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| So, fast and far she sped and flew | 8 | ········ |
| Into the depths of ether blue; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And we, too late, make bitter cry, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| “Come back, dear Opportunity!” | 8 | ····˘/˘˘ |
| In vain: the fleet, unpausing wings | 8 | ········ |
| Stay not in their bright journeyings; | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| And sadly sweet as funeral bell | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The answer drops, “Farewell! Farewell!” | 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.