Oh, for a Little While Be Kind
Oh, for a little while be kind to meWho stand in such imperious need of you,And for a fitful space let my head lieHappily on your passion’s frigid breast.Although yourself no more resigned to meThan on all bitter yesterdays I knew,This half a loaf from sumptuous crumbs your shyReneging hand lets fall shall make me blest.The sturdy homage of a love that throwsIts strength about you, dawn and dusk, at bedAnd board, is not for scorn. When all is saidWith final amen certitude, who knowsBut Dives found a matchless fragrance fledWhen Lazarus no longer shocked his nose?
Words in this poem
- imperious a.
- Commanding; ascendant; imperial; lordly; majestic. [L. imperiosus: cf. F. impérieux. See Imperial.]
- fitful a.
- Full of fits; irregularly variable; impulsive and unstable. [From 7th Fit.]
- happily adv.
- By chance; peradventure; haply. Piers Plowman. [From Happy.]
- resigned a.
- Submissive; yielding; not disposed to resist or murmur.
- 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,]
- amen interj.
- An expression used at the end of prayers, and meaning, So be it. At the end of a creed, it is a solemn asseveration of belief. [L. amen, Gr. am certainly, truly.]
- certitude n.
- Freedom from doubt; assurance; certainty. J. H. Newman. [LL. certitudo, fr. L. certus: cf. F. certitude. See Certain.]
- dives n.
- The name popularly given to the rich man in our Lord's parable of the [L., rich.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Oh, for a Little While Be Kind is in the public domain. This text is taken from Color, Project Gutenberg ebook #70543; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Countee Cullen, Oh, for a Little While Be Kind, in Color (1925), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #70543, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/cullen-color/oh-for-a-little-while-be-kind.html, id L01465.
Form and metre
Oh, for a Little While Be Kind is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABCDABCDEFFEFE. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.8 syllables. 64% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic 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 ABCDABCDEFFEFE meA · youB · lieC · breastD · meA · knewB · shyC · blestD · throwsE · bedF · saidF · knowsE · fledF · noseE
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Oh, for a little while be kind to me | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Who stand in such imperious need of you, | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| And for a fitful space let my head lie | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Happily on your passion’s frigid breast. | 10 | /˘˘··/˘/˘· |
| Although yourself no more resigned to me | 10 | ··˘/··˘/·· |
| Than on all bitter yesterdays I knew, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| This half a loaf from sumptuous crumbs your shy | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Reneging hand lets fall shall make me blest. | 10 | ˘/˘······· |
| The sturdy homage of a love that throws | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Its strength about you, dawn and dusk, at bed | 10 | ·········· |
| And board, is not for scorn. When all is said | 10 | ·········· |
| With final amen certitude, who knows | 10 | ·/˘˘//˘··· |
| But Dives found a matchless fragrance fled | 9 | ····/˘/˘· |
| When Lazarus no longer shocked his nose? | 10 | ·/˘˘·/˘··· |
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.