To One Who Said Me Nay
This much the gods vouchsafe today:That we two lie in the clover,Watching the heavens dip and sway,With galleons sailing over.
This much is granted for an hour:That we are young and tender,That I am bee and you are flower,Honey-mouthed and swaying slender.
This sweet of sweets is ours now:To wander through the land,Plucking an apple from its boughTo toss from hand to hand.
No thing is certain, joy nor sorrow,Except the hour we know it;Oh, wear my heart today; tomorrowWho knows where the winds will blow it?
Words in this poem
- vouchsafe v. t.
- To condescend to grant; to concede; to bestow. [Vouch + safe, that is, to vouch or answer for safety.]
- tomorrow adv.
- On the day after the present day; on the next day; on the morrow. [Prep. to + morrow.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To One Who Said Me Nay 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, To One Who Said Me Nay, in Color (1925), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #70543, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/cullen-color/to-one-who-said-me-nay.html, id L01467.
Form and metre
To One Who Said Me Nay is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 91% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.9 syllables. 6 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 12% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in common measure.
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 ABAB todayA · cloverB · swayA · overB
- 2 ABAB hourA · tenderB · flowerA · slenderB
- 3 ABAB nowA · landB · boughA · handB
- 4 ABAB sorrowA · itB · tomorrowA · itB
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| This much the gods vouchsafe today: | 8 | ····˘/˘/ |
| That we two lie in the clover, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Watching the heavens dip and sway, | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| With galleons sailing over. | 8 | ·/˘˘/˘·· |
| This much is granted for an hour: | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| That we are young and tender, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| That I am bee and you are flower, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Honey-mouthed and swaying slender. | 8 | /˘··/˘/˘ |
| This sweet of sweets is ours now: | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| To wander through the land, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Plucking an apple from its bough | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| To toss from hand to hand. | 6 | ······ |
| No thing is certain, joy nor sorrow, | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| Except the hour we know it; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Oh, wear my heart today; tomorrow | 9 | ····˘/˘/· |
| Who knows where the winds will blow it? | 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.