Communion
In the silence of my heart,I will spend an hour with thee,When my love shall rend apartAll the veil of mystery:
All that dim and misty veilThat shut in between our soulsWhen Death cried, "Ho, maiden, hail!"And your barque sped on the shoals.
On the shoals? Nay, wrongly said.On the breeze of Death that sweepsFar from life, thy soul has spedOut into unsounded deeps.
I shall take an hour and comeSailing, darling, to thy side.Wind nor sea may keep me fromSoft communings with my bride.
I shall rest my head on theeAs I did long days of yore,When a calm, untroubled seaRocked thy vessel at the shore.
I shall take thy hand in mine,And live o'er the olden daysWhen thy smile to me was wine,--Golden wine thy word of praise,
For the carols I had wroughtIn my soul's simplicity;For the petty beads of thoughtWhich thine eyes alone could see.
Ah, those eyes, love-blind, but keenFor my welfare and my weal!Tho' the grave-door shut between,Still their love-lights o'er me steal.
I can see thee thro' my tears,As thro' rain we see the sun.What tho' cold and cooling yearsShall their bitter courses run,--
I shall see thee still and beThy true lover evermore,And thy face shall be to meDear and helpful as before.
Death may vaunt and Death may boast,But we laugh his pow'r to scorn;He is but a slave at most,--Night that heralds coming morn.
I shall spend an hour with theeDay by day, my little bride.True love laughs at mystery,Crying, "Doors of Death, fly wide."
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,]
- barque n.
- Formerly, any small sailing vessel, as a pinnace, fishing smack, etc.; also, a rowing boat; a barge. Now applied poetically to a sailing vessel or boat of any kind. [F. barque, fr. Sp. or It. barca, fr. LL. barca for barica. See Barge.]
- yore adv.
- In time long past; in old time; long since. [OE. , yare, , AS. geára;akin to geár a year, E. year. Year.]
- olden a.
- Old; ancient; as, the olden time.
- cooling a.
- Adapted to cool and refresh; allaying heat.
- evermore adv.
- During eternity; always; forever; for an indefinite period; at all times; -- often used substantively with for.
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Communion is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar, Project Gutenberg ebook #18338; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Paul Laurence Dunbar, Communion, in The Complete Poems (1893–1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18338, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dunbar-poems/communion.html, id L00632.
Form and metre
Communion is 48 lines in 12 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 8 of its 12 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.1 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 35% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic 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 A-A- heartA · thee · apartA · mystery
- 2 ABAB veilA · soulsB · hailA · shoalsB
- 3 A-A- saidA · sweeps · spedA · deeps
- 4 ABAB comeA · sideB · fromA · brideB
- 5 ABAB theeA · yoreB · seaA · shoreB
- 6 ABAB mineA · daysB · wineA · praiseB
- 7 A-A- wroughtA · simplicity · thoughtA · see
- 8 ABAB keenA · wealB · betweenA · stealB
- 9 ABAB tearsA · sunB · yearsA · runB
- 10 ABAB beA · evermoreB · meA · beforeB
- 11 ABAB boastA · scornB · mostA · mornB
- 12 -A-A thee · brideA · mystery · wideA
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| In the silence of my heart, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| I will spend an hour with thee, | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| When my love shall rend apart | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| All the veil of mystery: | 7 | ····/˘˘ |
| All that dim and misty veil | 7 | ····/˘· |
| That shut in between our souls | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| When Death cried, "Ho, maiden, hail!" | 7 | ····/˘· |
| And your barque sped on the shoals. | 7 | ······· |
| On the shoals? Nay, wrongly said. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| On the breeze of Death that sweeps | 7 | ······· |
| Far from life, thy soul has sped | 7 | ······· |
| Out into unsounded deeps. | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| I shall take an hour and come | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| Sailing, darling, to thy side. | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Wind nor sea may keep me from | 7 | ······· |
| Soft communings with my bride. | 7 | ·˘/˘··· |
| I shall rest my head on thee | 7 | ······· |
| As I did long days of yore, | 7 | ······· |
| When a calm, untroubled sea | 8 | ···˘/˘˘· |
| Rocked thy vessel at the shore. | 8 | ·˘·/˘··· |
| I shall take thy hand in mine, | 7 | ······· |
| And live o'er the olden days | 7 | ····/˘· |
| When thy smile to me was wine,-- | 7 | ······· |
| Golden wine thy word of praise, | 7 | /˘····· |
| For the carols I had wrought | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| In my soul's simplicity; | 7 | ···˘/˘˘ |
| For the petty beads of thought | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Which thine eyes alone could see. | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| Ah, those eyes, love-blind, but keen | 7 | ······· |
| For my welfare and my weal! | 7 | ··/···· |
| Tho' the grave-door shut between, | 7 | ······· |
| Still their love-lights o'er me steal. | 7 | ······· |
| I can see thee thro' my tears, | 7 | ······· |
| As thro' rain we see the sun. | 7 | ······· |
| What tho' cold and cooling years | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Shall their bitter courses run,-- | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| I shall see thee still and be | 7 | ······· |
| Thy true lover evermore, | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| And thy face shall be to me | 7 | ······· |
| Dear and helpful as before. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Death may vaunt and Death may boast, | 7 | ······· |
| But we laugh his pow'r to scorn; | 7 | ······· |
| He is but a slave at most,-- | 7 | ······· |
| Night that heralds coming morn. | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| I shall spend an hour with thee | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| Day by day, my little bride. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| True love laughs at mystery, | 7 | ····/˘˘ |
| Crying, "Doors of Death, fly wide." | 7 | /˘····· |
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