Some Time
Last night, my darling, as you slept,I thought I heard you sigh,And to your little crib I crept,And watched a space thereby;And then I stooped and kissed your brow,For oh! I love you so--You are too young to know it now,But some time you shall know!
Some time when, in a darkened placeWhere others come to weep,Your eyes shall look upon a faceCalm in eternal sleep,The voiceless lips, the wrinkled brow,The patient smile shall show--You are too young to know it now,But some time you may know!
Look backward, then, into the years,And see me here to-night--See, O my darling! how my tearsAre falling as I write;And feel once more upon your browThe kiss of long ago--You are too young to know it now,But some time you shall know.
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,]
- voiceless a.
- Having no voice, utterance, or vote; silent; mute; dumb.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Some Time is in the public domain. This text is taken from A Little Book of Western Verse, Project Gutenberg ebook #9606; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Eugene Field, Some Time, in A Little Book of Western Verse (1889), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9606, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/field-western-verse/some-time.html, id L24684.
Form and metre
Some Time is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCDCD. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
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 ABABCDCD sleptA · sighB · creptA · therebyB · browC · soD · nowC · knowD
- 2 ABABCDCD placeA · weepB · faceA · sleepB · browC · showD · nowC · knowD
- 3 ABABCDCD yearsA · nightB · tearsA · writeB · browC · agoD · nowC · knowD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Last night, my darling, as you slept, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| I thought I heard you sigh, | 6 | ······ |
| And to your little crib I crept, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And watched a space thereby; | 6 | ······ |
| And then I stooped and kissed your brow, | 8 | ········ |
| For oh! I love you so-- | 6 | ······ |
| You are too young to know it now, | 8 | ········ |
| But some time you shall know! | 6 | ······ |
| Some time when, in a darkened place | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Where others come to weep, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Your eyes shall look upon a face | 8 | ········ |
| Calm in eternal sleep, | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| The voiceless lips, the wrinkled brow, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The patient smile shall show-- | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| You are too young to know it now, | 8 | ········ |
| But some time you may know! | 6 | ······ |
| Look backward, then, into the years, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And see me here to-night-- | 6 | ······ |
| See, O my darling! how my tears | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Are falling as I write; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And feel once more upon your brow | 8 | ········ |
| The kiss of long ago-- | 6 | ····˘/ |
| You are too young to know it now, | 8 | ········ |
| But some time you shall know. | 6 | ······ |
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.