In the Firelight
My dear wife sits beside the fireWith folded hands and dreaming eyes,Watching the restless flames aspire,And rapt in thralling memories.I mark the fitful firelight flingIts warm caresses on her brow,And kiss her hands' unmelting snow,And glisten on her wedding-ring.
The proud free head that crowns so wellThe neck superb, whose outlines glideInto the bosom's perfect swellSoft-billowed by its peaceful tide,The cheek's faint flush, the lip's red glow,The gracious charm her beauty wears,Fill my fond eyes with tender tearsAs in the days of long ago.
Days long ago, when in her eyesThe only heaven I cared for lay,When from our thoughtless ParadiseAll care and toil dwelt far away;When Hope in wayward fancies throve,And rioted in secret sweets,Beguiled by Passion's dear deceits,--The mysteries of maiden love.
One year had passed since first my sightWas gladdened by her girlish charms,When on a rapturous summer nightI clasped her in possessing arms.And now ten years have rolled away,And left such blessings as their dower;I owe her tenfold at this hourThe love that lit our wedding-day.
For now, vague-hovering o'er her form,My fancy sees, by love refined,A warmer and a dearer charmBy wedlock's mystic hands entwined,--A golden coil of wifely caresThat years have forged, the loving joyThat guards the curly-headed boyAsleep an hour ago upstairs.
A fair young mother, pure as fair,A matron heart and virgin soul!The flickering light that crowns her hairSeems like a saintly aureole.A tender sense upon me fallsThat joy unmerited is mine,And in this pleasant twilight shineMy perfect bliss myself appals.
Come back! my darling, strayed so farInto the realm of fantasy,--Let thy dear face shine like a starIn love-light beaming over me.My melting soul is jealous, sweet,Of thy long silence' drear eclipse;O kiss me back with living lips,To life, love, lying at thy feet!
Words in this poem
- aspire v. t.
- To aspire to; to long for; to try to reach; to mount to.
- rapt n.
- An ecstasy; a trance. Bp. Morton. [From F. rapt abduction, rape, L. raptus, fr. rapere to seize and carry off, to transport; or fr. E. rapt, a. See Rapt, a., and Rapid.]
- fitful a.
- Full of fits; irregularly variable; impulsive and unstable. [From 7th Fit.]
- superb a.
- Grand; magnificent; august; stately; as, a superb edifice; a superb colonnade. [F. superbe, L. superbus, fr. super over. See Super-.]
- wayward a.
- Taking one's own way; disobedient; froward; perverse; willful. [OE. weiward, for aweiward, i. e., turned away. See Away, and -ward.]
- girlish a.
- Like, or characteristic of, a girl; of or pertaining to girlhood; innocent; artless; immature; weak; as, girlish ways; girlish grief.
- wifely a.
- Becoming or life; of or pertaining to a wife. [AS. wiflic.]
- upstairs adv.
- Up the stairs; in or toward an upper story.
- saintly a.
- Like a saint; becoming a holy person.
- aureole n.
- A celestial crown or accidental glory added to the bliss of heaven, as a reward to those (as virgins, martyrs, preachers, etc.) who have overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil. [F. auréole, fr. L. aureola, (fem adj.) of gold (sc. corona crown), dim. of aureus. See Aureate, Oriole.]
- fantasy n.
- Fancy; imagination; especially, a whimsical or fanciful conception; a vagary of the imagination; whim; caprice; humor. [See Fancy.]
- drear n.
- Sadness; dismalness.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
In the Firelight is in the public domain. This text is taken from Pike County Ballads and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #6062; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: John Hay, In the Firelight, in Pike County Ballads and Other Poems (1871), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6062, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hay-pike-county/in-the-firelight.html, id L21621.
Form and metre
In the Firelight is 56 lines in 7 stanzas of 8 lines each. The commonest rhyme scheme is ABABCDDC, in 3 of the 7 stanzas; the rest vary or could not be confirmed. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
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 ABABC--C fireA · eyesB · aspireA · memoriesB · flingC · brow · snow · ringC
- 2 ABABCDDC wellA · glideB · swellA · tideB · glowC · wearsD · tearsD · agoC
- 3 -A-A-BB- eyes · layA · paradise · awayA · throve · sweetsB · deceitsB · love
- 4 ABABCDDC sightA · charmsB · nightA · armsB · awayC · dowerD · hourD · dayC
- 5 -A-ABCCB form · refinedA · charm · entwinedA · caresB · joyC · boyC · upstairsB
- 6 ABABCDDC fairA · soulB · hairA · aureoleB · fallsC · mineD · shineD · appalsC
- 7 A-A-BCCB farA · fantasy · starA · me · sweetB · eclipseC · lipsC · feetB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| My dear wife sits beside the fire | 9 | ····˘/·/˘ |
| With folded hands and dreaming eyes, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Watching the restless flames aspire, | 8 | /˘·/˘·˘/ |
| And rapt in thralling memories. | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| I mark the fitful firelight fling | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Its warm caresses on her brow, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| And kiss her hands' unmelting snow, | 8 | ········ |
| And glisten on her wedding-ring. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The proud free head that crowns so well | 8 | ········ |
| The neck superb, whose outlines glide | 8 | ··˘/·/·· |
| Into the bosom's perfect swell | 8 | ···/˘/·· |
| Soft-billowed by its peaceful tide, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The cheek's faint flush, the lip's red glow, | 8 | ········ |
| The gracious charm her beauty wears, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Fill my fond eyes with tender tears | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| As in the days of long ago. | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Days long ago, when in her eyes | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| The only heaven I cared for lay, | 8 | ·/˘/···· |
| When from our thoughtless Paradise | 8 | ··//˘/˘· |
| All care and toil dwelt far away; | 8 | ······˘/ |
| When Hope in wayward fancies throve, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| And rioted in secret sweets, | 8 | ·/˘˘·/˘· |
| Beguiled by Passion's dear deceits,-- | 8 | ˘/·/˘·˘/ |
| The mysteries of maiden love. | 8 | ·/˘˘·/˘· |
| One year had passed since first my sight | 8 | ········ |
| Was gladdened by her girlish charms, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| When on a rapturous summer night | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| I clasped her in possessing arms. | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| And now ten years have rolled away, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| And left such blessings as their dower; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| I owe her tenfold at this hour | 9 | ···/···/˘ |
| The love that lit our wedding-day. | 8 | ····//˘· |
| For now, vague-hovering o'er her form, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| My fancy sees, by love refined, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| A warmer and a dearer charm | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| By wedlock's mystic hands entwined,-- | 8 | ·/·/˘·˘/ |
| A golden coil of wifely cares | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| That years have forged, the loving joy | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| That guards the curly-headed boy | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Asleep an hour ago upstairs. | 8 | ˘/·/˘/˘/ |
| A fair young mother, pure as fair, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| A matron heart and virgin soul! | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The flickering light that crowns her hair | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Seems like a saintly aureole. | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| A tender sense upon me falls | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| That joy unmerited is mine, | 8 | ········ |
| And in this pleasant twilight shine | 8 | ···/˘/·· |
| My perfect bliss myself appals. | 8 | ·/···/·· |
| Come back! my darling, strayed so far | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Into the realm of fantasy,-- | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| Let thy dear face shine like a star | 8 | ········ |
| In love-light beaming over me. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| My melting soul is jealous, sweet, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Of thy long silence' drear eclipse; | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| O kiss me back with living lips, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| To life, love, lying at thy feet! | 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.