Quand Meme
I strove, like Israel, with my youth,And said, "Till thou bestowUpon my life Love's joy and truth,I will not let thee go."
And sudden on my night there wokeThe trouble of the dawn;Out of the east the red light broke,To broaden on and on.
And now let death be far or nigh,Let fortune gloom or shine,I cannot all untimely die,For love, for love is mine.
My days are tuned to finer chords,And lit by higher suns;Through all my thoughts and all my wordsA purer purpose runs.
The blank page of my heart grows rifeWith wealth of tender lore;Her image, stamped upon my life,Gives value evermore.
She is so noble, firm, and true,I drink truth from her eyes,As violets gain the heaven's own blueIn gazing at the skies.
No matter if my hands attainThe golden crown or cross;Only to love is such a gainThat losing is not loss.
And thus whatever fate betideOf rapture or of pain,If storm or sun the future hide,My love is not in vain.
So only thanks are on my lips;And through my love I seeMy earliest dreams, like freighted ships,Come sailing home to me.
Words in this poem
- broke v. i.
- To transact business for another. Brome. [See Broker, and cf. Brook.]
- broaden v. t.
- To grow broad; to become broader or wider. [From Broad, a.]
- rife a.
- Prevailing; prevalent; abounding. [AS. rif abundant, or Icel. rifr munificent; akin to OD. riff, rijve, abundant.]
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
- evermore adv.
- During eternity; always; forever; for an indefinite period; at all times; -- often used substantively with for.
- betide v. t.
- To happen to; to befall; to come to ; as, woe betide the wanderer. [OE. bitiden; pref. bi-, be- + tiden, fr. AS. tidan, to happen, fr. tid time. See Tide.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Quand Meme 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, Quand Meme, in Pike County Ballads and Other Poems (1871), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6062, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hay-pike-county/quand-meme.html, id L21603.
Form and metre
Quand Meme is 36 lines in 9 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 8 of its 9 stanzas. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
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 youthA · bestowB · truthA · goB
- 2 ABAB wokeA · dawnB · brokeA · onB
- 3 ABAB nighA · shineB · dieA · mineB
- 4 -A-A chords · sunsA · words · runsA
- 5 ABAB rifeA · loreB · lifeA · evermoreB
- 6 ABAB trueA · eyesB · blueA · skiesB
- 7 ABAB attainA · crossB · gainA · lossB
- 8 ABAB betideA · painB · hideA · vainB
- 9 ABAB lipsA · seeB · shipsA · meB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I strove, like Israel, with my youth, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And said, "Till thou bestow | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Upon my life Love's joy and truth, | 8 | ········ |
| I will not let thee go." | 6 | ······ |
| And sudden on my night there woke | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The trouble of the dawn; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Out of the east the red light broke, | 8 | ········ |
| To broaden on and on. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And now let death be far or nigh, | 8 | ········ |
| Let fortune gloom or shine, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| I cannot all untimely die, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| For love, for love is mine. | 6 | ······ |
| My days are tuned to finer chords, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And lit by higher suns; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Through all my thoughts and all my words | 8 | ········ |
| A purer purpose runs. | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| The blank page of my heart grows rife | 8 | ········ |
| With wealth of tender lore; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Her image, stamped upon my life, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Gives value evermore. | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| She is so noble, firm, and true, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| I drink truth from her eyes, | 6 | ······ |
| As violets gain the heaven's own blue | 9 | ·/˘··/˘·· |
| In gazing at the skies. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| No matter if my hands attain | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| The golden crown or cross; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Only to love is such a gain | 8 | /˘······ |
| That losing is not loss. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And thus whatever fate betide | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Of rapture or of pain, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| If storm or sun the future hide, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| My love is not in vain. | 6 | ······ |
| So only thanks are on my lips; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And through my love I see | 6 | ······ |
| My earliest dreams, like freighted ships, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Come sailing home to me. | 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.