We Two
We two are left:I with small grace revealdistaste and bitterness;you with small patiencetake my hands;though effortless,you scald their weightas a bowl, lined with embers,wherein droopgreat petals of white rose,forced by the heattoo soon to break.
We two are left:as a blank wall, the world,earth and the men who talk,saying their space of lifeis good and gracious,with eyes blankas that blank surfacetheir ignorance mistakesfor final shelterand a resting-place.
We two remain:yet by what miracle,searching within the tangles of my brain,I ask again,have we two met withinthis maze of dædal pathsin-wound mid grievous stone,where once I stood alone?
Words in this poem
- effortless a.
- Making no effort. Southey.
- scald v. t.
- To burn with hot liquid or steam; to pain or injure by contact with, or imersion in, any hot fluid; as, to scald the hand. [OF. eschalder, eschauder, escauder, F. échauder, fr. L. excaldare; ex + caldus, calidus, warm, hot. See Ex, and Calderon.]
- maze n.
- A wild fancy; a confused notion. [OE. mase; cf. OE. masen to confuse, puzzle, Norweg. masast to fall into a slumber, masa to be continually busy, prate, chatter, Icel. masa to chatter, dial. Sw.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
We Two is in the public domain. This text is taken from Heliodora, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #62456; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: H.D., We Two, in Heliodora, and Other Poems (1924), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #62456, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hd-heliodora/we-two.html, id L24306.
Form and metre
We Two is 30 lines in 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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-- left · reveal · bitterness · patience · hands · effortless · weight · embersA · droop · roseA · heat · break
- 2 ------A--A left · world · talk · life · gracious · blank · surfaceA · mistakes · shelter · placeA
- 3 A-AA--BB remainA · miracle · brainA · againA · within · paths · stoneB · aloneB
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| We two are left: | 4 | ···· |
| I with small grace reveal | 6 | ····˘/ |
| distaste and bitterness; | 6 | ˘/·/˘˘ |
| you with small patience | 5 | ···/˘ |
| take my hands; | 3 | ··· |
| though effortless, | 4 | ·/˘˘ |
| you scald their weight | 4 | ···· |
| as a bowl, lined with embers, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| wherein droop | 3 | ··· |
| great petals of white rose, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| forced by the heat | 4 | ···· |
| too soon to break. | 4 | ···· |
| We two are left: | 4 | ···· |
| as a blank wall, the world, | 6 | ······ |
| earth and the men who talk, | 6 | ······ |
| saying their space of life | 6 | /˘···· |
| is good and gracious, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| with eyes blank | 3 | ··· |
| as that blank surface | 5 | ···/˘ |
| their ignorance mistakes | 6 | ·/˘˘˘/ |
| for final shelter | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| and a resting-place. | 5 | ··/˘· |
| We two remain: | 4 | ··˘/ |
| yet by what miracle, | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| searching within the tangles of my brain, | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| I ask again, | 4 | ··˘/ |
| have we two met within | 6 | ······ |
| this maze of dædal paths | 6 | ······ |
| in-wound mid grievous stone, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| where once I stood alone? | 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.