Malay Song
The Stars await, serene and white,The unarisen moon;Oh, come and stay with me to-night,Beside the salt Lagoon!
My hut is small, but as you lie,You see the lighted shore,And hear the rippling water sighBeneath the pile-raised floor.
No gift have I of jewels or flowers,My room is poor and bare:But all the silver sea is ours,And all the scented air
Blown from the mainland, where there growsTh' "Intriguer of the Night,"The flower that you have named Tube rose,Sweet scented, slim, and white.
The flower that, when the air is stillAnd no land breezes blow,From its pale petals can distilA phosphorescent glow.
I see your ship at anchor ride;Her "captive lightning" shine.Before she takes to-morrow's tide,Let this one night be mine!
Though in the language of your landMy words are poor and few,Oh, read my eyes, and understand,I give my youth to you!
Words in this poem
- await v. t.
- To watch for; to look out for. [OF. awaitier, agaitier; (L. ad) + waitier, gaitier to watch, F. guetter. See Wait.]
- lagoon n.
- A shallow sound, channel, pond, or lake, especially one into which the sea flows; as, the lagoons of Venice. [It. or Sp. laguna, L. lacuna ditch, pool, pond,lacus lake. See Lake, and cf. Lacuna.]
- mainland n.
- The continent; the principal land; -- opposed to island, or peninsula.
- intriguer n.
- One who intrigues.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Malay Song is in the public domain. This text is taken from India's Love Lyrics, Project Gutenberg ebook #8197; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Laurence Hope, Malay Song, in India's Love Lyrics (1901), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8197, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hope-india/malay-song.html, id L22634.
Form and metre
Malay Song is 28 lines in 7 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
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 whiteA · moonB · nightA · lagoonB
- 2 ABAB lieA · shoreB · sighA · floorB
- 3 ABAB flowersA · bareB · oursA · airB
- 4 ABAB growsA · nightB · roseA · whiteB
- 5 ABAB stillA · blowB · distilA · glowB
- 6 ABAB rideA · shineB · tideA · mineB
- 7 ABAB landA · fewB · understandA · youB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The Stars await, serene and white, | 8 | ··˘/˘/·· |
| The unarisen moon; | 6 | ······ |
| Oh, come and stay with me to-night, | 8 | ········ |
| Beside the salt Lagoon! | 6 | ˘/··˘/ |
| My hut is small, but as you lie, | 8 | ········ |
| You see the lighted shore, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And hear the rippling water sigh | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Beneath the pile-raised floor. | 6 | ······ |
| No gift have I of jewels or flowers, | 9 | ·····/˘·/ |
| My room is poor and bare: | 6 | ······ |
| But all the silver sea is ours, | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| And all the scented air | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Blown from the mainland, where there grows | 8 | ···/···· |
| Th' "Intriguer of the Night," | 6 | ˘/˘··· |
| The flower that you have named Tube rose, | 8 | ·/······ |
| Sweet scented, slim, and white. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The flower that, when the air is still | 8 | ·/······ |
| And no land breezes blow, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| From its pale petals can distil | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| A phosphorescent glow. | 6 | ······ |
| I see your ship at anchor ride; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Her "captive lightning" shine. | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Before she takes to-morrow's tide, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Let this one night be mine! | 6 | ······ |
| Though in the language of your land | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| My words are poor and few, | 6 | ······ |
| Oh, read my eyes, and understand, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| I give my youth to you! | 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.