Valgovind's Song in the Spring
The Temple bells are ringing,The young green corn is springing,And the marriage month is drawing very near.
I lie hidden in the grass,And I count the moments pass,For the month of marriages is drawing near.
Soon, ah, soon, the women spreadThe appointed bridal bedWith hibiscus buds and crimson marriage flowers,
Where, when all the songs are done,And the dear dark night begun,I shall hold her in my happy arms for hours.
She is young and very sweet,From the silver on her feetTo the silver and the flowers in her hair,And her beauty makes me swoon,As the Moghra trees at noonIntoxicate the hot and quivering air.
Ah, I would the hours were fleetAs her silver circled feet,I am weary of the daytime and the night;I am weary unto death,Oh my rose with jasmin breath,With this longing for your beauty and your light.
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,]
- intoxicate v. t.
- To poison; to drug. South.
- circled a.
- Having the form of a circle; round.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Valgovind's Song in the Spring 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, Valgovind's Song in the Spring, in India's Love Lyrics (1901), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8197, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hope-india/valgovind-s-song-in-the-spring.html, id L22584.
Form and metre
Valgovind's Song in the Spring is 24 lines in 6 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 50% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, 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 AA- ringingA · springingA · near
- 2 AA- grassA · passA · near
- 3 AA- spreadA · bedA · flowers
- 4 AA- doneA · begunA · hours
- 5 AABCCB sweetA · feetA · hairB · swoonC · noonC · airB
- 6 AABCCB fleetA · feetA · nightB · deathC · breathC · lightB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The Temple bells are ringing, | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| The young green corn is springing, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| And the marriage month is drawing very near. | 11 | ··/˘··/˘/˘· |
| I lie hidden in the grass, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| And I count the moments pass, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| For the month of marriages is drawing near. | 10 | ····/˘·/˘· |
| Soon, ah, soon, the women spread | 7 | ····/˘· |
| The appointed bridal bed | 7 | ·˘/˘/˘· |
| With hibiscus buds and crimson marriage flowers, | 11 | ·˘/˘··/˘/˘/ |
| Where, when all the songs are done, | 7 | ······· |
| And the dear dark night begun, | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| I shall hold her in my happy arms for hours. | 11 | ······/˘··/ |
| She is young and very sweet, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| From the silver on her feet | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| To the silver and the flowers in her hair, | 10 | ··/˘··/··· |
| And her beauty makes me swoon, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| As the Moghra trees at noon | 7 | ······· |
| Intoxicate the hot and quivering air. | 10 | ˘/˘····/˘· |
| Ah, I would the hours were fleet | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| As her silver circled feet, | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| I am weary of the daytime and the night; | 11 | ··/˘··/···· |
| I am weary unto death, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Oh my rose with jasmin breath, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| With this longing for your beauty and your light. | 11 | ··/˘··/˘··· |
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.