Nobody's Lookin' but De Owl and De Moon
De river is a-glistenin' in de moonlight,De owl is set'n high up in de tree;De little stars am twinklin' wid a sof' light,De night seems only jes fu' you an' me.Thoo de trees de breezes am a-sighin',Breathin' out a sort o' lover's croon,Der's nobody lookin' or a-spyin',Nobody but de owl an' de moon.
Nobody's lookin' but de owl an' de moon,An' de night is balmy; fu' de month is June;Come den, Honey, won't you? Come to meet me soon,Wile nobody's lookin' but de owl an' de moon.
I feel so kinder lonely all de daytime,It seems I raly don't know what to do;I jes keep sort a-longin' fu' de night-time,'Cause den I know dat I can be wid you.An' de thought jes sets my brain a-swayin',An' my heart a-beatin' to a tune;Come, de owl won't tell w'at we's a-sayin',An' cose you know we kin trus' de moon.
Words in this poem
- croon v. i.
- To make a continuous hollow moan, as cattle do when in pain.
- nobody n.
- No person; no one; not anybody. [No, a. + body.]
- balmy a.
- Having the qualities of balm; odoriferous; aromatic; assuaging; soothing; refreshing; mild.
- wile n.
- A trick or stratagem practiced for insnaring or deception; a sly, insidious; artifice; a beguilement; an allurement. [OE. wile, AS. wil; cf. Icel. v, væl. Cf. Guile.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Nobody's Lookin' but De Owl and De Moon is in the public domain. This text is taken from Fifty Years, & Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #17884; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: James Weldon Johnson, Nobody's Lookin' but De Owl and De Moon, in Fifty Years and Other Poems (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17884, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/johnson-fifty-years/nobody-s-lookin-but-de-owl-and-de-moon.html, id L08337.
Form and metre
Nobody's Lookin' but De Owl and De Moon is 20 lines in 3 stanzas. The metre is trochaic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 77%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
See other poems in trochaic pentameter.
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-C-C moonlightA · treeB · lightA · meB · sighin · croonC · spyin · moonC
- 2 AAAA moonA · juneA · soonA · moonA
- 3 ABABCDCD daytimeA · doB · timeA · youB · swayinC · tuneD · sayinC · moonD
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 trochaic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| De river is a-glistenin' in de moonlight, | 12 | ·/˘·······/· |
| De owl is set'n high up in de tree; | 9 | ········· |
| De little stars am twinklin' wid a sof' light, | 11 | ·/˘········ |
| De night seems only jes fu' you an' me. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Thoo de trees de breezes am a-sighin', | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| Breathin' out a sort o' lover's croon, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Der's nobody lookin' or a-spyin', | 9 | ·/··/˘··· |
| Nobody but de owl an' de moon. | 9 | /········ |
| Nobody's lookin' but de owl an' de moon, | 11 | /··/˘······ |
| An' de night is balmy; fu' de month is June; | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| Come den, Honey, won't you? Come to meet me soon, | 11 | ··/˘······· |
| Wile nobody's lookin' but de owl an' de moon. | 12 | ·/··/˘······ |
| I feel so kinder lonely all de daytime, | 10 | ···//˘··/· |
| It seems I raly don't know what to do; | 10 | ·········· |
| I jes keep sort a-longin' fu' de night-time, | 11 | ··········· |
| 'Cause den I know dat I can be wid you. | 10 | ·········· |
| An' de thought jes sets my brain a-swayin', | 9 | ········· |
| An' my heart a-beatin' to a tune; | 9 | ········· |
| Come, de owl won't tell w'at we's a-sayin', | 10 | ········/˘ |
| An' cose you know we kin trus' de moon. | 9 | ········· |
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.