Patron of Beggars
We who beg for bread as we daily treadCountry lane and city street,Let us kneel and pray on the broad highwayTo the saint with the vagrant feet.Our altar light is a buttercup bright,And our shrine is a bank of sod,But still we share St. Alexis' care,The Vagabond of God.
They gave him a home in purple RomeAnd a princess for his bride,But he rowed away on his wedding dayDown the Tiber's rushing tide.And he came to land on the Asian strandWhere the heathen people dwell;As a beggar he strayed and he preached and prayedAnd he saved their souls from hell.
Bowed with years and pain he came back againTo his father's dwelling place.There was none to see who this tramp might be,For they knew not his bearded face.But his father said, "Give him drink and breadAnd a couch underneath the stair."So Alexis crept to his hole and slept.But he might not linger there.
For when night came down on the seven-hilled town,And the emperor hurried in,Saying, "Lo, I hear that a saint is nearWho will cleanse us of our sin,"Then they looked in vain where the saint had lain,For his soul had fled afar,From his fleshly home he had gone to roamWhere the gold-paved highways are.
We who beg for bread as we daily treadCountry lane and city street,Let us kneel and pray on the broad highwayTo the saint with the vagrant feet.Our altar light is a buttercup bright,And our shrine is a bank of sod,But still we share St. Alexis' care,The Vagabond of God!
Words in this poem
- kneel v. i.
- To bend the knee; to fall or rest on the knees; -- sometimes with down. [OE. knelen, cneolien; akin to D. knielen, Dan. knæle. See Knee.]
- princess n.
- A female prince; a woman having sovereign power, or the rank of a prince. [F. princesse. See Prince, and cf. Princesse.]
- asian a.
- Of or pertaining to Asia; Asiatic. [L. Asianus, Gr. Asia.]
- dwell v. i.
- To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
- afar adv.
- At, to, or from a great distance; far away; -- often used with from preceding, or off following; as, he was seen from afar; I saw him afar off. [Pref. a-.(for on or of) + far.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Patron of Beggars is in the public domain. This text is taken from Trees, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #263; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Joyce Kilmer, Patron of Beggars, in Trees and Other Poems (1914), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #263, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/kilmer-trees/patron-of-beggars.html, id L12905.
Form and metre
Patron of Beggars is 40 lines in 5 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 79%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.7 syllables. 30% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See 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 -A-A-B-B tread · streetA · highway · feetA · bright · sodB · care · godB
- 2 -A-A-B-B rome · brideA · day · tideA · strand · dwellB · prayed · hellB
- 3 -A-A-B-B again · placeA · be · faceA · bread · stairB · slept · thereB
- 4 AA-AAB-B townA · inA · near · sinA · lainA · afarB · roam · areB
- 5 -A-A-B-B tread · streetA · highway · feetA · bright · sodB · care · godB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| We who beg for bread as we daily tread | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Country lane and city street, | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Let us kneel and pray on the broad highway | 10 | ········/· |
| To the saint with the vagrant feet. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Our altar light is a buttercup bright, | 10 | //˘···/˘·· |
| And our shrine is a bank of sod, | 8 | ·/······ |
| But still we share St. Alexis' care, | 9 | ·····˘/˘· |
| The Vagabond of God. | 6 | ·/˘˘·· |
| They gave him a home in purple Rome | 9 | ······/˘· |
| And a princess for his bride, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| But he rowed away on his wedding day | 10 | ···˘/··/˘· |
| Down the Tiber's rushing tide. | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| And he came to land on the Asian strand | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Where the heathen people dwell; | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| As a beggar he strayed and he preached and prayed | 11 | ··/˘······· |
| And he saved their souls from hell. | 8 | ···˘···· |
| Bowed with years and pain he came back again | 10 | ········˘/ |
| To his father's dwelling place. | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| There was none to see who this tramp might be, | 10 | ·········· |
| For they knew not his bearded face. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| But his father said, "Give him drink and bread | 10 | ··/˘······ |
| And a couch underneath the stair." | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| So Alexis crept to his hole and slept. | 10 | ·˘/˘······ |
| But he might not linger there. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| For when night came down on the seven-hilled town, | 10 | ·······/·· |
| And the emperor hurried in, | 8 | ··/˘˘/˘· |
| Saying, "Lo, I hear that a saint is near | 10 | /˘········ |
| Who will cleanse us of our sin," | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Then they looked in vain where the saint had lain, | 10 | ·········· |
| For his soul had fled afar, | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| From his fleshly home he had gone to roam | 10 | ··/˘······ |
| Where the gold-paved highways are. | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| We who beg for bread as we daily tread | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Country lane and city street, | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Let us kneel and pray on the broad highway | 10 | ········/· |
| To the saint with the vagrant feet. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Our altar light is a buttercup bright, | 10 | //˘···/˘·· |
| And our shrine is a bank of sod, | 8 | ·/······ |
| But still we share St. Alexis' care, | 9 | ·····˘/˘· |
| The Vagabond of God! | 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.