Excursion
I WONDER, can the night go by;Can this shot arrow of travel flyShaft-golden with light, sheer into the skyOf a dawned to-morrow,Without ever sleep delivering usFrom each other, or loosing the dolorousUnfruitful sorrow!
What is it then that you can seeThat at the window endlesslyYou watch the red sparks whirl and fleeAnd the night look through?Your presence peering lonelily thereOppresses me so, I can hardly bearTo share the train with you.
You hurt my heart-beats' privacy;I wish I could put you away from me;I suffocate in this intimacy,For all that I love you;How I have longed for this night in the train,Yet now every fibre of me cries in painTo God to remove you.
But surely my soul's best dream is stillThat one night pouring down shall swillUs away in an utter sleep, untilWe are one, smooth-rounded.Yet closely bitten in to meIs this armour of stiff reluctancyThat keeps me impounded.
So, dear love, when another nightPours on us, lift your fingers whiteAnd strip me naked, touch me light,Light, light all over.For I ache most earnestly for your touch,Yet I cannot move, however muchI would be your lover.
Night after night with a blemish of dayUnblown and unblossomed has withered away;Come another night, come a new night, sayWill you pluck me apart?Will you open the amorous, aching budOf my body, and loose the burning floodThat would leap to you from my heart?
Words in this poem
- dolorous a.
- Full of grief; sad; sorrowful; doleful; dismal; as, a dolorous object; dolorous discourses. [L. dolorosus, from dolor: cf. F. douloureux. See Dolor.]
- endlessly adv.
- In an endless manner.
- fibre n.
- One of the delicate, threadlike portions of which the tissues of plants and animals are in part constituted; as, the fiber of flax or of muscle. [F. fibre, L. fibra.]
- 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,]
- swill v. t.
- To wash; to drench. [OE. swilen to wash, AS. swilian.]
- armour n.
- Defensive arms for the body; any clothing or covering worn to protect one's person in battle. [OE. armure, fr. F. armure, OF. armeure, fr. L. armatura. See Armature.]
- reluctancy n.
- The state or quality of being reluctant; repugnance; aversion of mind; unwillingness; -- often followed by an infinitive, or by to and a noun, formerly sometimes by against. [See Reluctant.]
- ache n.
- A name given to several species of plants; as, smallage, wild celery, parsley. Holland. [F. ache, L. apium parsley.]
- aching a.
- That aches; continuously painful. See Ache.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Excursion is in the public domain. This text is taken from Amores: Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #22531; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: D. H. Lawrence, Excursion, in Amores (1916), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22531, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lawrence-amores/excursion.html, id L13587.
Form and metre
Excursion is 42 lines in 6 stanzas of 7 lines each. 89% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.4 syllables. 9 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 52% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 AAAB--B byA · flyA · skyA · morrowB · us · dolorous · sorrowB
- 2 A-ABCCB seeA · endlessly · fleeA · throughB · thereC · bearC · youB
- 3 ---ABBA privacy · me · intimacy · youA · trainB · painB · youA
- 4 AAAB--B stillA · swillA · untilA · roundedB · me · reluctancy · impoundedB
- 5 AAA-BB- nightA · whiteA · lightA · over · touchB · muchB · lover
- 6 AAABCCB dayA · awayA · sayA · apartB · budC · floodC · heartB
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I WONDER, can the night go by; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Can this shot arrow of travel fly | 9 | ···/˘·/˘· |
| Shaft-golden with light, sheer into the sky | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Of a dawned to-morrow, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Without ever sleep delivering us | 10 | ··/˘·˘/˘˘· |
| From each other, or loosing the dolorous | 11 | ··/˘·/˘·/˘˘ |
| Unfruitful sorrow! | 5 | ˘/˘/˘ |
| What is it then that you can see | 8 | ········ |
| That at the window endlessly | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| You watch the red sparks whirl and flee | 8 | ········ |
| And the night look through? | 5 | ····· |
| Your presence peering lonelily there | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Oppresses me so, I can hardly bear | 10 | ˘/˘····/˘· |
| To share the train with you. | 6 | ······ |
| You hurt my heart-beats' privacy; | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| I wish I could put you away from me; | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| I suffocate in this intimacy, | 10 | ·/˘···/˘˘˘ |
| For all that I love you; | 6 | ······ |
| How I have longed for this night in the train, | 10 | ·········· |
| Yet now every fibre of me cries in pain | 10 | ··/˘/····· |
| To God to remove you. | 6 | ···˘/· |
| But surely my soul's best dream is still | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| That one night pouring down shall swill | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Us away in an utter sleep, until | 10 | ·˘/··/˘··· |
| We are one, smooth-rounded. | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Yet closely bitten in to me | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Is this armour of stiff reluctancy | 10 | ··/˘······ |
| That keeps me impounded. | 6 | ···˘/˘ |
| So, dear love, when another night | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Pours on us, lift your fingers white | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And strip me naked, touch me light, | 9 | ···/˘˘··· |
| Light, light all over. | 5 | ····· |
| For I ache most earnestly for your touch, | 10 | ····/˘˘··· |
| Yet I cannot move, however much | 9 | ··/˘··/˘· |
| I would be your lover. | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Night after night with a blemish of day | 10 | ······/˘·· |
| Unblown and unblossomed has withered away; | 11 | ·······/˘˘/ |
| Come another night, come a new night, say | 10 | ·˘/˘······ |
| Will you pluck me apart? | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Will you open the amorous, aching bud | 10 | ··/˘·/˘/˘· |
| Of my body, and loose the burning flood | 10 | ··/˘···/˘· |
| That would leap to you from my heart? | 8 | ········ |
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.