Peaceful Old Age
Swiftly and soon the golden sun goes down,The blue sky wells afar into the night.Tao is the changeful world's environment;Happy are they that in its laws delight.
Tao gives me toil, youth's passion to achieve,And leisure in life's autumn and decay.I follow Tao -- the seasons are my friends;Opposing it misfortunes come my way.
Within my breast no sorrows can abide;I feel the great world's spirit through me thrill,And as a cloud I drift before the wind,Or with the random swallow take my will.
As underneath the mulberry-tree I dream,The water-clock drips on, and dawn appears:A new day shines on wrinkles and white hair,The symbols of the fulness of my years.
If I depart, I cast no look behind:Still wed to life, I still am free from care.Since life and death in cycles come and go,Of little moments are the days to spare.
Thus strong in faith I wait, and long to beOne with the pulsings of Eternity.
Words in this poem
- 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.]
- changeful a.
- Full of change; mutable; inconstant; fickle; uncertain.
- depart v. i.
- To part; to divide; to separate. [OE. departen to divide, part, depart, F. départir to divide, distribute, se départir to separate one's self, depart; pref. dé- (L. de) + partir to part, depart,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Peaceful Old Age is in the public domain. This text is taken from A Lute of Jade, Project Gutenberg ebook #390, the L. Cranmer-Byng translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Various, Peaceful Old Age, in A Lute of Jade (1909), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #390, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lute-of-jade/peaceful-old-age.html, id L15603.
Form and metre
Peaceful Old Age is 22 lines in 6 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
See other poems in iambic 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 -A-A down · nightA · environment · delightA
- 2 -A-A achieve · decayA · friends · wayA
- 3 -A-A abide · thrillA · wind · willA
- 4 -A-A dream · appearsA · hair · yearsA
- 5 -A-A behind · careA · go · spareA
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Swiftly and soon the golden sun goes down, | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| The blue sky wells afar into the night. | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| Tao is the changeful world's environment; | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘˘ |
| Happy are they that in its laws delight. | 10 | /˘······˘/ |
| Tao gives me toil, youth's passion to achieve, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| And leisure in life's autumn and decay. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| I follow Tao -- the seasons are my friends; | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Opposing it misfortunes come my way. | 10 | ˘/˘·˘/˘··· |
| Within my breast no sorrows can abide; | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| I feel the great world's spirit through me thrill, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And as a cloud I drift before the wind, | 10 | ·········· |
| Or with the random swallow take my will. | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| As underneath the mulberry-tree I dream, | 11 | ··˘/·/·˘··· |
| The water-clock drips on, and dawn appears: | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| A new day shines on wrinkles and white hair, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| The symbols of the fulness of my years. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| If I depart, I cast no look behind: | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| Still wed to life, I still am free from care. | 10 | ·········· |
| Since life and death in cycles come and go, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Of little moments are the days to spare. | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Thus strong in faith I wait, and long to be | 10 | ·········· |
| One with the pulsings of Eternity. | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘˘ |
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.