I See Thee Not
Yes, Master, when thou comest thou shalt findA little faith on earth, if I am here!Thou know'st how oft I turn to thee my mind.How sad I wait until thy face appear!
Hast thou not ploughed my thorny ground full sore,And from it gathered many stones and sherds?Plough, plough and harrow till it needs no more--Then sow thy mustard-seed, and send thy birds.
I love thee, Lord; and if I yield to fears,Nor trust with triumph that pale doubt defies,Remember, Lord, 'tis nigh two thousand years,And I have never seen thee with mine eyes!
And when I lift them from the wondrous tale,See, all about me hath so strange a show!Is that thy river running down the vale?Is that thy wind that through the pines doth blow?
Could'st thou right verily appear again,The same who walked the paths of Palestine,And here in England teach thy trusting menIn church and field and house, with word and sign?
Here are but lilies, sparrows, and the rest!My hands on some dear proof would light and stay!But my heart sees John leaning on thy breast,And sends them forth to do what thou dost say.
Words in this poem
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- needs adv.
- Of necessity; necessarily; indispensably; -- often with must, and equivalent to of need. [Orig. gen. of need, used as an adverb. Cf. - wards.]
- wondrous adv.
- In a wonderful or surprising manner or degree; wonderfully. [OE. wonders, adv. (later also adj.). See Wonder, n., and cf. -wards.]
- vale n.
- A tract of low ground, or of land between hills; a valley. [OE. val, F. val, L. vallis; perhaps akin to Gr. Avalanche, Vail to lower, Valley.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
I See Thee Not is in the public domain. This text is taken from The poetical works of George MacDonald in two volumes — Volume 2, Project Gutenberg ebook #9984; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: George MacDonald, I See Thee Not, in A Microcosm in Terza Rima, and Other Poems (1893), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9984, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/macdonald-poems/i-see-thee-not.html, id L22383.
Form and metre
I See Thee Not is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 5 of its 6 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
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 ABAB findA · hereB · mindA · appearB
- 2 A-A- soreA · sherds · moreA · birds
- 3 ABAB fearsA · defiesB · yearsA · eyesB
- 4 ABAB taleA · showB · valeA · blowB
- 5 ABAB againA · palestineB · menA · signB
- 6 ABAB restA · stayB · breastA · sayB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Yes, Master, when thou comest thou shalt find | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| A little faith on earth, if I am here! | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Thou know'st how oft I turn to thee my mind. | 10 | ·········· |
| How sad I wait until thy face appear! | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Hast thou not ploughed my thorny ground full sore, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And from it gathered many stones and sherds? | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Plough, plough and harrow till it needs no more-- | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Then sow thy mustard-seed, and send thy birds. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| I love thee, Lord; and if I yield to fears, | 10 | ·········· |
| Nor trust with triumph that pale doubt defies, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Remember, Lord, 'tis nigh two thousand years, | 10 | ˘/˘····/˘· |
| And I have never seen thee with mine eyes! | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And when I lift them from the wondrous tale, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| See, all about me hath so strange a show! | 10 | ·········· |
| Is that thy river running down the vale? | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Is that thy wind that through the pines doth blow? | 10 | ·········· |
| Could'st thou right verily appear again, | 10 | ···/˘˘˘/˘/ |
| The same who walked the paths of Palestine, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And here in England teach thy trusting men | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| In church and field and house, with word and sign? | 10 | ·········· |
| Here are but lilies, sparrows, and the rest! | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| My hands on some dear proof would light and stay! | 10 | ·········· |
| But my heart sees John leaning on thy breast, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And sends them forth to do what thou dost say. | 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.