Mirls
The stars are steady abune;I' the water they flichter and flee;But, steady aye, luikin doonThey ken theirsels i' the sea.
A' licht, and clear, and free,God, thou shinest abune;Yet luik, and see thysel in me,Aye on me luikin doon.
Throu the heather an' how gaed the creepin thing,But abune was the waff o' an angel's wing.
Hither an' thither, here an' awa,Into the dub ye maunna fa';Oot o' the dub wad ye come wi' speed,Ye maun lift yer han's abune yer heid.
Whaur's nor sun nor mune,Laigh things come abune.
My thouchts are like worms in a starless gloaminMy hert's like a sponge that's fillit wi' gall;My soul's like a bodiless ghaist sent a roaminI' the haar an' the mirk till the trumpet call.
Lord, turn ilk worm til a butterflee,Wring oot my hert, an' fill 't frae thy ain;My soul syne in patience its weird will dree,An' luik for the mornin throu the rain.
Words in this poem
- starless a.
- Being without stars; having no stars visible; as, a starless night.
- bodiless a.
- Having no body.
- haar n.
- A fog; esp., a fog or mist with a chill wind. T. [See Hoar.]
- mirk a.
- Dark; gloomy; murky. Spenser. Mrs. Browning. [See Murky.]
- syne adv.
- Afterwards; since; ago. R. of Brunne. [See Since.]
- dree v. i.
- To be able to do or endure.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Mirls 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, Mirls, in A Microcosm in Terza Rima, and Other Poems (1893), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9984, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/macdonald-poems/mirls.html, id L22568.
Form and metre
Mirls is 24 lines in 7 stanzas. The commonest rhyme scheme is ABAB, in 2 of the 7 stanzas; the rest vary or could not be confirmed. The metre is trochaic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 74%).
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 -A-A abune · fleeA · doon · seaA
- 2 A-A- freeA · abune · meA · doon
- 3 AA thingA · wingA
- 5 AA muneA · abuneA
- 6 ABAB gloaminA · gallB · roaminA · callB
- 7 ABAB butterfleeA · ainB · dreeA · rainB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The stars are steady abune; | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| I' the water they flichter and flee; | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| But, steady aye, luikin doon | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| They ken theirsels i' the sea. | 7 | ······· |
| A' licht, and clear, and free, | 6 | ······ |
| God, thou shinest abune; | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| Yet luik, and see thysel in me, | 8 | ········ |
| Aye on me luikin doon. | 6 | ······ |
| Throu the heather an' how gaed the creepin thing, | 11 | ··/˘······· |
| But abune was the waff o' an angel's wing. | 11 | ········/˘· |
| Hither an' thither, here an' awa, | 9 | /˘·/˘···· |
| Into the dub ye maunna fa'; | 8 | ········ |
| Oot o' the dub wad ye come wi' speed, | 9 | ········· |
| Ye maun lift yer han's abune yer heid. | 9 | ········· |
| Whaur's nor sun nor mune, | 5 | ····· |
| Laigh things come abune. | 5 | ····· |
| My thouchts are like worms in a starless gloamin | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| My hert's like a sponge that's fillit wi' gall; | 10 | ·········· |
| My soul's like a bodiless ghaist sent a roamin | 12 | ····/˘˘····· |
| I' the haar an' the mirk till the trumpet call. | 11 | ········/˘· |
| Lord, turn ilk worm til a butterflee, | 9 | ········· |
| Wring oot my hert, an' fill 't frae thy ain; | 10 | ·········· |
| My soul syne in patience its weird will dree, | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| An' luik for the mornin throu the rain. | 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.