Kyka
Child-heart!Wild heart!What can I bring you,What can I sing you,You who have come from a glory afar,Called into Time from a secret star?
Fleet one!Sweet one!Whose was the wild handShaped you in child-land,Framing the flesh with a flash of desire,Pouring the soul as a fearful fire?
Strong child!Song child!Who can unravelAll your long travelOut of the Mystery, birth after birth—Out of the dim worlds deeper than Earth?
Mad thing!Glad thing!How will Life tame you?How will God name you?All that I know is that you are to meWind over water, star on the sea.
Dear heart!Near heart!Long is the journey,Hard is the tourney:Would I could be by your side when you fall—Would that my own heart could suffer it all!
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.]
- tourney v. i.
- To perform in tournaments; to tilt. [Cf.OF. torneier. See Tourney, n.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Kyka is in the public domain. This text is taken from Lincoln & other poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #54527; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Edwin Markham, Kyka, in Lincoln and Other Poems (1901), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #54527, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/markham-lincoln/kyka.html, id L10786.
Form and metre
Kyka is 30 lines in 5 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABBCC. 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 5.6 syllables. 6 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 13% 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 AABBCC heartA · heartA · youB · youB · afarC · starC
- 2 AABBCC oneA · oneA · handB · landB · desireC · fireC
- 3 AABBCC childA · childA · unravelB · travelB · birthC · earthC
- 4 AABBCC thingA · thingA · youB · youB · meC · seaC
- 5 AABBCC heartA · heartA · journeyB · tourneyB · fallC · allC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Child-heart! | 2 | ·· |
| Wild heart! | 2 | ·· |
| What can I bring you, | 5 | ····· |
| What can I sing you, | 5 | ····· |
| You who have come from a glory afar, | 10 | ······/˘˘/ |
| Called into Time from a secret star? | 10 | ·˘·····/˘· |
| Fleet one! | 2 | ·· |
| Sweet one! | 2 | ·· |
| Whose was the wild hand | 5 | ····· |
| Shaped you in child-land, | 5 | ····· |
| Framing the flesh with a flash of desire, | 11 | /˘······˘/˘ |
| Pouring the soul as a fearful fire? | 10 | /˘····/˘/˘ |
| Strong child! | 2 | ·· |
| Song child! | 2 | ·· |
| Who can unravel | 5 | ··˘/˘ |
| All your long travel | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Out of the Mystery, birth after birth— | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| Out of the dim worlds deeper than Earth? | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| Mad thing! | 2 | ·· |
| Glad thing! | 2 | ·· |
| How will Life tame you? | 5 | ····· |
| How will God name you? | 5 | ····· |
| All that I know is that you are to me | 10 | ·········· |
| Wind over water, star on the sea. | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Dear heart! | 2 | ·· |
| Near heart! | 2 | ·· |
| Long is the journey, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Hard is the tourney: | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Would I could be by your side when you fall— | 10 | ·········· |
| Would that my own heart could suffer it all! | 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.