The Flying Mist
I watch afar the moving Mystery,The wool-shod, formless terror of the sea--The Mystery whose lightest touch can changeThe world God made to phantasy, death-strange.Under its spell all things grow old and grayAs they will be beyond the Judgment Day.All voices, at the lifting of some hand,Seem calling to us from another land.Is it the still Power of the SepulcherThat makes all things the wraiths of things that were?
It touches, one by one, the wayside posts,And they are gone, a line of hurrying ghosts.It creeps upon the towns with stealthy feet,And men are phantoms on a phantom street.It strikes the towers and they are shafts of air,Above the spectres passing in the square.The city turns to ashes, spire by spire;The mountains perish with their peaks afire.The fading city and the falling skyAre swallowed in one doom without a cry.
It tracks the traveler fleeing with the gale,Fleeing toward home and friends without avail;It springs upon him and he is a ghost,A blurred shape moving on a soundless coast.God! it pursues my love along the stream,Swirls round her and she is forever dream.What Hate has touched the universe with eld,And left me only in a world dispelled?
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.]
- formless a.
- Shapeless; without a determinate form; wanting regularity of shape.
- wayside n.
- The side of the way; the edge or border of a road or path.
- fading n.
- An Irish dance; also, the burden of a song.
- ghost n.
- The spirit; the soul of man. [OE. gast, gost, soul, spirit, AS. gast breath, spirit, soul; akin to OS. g spirit, soul, D. geest, G. geist, and prob. to E. gaze, ghastly.]
- soundless a.
- Not capable of being sounded or fathomed; unfathomable.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Flying Mist is in the public domain. This text is taken from The man with the hoe, and other poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #67012; 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, The Flying Mist, in The Man with the Hoe, and Other Poems (1899), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #67012, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/markham-man-with-hoe/the-flying-mist.html, id L24802.
Form and metre
The Flying Mist is 28 lines in 3 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 86% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
See other poems in heroic couplets, 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 --AABBCC-- mystery · sea · changeA · strangeA · grayB · dayB · handC · landC · sepulcher · were
- 2 AABBCCDDEE postsA · ghostsA · feetB · streetB · airC · squareC · spireD · afireD · skyE · cryE
- 3 AABBCCDD galeA · availA · ghostB · coastB · streamC · dreamC · eldD · dispelledD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I watch afar the moving Mystery, | 10 | ··˘/·/˘/˘˘ |
| The wool-shod, formless terror of the sea-- | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| The Mystery whose lightest touch can change | 10 | ·/˘˘·/˘··· |
| The world God made to phantasy, death-strange. | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| Under its spell all things grow old and gray | 10 | ·········· |
| As they will be beyond the Judgment Day. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| All voices, at the lifting of some hand, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Seem calling to us from another land. | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| Is it the still Power of the Sepulcher | 10 | ····/····· |
| That makes all things the wraiths of things that were? | 10 | ·········· |
| It touches, one by one, the wayside posts, | 10 | ·/˘····/·· |
| And they are gone, a line of hurrying ghosts. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| It creeps upon the towns with stealthy feet, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And men are phantoms on a phantom street. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| It strikes the towers and they are shafts of air, | 10 | ···/······ |
| Above the spectres passing in the square. | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| The city turns to ashes, spire by spire; | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| The mountains perish with their peaks afire. | 10 | ·/˘/˘···˘/ |
| The fading city and the falling sky | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Are swallowed in one doom without a cry. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| It tracks the traveler fleeing with the gale, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Fleeing toward home and friends without avail; | 11 | /˘·······˘/ |
| It springs upon him and he is a ghost, | 10 | ·········· |
| A blurred shape moving on a soundless coast. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| God! it pursues my love along the stream, | 10 | ··˘/··˘/·· |
| Swirls round her and she is forever dream. | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| What Hate has touched the universe with eld, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And left me only in a world dispelled? | 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.