A Song of Comfort
"Sleep, weary ones, while ye may --Sleep, oh, sleep!"Eugene Field.
Thro' May time blossoms, with whisper low,The soft wind sang to the dead below:"Think not with regret on the Springtime's songAnd the task ye left while your hands were strong.The song would have ceased when the Spring was past,And the task that was joyous be weary at last."
To the winter sky when the nights were longThe tree-tops tossed with a ceaseless song:"Do ye think with regret on the sunny daysAnd the path ye left, with its untrod ways?The sun might sink in a storm cloud's frownAnd the path grow rough when the night came down."
In the grey twilight of the autumn eves,It sighed as it sang through the dying leaves:"Ye think with regret that the world was bright,That your path was short and your task was light;The path, though short, was perhaps the bestAnd the toil was sweet, that it led to rest."
Words in this poem
- ceaseless a.
- Without pause or end; incessant.
- sunny a.
- Of or pertaining to the sun; proceeding from, or resembling the sun; hence, shining; bright; brilliant; radiant.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Song of Comfort is in the public domain. This text is taken from In Flanders Fields, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #353; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: John McCrae, A Song of Comfort, in In Flanders Fields, and Other Poems (1919), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #353, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/mccrae-flanders/a-song-of-comfort.html, id L17055.
Form and metre
A Song of Comfort is 21 lines in 4 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is AABBCC, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 72%). 91% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.1 syllables. 24% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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.
- 2 AABBCC lowA · belowA · songB · strongB · pastC · lastC
- 3 AABBCC longA · songA · daysB · waysB · frownC · downC
- 4 AABBCC evesA · leavesA · brightB · lightB · bestC · restC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| "Sleep, weary ones, while ye may -- | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Sleep, oh, sleep!" | 3 | ··· |
| Eugene Field. | 3 | ˘/· |
| Thro' May time blossoms, with whisper low, | 9 | ···/˘·/˘· |
| The soft wind sang to the dead below: | 9 | ········· |
| "Think not with regret on the Springtime's song | 10 | ···˘/··/·· |
| And the task ye left while your hands were strong. | 10 | ·········· |
| The song would have ceased when the Spring was past, | 10 | ·········· |
| And the task that was joyous be weary at last." | 12 | ·····/˘·/˘·· |
| To the winter sky when the nights were long | 10 | ··/˘······ |
| The tree-tops tossed with a ceaseless song: | 10 | ····˘··/˘· |
| "Do ye think with regret on the sunny days | 11 | ····˘/··/˘· |
| And the path ye left, with its untrod ways? | 10 | ·········· |
| The sun might sink in a storm cloud's frown | 9 | ········· |
| And the path grow rough when the night came down." | 10 | ·········· |
| In the grey twilight of the autumn eves, | 10 | ···/···/˘· |
| It sighed as it sang through the dying leaves: | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| "Ye think with regret that the world was bright, | 10 | ···˘/····· |
| That your path was short and your task was light; | 10 | ·········· |
| The path, though short, was perhaps the best | 9 | ·····˘/·· |
| And the toil was sweet, that it led to rest." | 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.