Forever
With you I shall ever be;Over land and seaMy thoughts will companion you;With yours shall my laughter chime,And my step keep timeIn the dusk and dewWith yours in blithesome rhyme;In all of your joy shall I rejoice,On my lips your sorrow shall find a voice,And when your tears in bitterness fallMine shall mingle with them all;With you in waking and dream I shall be,In the place of shadow and memory,Under young springtime moons,And on harvest noons,And when the stars are withdrawnFrom the white pathway of the dawn.
O, my friend, nothing shall ever partMy soul from yours, yours from my heart!I am yours and you mine, in silence and in speech,Death will only seal us each to each.Through the darkness we shall fare with fearless jest,Starward we shall go on a joyous new quest;There be many worlds, as we shall prove,Many suns and systems, but only one love!
Words in this poem
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- chime n.
- The harmonious sound of bells, or of musical instruments. [OE. chimbe, prop., cymbal, OF. cymbe, cymble, in a dialectic form, chymble, F. cymbale, L. cymbalum, fr. Gr. Cymbal.]
- blithesome a.
- Cheery; gay; merry.
- springtime n.
- The season of spring; springtide.
- pathway n.
- A footpath; a beaten track; any path or course. Also used figuratively.
- jest n.
- A deed; an action; a gest. [OE. jeste, geste, deed, action, story, tale, OF. geste, LL. gesta, orig., exploits, neut. pl. from L. gestus, p. p. of gerere to bear, carry, accomplish, perfor]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Forever is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Watchman and Other Poems (New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1917; Toronto: McClelland, Goodchild and Stewart, 1916), Internet Archive; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: L. M. Montgomery, Forever, in The Watchman and Other Poems (1916), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/montgomery-watchman/forever.html, id L29450.
Form and metre
Forever is 25 lines in 2 stanzas. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic pentameter.
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 AABCCBCDDEEA-FFGG beA · seaA · youB · chimeC · timeC · dewB · rhymeC · rejoiceD · voiceD · fallE · allE · beA · memory · moonsF · noonsF · withdrawnG · dawnG
- 2 AABBCCDD partA · heartA · speechB · eachB · jestC · questC · proveD · loveD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| With you I shall ever be; | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Over land and sea | 5 | ····· |
| My thoughts will companion you; | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| With yours shall my laughter chime, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| And my step keep time | 5 | ····· |
| In the dusk and dew | 5 | ····· |
| With yours in blithesome rhyme; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| In all of your joy shall I rejoice, | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| On my lips your sorrow shall find a voice, | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| And when your tears in bitterness fall | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Mine shall mingle with them all; | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| With you in waking and dream I shall be, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| In the place of shadow and memory, | 9 | ····/··/˘ |
| Under young springtime moons, | 6 | ···/·· |
| And on harvest noons, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| And when the stars are withdrawn | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| From the white pathway of the dawn. | 8 | ···/···· |
| O, my friend, nothing shall ever part | 8 | ···/˘·/· |
| My soul from yours, yours from my heart! | 8 | ········ |
| I am yours and you mine, in silence and in speech, | 12 | ·······/˘··· |
| Death will only seal us each to each. | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| Through the darkness we shall fare with fearless jest, | 11 | ··/˘····/˘· |
| Starward we shall go on a joyous new quest; | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| There be many worlds, as we shall prove, | 8 | ··/····· |
| Many suns and systems, but only one love! | 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.