At Twilight: On the Way to Golconda
Weary, I sought kind Death among the rillsThat drink of purple twilight where the plainBroods in the shadow of untroubled hills:I cried, "High dreams and hope and love are vain,Absolve my spirit of its poignant ills,And cleanse me from the bondage of my pain!
"Shall hope prevail where clamorous hate is rife,Shall sweet love prosper or high dreams find placeAmid the tumult of reverberant strife'Twixt ancient creeds, 'twixt race and ancient race,That mars the grave, glad purposes of life,Leaving no refuge save thy succouring face?"
E'en as I spake, a mournful wind drew near,Heavy with scent of drooping roses shed,And incense scattered from the passing bierOf some loved woman canopied in red,Borne with slow chant and swift-remembering tear,To the blind, ultimate silence of the dead. . . .
O lost, O quenched in unawakening sleepThe glory of her dear, reluctant eyes!O hushed the eager feet that knew the steepAnd intricate ways of ecstasy and sighs!And dumb with alien slumber, dim and deep,The living heart that was love's paradise!
Quick with the sense of joys she hath foregone,Returned my soul to beckoning joys that wait,Laughter of children and the lyric dawn,And love's delight, profound and passionate,Winged dreams that blow their golden clarion,And hope that conquers immemorial hate.
Words in this poem
- poignant a.
- Pricking; piercing; sharp; pungent. [F., p. pr. of poindre to sting, fr. L. pungere to prick, sting. See Pungent.]
- 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,]
- rife a.
- Prevailing; prevalent; abounding. [AS. rif abundant, or Icel. rifr munificent; akin to OD. riff, rijve, abundant.]
- prosper v. t.
- To favor; to render successful. [F. prospérer v. i., or L. prosperare, v. i., or L. prosperare, v. t., fr. prosper or prosperus. See Prosperous.]
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- reverberant a.
- Having the quality of reverberation; reverberating. [L. reverberans, p. pr. : cf. F. réverbérant. See Reverberate.]
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- bier n.
- A handbarrow or portable frame on which a corpse is placed or borne to the grave. [OE. bæe, beere, AS. b, b; akin to D. baar, OHG. bara, G. bahre, Icel barar, Dbaare, L. feretrum, Gr. , from the same bear to produce. See 1st Bear, and cf. Barr]
- clarion n.
- A kind of trumpet, whose note is clear and shrill. [OE. clarioun, OF. clarion, F. clairon, LL. clario, claro; so called from its clear tone, fr. L. clarus clear. See Clear.]
- immemorial a.
- Extending beyond the reach of memory, record, or tradition; indefinitely ancient; as, existing from time immemorial. [Pref. im- not + memorial: cf. F. immémorial.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
At Twilight: On the Way to Golconda is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Bird of Time: Songs of Life, Death & the Spring (London: William Heinemann; New York: John Lane Company, 1912), Wikisource; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Sarojini Naidu, At Twilight: On the Way to Golconda, in The Bird of Time: Songs of Life, Death & the Spring (1912), text of Wikisource, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/naidu-bird-of-time/at-twilight-on-the-way-to-golconda.html, id L27522.
Form and metre
At Twilight: On the Way to Golconda is 30 lines in 5 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABAB. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%).
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 ABABAB rillsA · plainB · hillsA · vainB · illsA · painB
- 2 ABABAB rifeA · placeB · strifeA · raceB · lifeA · faceB
- 3 ABABAB nearA · shedB · bierA · redB · tearA · deadB
- 4 ABABAB sleepA · eyesB · steepA · sighsB · deepA · paradiseB
- 5 ABABAB foregoneA · waitB · dawnA · passionateB · clarionA · hateB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Weary, I sought kind Death among the rills | 10 | /˘········ |
| That drink of purple twilight where the plain | 10 | ···/˘/···· |
| Broods in the shadow of untroubled hills: | 10 | ···/··˘/˘· |
| I cried, "High dreams and hope and love are vain, | 10 | ·········· |
| Absolve my spirit of its poignant ills, | 10 | ˘/·/˘··/˘· |
| And cleanse me from the bondage of my pain! | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| "Shall hope prevail where clamorous hate is rife, | 11 | ··˘/·/˘˘··· |
| Shall sweet love prosper or high dreams find place | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Amid the tumult of reverberant strife | 11 | ˘/·/˘·˘/˘˘· |
| 'Twixt ancient creeds, 'twixt race and ancient race, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| That mars the grave, glad purposes of life, | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| Leaving no refuge save thy succouring face?" | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| E'en as I spake, a mournful wind drew near, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Heavy with scent of drooping roses shed, | 10 | /˘···/˘/˘· |
| And incense scattered from the passing bier | 10 | ·/·/˘··/˘· |
| Of some loved woman canopied in red, | 10 | ···˘/˘···· |
| Borne with slow chant and swift-remembering tear, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| To the blind, ultimate silence of the dead. . . . | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| O lost, O quenched in unawakening sleep | 11 | ··········· |
| The glory of her dear, reluctant eyes! | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| O hushed the eager feet that knew the steep | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And intricate ways of ecstasy and sighs! | 10 | ·/˘··/˘˘·· |
| And dumb with alien slumber, dim and deep, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| The living heart that was love's paradise! | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Quick with the sense of joys she hath foregone, | 10 | ········// |
| Returned my soul to beckoning joys that wait, | 10 | ˘/···/˘··· |
| Laughter of children and the lyric dawn, | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| And love's delight, profound and passionate, | 10 | ··˘/˘/·/˘˘ |
| Winged dreams that blow their golden clarion, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘˘ |
| And hope that conquers immemorial hate. | 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.