The Old Woman
A lonely old woman sits out in the street'Neath the boughs of a banyan tree,And hears the bright echo of hurrying feet,The pageant of life going blithely and fleetTo the feast of eternity.
Her tremulous hand holds a battered white bowl,If perchance in your pity you fling her a dole;She is poor, she is bent, she is blind,But she lifts a brave heart to the jest of the days,And her withered, brave voice croons its paean of praise,Be the gay world kind or unkind:"La ilaha illa-l-Allah,La ilaha illa-l-Allah,Muhammad-ar-Rasul-Allah."
In hope of your succour, how often in vain,So patient she sits at my gates,In the face of the sun and the wind and the rain,Holding converse with poverty, hunger and pain,And the ultimate sleep that awaits. . . .In her youth she hath comforted lover and son,In her weary old age, O dear God, is there noneTo bless her tired eyelids to rest? . . .Tho' the world may not tarry to help her or heed,More clear than the cry of her sorrow and needIs the faith that doth solace her breast:"La ilaha illa-l-Allah,La ilaha illa-l-Allah,Muhammad-ar-Rasul-Allah."
Words in this poem
- pageant n.
- A theatrical exhibition; a spectacle. [OE. pagent, pagen, originally, a movable scaffold or stage, hence, what was exhibited on it, fr. LL. pagina, akin to pangere to fasten; cf. L. pagina page, leaf]
- blithely adv.
- In a blithe manner.
- 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]
- unkind a.
- Having no race or kindred; childless. [See Kin kindred.]
- allah n.
- The name of the Supreme Being, in use among the Arabs and the Mohammedans generally. [contr. fr. the article al the + ilah God.]
- succour v. t.
- tiono run to, or run to support; hence, to help or relieve when in difficulty, want, or distress; to assist and deliver from suffering; to relieve; as, to succor a besieged city. [OE. socouren, OF. sucurre, soucourre, secorre, F. secourir, L. succurrere, succursum, to run under, run to the aid of, help, succor; sub under + currere to run.]
- solace n.
- Comfort in grief; alleviation of grief or anxiety; also, that which relieves in distress; that which cheers or consoles; relief. [OF. solas, ssoulaz, L. solacium, solatium, fr. solari to comfort, console. Cf. Console, v. t.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Old Woman 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, The Old Woman, in The Bird of Time: Songs of Life, Death & the Spring (1912), text of Wikisource, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/naidu-bird-of-time/the-old-woman.html, id L27551.
Form and metre
The Old Woman is 28 lines in 3 stanzas. The metre is anapaestic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
See other poems in anapaestic trimeter.
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 A-AA- streetA · tree · feetA · fleetA · eternity
- 2 AABCCBDDD bowlA · doleA · blindB · daysC · praiseC · unkindB · allahD · allahD · allahD
- 3 ABAABCCDEEDFFF vainA · gatesB · rainA · painA · awaitsB · sonC · noneC · restD · heedE · needE · breastD · allahF · allahF · allahF
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 anapaestic trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| A lonely old woman sits out in the street | 11 | ·/˘·/˘····· |
| 'Neath the boughs of a banyan tree, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And hears the bright echo of hurrying feet, | 10 | ····/˘·/˘· |
| The pageant of life going blithely and fleet | 10 | ·/˘··//˘·· |
| To the feast of eternity. | 8 | ····˘/˘˘ |
| Her tremulous hand holds a battered white bowl, | 10 | ·/˘···/˘·· |
| If perchance in your pity you fling her a dole; | 12 | ·˘/··/˘····· |
| She is poor, she is bent, she is blind, | 9 | ········· |
| But she lifts a brave heart to the jest of the days, | 12 | ············ |
| And her withered, brave voice croons its paean of praise, | 12 | ··/˘····/˘·· |
| Be the gay world kind or unkind: | 8 | ······˘/ |
| "La ilaha illa-l-Allah, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| La ilaha illa-l-Allah, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Muhammad-ar-Rasul-Allah." | 8 | ˘/˘···/˘ |
| In hope of your succour, how often in vain, | 11 | ····/˘·/˘·· |
| So patient she sits at my gates, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| In the face of the sun and the wind and the rain, | 12 | ············ |
| Holding converse with poverty, hunger and pain, | 11 | /˘˘/·/˘/˘·· |
| And the ultimate sleep that awaits. . . . | 9 | ··/˘˘··˘/ |
| In her youth she hath comforted lover and son, | 11 | ·····/˘/˘·· |
| In her weary old age, O dear God, is there none | 12 | ··/˘········ |
| To bless her tired eyelids to rest? . . . | 9 | ···/˘/··· |
| Tho' the world may not tarry to help her or heed, | 12 | ·····/˘····· |
| More clear than the cry of her sorrow and need | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| Is the faith that doth solace her breast: | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| "La ilaha illa-l-Allah, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| La ilaha illa-l-Allah, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Muhammad-ar-Rasul-Allah." | 8 | ˘/˘···/˘ |
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.