To My Children
Golden sun of victory, bornIn my life's unclouded morn,In my lambent sky of love,May your growing glory proveSacred to your consecration,To my heart and to my nation.Sun of victory, may you beSun of song and liberty.
Lotus-maiden, you who claimAll the sweetness of your name,Lakshmi, fortune's queen, defend you,Lotus-born like you, and send youBalmy moons of love to bless you,Gentle joy-winds to caress you.Lotus-maiden, may you beFragrant of all ecstasy.
Little lord of battle, hailIn your newly-tempered mail!Learn to conquer, learn to fightIn the foremost flanks of right,Like Valmiki's heroes bold,Rubies girt in epic gold.Lord of battle, may you be,Lord of love and chivalry.
Limpid jewel of delightSevered from the tender nightOf your sheltering mother-mine,Leap and sparkle, dance and shine,Blithely and securely setIn love's magic coronet.Living jewel, may you beLaughter-bound and sorrow-free.
Words in this poem
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- lambent a.
- Playing on the surface; touching lightly; gliding over. [L. lambens, -enlis, p. pr. of lambere to lick; akin to lap. See Lap to drink by licking.]
- balmy a.
- Having the qualities of balm; odoriferous; aromatic; assuaging; soothing; refreshing; mild.
- caress n.
- An act of endearment; any act or expression of affection; an embracing, or touching, with tenderness. [F. caresse, It. carezza, LL. caritia dearness, fr. L. carus dear. See Charity.]
- girt v. t.
- To gird; to encircle; to invest by means of a girdle; to measure the girth of; as, to girt a tree. [From Girt, n., cf. Girth, v.]
- blithely adv.
- In a blithe manner.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To My Children is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Golden Threshold, with an introduction by Arthur Symons (Hyderabad, 1905; London, John Lane, 1905), Project Gutenberg ebook #680; 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, To My Children, in The Golden Threshold (1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #680, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/naidu-golden-threshold/to-my-children.html, id L27507.
Form and metre
To My Children is 32 lines in 4 stanzas of 8 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 81% of the lines. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in trochaic tetrameter.
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-- bornA · mornA · loveB · proveB · consecrationC · nationC · be · liberty
- 2 AABBBB-- claimA · nameA · youB · youB · youB · youB · be · ecstasy
- 3 AABBCC-- hailA · mailA · fightB · rightB · boldC · goldC · be · chivalry
- 4 AABBCCDD delightA · nightA · mineB · shineB · setC · coronetC · beD · freeD
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Golden sun of victory, born | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| In my life's unclouded morn, | 7 | ······· |
| In my lambent sky of love, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| May your growing glory prove | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Sacred to your consecration, | 8 | /˘···˘/˘ |
| To my heart and to my nation. | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Sun of victory, may you be | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Sun of song and liberty. | 7 | ····/˘˘ |
| Lotus-maiden, you who claim | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| All the sweetness of your name, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Lakshmi, fortune's queen, defend you, | 8 | ··/˘·˘/· |
| Lotus-born like you, and send you | 8 | /˘······ |
| Balmy moons of love to bless you, | 8 | /˘······ |
| Gentle joy-winds to caress you. | 8 | /˘···˘/· |
| Lotus-maiden, may you be | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Fragrant of all ecstasy. | 7 | /˘··/˘˘ |
| Little lord of battle, hail | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| In your newly-tempered mail! | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Learn to conquer, learn to fight | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| In the foremost flanks of right, | 7 | ··/···· |
| Like Valmiki's heroes bold, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Rubies girt in epic gold. | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Lord of battle, may you be, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Lord of love and chivalry. | 7 | ····/˘˘ |
| Limpid jewel of delight | 7 | /˘/˘·˘/ |
| Severed from the tender night | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Of your sheltering mother-mine, | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Leap and sparkle, dance and shine, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Blithely and securely set | 7 | /˘·˘/˘· |
| In love's magic coronet. | 7 | ··/˘/˘/ |
| Living jewel, may you be | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Laughter-bound and sorrow-free. | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
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.