Somebody's Song
This is what I vow;He shall have my heart to keep;Sweetly will we stir and sleep,All the years, as now.Swift the measured sands may run;Love like this is never done;He and I are welded one:This is what I vow.
This is what I pray:Keep him by me tenderly;Keep him sweet in pride of me,Ever and a day;Keep me from the old distress;Let me, for our happiness,Be the one to love the less:This is what I pray.
This is what I know:Lovers' oaths are thin as rain;Love's a harbinger of pain--Would it were not so!Ever is my heart a-thirst,Ever is my love accurst;He is neither last nor first--This is what I know.
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,]
- tenderly adv.
- In a tender manner; with tenderness; mildly; gently; softly; in a manner not to injure or give pain; with pity or affection; kindly.
- accurst p. p.
- Doomed to destruction or misery; cursed; hence, bad enough to be under the curse; execrable; detestable; exceedingly hateful; -- as, an accursed deed.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Somebody's Song is in the public domain. This text is taken from Enough Rope: Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #68353; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Dorothy Parker, Somebody's Song, in Enough Rope (1926), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #68353, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/parker-enough-rope/somebody-s-song.html, id L27329.
Form and metre
Somebody's Song is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABBACCCA. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
See 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 ABBACCCA vowA · keepB · sleepB · nowA · runC · doneC · oneC · vowA
- 2 ABBACCCA prayA · tenderlyB · meB · dayA · distressC · happinessC · lessC · prayA
- 3 ABBACCCA knowA · rainB · painB · soA · thirstC · accurstC · firstC · knowA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| This is what I vow; | 5 | ····· |
| He shall have my heart to keep; | 7 | ······· |
| Sweetly will we stir and sleep, | 7 | /˘····· |
| All the years, as now. | 5 | ····· |
| Swift the measured sands may run; | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Love like this is never done; | 7 | ····/˘· |
| He and I are welded one: | 7 | ····/˘· |
| This is what I vow. | 5 | ····· |
| This is what I pray: | 5 | ····· |
| Keep him by me tenderly; | 7 | ····/˘˘ |
| Keep him sweet in pride of me, | 7 | ······· |
| Ever and a day; | 5 | /˘··· |
| Keep me from the old distress; | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Let me, for our happiness, | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| Be the one to love the less: | 7 | ······· |
| This is what I pray. | 5 | ····· |
| This is what I know: | 5 | ····· |
| Lovers' oaths are thin as rain; | 7 | /˘····· |
| Love's a harbinger of pain-- | 7 | ··/˘˘·· |
| Would it were not so! | 5 | ····· |
| Ever is my heart a-thirst, | 7 | /˘····· |
| Ever is my love accurst; | 7 | /˘····· |
| He is neither last nor first-- | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| This is what I know. | 5 | ····· |
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.