Testament
Oh, let it be a night a lyric rainAnd singing breezes, when my bell is tolled.I have so loved the rain that I would holdLast in my ears its friendly, dim refrain.I shall lie cool and quiet, who have lainFevered, and watched the book of day unfold.Death will not see me flinch; the heart is boldThat pain has made incapable of pain.
Kinder the busy worms than ever love;It will be peace to lie there, empty-eyed,My bed made secret by the leveling showers,My breast replenishing the weeds above.And you will say of me, "Then has she died?Perhaps I should have sent a spray of flowers."
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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Testament 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, Testament, in Enough Rope (1926), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #68353, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/parker-enough-rope/testament.html, id L27345.
Form and metre
Testament is 14 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
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 ABBAABBA rainA · tolledB · holdB · refrainA · lainA · unfoldB · boldB · painA
- 2 ABCABC loveA · eyedB · showersC · aboveA · diedB · flowersC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Oh, let it be a night a lyric rain | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And singing breezes, when my bell is tolled. | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| I have so loved the rain that I would hold | 10 | ·········· |
| Last in my ears its friendly, dim refrain. | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| I shall lie cool and quiet, who have lain | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Fevered, and watched the book of day unfold. | 10 | /˘······˘/ |
| Death will not see me flinch; the heart is bold | 10 | ·········· |
| That pain has made incapable of pain. | 10 | ····˘/˘˘·· |
| Kinder the busy worms than ever love; | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| It will be peace to lie there, empty-eyed, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| My bed made secret by the leveling showers, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘/ |
| My breast replenishing the weeds above. | 10 | ··˘/˘˘···· |
| And you will say of me, "Then has she died? | 10 | ·········· |
| Perhaps I should have sent a spray of flowers." | 11 | ˘/·······/˘ |
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.