Second Love
“So surely is she mine,” you say, and turnYour quick and steady mind to harder things—To bills and bonds and talk of what men earn—And whistle up the stair, of evenings.And do you see a dream behind my eyes,Or ask a simple question twice of me—“Thus women are,” you say; for men are wiseAnd tolerant, in their security.
How shall I count the midnights I have knownWhen calm you turn to me, nor feel me start,To find my easy lips upon your ownAnd know my breast beneath your rhythmic heart.Your god defer the day I tell you this:My lad, my lad, it is not you I kiss!
Words in this poem
- tolerant a.
- Inclined to tolerate; favoring toleration; forbearing; ingulgent. [L. tolerans, p.pr. of tolerare to tolerate: cf. F. tolérant. See Tolerate.]
- 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,]
- rhythmic a.
- Pertaining to, or of the nature of, rhythm DAy and night I worked my rhythmic thought. Mrs. Browning. [Gr. rhythmicus, F. rhythmique.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Second Love is in the public domain. This text is taken from Sunset Gun: Poems (Boni & Liveright, 1928), English 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: Dorothy Parker, Second Love, in Sunset Gun (1928), text of English Wikisource, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/parker-sunset-gun/second-love.html, id L27449.
Form and metre
Second Love is 14 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
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 ABABC-C- turnA · thingsB · earnA · eveningsB · eyesC · me · wiseC · security
- 2 ABABCC knownA · startB · ownA · heartB · thisC · kissC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| “So surely is she mine,” you say, and turn | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Your quick and steady mind to harder things— | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| To bills and bonds and talk of what men earn— | 10 | ·········· |
| And whistle up the stair, of evenings. | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| And do you see a dream behind my eyes, | 10 | ·········· |
| Or ask a simple question twice of me— | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| “Thus women are,” you say; for men are wise | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| And tolerant, in their security. | 10 | ·/˘˘··˘/˘˘ |
| How shall I count the midnights I have known | 10 | ·····/···· |
| When calm you turn to me, nor feel me start, | 10 | ·········· |
| To find my easy lips upon your own | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And know my breast beneath your rhythmic heart. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Your god defer the day I tell you this: | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| My lad, my lad, it is not you I kiss! | 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.