My Own Shall Come to Me
Serene I fold my hands and wait,Nor care for wind, nor tide, nor sea.I rave no more ’gainst time or fate,For lo! my own shall come to me.
I stay my haste, I make delays,For what avails this eager pace?I stand amid the eternal ways,And what is mine shall know my face.
Asleep, awake, by night or dayThe friends I seek are seeking me;No wind can drive my bark astray,Nor change the tide of destiny.
What matter if I stand alone?I wait with joy the coming years;My heart shall reap when it has sown,And gather up its fruit of tears.
The stars come nightly to the sky;The tidal wave comes to the sea;Nor time, nor space, nor deep, nor high,Can keep my own away from me.
The waters know their own and drawThe brook that springs in yonder heights;So flows the good with equal lawUnto the soul of pure delights.
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,]
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- reap n.
- A bundle of grain; a handful of grain laid down by the reaper as it is cut. Wright. [Cf. AS. rip harvest. See Reap, v.]
- nightly a.
- Of or pertaining to the night, or to every night; happening or done by night, or every night; as, nightly shades; he kept nightly vigils.
- tidal a.
- Of or pertaining to tides; caused by tides; having tides; periodically rising and falling, or following and ebbing; as, tidal waters.
- yonder adv.
- At a distance, but within view. [OE. yonder, ýonder; cf. OD. ginder, Goth. jaindr there. Yond, adv.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
My Own Shall Come to Me is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems Every Child Should Know The What-Every-Child-Should-Know-Library, Project Gutenberg ebook #16436; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Mary E. Burt, My Own Shall Come to Me, in Poems Every Child Should Know (1904), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16436, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/poems-every-child/my-own-shall-come-to-me.html, id L25300.
Form and metre
My Own Shall Come to Me is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 96%).
See other poems in iambic 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 ABAB waitA · seaB · fateA · meB
- 2 ABAB delaysA · paceB · waysA · faceB
- 3 ABAB dayA · meB · astrayA · destinyB
- 4 ABAB aloneA · yearsB · sownA · tearsB
- 5 ABAB skyA · seaB · highA · meB
- 6 ABAB drawA · heightsB · lawA · delightsB
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Serene I fold my hands and wait, | 8 | ˘/······ |
| Nor care for wind, nor tide, nor sea. | 8 | ········ |
| I rave no more ’gainst time or fate, | 8 | ········ |
| For lo! my own shall come to me. | 8 | ········ |
| I stay my haste, I make delays, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| For what avails this eager pace? | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| I stand amid the eternal ways, | 9 | ··˘/·˘/˘· |
| And what is mine shall know my face. | 8 | ········ |
| Asleep, awake, by night or day | 8 | ˘/˘/···· |
| The friends I seek are seeking me; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| No wind can drive my bark astray, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Nor change the tide of destiny. | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| What matter if I stand alone? | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| I wait with joy the coming years; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| My heart shall reap when it has sown, | 8 | ········ |
| And gather up its fruit of tears. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The stars come nightly to the sky; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The tidal wave comes to the sea; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Nor time, nor space, nor deep, nor high, | 8 | ········ |
| Can keep my own away from me. | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| The waters know their own and draw | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The brook that springs in yonder heights; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| So flows the good with equal law | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Unto the soul of pure delights. | 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.