A Warning
Place your hands in mine, dear,With their rose-leaf touch:If you heed my warning,It will spare you much.
Ah! with just such smilingUnbelieving eyes,Years ago I heard it:-You shall be more wise.
You have one great treasureJoy for all your life;Do not let it perishIn one reckless strife.
Do not venture all, child,In one frail, weak heart;So, through any shipwreck,You may save a part.
Where your soul is temptedMost to trust your fate,There, with double caution,Linger, fear, and wait.
Measure all you give--stillCounting what you take;Love for love: so placingEach an equal stake.
Treasure love; though readyStill to live without.In your fondest trust, keepJust one thread of doubt.
Build on no to-morrow;Love has but to-day:If the links seem slackening,Cut the bond away.
Trust no prayer nor promise;Words are grains of sand;To keep your heart unbroken,Hold it in your hand.
That your love may finishCalm as it begun,Learn this lesson better,Dear, than I have done.
Years hence, perhaps, this warningYou shall give again,In just the self-same words, dear,And--just as much--in vain.
Words in this poem
- unbelieving a.
- Not believing; incredulous; doubting; distrusting; skeptical.
- 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,]
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Warning is in the public domain. This text is taken from Legends and Lyrics. Part 2, Project Gutenberg ebook #2304; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Adelaide Anne Procter, A Warning, in Legends and Lyrics: Second Series (1861), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #2304, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/procter-legends-lyrics/a-warning.html, id L21760.
Form and metre
A Warning is 44 lines in 11 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is trochaic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
See other poems in trochaic trimeter.
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 -A-A dear · touchA · warning · muchA
- 2 -A-A smiling · eyesA · it · wiseA
- 3 -A-A treasure · lifeA · perish · strifeA
- 4 -A-A child · heartA · shipwreck · partA
- 5 -A-A tempted · fateA · caution · waitA
- 6 -A-A still · takeA · placing · stakeA
- 7 -A-A ready · withoutA · keep · doubtA
- 8 -A-A morrow · dayA · slackening · awayA
- 9 -A-A promise · sandA · unbroken · handA
- 10 -A-A finish · begunA · better · doneA
- 11 -A-A warning · againA · dear · vainA
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Place your hands in mine, dear, | 6 | ······ |
| With their rose-leaf touch: | 5 | ····· |
| If you heed my warning, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| It will spare you much. | 5 | ····· |
| Ah! with just such smiling | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Unbelieving eyes, | 5 | ·˘/˘· |
| Years ago I heard it:- | 6 | ·˘/··· |
| You shall be more wise. | 5 | ····· |
| You have one great treasure | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Joy for all your life; | 5 | ····· |
| Do not let it perish | 6 | ····/˘ |
| In one reckless strife. | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Do not venture all, child, | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| In one frail, weak heart; | 5 | ····· |
| So, through any shipwreck, | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| You may save a part. | 5 | ····· |
| Where your soul is tempted | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Most to trust your fate, | 5 | ····· |
| There, with double caution, | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| Linger, fear, and wait. | 5 | /˘··· |
| Measure all you give--still | 6 | /˘···· |
| Counting what you take; | 5 | /˘··· |
| Love for love: so placing | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Each an equal stake. | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Treasure love; though ready | 6 | /˘··/˘ |
| Still to live without. | 5 | ····· |
| In your fondest trust, keep | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| Just one thread of doubt. | 5 | ····· |
| Build on no to-morrow; | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Love has but to-day: | 5 | ····· |
| If the links seem slackening, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Cut the bond away. | 5 | ···˘/ |
| Trust no prayer nor promise; | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Words are grains of sand; | 5 | ····· |
| To keep your heart unbroken, | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| Hold it in your hand. | 5 | ····· |
| That your love may finish | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Calm as it begun, | 5 | ···˘/ |
| Learn this lesson better, | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| Dear, than I have done. | 5 | ····· |
| Years hence, perhaps, this warning | 7 | ··˘/·/˘ |
| You shall give again, | 5 | ···˘/ |
| In just the self-same words, dear, | 7 | ······· |
| And--just as much--in vain. | 6 | ······ |
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.