Envoy
Many pleasures of youth have been buoyantly sung--And, borne on the winds of delight, may they beatWith their palpitant wings at the hearts of the Young,And in bosoms of Age find as warm a retreat!--Yet sweetest of all of the musical throng,Though least of the numbers that upward aspire,Is the one rising now into wavering song,As I sit in the silence and gaze in the fire.
'Tis a Winter long dead that beleaguers my doorAnd muffles his steps in the snows of the past:And I see, in the embers I'm dreaming before,Lost faces of love as they looked on me last:--The round, laughing eyes of the desk-mate of oldGleam out for a moment with truant desire--Then fade and are lost in a City of Gold,As I sit in the silence and gaze in the fire.
And then comes the face, peering back in my own,Of a shy little girl, with her lids drooping low,As she faltering tells, in a far-away tone,The ghost of a story of long, long ago.--Then her dewy blue eyes they are lifted again;But I see their glad light slowly fail and expire,As I reach and cry to her in vain, all in vain!--As I sit in the silence and gaze in the fire.
Then the face of a Mother looks back, through the mistOf tears that are welling; and, lucent with light,I see the dear smile of the lips I have kissedAs she knelt by my cradle at morning and night;And my arms are outheld, with a yearning too wildFor any but God in His love to inspire,As she pleads at the foot of His throne for her child,--As I sit in the silence and gaze in the fire.
O pathos of rapture! O glorious pain!My heart is a blossom of joy over-runWith a shower of tears, as a lily with rainThat weeps in the shadow and laughs in the sun.The blight of the frost may descend on the tree,And the leaf and the flower may fall and expire,But ever and ever love blossoms for me,As I sit in the silence and gaze in the fire.
Words in this poem
- palpitant a.
- Palpitating; throbbing; trembling. Carlyle. [L. palpitans, p. pr.]
- aspire v. t.
- To aspire to; to long for; to try to reach; to mount to.
- faltering a.
- Hesitating; trembling.
- ghost n.
- The spirit; the soul of man. [OE. gast, gost, soul, spirit, AS. gast breath, spirit, soul; akin to OS. g spirit, soul, D. geest, G. geist, and prob. to E. gaze, ghastly.]
- lucent a.
- Shining; bright; resplendent. [L. lucens, p. pr. of lucere to shine, fr. lux, lucis, light.]
- glorious a.
- Exhibiting attributes, qualities, or acts that are worthy of or receive glory; noble; praiseworthy; excellent; splendid; illustrious; inspiring admiration; as, glorious deeds. [OF. glorios, glorious, F. glorieux, fr. L. gloriosus. See Glory, n.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Envoy is in the public domain. This text is taken from Riley Child-Rhymes, Project Gutenberg ebook #9777; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: James Whitcomb Riley, Envoy, in Riley Child-Rhymes (1890), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9777, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/riley-child-rhymes/envoy.html, id L25071.
Form and metre
Envoy is 40 lines in 5 stanzas of 8 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCDCD. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%).
See other poems in anapaestic 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 ABABCDCD sungA · beatB · youngA · retreatB · throngC · aspireD · songC · fireD
- 2 ABABCDCD doorA · pastB · beforeA · lastB · oldC · desireD · goldC · fireD
- 3 ABABCDCD ownA · lowB · toneA · agoB · againC · expireD · vainC · fireD
- 4 ABABCDCD mistA · lightB · kissedA · nightB · wildC · inspireD · childC · fireD
- 5 ABABCDCD painA · runB · rainA · sunB · treeC · expireD · meC · fireD
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 anapaestic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Many pleasures of youth have been buoyantly sung-- | 11 | /˘/˘······· |
| And, borne on the winds of delight, may they beat | 11 | ······˘/··· |
| With their palpitant wings at the hearts of the Young, | 12 | ··/˘˘······· |
| And in bosoms of Age find as warm a retreat!-- | 12 | ··/˘······˘/ |
| Yet sweetest of all of the musical throng, | 11 | ·/˘····/˘˘· |
| Though least of the numbers that upward aspire, | 11 | ····/˘·/˘˘/ |
| Is the one rising now into wavering song, | 11 | ···/˘···/˘· |
| As I sit in the silence and gaze in the fire. | 12 | ·····/˘····/ |
| 'Tis a Winter long dead that beleaguers my door | 12 | ··/˘···˘/˘·· |
| And muffles his steps in the snows of the past: | 11 | ·/˘········ |
| And I see, in the embers I'm dreaming before, | 12 | ·····/˘·/˘·· |
| Lost faces of love as they looked on me last:-- | 11 | ·/˘········ |
| The round, laughing eyes of the desk-mate of old | 11 | ··/˘······· |
| Gleam out for a moment with truant desire-- | 12 | ····/˘·/˘˘/˘ |
| Then fade and are lost in a City of Gold, | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| As I sit in the silence and gaze in the fire. | 12 | ·····/˘····/ |
| And then comes the face, peering back in my own, | 11 | ·····/˘···· |
| Of a shy little girl, with her lids drooping low, | 12 | ···/˘····/˘· |
| As she faltering tells, in a far-away tone, | 11 | ··/˘····˘/· |
| The ghost of a story of long, long ago.-- | 11 | ····/˘···˘/ |
| Then her dewy blue eyes they are lifted again; | 12 | ··/˘····/˘˘/ |
| But I see their glad light slowly fail and expire, | 12 | ······/˘··˘/ |
| As I reach and cry to her in vain, all in vain!-- | 12 | ············ |
| As I sit in the silence and gaze in the fire. | 12 | ·····/˘····/ |
| Then the face of a Mother looks back, through the mist | 12 | ·····/˘····· |
| Of tears that are welling; and, lucent with light, | 11 | ····/˘·/˘·· |
| I see the dear smile of the lips I have kissed | 11 | ··········· |
| As she knelt by my cradle at morning and night; | 12 | ·····/˘·/˘·· |
| And my arms are outheld, with a yearning too wild | 12 | ········/˘·· |
| For any but God in His love to inspire, | 11 | ·/˘······˘/ |
| As she pleads at the foot of His throne for her child,-- | 12 | ············ |
| As I sit in the silence and gaze in the fire. | 12 | ·····/˘····/ |
| O pathos of rapture! O glorious pain! | 11 | ·/˘·/˘·/˘˘· |
| My heart is a blossom of joy over-run | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| With a shower of tears, as a lily with rain | 11 | ··/····/˘·· |
| That weeps in the shadow and laughs in the sun. | 11 | ····/······ |
| The blight of the frost may descend on the tree, | 11 | ······˘/··· |
| And the leaf and the flower may fall and expire, | 11 | ·····/···˘/ |
| But ever and ever love blossoms for me, | 11 | ·/˘·/˘·/˘·· |
| As I sit in the silence and gaze in the fire. | 12 | ·····/˘····/ |
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.