Do You Remember Once I
Do you remember once, in Paris of glad faces,The night we wandered off under the third moon's raysAnd, leaving far behind bright streets and busy places,Stood where the Seine flowed down between its quiet quais?
The city's voice was hushed; the placid, lustrous watersMirrored the walls across where orange windows burned.Out of the starry south provoking rumors brought usFar promise of the spring already northward turned.
And breast drew near to breast, and round its soft desireMy arm uncertain stole and clung there unrepelled.I thought that nevermore my heart would hover nigherTo the last flower of bliss that Nature's garden held.
There, in your beauty's sweet abandonment to pleasure,The mute, half-open lips and tender, wondering eyes,I saw embodied first smile back on me the treasureLong sought across the seas and back of summer skies.
Dear face, when courted Death shall claim my limbs and find themLaid in some desert place, alone or where the tidesOf war's tumultuous waves on the wet sands behind themLeave rifts of gasping life when their red flood subsides,
Out of the past's remote delirious abyssesShine forth once more as then you shone,--beloved head,Laid back in ecstasy between our blinding kisses,Transfigured with the bliss of being so coveted.
And my sick arms will part, and though hot fever sear it,My mouth will curve again with the old, tender flame.And darkness will come down, still finding in my spiritThe dream of your brief love, and on my lips your name.
Words in this poem
- placid a.
- Pleased; contented; unruffied; undisturbed; serene; peaceful; tranquil; quiet; gentle. [L. placidus, originally, pleasing, mild, from placere to please: cf. F. placide. See Please.]
- starry a.
- Abounding with stars; adorned with stars.
- northward a.
- Toward the north; nearer to the north than to the east or west point. [AS. noredhweard.]
- stole n.
- A long, loose garment reaching to the feet. [AS. stole, L. stola, Gr. stall. See Stall.]
- clung a.
- Wasted away; shrunken. [Prop. p. p. fr. OE. clingen to wither. See Cling, v. i.]
- nevermore adv.
- Never again; at no time hereafter. Testament of Love. Tyndale.
- hover n.
- A cover; a shelter; a protection. Carew. C. Kingsley. [Etymol. doubtful.]
- 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
Do You Remember Once I is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #617; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Alan Seeger, Do You Remember Once I, in Poems (1916), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #617, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/seeger-poems/do-you-remember-once-i.html, id L12963.
Form and metre
Do You Remember Once I is 28 lines in 7 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 6 of its 7 stanzas. The metre is alexandrines, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 12.2 syllables. 8 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 39% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in alexandrines.
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 AAAA facesA · raysA · placesA · quaisA
- 2 ABAB watersA · burnedB · usA · turnedB
- 3 ABAB desireA · unrepelledB · nigherA · heldB
- 4 ABAB pleasureA · eyesB · treasureA · skiesB
- 5 ABAB themA · tidesB · themA · subsidesB
- 6 ABAB abyssesA · headB · kissesA · covetedB
- 7 ABAB itA · flameB · spiritA · nameB
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 alexandrines. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Do you remember once, in Paris of glad faces, | 13 | ··˘/˘··/˘··/˘ |
| The night we wandered off under the third moon's rays | 13 | ···/˘˘······· |
| And, leaving far behind bright streets and busy places, | 13 | ·/˘······/˘/˘ |
| Stood where the Seine flowed down between its quiet quais? | 13 | ···/˘·····/˘· |
| The city's voice was hushed; the placid, lustrous waters | 13 | ·/˘····/˘/˘/˘ |
| Mirrored the walls across where orange windows burned. | 13 | /˘˘··˘/·/˘/˘· |
| Out of the starry south provoking rumors brought us | 13 | ···/˘·˘/˘/˘·· |
| Far promise of the spring already northward turned. | 13 | ·/˘···˘/˘/˘·˘ |
| And breast drew near to breast, and round its soft desire | 13 | ··········˘/˘ |
| My arm uncertain stole and clung there unrepelled. | 13 | ··˘/˘·······˘ |
| I thought that nevermore my heart would hover nigher | 13 | ···/˘····/˘·· |
| To the last flower of bliss that Nature's garden held. | 13 | ···/˘···/˘/˘· |
| There, in your beauty's sweet abandonment to pleasure, | 13 | ···/˘·˘/˘˘·/˘ |
| The mute, half-open lips and tender, wondering eyes, | 13 | ···/˘··/˘/˘˘· |
| I saw embodied first smile back on me the treasure | 13 | ··˘/˘······/˘ |
| Long sought across the seas and back of summer skies. | 12 | ··˘/·····/˘· |
| Dear face, when courted Death shall claim my limbs and find them | 13 | ···/˘········ |
| Laid in some desert place, alone or where the tides | 12 | ···/˘·˘/···· |
| Of war's tumultuous waves on the wet sands behind them | 13 | ···/˘········ |
| Leave rifts of gasping life when their red flood subsides, | 12 | ···/˘·····˘/ |
| Out of the past's remote delirious abysses | 13 | ····˘/˘/˘˘˘/˘ |
| Shine forth once more as then you shone,--beloved head, | 12 | ········˘/˘· |
| Laid back in ecstasy between our blinding kisses, | 14 | ···/˘˘··/˘/˘/˘ |
| Transfigured with the bliss of being so coveted. | 13 | ·······/˘·/˘˘ |
| And my sick arms will part, and though hot fever sear it, | 13 | ·········/˘·· |
| My mouth will curve again with the old, tender flame. | 12 | ····˘/···/˘· |
| And darkness will come down, still finding in my spirit | 13 | ·/˘····/˘··/˘ |
| The dream of your brief love, and on my lips your name. | 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.