Second Love
Could I reveal the secret joyThy presence always with it brings,The memories so strangely wakedOf long forgotten things,
The love, the hope, the fear, the grief,Which with that voice come back to me,--Thou wouldst forgive the impassioned gazeSo often turned on thee.
It was, indeed, that early love,But foretaste of this second one,--The soft light of the morning starBefore the morning sun.
The same dark beauty in her eyes,The same blonde hair and placid brow,The same deep-meaning, quiet smileThou bendest on me now,
She might have been, she WAS no moreThan what a prescient hope could make,--A dear presentiment of theeI loved but for thy sake.
Whose was the hand that painted thee, O Death!In the false aspect of a ruthless foe,Despair and sorrow waiting on thy breath--O gentle Power! who could have wronged thee so?
Thou rather shouldst be crowned with fadeless flowers,Of lasting fragrance and celestial hue;Or be thy couch amid funereal bowers,But let the stars and sunlight sparkle through.
So, with these thoughts before us, we have fixedAnd beautified, O Death! thy mansion here,Where gloom and gladness--grave and garden--mixed,Make it a place to love, and not to fear.
Heaven! shed thy most propitious dews around!Ye holy stars! look down with tender eyes,And gild and guard and consecrate the groundWhere we may rest, and whence we pray to rise.
Words in this poem
- strangely adv.
- As something foreign, or not one's own; in a manner adapted to something foreign and strange.
- impassioned p. p.
- Actuated or characterized by passion or zeal; showing warmth of feeling; ardent; animated; excited; as, an impassioned orator or discourse.
- foretaste n.
- A taste beforehand; enjoyment in advance; anticipation.
- blonde a.
- Of a fair color; light-colored; as, blond hair; a blond complexion. [F., fair, light, of uncertain origin; cf. AS. blonden-feax gray-haired, old, prop. blended-haired, as a mixture of white and brown or black. See Blend, v. t.]
- 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.]
- prescient a.
- Having knowledge of coming events; foreseeing; conscious beforehand. [L. praesciens, -entis, p. pr. of praescire to foreknow; prae before + scire to know: cf. F. prescient. See Science.]
- ruthless a.
- Having no ruth; cruel; pitiless.
- fadeless a.
- Not liable to fade; unfading.
- 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]
- mansion n.
- A dwelling place, -- whether a part or whole of a house or other shelter. [OF. mansion, F. maison, fr. L. mansio a staying, remaining, a dwelling, habitation, fr. manere, mansum, to stay, dwell; akin to Gr. Manse, Manor, Menagerie, Men]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Second Love is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems of Henry Timrod; with Memoir, Project Gutenberg ebook #845; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Henry Timrod, Second Love, in Poems (1860–1867), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #845, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/timrod-poems/second-love.html, id L10501.
Form and metre
Second Love is 36 lines in 9 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 5 of its 9 stanzas. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic tetrameter. 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.8 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 25% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 joyA · bringsB · wakedA · thingsB
- 2 -A-A grief · meA · gaze · theeA
- 3 -A-A love · oneA · star · sunA
- 4 -A-A eyes · browA · smile · nowA
- 5 -A-A more · makeA · thee · sakeA
- 6 ABAB deathA · foeB · breathA · soB
- 7 ABAB flowersA · hueB · bowersA · throughB
- 8 ABAB fixedA · hereB · mixedA · fearB
- 9 ABAB aroundA · eyesB · groundA · riseB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Could I reveal the secret joy | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| Thy presence always with it brings, | 8 | ·/˘/···· |
| The memories so strangely waked | 9 | ·/˘˘·/˘·˘ |
| Of long forgotten things, | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| The love, the hope, the fear, the grief, | 8 | ········ |
| Which with that voice come back to me,-- | 8 | ········ |
| Thou wouldst forgive the impassioned gaze | 10 | ··˘/·˘/˘˘· |
| So often turned on thee. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| It was, indeed, that early love, | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| But foretaste of this second one,-- | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The soft light of the morning star | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Before the morning sun. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The same dark beauty in her eyes, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The same blonde hair and placid brow, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The same deep-meaning, quiet smile | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Thou bendest on me now, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| She might have been, she WAS no more | 8 | ········ |
| Than what a prescient hope could make,-- | 9 | ···/˘˘··· |
| A dear presentiment of thee | 8 | ··˘/˘˘·· |
| I loved but for thy sake. | 6 | ······ |
| Whose was the hand that painted thee, O Death! | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| In the false aspect of a ruthless foe, | 10 | ···/···/˘· |
| Despair and sorrow waiting on thy breath-- | 10 | ˘/·/˘/˘··· |
| O gentle Power! who could have wronged thee so? | 10 | ·/˘/······ |
| Thou rather shouldst be crowned with fadeless flowers, | 11 | ·/˘····/˘/˘ |
| Of lasting fragrance and celestial hue; | 10 | ·/˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| Or be thy couch amid funereal bowers, | 11 | ····˘/˘/˘˘/ |
| But let the stars and sunlight sparkle through. | 10 | ·····/·/˘· |
| So, with these thoughts before us, we have fixed | 10 | ·········· |
| And beautified, O Death! thy mansion here, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Where gloom and gladness--grave and garden--mixed, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Make it a place to love, and not to fear. | 10 | ·········· |
| Heaven! shed thy most propitious dews around! | 10 | /···˘/˘··· |
| Ye holy stars! look down with tender eyes, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| And gild and guard and consecrate the ground | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Where we may rest, and whence we pray to rise. | 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.