Eyes and Lips
Our silent eyes alone interpretedThe new-born feeling in the heart of each:In yours I read your sorrow without speech,Your lonely struggle in their tears unshed.Behind their dreamy sweetness, as a veil,I saw the moving lights of trouble shine;And then my eyes were brightened as with wine,My spirit reeled to see your face grow pale!
Our deepening love, that is not yet allowedAnother language than the eyes, doth learnTo speak it perfectly: above the crowdOur looks exchange avowals and desires,--Like wave-divided beacon lights that burn,And talk to one another by their fires.
When I embrace her in a fragrant shrineOf climbing roses, my first kiss shall fallOn you, sweet eyes, that mutely told me all,--Through you my soul will rise to make her mine.Upon your drooping lids, blue-veined and fair,The touch of tenderness I first will lay,You springs of joy, lights of my gloomy day,Whose dear discovered secret bade me dare!
And when you open, eyes of my fond dove,Your look will shine with new delight, made sureBy this forerunner of a faithful love.Tis just, dear eyes, so pensive and so pure,That you should bear the sealing kisses trueOf love unhoped that came to me through you.
This was my thought; but when beneath the roseThat hides the lonely bench where lovers rest,In friendly dusk I held her on my breastFor one brief moment,--while I saw you close,Dear, yielding eyes, as if your lids, blue-veinedAnd pure, were meekly fain at last to bearThe proffered homage of my wistful prayer,--In that high moment, by your grace obtained,
Forgetting your avowals, your alarms,Your anguish and your tears, sweet weary eyes,Forgetting that you gave her to my arms,I broke my promise; and my first caress,Ungrateful, sought her lips in sweet surprise,--Her lips, which breathed a word of tenderness!
Words in this poem
- unshed a.
- Not parted or divided, as the hair.
- dreamy a.
- Abounding in dreams or given to dreaming; appropriate to, or like, dreams; visionary.
- 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,]
- mutely adv.
- Without uttering words or sounds; in a mute manner; silently.
- bade
- A form of the pat tense of Bid.
- unhoped a.
- Not hoped or expected.
- meekly adv.
- In a meek manner.
- fain v. t.
- To be glad ; to wish or desire.
- wistful a.
- Longing; wishful; desirous. [For wishful; perhaps influenced by wistly, which is probably corrupted from OE. wisly certainly (from Icel. viss certain, akin to E. wit). See Wish.]
- broke v. i.
- To transact business for another. Brome. [See Broker, and cf. Brook.]
- caress n.
- An act of endearment; any act or expression of affection; an embracing, or touching, with tenderness. [F. caresse, It. carezza, LL. caritia dearness, fr. L. carus dear. See Charity.]
- ungrateful a.
- Not grateful; not thankful for favors; making no returns, or making ill return for kindness, attention, etc.; ingrateful. South.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Eyes and Lips is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of Henry Van Dyke, Project Gutenberg ebook #16229; 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 Van Dyke, Eyes and Lips, in The Poems of Henry Van Dyke (1925), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16229, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/van-dyke-poems/eyes-and-lips.html, id L22831.
Form and metre
Eyes and Lips is 42 lines in 6 stanzas. The commonest rhyme scheme is ABACBC, in 2 of the 6 stanzas; the rest vary or could not be confirmed. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 -AA-BCCB interpreted · eachA · speechA · unshed · veilB · shineC · wineC · paleB
- 2 ABACBC allowedA · learnB · crowdA · desiresC · burnB · firesC
- 3 ABBACDDC shrineA · fallB · allB · mineA · fairC · layD · dayD · dareC
- 4 ABABCC doveA · sureB · loveA · pureB · trueC · youC
- 5 ABBACDDC roseA · restB · breastB · closeA · veinedC · bearD · prayerD · obtainedC
- 6 ABACBC alarmsA · eyesB · armsA · caressC · surpriseB · tendernessC
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Our silent eyes alone interpreted | 11 | /˘/˘·˘/˘/˘˘ |
| The new-born feeling in the heart of each: | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| In yours I read your sorrow without speech, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Your lonely struggle in their tears unshed. | 10 | ·/˘/˘···˘/ |
| Behind their dreamy sweetness, as a veil, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| I saw the moving lights of trouble shine; | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And then my eyes were brightened as with wine, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| My spirit reeled to see your face grow pale! | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Our deepening love, that is not yet allowed | 10 | //˘·····˘/ |
| Another language than the eyes, doth learn | 10 | ˘/˘/˘····· |
| To speak it perfectly: above the crowd | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| Our looks exchange avowals and desires,-- | 11 | /·˘/····˘/˘ |
| Like wave-divided beacon lights that burn, | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
| And talk to one another by their fires. | 11 | ····˘/˘··/˘ |
| When I embrace her in a fragrant shrine | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| Of climbing roses, my first kiss shall fall | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| On you, sweet eyes, that mutely told me all,-- | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Through you my soul will rise to make her mine. | 10 | ·········· |
| Upon your drooping lids, blue-veined and fair, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| The touch of tenderness I first will lay, | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| You springs of joy, lights of my gloomy day, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Whose dear discovered secret bade me dare! | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
| And when you open, eyes of my fond dove, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Your look will shine with new delight, made sure | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| By this forerunner of a faithful love. | 10 | ··/·˘··/˘· |
| Tis just, dear eyes, so pensive and so pure, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| That you should bear the sealing kisses true | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Of love unhoped that came to me through you. | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| This was my thought; but when beneath the rose | 10 | ·········· |
| That hides the lonely bench where lovers rest, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| In friendly dusk I held her on my breast | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| For one brief moment,--while I saw you close, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Dear, yielding eyes, as if your lids, blue-veined | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| And pure, were meekly fain at last to bear | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| The proffered homage of my wistful prayer,-- | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| In that high moment, by your grace obtained, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Forgetting your avowals, your alarms, | 10 | ˘/˘·····˘/ |
| Your anguish and your tears, sweet weary eyes, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Forgetting that you gave her to my arms, | 10 | ˘/˘······· |
| I broke my promise; and my first caress, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Ungrateful, sought her lips in sweet surprise,-- | 10 | ˘/˘·····˘/ |
| Her lips, which breathed a word of tenderness! | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
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