Hide and Seek II
Long ago he left me, long and long ago;Now I wander thro' the world, seeking high and low.Hidden safe and happy, in some pleasant place,--If I could but hear his voice, soon I'd see his face!Far away,Many a day,Where can Barney be?Answer, dear,Don't you hear?Coo-ee, coo-ee, coo-ee!
Birds that every spring-time sung him full of joy,Flowers he loved to pick for me, mind me of my boy.Somewhere he is waiting till my steps come nigh;Love may hide itself awhile, but love can never die.Heart, be glad,The little ladWill call again to thee:"Father dear,Heaven is here,Coo-ee, coo-ee, coo-ee!"
Words in this poem
- somewhere adv.
- In some place unknown or not specified; in one place or another.
- awhile adv.
- For a while; for some time; for a short time. [Adj. a + while time, interval.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Hide and Seek II 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, Hide and Seek II, in The Poems of Henry Van Dyke (1925), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16229, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/van-dyke-poems/hide-and-seek-ii.html, id L22858.
Form and metre
Hide and Seek II is 20 lines in 2 stanzas of 10 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABBCCDEED. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic pentameter.
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 AABBCCDEED agoA · lowA · placeB · faceB · awayC · dayC · beD · dearE · hearE · eeD
- 2 AABBCCDEED joyA · boyA · nighB · dieB · gladC · ladC · theeD · dearE · hereE · eeD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Long ago he left me, long and long ago; | 11 | ·˘/······˘/ |
| Now I wander thro' the world, seeking high and low. | 12 | ··/˘···/˘··· |
| Hidden safe and happy, in some pleasant place,-- | 11 | /˘··/˘··/˘· |
| If I could but hear his voice, soon I'd see his face! | 12 | ············ |
| Far away, | 3 | ·˘/ |
| Many a day, | 4 | /˘·· |
| Where can Barney be? | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Answer, dear, | 3 | /˘· |
| Don't you hear? | 3 | ··· |
| Coo-ee, coo-ee, coo-ee! | 6 | ······ |
| Birds that every spring-time sung him full of joy, | 11 | ··/˘······· |
| Flowers he loved to pick for me, mind me of my boy. | 12 | /··········· |
| Somewhere he is waiting till my steps come nigh; | 11 | /···/˘····· |
| Love may hide itself awhile, but love can never die. | 12 | ···˘/˘/···/· |
| Heart, be glad, | 3 | ··· |
| The little lad | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Will call again to thee: | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| "Father dear, | 3 | /˘· |
| Heaven is here, | 4 | /˘·· |
| Coo-ee, coo-ee, coo-ee!" | 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.