Resignation
Well, you will triumph, dear and noble friend!The holy love that wounded you so deepWill bring you balm, and on your heart asleepThe fragrant dew of healing will descend.Your children,--ah, how quickly they will growBetween us, like a wall that fronts the sun,Lifting a screen with rosy buds o'errun,To hide the shaded path where I must go.
You'll walk in light; and dreaming less and lessOf him who droops in gloom beyond the wall,Your mother-soul will fill with happinessWhen first you hear your grandchild's babbling call,Beneath the braided bloom of flower and leafThat We has wrought to veil your vanished grief.
Then I alone shall suffer! I shall bearThe double burden of our grief alone,While I enlarge my soul to take your shareOf pain and hold it close beside my own.Our love is torn asunder; but the crownOf thorns that love has woven I will makeMy relic sacrosanct, and press it downUpon my bleeding heart that will not break.
Ah, that will be the depth of solitude!For my regret, that evermore endures,Will know that new-born hope has conquered yours;And when the evening comes, no gentle broodOf wondering children, gathered at my side,Will soothe away the tears I cannot hide.
Words in this poem
- 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,]
- sacrosanct a.
- Sacred; inviolable. Dr. H. More. [L. sucrosanctus.]
- evermore adv.
- During eternity; always; forever; for an indefinite period; at all times; -- often used substantively with for.
- soothe v. t.
- To assent to as true. Testament of Love. [Originally, to assent to as true; OE. so to verify, AS. ges to prove the truth of, to bear witness. See Sooth, a.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Resignation 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, Resignation, in The Poems of Henry Van Dyke (1925), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16229, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/van-dyke-poems/resignation.html, id L22833.
Form and metre
Resignation is 28 lines in 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
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 ABBACDDC friendA · deepB · asleepB · descendA · growC · sunD · o'errunD · goC
- 2 ABABCC lessA · wallB · happinessA · callB · leafC · griefC
- 3 ABABCDCD bearA · aloneB · shareA · ownB · crownC · makeD · downC · breakD
- 4 ABBACC solitudeA · enduresB · yoursB · broodA · sideC · hideC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Well, you will triumph, dear and noble friend! | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| The holy love that wounded you so deep | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Will bring you balm, and on your heart asleep | 10 | ········˘/ |
| The fragrant dew of healing will descend. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| Your children,--ah, how quickly they will grow | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Between us, like a wall that fronts the sun, | 10 | ·········· |
| Lifting a screen with rosy buds o'errun, | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| To hide the shaded path where I must go. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| You'll walk in light; and dreaming less and less | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Of him who droops in gloom beyond the wall, | 10 | ·········· |
| Your mother-soul will fill with happiness | 10 | ·/˘····/˘˘ |
| When first you hear your grandchild's babbling call, | 10 | ·····/·/˘· |
| Beneath the braided bloom of flower and leaf | 10 | ···/˘··/·· |
| That We has wrought to veil your vanished grief. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Then I alone shall suffer! I shall bear | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| The double burden of our grief alone, | 10 | ·/˘/˘·/·˘/ |
| While I enlarge my soul to take your share | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| Of pain and hold it close beside my own. | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| Our love is torn asunder; but the crown | 10 | /···˘/˘··· |
| Of thorns that love has woven I will make | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| My relic sacrosanct, and press it down | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘···· |
| Upon my bleeding heart that will not break. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Ah, that will be the depth of solitude! | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| For my regret, that evermore endures, | 10 | ··˘/·/˘·˘/ |
| Will know that new-born hope has conquered yours; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And when the evening comes, no gentle brood | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Of wondering children, gathered at my side, | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| Will soothe away the tears I cannot hide. | 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.