The Sick Wife
She had been ill for years and years;She sent for me to say something.She couldn’t say what she wantedBecause of the tears that kept coming of themselves.“I have burdened you with orphan children,With orphan children two or three.Don’t let our children go hungry or cold;If they do wrong, don’t slap or beat them.When you take out the baby, rock it in your arms.Don’t forget to do that.”Last she said,“When I carried them in my arms they had no clothesAnd now their jackets have no linings.” [She dies.
I shut the doors and barred the windowsAnd left the motherless children.When I got to the market and met my friends, I wept.I sat down and could not go with them.I asked them to buy some cakes for my children.In the presence of my friends I sobbed and cried.I tried not to grieve, but sorrow would not cease.I felt in my pocket and gave my friends some money.When I got home I found my childrenCalling to be taken into their mother’s arms.I walked up and down in the empty roomThis way and that a long while.Then I went away from it and said to myself“I will forget and never speak of her again.”
Words in this poem
- motherless a.
- Destitute of a mother; having lost a mother; as, motherless children. [AS. modorleás.]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Sick Wife is in the public domain. This text is taken from A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #42290, the Arthur Waley translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Various, The Sick Wife, in A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #42290, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/waley-chinese/the-sick-wife.html, id L18743.
Form and metre
The Sick Wife is 27 lines in 2 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. 91% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.8 syllables. 8 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 22% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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.
- 2 -A--A---A----- windows · childrenA · wept · them · childrenA · cried · cease · money · childrenA · arms · room · while · myself · again
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| She had been ill for years and years; | 8 | ········ |
| She sent for me to say something. | 8 | ······/˘ |
| She couldn’t say what she wanted | 8 | ·/˘···/˘ |
| Because of the tears that kept coming of themselves. | 12 | ·······/˘·˘/ |
| “I have burdened you with orphan children, | 10 | ··/˘··/˘/˘ |
| With orphan children two or three. | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Don’t let our children go hungry or cold; | 11 | ··/˘/˘·/˘·· |
| If they do wrong, don’t slap or beat them. | 9 | ········· |
| When you take out the baby, rock it in your arms. | 12 | ·····/˘····· |
| Don’t forget to do that.” | 6 | ·˘/··· |
| Last she said, | 3 | ··· |
| “When I carried them in my arms they had no clothes | 12 | ··/˘········ |
| And now their jackets have no linings.” [She dies. | 11 | ···/˘··/˘·· |
| I shut the doors and barred the windows | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| And left the motherless children. | 8 | ···/˘˘/˘ |
| When I got to the market and met my friends, I wept. | 13 | ·····/˘······ |
| I sat down and could not go with them. | 9 | ········· |
| I asked them to buy some cakes for my children. | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| In the presence of my friends I sobbed and cried. | 11 | ··/˘······· |
| I tried not to grieve, but sorrow would not cease. | 11 | ······/˘··· |
| I felt in my pocket and gave my friends some money. | 13 | ····/˘·····/˘ |
| When I got home I found my children | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Calling to be taken into their mother’s arms. | 12 | /˘··/˘···/˘· |
| I walked up and down in the empty room | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| This way and that a long while. | 7 | ······· |
| Then I went away from it and said to myself | 12 | ···˘/······/ |
| “I will forget and never speak of her again.” | 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.