Three Eternities
Lo, thou and I, my love,And the sad stars above,--Thou and I, I and thou!Ah could we lie as nowEver and aye, my love,Hand within hand, my love,Heart within heart, my dove,Through night and dayFor ever!
Lo, thou and I, my love,Up in the sky above,Where the sun makes his homeAnd the gods are, my love,One day may wander fromStar unto star, my love,--Soul within soul, my love,Yonder afarFor ever!
Lo, thou and I, my love,Some time shall lie, my love,Knowing not night from day,Knowing not toil from rest,--Breast unto breast, my love,Even as now for aye:Clay within clay, my love,Clay within clayFor ever!
Words in this poem
- yonder adv.
- At a distance, but within view. [OE. yonder, ýonder; cf. OD. ginder, Goth. jaindr there. Yond, adv.]
- afar adv.
- At, to, or from a great distance; far away; -- often used with from preceding, or off following; as, he was seen from afar; I saw him afar off. [Pref. a-.(for on or of) + far.]
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Three Eternities is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of William Watson, Project Gutenberg ebook #13179; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: William Watson, Three Eternities, in The Poems of William Watson (1892–1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #13179, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/watson-poems/three-eternities.html, id L11370.
Form and metre
Three Eternities is 27 lines in 3 stanzas of 9 lines each. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 5.4 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 22% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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 AABBAAA-- loveA · aboveA · thouB · nowB · loveA · loveA · doveA · day · ever
- 2 AABABAA-- loveA · aboveA · homeB · loveA · fromB · loveA · loveA · afar · ever
- 3 AAB-A-AB- loveA · loveA · dayB · rest · loveA · aye · loveA · clayB · ever
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Lo, thou and I, my love, | 6 | ······ |
| And the sad stars above,-- | 6 | ······ |
| Thou and I, I and thou! | 6 | ······ |
| Ah could we lie as now | 6 | ······ |
| Ever and aye, my love, | 6 | /˘···· |
| Hand within hand, my love, | 6 | ······ |
| Heart within heart, my dove, | 6 | ······ |
| Through night and day | 4 | ···· |
| For ever! | 3 | ·/˘ |
| Lo, thou and I, my love, | 6 | ······ |
| Up in the sky above, | 6 | ······ |
| Where the sun makes his home | 6 | ······ |
| And the gods are, my love, | 6 | ······ |
| One day may wander from | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Star unto star, my love,-- | 6 | ······ |
| Soul within soul, my love, | 6 | ······ |
| Yonder afar | 4 | /˘˘/ |
| For ever! | 3 | ·/˘ |
| Lo, thou and I, my love, | 6 | ······ |
| Some time shall lie, my love, | 6 | ······ |
| Knowing not night from day, | 6 | /˘···· |
| Knowing not toil from rest,-- | 6 | /˘···· |
| Breast unto breast, my love, | 6 | ······ |
| Even as now for aye: | 6 | /˘···· |
| Clay within clay, my love, | 6 | ······ |
| Clay within clay | 4 | ···· |
| For ever! | 3 | ·/˘ |
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.