Impatience
How can I wait until you come to me?The once fleet mornings linger by the way,Their sunny smiles touched with malicious gleeAt my unrest; they seem to pause, and playLike truant children, while I sigh and say,How can I wait?
How can I wait? Of old, the rapid hoursRefused to pause or loiter with me long;But now they idly fill their hands with flowers,And make no haste, but slowly stroll amongThe summer blooms, not heeding my one song,How can I wait?
How can I wait? The nights alone are kind;They reach forth to a future day, and bringSweet dreams of you to people all my mind;And time speeds by on light and airy wing.I feast upon your face, I no more sing,How can I wait?
How can I wait? The morning breaks the spellA pitying night has flung upon my soul.You are not near me, and I know full wellMy heart has need of patience and control;Before we meet, hours, days, and weeks must roll.How can I wait?
How can I wait? Oh, love, how can I waitUntil the sunlight of your eyes shall shineUpon my world that seems so desolate?Until your hand-clasp warms my blood like wine;Until you come again, oh, love of mine,How can I wait?
Words in this poem
- sunny a.
- Of or pertaining to the sun; proceeding from, or resembling the sun; hence, shining; bright; brilliant; radiant.
- glee n.
- Music; minstrelsy; entertainment.
- unrest n.
- Want of rest or repose; unquietness; sleeplessness; uneasiness; disquietude.
- pitying a.
- Expressing pity; as, a pitying eye, glance, or word.
- 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
Impatience is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems of Passion, Project Gutenberg ebook #16776; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Impatience, in Poems of Passion (1883), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16776, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/wilcox-passion/impatience.html, id L22139.
Form and metre
Impatience is 30 lines in 5 stanzas of 6 lines each. 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 ABABB- meA · wayB · gleeA · playB · sayB · wait
- 2 ABA-B- hoursA · longB · flowersA · among · songB · wait
- 3 ABABB- kindA · bringB · mindA · wingB · singB · wait
- 4 ABABB- spellA · soulB · wellA · controlB · rollB · wait
- 5 ABABBA waitA · shineB · desolateA · wineB · mineB · waitA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| How can I wait until you come to me? | 10 | ·········· |
| The once fleet mornings linger by the way, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Their sunny smiles touched with malicious glee | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| At my unrest; they seem to pause, and play | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| Like truant children, while I sigh and say, | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| How can I wait? | 4 | ···· |
| How can I wait? Of old, the rapid hours | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| Refused to pause or loiter with me long; | 10 | ˘/···/˘··· |
| But now they idly fill their hands with flowers, | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| And make no haste, but slowly stroll among | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| The summer blooms, not heeding my one song, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| How can I wait? | 4 | ···· |
| How can I wait? The nights alone are kind; | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| They reach forth to a future day, and bring | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Sweet dreams of you to people all my mind; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And time speeds by on light and airy wing. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| I feast upon your face, I no more sing, | 10 | ·········· |
| How can I wait? | 4 | ···· |
| How can I wait? The morning breaks the spell | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| A pitying night has flung upon my soul. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| You are not near me, and I know full well | 10 | ·········· |
| My heart has need of patience and control; | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Before we meet, hours, days, and weeks must roll. | 10 | ····/····· |
| How can I wait? | 4 | ···· |
| How can I wait? Oh, love, how can I wait | 10 | ·········· |
| Until the sunlight of your eyes shall shine | 10 | ···/······ |
| Upon my world that seems so desolate? | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Until your hand-clasp warms my blood like wine; | 10 | ·········· |
| Until you come again, oh, love of mine, | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| How can I wait? | 4 | ···· |
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.