The Trio
We love but once. The great gold orb of lightFrom dawn to even-tide doth cast his ray;But the full splendor of his perfect mightIs reached but once throughout the livelong day.
We love but once. The waves, with ceaseless motion,Do day and night plash on the pebbled shore;But the strong tide of the resistless oceanSweeps in but one hour of the twenty-four.
We love but once. A score of times, perchance,We may be moved in fancy's fleeting fashion--May treasure up a word, a tone, a glance;But only once we feel the soul's great passion.
We love but once. Love walks with death and birth(The saddest, the unkindest of the three);And only once while we sojourn on earthCan that strange trio come to you or me.
Words in this poem
- livelong a.
- Whole; entire; long in passing; -- used of time, as day or night, in adverbial phrases, and usually with a sense of tediousness. [For lifelong. Cf. Lifelong.]
- ceaseless a.
- Without pause or end; incessant.
- pebbled a.
- Abounding in pebbles. Thomson.
- resistless a.
- Having no power to resist; making no opposition.
- sojourn v. i.
- To dwell for a time; to dwell or live in a place as a temporary resident or as a stranger, not considering the place as a permanent habitation; to delay; to tarry. [OE. sojornen, sojournen, OF. sojorner, sejorner, F. séjourner, fr. L. sub under, about + diurnus belonging to the day. See Journal, Diurnal.]
- trio n.
- Three, considered collectively; three in company or acting together; a set of three; three united. [It., fr. L. tres, tria, three: cf. F. trio, from the Italian. See Three.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Trio 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, The Trio, in Poems of Passion (1883), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16776, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/wilcox-passion/the-trio.html, id L22181.
Form and metre
The Trio is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
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 ABAB lightA · rayB · mightA · dayB
- 2 ABAB motionA · shoreB · oceanA · fourB
- 3 ABAB perchanceA · fashionB · glanceA · passionB
- 4 ABAB birthA · threeB · earthA · meB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| We love but once. The great gold orb of light | 10 | ·········· |
| From dawn to even-tide doth cast his ray; | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| But the full splendor of his perfect might | 10 | ···/˘··/·· |
| Is reached but once throughout the livelong day. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| We love but once. The waves, with ceaseless motion, | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| Do day and night plash on the pebbled shore; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| But the strong tide of the resistless ocean | 11 | ······˘/˘/˘ |
| Sweeps in but one hour of the twenty-four. | 10 | ····/··/˘· |
| We love but once. A score of times, perchance, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| We may be moved in fancy's fleeting fashion-- | 11 | ·····/˘/˘/˘ |
| May treasure up a word, a tone, a glance; | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| But only once we feel the soul's great passion. | 11 | ·/˘······/˘ |
| We love but once. Love walks with death and birth | 10 | ·········· |
| (The saddest, the unkindest of the three); | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘··· |
| And only once while we sojourn on earth | 10 | ·/˘···/˘·· |
| Can that strange trio come to you or me. | 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.