Breton Afternoon
Ernest Christopher Dowson 1867 – 1900
Here, where the breath of the scented-gorse floats through the
sun-stained air,
On a steep hill-side, on a grassy ledge, I have lain hours long
and heard
Only the faint breeze pass in a whisper like a prayer,
And the river ripple by and the distant call of a bird.
On the lone hill-side, in the gold sunshine, I will hush me and
repose,
And the world fades into a dream and a spell is cast on me;
_And what was all the strife about, for the myrtle or the rose,
And why have I wept for a white girl's paleness passing ivory!_
Out of the tumult of angry tongues, in a land alone, apart,
In a perfumed dream-land set betwixt the bounds of life and death,
Here will I lie while the clouds fly by and delve an hole where my
heart
May sleep deep down with the gorse above and red, red earth beneath.
Sleep and be quiet for an afternoon, till the rose-white angelus
Softly steals my way from the village under the hill:
_Mother of God, O Misericord, look down in pity on us,
The weak and blind who stand in our light and wreak ourselves such ill_.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:01 min read
- 59 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | XAXBAB XCXCA DXXDX CEXE |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 1,029 |
Words | 205 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 5, 5, 4 |
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"Breton Afternoon" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 10 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/12778/breton-afternoon>.
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