When
Ella Wheeler Wilcox 1855 (Janesville) – 1919
I dwell in the western inland,
Afar from the sounding sea,
But I seem to hear it sobbing
And calling aloud to me,
And my heart cries out for the ocean
As a child for its mother's breast,
And I long to lie on its waters
And be lulled in its arms to rest.
I can close my eyes and fancy
That I hear its mighty roar,
And I see its blue waves splashing
And plunging against the shore;
And the white foam caps the billow,
And the sea-gulls wheel and cry,
And the cool wild wind is blowing,
And the ships go sailing by.
Oh, wonderful, mighty ocean!
When shall I ever stand,
Where my heart has gone already,
There on thy gleaming strand!
When shall I ever wander
Away from the inland west,
And strand by thy side, dear ocean,
And rock on thy heaving breast?
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 45 sec read
- 73 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABCBDEXE BFCFXGCG DABAXEDE |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 761 |
Words | 150 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8 |
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"When" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 12 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/10994/when>.
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