Atoll
Robert William Service 1874 – 1958
The woes of men beyond my ken
Mean nothing more to me.
Behold my world, and Eden hurled
From Heaven to the Sea;
A jeweled home, in fending foam
Tempestuously tossed;
A virgin isle none dare defile,
Far-flung, forgotten, lost.
And here I dwell, where none may tell
Me tales of mortal strife;
Let millions die, immune am I,
And radiant with life.
No echo comes of evil drums,
To vex my dawns divine;
Aloof, alone I hold my throne,
And Majesty is mine.
Ghost ships pass by, and glad am I
They make no sign to me.
The green corn springs, the gilt vine clings,
The net is in the sea.
My paradise around me lies,
Remote from wrath and wrong;
My isle is clean, unsought, unseen,
And innocent with song.
Here let me dwell in beauty's spell,
As tranquil as a tree;
Here let me bide, where wind and tide
Bourdon that I am free;
Here let me know from human woe
The rapture of release:
The rich caress of Loveliness,
The plenitude of Peace.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 54 sec read
- 72 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | XAXAXBCB CDEDFGXG EAXAXHXH CAXAXIFI |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 905 |
Words | 179 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8 |
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"Atoll" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 13 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/31995/atoll>.
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