Sonnet V.
Fernando Pessoa 1888 (Lisbon District) – 1935 (Lisbon)
How can I think, or edge my thoughts to action,
When the miserly press of each day's need
Aches to a narrowness of spilled distraction
My soul appalled at the world's work's time-greed?
How can I pause my thoughts upon the task
My soul was born to think that it must do
When every moment has a thought to ask
To fit the immediate craving of its cue?
The coin I'd heap for marrying my Muse
And build our home i'th' greater Time-to-be
Becomes dissolved by needs of each day's use
And I feel beggared of infinity,
Like a true-Christian sinner, each day flesh-driven
By his own act to forfeit his wished heaven.
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Submitted on August 03, 2020
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 35 sec read
- 12 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABABCDCDEFGFAA |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 594 |
Words | 113 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 14 |
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"Sonnet V." Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 13 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/55212/sonnet-v.>.
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