Check

James Stephens 1882 (Dublin) – 1950



The night was creeping on the ground;
She crept and did not make a sound
Until she reached the tree, and then
She covered it, and sole again
Along the grass beside the wall.

I heard the rustle of her shawl
As she threw blackness everywhere
Upon the sky and ground and air,
And in the room where I was hid:
But no matter what she did
To everything that was without,
She could not put my candle out.

So I stared at the night, and she
Stared back solemnly at me.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 18, 2023

28 sec read
575

Quick analysis:

Scheme AABBC CDDEEFF GG
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 454
Words 94
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 5, 7, 2

James Stephens

James Stephens was an Irish Republican and the founding member of an originally unnamed revolutionary organisation in Dublin on 17 March 1858, later to become known as the Irish Republican Brotherhood, also referred to as the Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood by contemporaries. more…

All James Stephens poems | James Stephens Books

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    "Check" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/20512/check>.

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