My Picture
Robert William Service 1874 – 1958
I made a picture; all my heart
I put in it, and all I knew
Of canvas-cunning and of Art,
Of tenderness and passion true.
A worshipped Master came to see;
Oh he was kind and gentle, too.
He studied it with sympathy,
And sensed what I had sought to do.
Said he: "Your paint is fresh and fair,
And I can praise it without cease;
And yet a touch just here and there
Would make of it a masterpiece."
He took the brush from out my hand;
He touched it here, he touched it there.
So well he seemed to understand,
And momently it grew more fair.
Oh there was nothing I could say,
And there was nothing I could do.
I thanked him, and he went his way,
And then - I slashed my picture through.
For though his brush with soft caress
Had made my daub a thing divine,
Oh God! I wept with bitterness,
. . . It wasn't mine, it wasn't mine.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 50 sec read
- 81 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABABCBCB DEDEFDFD GBGBXHXH |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 807 |
Words | 167 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8 |
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"My Picture" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 26 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/32303/my-picture>.
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