Ancestral

Archibald MacLeish 1892 (Glencoe) – 1982 (Boston)



The star dissolved in evening—the one star
The silently
and night O soon now, soon
And still the light now
and still now the large
Relinquishing
and through the pools of blue
Still, still the swallows
and a wind now
and the tree
Gathering darkness:
I was small. I lay
Beside my mother on the grass, and sleep
Came—

slow hooves and dripping with the dark
The velvet muzzles, the white feet that move
In a dream water
and O soon now soon
Sleep and the night.

And I was not afraid.
Her hand lay over mine. Her fingers knew
Darkness,—and sleep—the silent lands, the far
Far off of morning where I should awake.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

35 sec read
79

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABCDXXEXDBXXXX XXXCX XEAX
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 622
Words 117
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 14, 5, 4

Archibald MacLeish

Archibald MacLeish was an American poet, writer, and the Librarian of Congress. more…

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