The Last Act
Edith Nesbit 1858 (Kennington, Surrey ) – 1924 (New Romney, Kent)
NEVER a ring or a lock of hair
Or a letter stained with tears,
No crown for the princely hour to wear,
To be mocked of the rebel years.
Not a spoken vow, not a written page
And never a rose or a rhyme
To tell to the wintry ear of age
The tale of the summer time.
Never a tear or a farewell kiss
When the time is come to part;
For the kiss would burn and the tear would hiss
On the smouldering fire in my heart.
But let me creep to the kindly clay,
And nothing be left to tell
How I played in your play a year and a day,
And died when the curtain fell!
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 36 sec read
- 29 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | AXAXBCBC DEDEFGFG |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 558 |
Words | 122 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8 |
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"The Last Act" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/8975/the-last-act>.
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