In grey days



Measures of oil for others,
 Oil and red wine,
Lips laugh and drink, but never
 Are the lips mine.

Worlds at the feet of others,
 Power gods have known,
Hearts for the favoured round me
 Mine beats, alone.

Fame offering to others
 Chaplets of bays,
I with no crown of laurels,
 Only grey days.

Sweet human love for others,
 Deep as the sea,
God-sent unto my neighbour--
 But not to me.

Sometime I'll wrest from others
 More than all this,
I shall demand from Heaven
 Far sweeter bliss.

What profit then to others,
 Laughter and wine?
I'll have what most they covet--
 Death, will be mine.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 28, 2023

33 sec read
110

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABCB ADED AFXF AECE AGXG ABXB
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 596
Words 108
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4

Emily Pauline Johnson

Emily Pauline Johnson Tekahionwake commonly known as E Pauline Johnson or just Pauline Johnson was a Canadian writer and performer popular in the late 19th century Pauline Johnson was notable for her poems and performances that celebrated her aboriginal heritage One such poem is the frequently anthologized The Song My Paddle Sings Her poetry was published in Canada the United States and Great Britain Johnson was one of a generation of widely read writers who began to define a Canadian national literature more…

All Emily Pauline Johnson poems | Emily Pauline Johnson Books

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