A Birthday

Frederick George Scott 1861 (Montreal, Quebec) – 1944 (Quebec City, Quebec)



THE three Fates sat in a house of birth,
    Ah, well a day; ah, well a day;
Their eyes were bright, but not with mirth—
They have no love for the sons of earth—
    And their lips were parched and gray.
5

Their gray locks hung from brow to chin,
    Ah, well a day; ah, well a day;
One held the distaff, and one did spin,
And one held shears in her fingers thin;
    Three silent hags were they.
10

We saw not the thread which the sisters spun,
    Ah, well a day; ah, well a day;
Nor whether in white or in black begun,
But on her with the shears, that elder one,
    Our eyes were fixed alway.
15

A thread, I ween, of tangled years,
    Ah, well a day; ah, well a day;
God stay her hand that holds the shears;
Our hopes are stronger than our fears
    For the bud upon life's spray.
20

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

48 sec read
141

Quick analysis:

Scheme aBaabc dBddbc eBeexc fBxfbc
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 777
Words 159
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 6, 6, 6, 6

Frederick George Scott

Frederick George Scott was a Canadian poet and author, known as the Poet of the Laurentians. He is sometimes associated with Canada's Confederation Poets, a group that included Charles G. D. Roberts, Bliss Carman, Archibald Lampman, and Duncan Campbell Scott. Scott published 13 books of Christian and patriotic poetry. Scott was a British imperialist who wrote many hymns to the British Empire—eulogizing his country's roles in the Boer Wars and World War I. Many of his poems use the natural world symbolically to convey deeper spiritual meaning. Frederick George Scott was the father of poet F. R. Scott. more…

All Frederick George Scott poems | Frederick George Scott Books

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