The Wanderer

Mathilde Blind 1841 (Mannheim) – 1896 (London)



ON unknown paths I falter forth,
A homeless wand'rer in the world;
Doubtful I flit across the earth,
Whither by blowing fates I'm hurled.

I grope about the pathless wood;
I tread along the boundless plain;
And with the wind's capricious mood,
I sink and rise upon the main.

The lonely cloud within the sky,
That by conflicting gales is torn,
Sways to and fro no more than I,
Now eastward, and now westward borne.

The crested billow on the deep
Knows to which shore its current lies;
The blast--the realms which he must sweep;
The ant--the hill to which it hies.

The stork that seeks the tropic glows,
It knoweth whither it is bound;
And the revolving planet knows
The circle of its luminous round.

But I, confusèd, seek a way
In darkness here; I fall, I sigh,
Upon a broken wing I stray,
And all my help lies in a cry!

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 13, 2023

47 sec read
70

Quick analysis:

Scheme XAXA XBXB CDCD EFEF GHGH ICIC
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 804
Words 155
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4

Mathilde Blind

Mathilde Blind, was a German-born British poet. Her work was praised by Matthew Arnold and French politician and historian Louis Blanc. more…

All Mathilde Blind poems | Mathilde Blind Books

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