Poem in Prose

Archibald MacLeish 1892 (Glencoe) – 1982 (Boston)



This poem is for my wife.
I have made it plainly and honestly:
The mark is on it
Like the burl on the knife.

I have not made it for praise.
She has no more need for praise
Than summer has
Or the bright days.

In all that becomes a woman
Her words and her ways are beautiful:
Love's lovely duty,
the well-swept room.

Wherever she is there is sun
And time and a sweet air:
Peace is there,
Work done.

There are always curtains and flowers
And candles and baked bread
And a cloth spread
And a clean house.

Her voice when she sings is a voice
At dawn by a freshening spring
Where the wave leaps in the wind
And rejoices.

Wherever she is it is now.
It is here where the apples are:
Here in the stars,
In the quick hour.

The greatest and richest good,
My own life to live in,
This she has given me --

If giver could.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

50 sec read
110

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABXA CCXC DXBX DEED XFFX XXXC XXXX GXB G
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 785
Words 166
Stanzas 9
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 3, 1

Archibald MacLeish

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

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