I Saw A New World

William Brighty Rands 1823 (Chelsea, Middlesex) – 1882 (East Dulwich, London)



I SAW a new world in my dream,  
Where all the folks alike did seem:  
There was no Child, there was no Mother,  
There was no Change, there was no Other.  
 
For everything was Same, the Same;  
There was no praise, there was no blame;  
There was neither Need nor Help for it;  
There was nothing fitting or unfit.  
 
Nobody laugh’d, nobody wept;  
None grew weary, so none slept;
There was nobody born, and nobody wed;  
This world was a world of the living-dead.  
 
I long’d to hear the Time-Clock strike  
In the world where people were all alike;  
I hated Same, I hated Forever;
I long’d to say Neither, or even Never.  
 
I long’d to mend, I long’d to make;  
I long’d to give, I long’d to take;  
I long’d for a change, whatever came after,  
I long’d for crying, I long’d for laughter.
 
At last I heard the Time-Clock boom,  
And woke from my dream in my little room;  
With a smile on her lips my Mother was nigh,  
And I heard the Baby crow and cry.  
 
And I thought to myself, How nice it is
For me to live in a world like this,  
Where things can happen, and clocks can strike,  
And none of the people are made alike;  
 
Where Love wants this, and Pain wants that,  
Where all our hearts want Tit for Tat
In the jumbles we make with our heads and our hands,  
In a world that nobody understands,  
But with work, and hope, and the right to call  
Upon Him who sees it and knows us all!

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 14, 2023

1:20 min read
84

Quick analysis:

Scheme AABB CCDD EEFF GGBB HHBB IIJJ XXGG KKLLMM
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,394
Words 267
Stanzas 8
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 6

William Brighty Rands

William Brighty Rands (24 December 1823, Chelsea, Middlesex — 23 April 1882, East Dulwich, London) was a British writer and one of the major authors of nursery rhymes of the Victorian era.  more…

All William Brighty Rands poems | William Brighty Rands Books

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    "I Saw A New World" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/39220/i-saw-a-new-world>.

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