Midsummer Night, Not Dark, Not Light

Jean Ingelow 1820 (Boston) – 1897



Midsummer night, not dark, not light,
 Dusk all the scented air,
I'll e'en go forth to one I love,
 And learn how he doth fare.
O the ring, the ring, my dear, for me,
 The ring was a world too fine,
I wish it had sunk in a forty-fathom sea,
 Or ever thou mad'st it mine.

Soft falls the dew, stars tremble through,
 Where lone he sits apart,
Would I might steal his grief away
 To hide in mine own heart.
Would, would 'twere shut in yon blossom fair,
 The sorrow that bows thy head,
Then—I would gather it, to thee unaware,
 And break my heart in thy stead.

That charm?flower, far from thy bower,
 I'd bear the long hours through,
Thou should'st forget, and my sad breast
 The sorrows twain should rue.
O sad flower, O sad, sad ring to me.
 The ring was a world too fine;
And would it had sunk in a forty-fathom sea,
 Ere the morn that made it mine.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

51 sec read
59

Quick analysis:

Scheme xaxabCbc dexeafaf xdxdbCbc
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 835
Words 168
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8

Jean Ingelow

Jean Ingelow, was an English poet and novelist. more…

All Jean Ingelow poems | Jean Ingelow Books

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