On a wife's death
Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson 1832 (Kvikne) – 1910 (Paris)
With death's dark eye acquainted she had been made ere this,
When to her son, her first-born, she gave the farewell kiss,
And when afar she hastened beside her mother's bed,
It followed all her faring with warning fraught and dread;
It filled her with foreboding when standing by the bier:
More sheaves to gather hopeth the harvester austere.
So soon she saw her husband, that man of strength, succumb,
She said with sorrow stricken: « I knew that it would come!'
She thought that he was chosen by God from earth to go,
Would check, her hands upthrusting, the harsh behest of woe;
And with her slender body, too weak for such a strife,
Would ward her gallant consort,-and gave for him her life.
She smiled, serene and blissful, as death's dark eye she braved;
Her sacrifice was given, her heart's proud hero saved.
Our love and admiration lifted a starry dome
Of happiness above her in life's last hour of gloam,
And snow-white pure she passed then to her eternal home.
Such tender love and holy to heaven's bounds can bear
The souls that it embraces in sacrifice and prayer.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:00 min read
- 120 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | AABBXXCCDDEE FFGGGHH |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic heptameter |
Characters | 1,066 |
Words | 196 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 12, 7 |
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"On a wife's death" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/4381/on-a-wife's-death>.
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