The Passing of the Hours

Ella Higginson 1862 – 1940



The hours steal by with still, unasking lips—
     So lightly that I cannot hear their tread;
And softly touch me with their finger-tips
     To find if I be dreaming, or be dead.

And yet however still their flight may be,
     Their ceaseless going weights my heart with tears;
These touches will have wrought deep scars on me—
     When the light hours have worn to heavy years.
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Submitted by halel on July 13, 2020

Modified on April 26, 2023

19 sec read
126

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABAB CXCX
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 377
Words 66
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 4, 4

Ella Higginson

Ella Rhoads Higginson (c. January 28, 1862 – December 27, 1940) was an American author of award-winning fiction, poetry, and essays characteristically set in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. She was the author of 2 collections of short stories, 6 books of poetry, a novel, a travel book, well over 100 short stories, over 400 poems, and hundreds of newspaper essays. She was influential for the ways her writing drew international attention to the then little-known Pacific Northwest region of the United States.  more…

All Ella Higginson poems | Ella Higginson Books

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