Nest Eggs
Robert Louis Stevenson 1850 (Edinburgh) – 1894 (Vailima, Samoa)
Birds all the summer day
Flutter and quarrel
Here in the arbour-like
Tent of the laurel.
Here in the fork
The brown nest is seated;
For little blue eggs
The mother keeps heated.
While we stand watching her
Staring like gabies,
Safe in each egg are the
Bird's little babies.
Soon the frail eggs they shall
Chip, and upspringing
Make all the April woods
Merry with singing.
Younger than we are,
O children, and frailer,
Soon in the blue air they'll be,
Singer and sailor.
We, so much older,
Taller and stronger,
We shall look down on the
Birdies no longer.
They shall go flying
With musical speeches
High overhead in the
Tops of the beeches.
In spite of our wisdom
And sensible talking,
We on our feet must go
Plodding and walking.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 27, 2023
- 41 sec read
- 236 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | XABA XCDC EDFX XBXG XEXE EEFE GXFD XGXG |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 737 |
Words | 135 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
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"Nest Eggs" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 8 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/31650/nest-eggs>.
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