Divine Detachment
Robert William Service 1874 – 1958
One day the Great Designer sought
His Clerk of Birth and Death.
Said he: "Two souls are in my thought,
to whom I gave life-breath.
I deemed my work was fitly done,
But yester-eve I saw
That in the finished brain of one
There was a tiny flaw.
"It worried me, and I would know,
Since I am all to blame,
What happened to them down below,
Of honour or of shame;
For if the later did befall,
My sorrow will be grave . . ."
Then numbers astronomical
unto the Clerk he gave.
The Keeper of the Rolls replied:
"Of them I've little trace;
But one he was a Prince of pride
And one of lowly race.
One was a Holy Saint proclaimed;
For one no hell sufficed . . . .
Let's see - the last was Nero named,
The other . . . Jesus Christ."
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 42 sec read
- 105 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABABCDCD EFEFXGXG HIHIJKJK |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 703 |
Words | 142 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8 |
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"Divine Detachment" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/32079/divine-detachment>.
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