Red-Tiled Roof
Robert William Service 1874 – 1958
Poets may praise a wattle thatch
Doubtfully waterproof;
Let me uplift my lowly latch
Beneath a rose-tiled roof.
Let it be gay and rich in hue,
Soft bleached by burning days,
Where skies ineffably are blue,
And seas a golden glaze.
But set me in the surly North
Beneath a roof of slate,
And as I sourly sally forth
My heart will hum with hate;
And I will brood beneath a pine
Where Nature seldom smiles,
Heart-longing for a starry vine
And roof of ruddy tiles.
For oh the South's a bonny clime
And sunshine is its life;
So there I'll finish up my time
A stranger unto strife.
And smoke my pipe and sit aloof
From care by miles and miles,
Sagaciously beneath a roof,
Geranium-gay and panic proof,
Of ruby tinted tiles.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 41 sec read
- 35 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABABCDCD EFEFGHGH IJIJBHBBH |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 700 |
Words | 136 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 9 |
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"Red-Tiled Roof" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/32388/red-tiled-roof>.
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