COME NEAR ME: a samisen

COME NEAR ME: a samisen


Let there come a day when you, come near me.
Come near me.
I shall wait for you my dear, come near me.
When you come you’ll find that my heart,
Which for you indeed did wait.
Never lost hope nor did falter,
And its quest did not abate.
Come near me.

With my sweet love I shall greet, come near me.
Come near me.
I shall kiss your lips so deep, come near me.
My kiss will be so sweet that you
Will remember it ever.
You may forget everything but
This you will forget never.
Come near me.

How shall I love you when you come near me.
Come near me.
I shall die in love when you come near me.
Moments spent with you will be the
Sweetest moments of my life.
In that moment we would vow that
We become husband and wife.
Come near me.



* For practical purposes, the samisen may be described as follows:
A. It is a 3 stanza poem with 8 lines in a stanza.

B. Each 8 line stanza may be considered as having three parts:
a. An opening tercet
b. A quatrain
c. A refrain

C. The opening tercet consists of 2 large lines with a small line in between. The middle small line consists of a single foot [3 syllables] in the form of an amphimacer [two accented syllables with an unaccented in between—such as Peter Pan]. Each of the first and third large lines has two parts—a main part of 4 feet [Three full trochees of 2 syllables each and a half trochee of one stressed syllable] or 7 syllables and an end part of one foot [an amphimacer of 3 syllables]—Total 10 syllables

D. The quatrain part is like any other regular abcb, 8-7-8-7 quatrain, in which the 8 syllable lines have 4 feet [4 trochees] while the 7 syllable lines have 3 feet [2 trochees and 1 dactyl]. However, some poets use instead the 8-8-7-7, abcb scheme. I have also seen 8888, abcb scheme being used.

E. The end refrain is repetition of line 2, the middle line of the tercet.

F. RHYME SCHEME—It is obvious that four out of the eight lines have the refrain (the three syllable amphimacer). These are the first three and the last. Of these, the second and the last line are short, consisting of the 3-syllable refrain foot only. The remaining four lines constitute the abcb quatrain. Thus, the distinguishing rhyme scheme of the 8-line stanza is that the stanza may be said to be an abcb quatrain to which four refrain lines have been added.

G. METER--The quatrain lines are classically 8-7-8-7, alternatively 8-8-7-7. The 8 syllable lines have 4 feet [4 trochees] while the 7 syllable lines have 3 feet [2 trochees and 1 dactyl].The refrain lines, line 2 and 8,consist of a single amphimacer foot. The same amphimacer refrain is present at the end of lines 1 and 3, the remaining part consisting of four feet [Three full trochees of 2 syllables each and a half trochee of one stressed syllable] or 7 syllables.


• Initially written as entry no. 485170 (now deleted) in the book LOVE POEMS, "LOVE POEMS" . Posted as the present static item on 2 September 2008.


M C Gupta
2 February 2007