SOME TIME by Eugene Field: Summary, Meaning & Analysis
A father gazes at his sleeping child, filled with a love so profound that he knows the child won't fully comprehend it yet.
The poem
Last night, my darling, as you slept, I thought I heard you sigh, And to your little crib I crept, And watched a space thereby; And then I stooped and kissed your brow, For oh! I love you so-- You are too young to know it now, But some time you shall know! Some time when, in a darkened place Where others come to weep, Your eyes shall look upon a face Calm in eternal sleep, The voiceless lips, the wrinkled brow, The patient smile shall show-- You are too young to know it now, But some time you may know! Look backward, then, into the years, And see me here to-night-- See, O my darling! how my tears Are falling as I write; And feel once more upon your brow The kiss of long ago-- You are too young to know it now, But some time you shall know. End of Project Gutenberg's A Little Book of Western Verse, by Eugene Field
A father gazes at his sleeping child, filled with a love so profound that he knows the child won't fully comprehend it yet. He envisions the moment when the child will stand by his grave, finally realizing just how deeply he was loved. This poem serves as a message that transcends time, from a living parent to a future adult who will one day mourn.
Line-by-line
Last night, my darling, as you slept, / I thought I heard you sigh,
Some time when, in a darkened place / Where others come to weep,
Look backward, then, into the years, / And see me here to-night--
Tone & mood
Tender and quietly sorrowful, with an underlying sense of acceptance. Field never veers into self-pity. The speaker isn't seeking sympathy — he’s just capturing a love that remains unrecognized. There’s a certain tranquility in the poem’s sadness, reflecting how one can experience both grief and gratitude simultaneously.
Symbols & metaphors
- The sleeping child — Innocence that truly doesn't recognize the emotional world around it. The child's sleep isn't a metaphor for death — it's real sleep — but it does form a one-sided closeness where the parent perceives everything while the child perceives nothing.
- The kiss on the brow — A gesture that runs through the entire poem. In the first stanza, it’s offered to a living, sleeping child, and it's remembered in the last stanza as "the kiss of long ago." This same physical act serves as a connection spanning a lifetime.
- The darkened place / the calm face — The speaker's own corpse is described without hesitation. The "patient smile" on the lifeless face hints at a life marked by quiet resilience. By presenting his death in such straightforward terms, Field removes any sentimentality, allowing the poem's grief to resonate more profoundly.
- Tears falling as I write — The act of writing the poem becomes part of the poem itself. The tears serve as evidence — a direct testament to the future child that this love was genuine and felt on this particular night.
- The refrain ("some time you shall / may know") — The repeated line acts as the backbone of the poem. The slight shift — changing "shall" to "may" in the middle stanza before reverting to "shall" — reflects the speaker's journey through confidence, doubt, and ultimately, a decision about whether love can genuinely be conveyed beyond time and death.
Historical context
Eugene Field wrote this poem in the late 1800s, a time when child mortality rates were high and parents faced the grim reality that they could lose their children at a young age. Field himself had eight kids and earned the nickname "poet of childhood" in American literature. In this poem, he flips the typical fears of that time: instead of the child facing early death, it's the parent who contemplates their own mortality while imagining their child living into adulthood. Field included it in *A Little Book of Western Verse* (1889), which was intended for everyday readers rather than literary critics. Its straightforward language and catchy ballad rhythm led to it being widely shared in newspapers and gift books, much like how popular songs spread today. Field passed away in 1895 at just 45, adding a personal touch to the poem—he didn't get to witness his children grow up.
FAQ
The speaker, likely the poet himself, is addressing his young child who is peacefully sleeping in a crib. The child is unaware of the words being spoken, which is central to the poem's message.
It means: one day, when you’ve grown up and I’m no longer here, you will truly see how deeply I loved you. The speaker understands that the child is too young to fully appreciate a parent's love at this moment, but believes that experiencing grief — standing at a parent's grave — will bring that understanding to light.
It’s a moment of honesty. The speaker knows he loves the child, but he can't be entirely sure that even death will help the child understand. "May" captures that uncertainty. The shift back to "shall" in the final stanza reflects a choice to believe in it regardless.
The parent is dying. In the second stanza, the speaker envisions their own future funeral — the "calm face" in the "darkened place" belongs to them. The child is pictured as an adult, standing over the parent's body.
Each stanza uses an ABAB rhyme scheme and alternates between iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter — the same structure found in classic ballads and hymns. This song-like rhythm contributes to the poem's simplicity and emotional clarity.
It brings the poem closer to real life. He isn’t just talking about an emotion — he’s giving the child (as a future reader) tangible proof of it. The tears are part of the message.
Almost certainly, yes. Field had several young children when he wrote it, and he passed away at 45, so his children were still young at the time of his death. Regardless of whether he anticipated his early death, the poem expresses a genuine parent's deep fear of being loved too late.
Most Victorian poems about children highlight either the child's innocence or the fear of losing them. This poem takes a different approach — the parent envisions his own death and asks the child to remember *him*. It's less about safeguarding childhood and more about the unreciprocated aspect of parental love.