Lyric Poem · Love

Light As The Linnet On My Way I Start

LIGHT as the linnet on my way I start,

For all my pack I bear a chartered heart.

Forth on the world without a guide or chart,

Content to know, through all man's varying fates,

The eternal woman by the wayside waits.

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“Light As The Linnet On My Way I Start” by Robert Louis Stevenson — quilloak.com/poems/light-as-the-linnet-on-my-way-i-start

Quick facts

Poem: Light As The Linnet On My Way I Start
Poet: Robert Louis Stevenson
Length: 5 lines
Form: Lyric Poem, Short Poems
Themes: Love, Short

Craft notes

How this poem works

Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.

Shape: 5 lines · one 5-line stanza
Line length: Mostly 10-syllable lines (pentameter length).

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Text, source & rights

A traceable edition

Full-text display is based on the committed source record and a United States term-expiry review.

Author record: Robert Louis Stevenson1850–1894
Source record: PoetryDBLight As The Linnet On My Way I Start by robert-louis-stevenson, PoetryDB transcription
Display decision: Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
Publication record: Not recorded in the imported source
Text fingerprint: SHA-256 e5f0b53c1cbddf85…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

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Lyric Poem Short Poems Love Short

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