Every Morning I Wake

Every morning when I wake,
Dear Lord, a little prayer I make,
O please do keep Thy loving eye
On all poor creatures born to die

And every evening at sun-down
I ask a blessing on the town,
For whether we last the night or no
I’m sure is always touch-and-go.

We are not wholly bad or good
Who live our lives under Milk Wood,
And Thou, I know, wilt be the first
To see our best side, not our worst.

O let us see another day!
Bless us all this night, I pray,
And to the sun we all will bow
And say, good-bye – but just for now!

              – Dylan Thomas

GLOSSARY

Milk Wood (n.): a wooded area in the hills above a Welsh seaside village of Llareggub in Dylan Thomas’ play Under Milk Wood
touch-and-go (adj.): fraught with danger; uncertain

Key Points

• Composed by Dylan Thomas, a Welsh poet
• Form: 4 quatrains with rhyming scheme abab
• a lyric poem of prayer interceding God to have mercy upon the poor people throughout the day and protect them all night to see yet another day.

Summary and Interpretation of the Poem

This poem “Every Morning I Wake” is an extract from Under Milk Wood, a radio play written by a Welsh poet, Dylan Thomas. In this poem, Thomas prays to the magnificent God to have mercy on ordinary inhabitants living under the Milk Wood.

Composed in four quatrains and rhyming scheme aabb, this poem is simply a song of prayer. In the first stanza the speaker makes a morning prayer to his Lord to remember and care for all the poor mortals of his town.  

In the second stanza the speaker makes an evening prayer to the Lord to bless the town through the night, for night is dark, dangerous, and uncertain – not knowing whether one would live to see the next morning or not.  

In the third stanza the speaker pleads the Lord to consider the people of his town, which lies under Milk Wood, as ordinary human beings who are neither wholly bad nor wholly good. And he also tries to persuade the Lord to like them and see their best side, not the worst side.

In the fourth stanza, the speaker once again pleads God to allow them to see another day by blessing them and keeping them safe all night. Feeling thus assured of safety, the town-dwellers are ready to bow and say good bye to the sun – but just for the night, for the next morning they are to meet the sun again.