A Story At Dusk Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AB CDDEFDGHDIAJKDLMNOPH GDQRSTUDDDVDWXIYDIZD D A2DDD B2DDC2DBD2DDDIDDDDE2 F2F2 DC2DDDDDF2DHF2F2IIF2 SG2F2DF2IWFI IBDH2I2DF2F2SF2D J2DDDK2DF2F2L2FM2N2O 2F2FF2P2 DDDIF2IDDF2MF2F2 F2I2DF2F2 DQ2R2DL2I2BF2IF2DSS2 S HT2F2IF2U2V2DF2F2DDD BBR2F2F2F2DSF2DSDDDD W2T2IX2 Y2F2SAn evening all aglow with summer light | A |
And autumn colour fairest of the year | B |
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The wheat fields crowned with shocks of tawny gold | C |
All interspersed with rough sowthistle roots | D |
And interlaced with white convolvulus | D |
Lay flecked with purple shadows in the sun | E |
The shouts of little children gleaning there | F |
The scattered ears and wild blue bottle flowers | D |
Mixed with the corn crake's crying and the song | G |
Of lone wood birds whose mother cares were o'er | H |
And with the whispering rustle of red leaves | D |
Scarce stirred the stillness And the gossamer sheen | I |
Was spread on upland meadows silver bright | A |
In low red sunshine and soft kissing wind | J |
Showing where angels in the night had trailed | K |
Their garments on the turf Tall arrow heads | D |
With flag and rush and fringing grasses dropped | L |
Their seeds and blossoms in the sleepy pool | M |
The water lily lay on her green leaf | N |
White fair and stately while an amorous branch | O |
Of silver willow drooping in the stream | P |
Sent soft low babbling ripples towards her | H |
And oh the woods erst haunted with the song | G |
Of nightingales and tender coo of doves | D |
They stood all flushed and kindling 'neath the touch | Q |
Of death kind death fair fond reluctant death | R |
A dappled mass of glory | S |
Harvest time | T |
With russet wood fruit thick upon the ground | U |
'Mid crumpled ferns and delicate blue harebells | D |
The orchard apples rolled in seedy grass | D |
Apples of gold and violet velvet plums | D |
And all the tangled hedgerows bore a crop | V |
Of scarlet hips blue sloes and blackberries | D |
And orange clusters of the mountain ash | W |
The crimson fungus and soft mosses clung | X |
To old decaying trunks the summer bine | I |
Drooped shivering in the glossy ivy's grasp | Y |
By day the blue air bore upon its wings | D |
Wide wandering seeds pale drifts of thistle down | I |
By night the fog crept low upon the earth | Z |
All white and cool and calmed its feverishness | D |
And veiled it over with a veil of tears | D |
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The curlew and the plover were come back | A2 |
To still bleak shores the little summer birds | D |
Were gone to Persian gardens and the groves | D |
Of Greece and Italy and the palmy lands | D |
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A Norman tower with moss and lichen clothed | B2 |
Wherein old bells on old worm eaten frames | D |
And rusty wheels had swung for centuries | D |
Chiming the same soft chime the lullaby | C2 |
Of cradled rooks and blinking bats and owls | D |
Setting the same sweet tune from year to year | B |
For generations of true hearts to sing | D2 |
A wide churchyard with grassy slopes and nooks | D |
And shady corners and meandering paths | D |
With glimpses of dim windows and grey walls | D |
Just caught at here and there amongst the green | I |
Of flowering shrubs and sweet lime avenues | D |
An old house standing near a parsonage house | D |
With broad thatched roof and overhanging eaves | D |
O'errun with banksia roses a low house | D |
With ivied windows and a latticed porch | E2 |
Shut in a tiny Paradise all sweet | F2 |
With hum of bees and scent of mignonette | F2 |
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We lay our lazy length upon the grass | D |
In that same Paradise my friend and I | C2 |
And as we lay we talked of college days | D |
Wild racing hunting steeple chasing days | D |
Of river reaches fishing grounds and weirs | D |
Bats gloves debates and in humanities | D |
And then of boon companions of those days | D |
How lost and scattered married changed and dead | F2 |
Until he flung his arm across his face | D |
And feigned to slumber | H |
He was changed my friend | F2 |
Not like the man the leader of his set | F2 |
The favourite of the college that I knew | I |
And more than time had changed him He had been | I |
A little wild the Lady Alice said | F2 |
A little gay as all young men will be | S |
At first before they settle down to life | G2 |
While they have money health and no restraint | F2 |
Nor any work to do Ah yes But this | D |
Was mystery unexplained that he was sad | F2 |
And still and thoughtful like an aged man | I |
And scarcely thirty With a winsome flash | W |
The old bright heart would shine out here and there | F |
But aye to be o'ershadowed and hushed down | I |
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As he had hushed it now | I |
His dog lay near | B |
With long sharp muzzle resting on his paws | D |
And wistful eyes half shut but watching him | H2 |
A deerhound of illustrious race all grey | I2 |
And grizzled with soft wrinkled velvet ears | D |
A gaunt gigantic wolfish looking brute | F2 |
And worth his weight in gold | F2 |
There there said he | S |
And raised him on his elbow you have looked | F2 |
Enough at me now look at some one else | D |
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You could not see him surely with your arm | J2 |
Across your face | D |
No but I felt his eyes | D |
They are such sharp wise eyes persistent eyes | D |
Perpetually reproachful Look at them | K2 |
Had ever dog such eyes | D |
Oh yes I thought | F2 |
But wondering turned my talk upon his breed | F2 |
And was he of the famed Glengarry stock | L2 |
And in what season was he entered Where | F |
Pray did he pick him up | M2 |
He moved himself | N2 |
At that last question with a little writhe | O2 |
Of sudden pain or restlessness and sighed | F2 |
And then he slowly rose pushed back the hair | F |
From his broad brows and whistling softly said | F2 |
Come here old dog and we will tell him Come | P2 |
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On such a day and such a time as this | D |
Old Tom and I were stalking on the hills | D |
Near seven years ago Bad luck was ours | D |
For we had searched up corrie glen and burn | I |
From earliest daybreak wading to the waist | F2 |
Peat rift and purple heather all in vain | I |
We struck a track nigh every hour to lose | D |
A noble quarry by ignoble chance | D |
The crowing of a grouse cock or the flight | F2 |
Of startled mallards from a reedy pool | M |
Or subtle hair's breadth veering of the wind | F2 |
And now 'twas waning sunset rosy soft | F2 |
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On far grey peaks and the green valley spread | F2 |
Beneath us We had climbed a ridge and lay | I2 |
Debating in low whispers of our plans | D |
For night and morning Golden eagles sailed | F2 |
Above our heads the wild ducks swam about | F2 |
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Amid the reeds and rushes of the pools | D |
A lonely heron stood on one long leg | Q2 |
In shallow water watching for a meal | R2 |
And there to windward couching in the grass | D |
That fringed the blue edge of a sleeping loch | L2 |
Waiting for dusk to feed and drink there lay | I2 |
A herd of deer | B |
And as we looked and planned | F2 |
A mountain storm of sweeping mist and rain | I |
Came down upon us It passed by and left | F2 |
The burnies swollen that we had to cross | D |
And left us barely light enough to see | S |
The broad black branching antlers clustering still | S2 |
Amid the long grass in the valley | S |
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Sir | H |
Said Tom there is a shealing down below | T2 |
To leeward We might bivouac there to night | F2 |
And come again at dawn | I |
And so we crept | F2 |
Adown the glen and stumbled in the dark | U2 |
Against the doorway of the keeper's home | V2 |
And over two big deerhounds ancestors | D |
Of this our old companion There was light | F2 |
And warmth a welcome and a heather bed | F2 |
At Colin's cottage with a meal of eggs | D |
And fresh trout broiled by dainty little hands | D |
And sweetest milk and oatcake There were songs | D |
And Gaelic legends and long talk of deer | B |
Mixt with a sweet low laughter and the whir | B |
Of spinning wheel | R2 |
The dogs lay at her feet | F2 |
The feet of Colin's daughter with their soft | F2 |
Dark velvet ears pricked up for every sound | F2 |
And movement that she made Right royal brutes | D |
Whereon I gazed with envy | S |
What I asked | F2 |
Would Colin take for these | D |
Eh sir said he | S |
And shook his head I cannot sell the dogs | D |
They're priceless they and Jeanie's favourites | D |
But there's a litter in the shed five pups | D |
As like as peas to this one You may choose | D |
Amongst them sir take any that you like | W2 |
Get us the lantern Jeanie You shall show | T2 |
The gentleman | I |
Ah she was fair that girl | X2 |
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Not like the other lassies cottage folk | Y2 |
For there was subtle trace of gentle blood | F2 |
Through all her b | S |
Ada Cambridge
(1)
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