At Liberty Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: A BCBCCDCDD EFGFFHFHH IJIKKLKLL MNMNNOPOO QRQRRSRSS TUTUUVUVV WXWXXD XDD YZYZZA2ZA2A2 B2C2B2C2C2D2C2D2D2 E2F2E2F2F2G2F2G2G2 H2I2H2I2I2J2I2J2J2 ONOPNI2NI2I2 I2K2I2K2K2L2K2L2L2 M2N2M2N2N2HN2HH TI2TI2I2G2I2G2G2 O2P2O2P2P2Q2P2Q2Q2 I2I2I2I2I2R2I2R2R2

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No sight to me like sight of shipsB
No wine to me like salt spray thrownC
By morning breezes on my lipsB
No music sweeter than the moanC
Of solemn surges landward blownC
O world unconquered O great seaD
Tamed by celestial winds aloneC
My spirit is at home with theeD
Panting with thy wild waves for space and libertyD
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The land is captive sold and boughtE
The streets are filled with traffic baseF
And I am choked with narrow thoughtG
The dusty customs that disgraceF
Mart chamber church and judgment placeF
But when upon this lonely shoreH
I hear thy voice and see thy faceF
I seem to pass a prison doorH
And breathe a free born man my native air once moreH
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The urgent tyrannies of lifeI
Relax their grasp when I am hereJ
I rise above the fretful strifeI
The timid doubt the trembling fearK
The petty woes that crowd so nearK
And with brain cleansed and pulses stilledL
Stand in the spacious atmosphereK
My inmost being rapt and thrilledL
With unimagined peace and wordless worship filledL
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O mystery that no thought can reachM
O language that no tongue can tellN
The whispering surf upon the beachM
The murmuring of the mid sea swellN
The long boom like a tolling bellN
That shakes the earth beneath my feetO
The solitude ineffableP
O what new strength divine and sweetO
Breathes in the mighty gales that round these headlands beatO
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Thou friend in those wild arms caressedQ
My comrade that hast house and homeR
On that illimitable breastQ
Thy spirit in the wind and foamR
Meets mine beneath this starlit domeR
I have no compass and no chartS
I know not where thy bark may roamR
I know not brother where thou artS
But I can feel thy courage lifting up my heartS
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The shadow of the splendid nightT
Blots out sea blue and sunset redU
The glimmering canvas wide and whiteT
By sweeping rush of trade wind spreadU
Like sea birds wings above thy headU
Tall mast slim spar and cobweb shroudV
And slant deck echoing to thy treadU
The great ship stately strong and proudV
Fades on the darkening deep like some dispersing cloudV
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But thou art there amid the starsW
That watch me with those steadfast eyesX
Thy soul escaped from bolts and barsW
Conventioned fetters and disguiseX
As open as these arching skiesX
Untrammelled as this boundless seaD
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Calm in the awful darkness liesX
Like babe upon its mother's kneeD
Humble but unafraid as honest soul should beD
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Thinking of thee so small a speckY
Amid these myriad worlds aroundZ
But king upon thy quarter deckY
More king than monarch throned and crownedZ
That e'er on subject smiled or frownedZ
Of what depends upon thy skillA2
And thee by conscience only boundZ
I think how nobly we may fillA2
Our part that looks so hard and hopeless if we willA2
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Poor puny mortals that we areB2
Clinging to reeds and ropes of sandC2
'Twere better done 'twere braver farB2
Unsheltered and upright to standC2
The free soul at its own commandC2
In Him whate'er He be to trustD2
Who holds us in His mighty handC2
And guides each star and grain of dustD2
Or to renounce all hope and comfort if we mustD2
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When mercury sinks and winds are foulE2
When mists are thick and skies are blackF2
And hurricanes that shriek and howlE2
And wild seas leaping like a packF2
Of hungry wolves upon thy trackF2
Smother the deck with spume and sprayG2
Thou quiet in the dreadful wrackF2
Keeping thy watch dost stand at bayG2
Unshaken by one thought of danger or dismayG2
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Then why in life's disastrous hoursH2
Shall we not face the storm and stressI2
Of those dark destinies and powersH2
Those strong fates that so hardly pressI2
Upon our lonely littlenessI2
With timbers sound and thou to guideJ2
Thy ship will live through her distressI2
Shall we not also safely rideJ2
If hearts be stout and true whatever may betideJ2
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Or if indeed we have to meetO
The worst that e'er stout heart befellN
If we must suffer sore defeatO
O'erwhelming irresistibleP
Shall we not bear that test as wellN
Shall we not die without disgraceI2
No force of anguish can compelN
Brave men to turn to mean and baseI2
And all that fate can bring brave men should dare to faceI2
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If suddenly some dire mischanceI2
Collision cyclone fire should mockK2
Thy keen and sleepless vigilanceI2
If there should come unwarned the shockK2
Of shattering hull on sunken rockK2
If death in fog or flood or flameL2
Upon thy cabin door should knockK2
Thy native righteousness would shameL2
The men who boast most loudly of the Christian nameL2
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The women first thy voice would cryM2
Above the roar of wind and waveN2
And thou the last would'st calmly dieM2
Intrepid resolute and braveN2
All them that trusted thee to saveN2
If thou could'st see rewards in storeH
A martyr's crown beyond the graveN2
If all heaven beckoned thee beforeH
Or fear of hell fire drove thee thou could'st do no moreH
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Art thou in thy lone handed fightT
That fails to serve thee but succeedsI2
In victory for the true and rightT
Beneath the soul that only heedsI2
The cry of its own lower needsI2
That shelters trembling from the frayG2
In privilege of pleasant creedsI2
That are but systems of a dayG2
From age to age new made outworn and cast awayG2
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Are we not strong enough to takeO2
The course by conscience marked so plainP2
Faithful till death for manhood's sakeO2
Unspurred by coward fear of painP2
Unbribed by hope of selfish gainP2
Must soaring progress sink and fallQ2
And is all history writ in vainP2
Is life a thing so poor and smallQ2
And is the great design a muddle after allQ2
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Standing in this tremendous spaceI2
Of starlit sky and whispering seaI2
With my great Maker face to faceI2
His countless worlds surrounding meI2
Eternity InfinityI2
Humble but confident I dareR2
To let these bitter questions beI2
We too are creatures of His careR2
The voice that called us forth forbids us to despairR2

Ada Cambridge



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