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 I2I2I2I2I2R2I2R2R2A | |
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No sight to me like sight of ships | B |
No wine to me like salt spray thrown | C |
By morning breezes on my lips | B |
No music sweeter than the moan | C |
Of solemn surges landward blown | C |
O world unconquered O great sea | D |
Tamed by celestial winds alone | C |
My spirit is at home with thee | D |
Panting with thy wild waves for space and liberty | D |
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The land is captive sold and bought | E |
The streets are filled with traffic base | F |
And I am choked with narrow thought | G |
The dusty customs that disgrace | F |
Mart chamber church and judgment place | F |
But when upon this lonely shore | H |
I hear thy voice and see thy face | F |
I seem to pass a prison door | H |
And breathe a free born man my native air once more | H |
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The urgent tyrannies of life | I |
Relax their grasp when I am here | J |
I rise above the fretful strife | I |
The timid doubt the trembling fear | K |
The petty woes that crowd so near | K |
And with brain cleansed and pulses stilled | L |
Stand in the spacious atmosphere | K |
My inmost being rapt and thrilled | L |
With unimagined peace and wordless worship filled | L |
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O mystery that no thought can reach | M |
O language that no tongue can tell | N |
The whispering surf upon the beach | M |
The murmuring of the mid sea swell | N |
The long boom like a tolling bell | N |
That shakes the earth beneath my feet | O |
The solitude ineffable | P |
O what new strength divine and sweet | O |
Breathes in the mighty gales that round these headlands beat | O |
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Thou friend in those wild arms caressed | Q |
My comrade that hast house and home | R |
On that illimitable breast | Q |
Thy spirit in the wind and foam | R |
Meets mine beneath this starlit dome | R |
I have no compass and no chart | S |
I know not where thy bark may roam | R |
I know not brother where thou art | S |
But I can feel thy courage lifting up my heart | S |
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The shadow of the splendid night | T |
Blots out sea blue and sunset red | U |
The glimmering canvas wide and white | T |
By sweeping rush of trade wind spread | U |
Like sea birds wings above thy head | U |
Tall mast slim spar and cobweb shroud | V |
And slant deck echoing to thy tread | U |
The great ship stately strong and proud | V |
Fades on the darkening deep like some dispersing cloud | V |
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But thou art there amid the stars | W |
That watch me with those steadfast eyes | X |
Thy soul escaped from bolts and bars | W |
Conventioned fetters and disguise | X |
As open as these arching skies | X |
Untrammelled as this boundless sea | D |
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Calm in the awful darkness lies | X |
Like babe upon its mother's knee | D |
Humble but unafraid as honest soul should be | D |
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Thinking of thee so small a speck | Y |
Amid these myriad worlds around | Z |
But king upon thy quarter deck | Y |
More king than monarch throned and crowned | Z |
That e'er on subject smiled or frowned | Z |
Of what depends upon thy skill | A2 |
And thee by conscience only bound | Z |
I think how nobly we may fill | A2 |
Our part that looks so hard and hopeless if we will | A2 |
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Poor puny mortals that we are | B2 |
Clinging to reeds and ropes of sand | C2 |
'Twere better done 'twere braver far | B2 |
Unsheltered and upright to stand | C2 |
The free soul at its own command | C2 |
In Him whate'er He be to trust | D2 |
Who holds us in His mighty hand | C2 |
And guides each star and grain of dust | D2 |
Or to renounce all hope and comfort if we must | D2 |
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When mercury sinks and winds are foul | E2 |
When mists are thick and skies are black | F2 |
And hurricanes that shriek and howl | E2 |
And wild seas leaping like a pack | F2 |
Of hungry wolves upon thy track | F2 |
Smother the deck with spume and spray | G2 |
Thou quiet in the dreadful wrack | F2 |
Keeping thy watch dost stand at bay | G2 |
Unshaken by one thought of danger or dismay | G2 |
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Then why in life's disastrous hours | H2 |
Shall we not face the storm and stress | I2 |
Of those dark destinies and powers | H2 |
Those strong fates that so hardly press | I2 |
Upon our lonely littleness | I2 |
With timbers sound and thou to guide | J2 |
Thy ship will live through her distress | I2 |
Shall we not also safely ride | J2 |
If hearts be stout and true whatever may betide | J2 |
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Or if indeed we have to meet | O |
The worst that e'er stout heart befell | N |
If we must suffer sore defeat | O |
O'erwhelming irresistible | P |
Shall we not bear that test as well | N |
Shall we not die without disgrace | I2 |
No force of anguish can compel | N |
Brave men to turn to mean and base | I2 |
And all that fate can bring brave men should dare to face | I2 |
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If suddenly some dire mischance | I2 |
Collision cyclone fire should mock | K2 |
Thy keen and sleepless vigilance | I2 |
If there should come unwarned the shock | K2 |
Of shattering hull on sunken rock | K2 |
If death in fog or flood or flame | L2 |
Upon thy cabin door should knock | K2 |
Thy native righteousness would shame | L2 |
The men who boast most loudly of the Christian name | L2 |
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The women first thy voice would cry | M2 |
Above the roar of wind and wave | N2 |
And thou the last would'st calmly die | M2 |
Intrepid resolute and brave | N2 |
All them that trusted thee to save | N2 |
If thou could'st see rewards in store | H |
A martyr's crown beyond the grave | N2 |
If all heaven beckoned thee before | H |
Or fear of hell fire drove thee thou could'st do no more | H |
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Art thou in thy lone handed fight | T |
That fails to serve thee but succeeds | I2 |
In victory for the true and right | T |
Beneath the soul that only heeds | I2 |
The cry of its own lower needs | I2 |
That shelters trembling from the fray | G2 |
In privilege of pleasant creeds | I2 |
That are but systems of a day | G2 |
From age to age new made outworn and cast away | G2 |
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Are we not strong enough to take | O2 |
The course by conscience marked so plain | P2 |
Faithful till death for manhood's sake | O2 |
Unspurred by coward fear of pain | P2 |
Unbribed by hope of selfish gain | P2 |
Must soaring progress sink and fall | Q2 |
And is all history writ in vain | P2 |
Is life a thing so poor and small | Q2 |
And is the great design a muddle after all | Q2 |
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Standing in this tremendous space | I2 |
Of starlit sky and whispering sea | I2 |
With my great Maker face to face | I2 |
His countless worlds surrounding me | I2 |
Eternity Infinity | I2 |
Humble but confident I dare | R2 |
To let these bitter questions be | I2 |
We too are creatures of His care | R2 |
The voice that called us forth forbids us to despair | R2 |
Ada Cambridge
(1)
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