By A Norfolk Broad Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AAB CDE FFG HHI JJK LLM NNO POQ RRS TTU TTV WWX YYZ SSA2 B2B2T C2C2D2E2E2Z F2F2G2 H2H2I2 J2J2K2| One hour ago the crimson sun that seemed so long a drowning sank | A |
| The summer day is all but done Our boat is moored beneath the bank | A |
| I bask in peace content replete my faithful comrade at my feet | B |
| - | |
| The water violet shuts its eye the water lily petals close | C |
| So in the evening light we lie and dream in undisturbed repose | D |
| How far all petty cares have flown How calm the fretful world has grown | E |
| - | |
| We only hear the gentle breeze in tender sighs and whispers pass | F |
| Through osier beds and alder trees and rustling flags and bending grass | F |
| The song of blackbird in the hedge the quack of wild duck in the sedge | G |
| - | |
| The distant bark of farmhouse dogs the piping of a clear voiced thrush | H |
| The murmurous babble of the frogs of rippling stream in reed and rush | H |
| The splash of pike and bream that rise to flitting moths and dragon files | I |
| - | |
| Far from the haunts of striving men the toil and moil the dust and din | J |
| At home at peace in this lone fen with these our dumb and gentler kin | J |
| In Mother Nature's arms at rest we drink the nectar of her breast | K |
| - | |
| The fragrance of these dewy hours the perfume that the rich earth yields | L |
| Sweetbriar and bean and clover flowers the incense of the quiet fields | L |
| The new cut hay so sweet and fresh what balm to spirit and to flesh | M |
| - | |
| And those white gulls inland for food and that still heron carved in jet | N |
| That paddling water hen and brood those swifts and swallows hunting yet | N |
| All these soft creatures wild and free how lovely and how kind they be | O |
| - | |
| Kind to that monster of the gun that ravager of earth and sky | P |
| From whom the fledgelings hide and run the immemorial enemy | O |
| Ah but this hand of their dread lord hath sheathed the devastating sword | Q |
| - | |
| Tell them my comrade in thy tongue that I come not to rob and strike | R |
| Tell these shy hearts so wronged and wrung that all men's hearts are not alike | R |
| In the Dark Ages of thy race thou hast foretaste of light and grace | S |
| - | |
| Thou love enfranchised that canst sleep unharmed unharried at my door | T |
| Wolf brother taught to guard the sheep teach them that man is something more | T |
| Than instrument of woe and death to half the creatures that have breath | U |
| - | |
| - | |
| The western glories fade and pass The twilight deepens more and more | T |
| A thin mist like a breath on glass veils shining mere and distant shore | T |
| The moor hen's family is fed The heron hies him home to bed | V |
| - | |
| No hum of gnat or bee is heard no pipe of thrush on hawthorn bough | W |
| No cry of any beast or bird to stir the solemn stillness now | W |
| Though earth and air and stream are rife with latent energies of life | X |
| - | |
| Silent the otter where he prowls the gliding polecat and her prey | Y |
| Silent the soft winged mousing owls the flickering bats like imps at play | Y |
| War death the fighters and the fight all ghostly shadows of the night | Z |
| - | |
| What means that questioning paw of thine those wistful eyes upon my face | S |
| Ah hunter Dost thou sniff and whine Art still a quiver for the chase | S |
| Peace peace Lie down again old hound This place to night is holy ground | A2 |
| - | |
| - | |
| The clocks strike ten The last last gleam of lingering day has disappeared | B2 |
| On field and marsh and quiet stream a few stars shine The mist has cleared | B2 |
| The willows of the further shore stand outlined on the sky once more | T |
| - | |
| How clear the blackness leaf and bark the plumes upon those bulbous stumps | C2 |
| A pallid fragment of the dark shows fine etched flag and osier clumps | C2 |
| Sharper and sharper in the glow the iris and the bulrush grow | D2 |
| A faint dawn glimmers on the sedge the grassy banks the flowery meads | E2 |
| A bright disc shows its radiant edge the round moon rises from the reeds | E2 |
| The sleeping lilies take the light their steel dark bed turns silver white | Z |
| - | |
| That path of glory widening streams across the mere to where we sit | F2 |
| My sight swims in its dazzling beams spirit and brain are steeped in it | F2 |
| Dost thou not answer to the touch Listen my dog that knows so much | G2 |
| - | |
| There may be lovelier worlds than this a heavenly country vast and fair | H2 |
| Where saints and seraphs dwell in bliss I do not know I do not care | H2 |
| While in my human flesh I live I ask no more than earth can give | I2 |
| - | |
| Ethereal essences may roam Elysian Fields beyond the grave | J2 |
| But we my dog will saunter home to all we love and all we crave | J2 |
| God sees us thankful for our lot The Unborn Day concerns us not | K2 |
Ada Cambridge
(1)
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