The Watchman Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCBCDDEFFE GHGHIIJKKJ LMNMOOPQQP RSRSRRTUUT VRVRWWXYYX ZA2ZA2B2B2B2B2B2B2 C2D2C2D2B2B2E2F2F2E2 EG2EG2RRH2RRH2 RB2RB2I2I2J2UUJ2 K2L2K2L2B2B2EB2B2E B2B2B2B2M2M2B2N2N2B2 O2B2O2B2B2B2RP2P2R B2Q2B2Q2B2B2B2R2R2B2 S2A2S2A2RRB2B2B2B2I | A |
- | |
Through jewelled windows in the walls | B |
The tender daylight smiles | C |
Majestic music swells and falls | B |
Adown the stately aisles | C |
Shadows of carven roof and rood | D |
Of stony saints and angels brood | D |
Above the altar glow | E |
They cannot dim the shining face | F |
Of one conspicuous in his place | F |
Amid the forms below | E |
- | |
He that was once my little boy | G |
With merry voice and look | H |
My babe that quarrelled with his toy | G |
And tore his hated book | H |
But yesterday a laughing lad | I |
In his dear worldly garments clad | I |
Talking of college wins | J |
Wickets and bumping boats and goals | K |
And not of shepherd and lost souls | K |
His sermons and their sins | J |
- | |
The same he kneels there pale and awed | L |
In cloud of prayer and hymn | M |
And we are to behold our Lord | N |
Made manifest in him | M |
To sit his pupils and be taught | O |
Who knows not what the years have brought | O |
To mothers and to men | P |
To take him for our heaven sent guide | Q |
On seas he never voyaged wide | Q |
And wild beyond his ken | P |
- | |
With all the lore of schools and none | R |
Of stern and suffering life | S |
A child with wooden sword and gun | R |
Unarmed for vital strife | S |
His mind a bud of spring unblown | R |
Its flowering shape as yet unknown | R |
Its fruit awaiting birth | T |
A seedling of a thousand strains | U |
A parasite of dead men's brains | U |
Though sprung from living earth | T |
- | |
There in his proud belief he stands | V |
This simple boy of mine | R |
Transformed by necromantic hands | V |
To something half divine | R |
All in a moment in a breath | W |
An oracle of life and death | W |
A judge above us all | X |
What spell is this that has him fast | Y |
When age of miracle is past | Y |
And past beyond recall | X |
- | |
O knight of dreams in fairy mail | Z |
If for his sake I pray | A2 |
It is that fairy arms may fail | Z |
And tough steel win the day | A2 |
Aye though his dear heart take the thrust | B2 |
And he be trampled in the dust | B2 |
But mother fears forbode | B2 |
May God have mercy and forefend | B2 |
A tamer journey and an end | B2 |
Upon an easier road | B2 |
- | |
A long fulfilling of the vow | C2 |
Within the vow he spake | D2 |
To close the gates of knowledge now | C2 |
And no more dare to take | D2 |
The broad highways of marching thought | B2 |
By his unfettered brothers sought | B2 |
Who follow every clue | E2 |
On every line where'er it leads | F2 |
Heedless of heresies or creeds | F2 |
To find the Right and True | E2 |
The mother love so apt for woe | E |
Visions the joyless track | G2 |
Where the belov d feet may go | E |
And nevermore come back | G2 |
The boy become a thinking man | R |
That has outgrown the changeless plan | R |
Once fitted to his shape | H2 |
The traveller confident serene | R |
Caught in an ambush unforeseen | R |
Whence there is no escape | H2 |
- | |
Struggling a little overborne | R |
Perplexed persuaded spent | B2 |
With dim self pity and self scorn | R |
Supine in discontent | B2 |
No no escape by any arts | I2 |
Save through a score of bleeding hearts | I2 |
A stair too steep to climb | J2 |
Wherefore be wise and hide the chains | U |
Drug conscience with its pangs and pains | U |
Give peace Lord in our time | J2 |
- | |
O waste of precious force and fire | K2 |
The sacred passion pales | L2 |
The soaring pinions droop and tire | K2 |
Our standard bearer fails | L2 |
To keep his battle flag aloft | B2 |
The strong young arm is slack and soft | B2 |
The eager feet are slow | E |
The shining mail is dulled with rust | B2 |
Of contact with mediaeval dust | B2 |
And will not bear a blow | E |
- | |
And under harness so decayed | B2 |
What ravage unrevealed | B2 |
What moral textures soiled and frayed | B2 |
And moral sores unhealed | B2 |
He must not know that dares not tell | M2 |
Hush It is nothing All is well | M2 |
Peace in our time O Lord | B2 |
And leave the fighting for the heirs | N2 |
The blood of sacrifice be theirs | N2 |
Who cannot shirk the sword | B2 |
- | |
O boy of mine that played the game | O2 |
And never learned to cheat | B2 |
Nor knew such word or thought as shame | O2 |
In victory or defeat | B2 |
Will he be found when he grows old | B2 |
Passing off spurious coin for gold | B2 |
Selling dry husks for grain | R |
The pottage of the Esau's bowl | P2 |
That bought the birthright of a soul | P2 |
His all sufficient gain | R |
- | |
The image and the robes of what | B2 |
He seems to serve and seek | Q2 |
But veils although he knows it not | B2 |
On Mammon's brazen cheek | Q2 |
His bishop's smile his patron's nod | B2 |
The homage of his flock his god | B2 |
His sensuous worship drest | B2 |
In forms and colours rich and rare | R2 |
The spirit's sanctuary bare | R2 |
Heart emptily at rest | B2 |
- | |
Let organ music swell and peal | S2 |
And priests and people pray | A2 |
Let those who can at altar kneel | S2 |
I have no heart to stay | A2 |
I cannot bear to see it done | R |
The hands whose work has scarce begun | R |
Locked in these gyves of lead | B2 |
The living spirit gagged and bound | B2 |
And tethered to one plot of ground | B2 |
A prisoner of the dead | B2 |
Ada Cambridge
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