Finis Exoptatus Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABABCDCD EFEFAGAGHIHICJCJ AKAKLMLMNOPOCKCK JQJQCRCR KSKSTUTV WXYXTZTZJA2JA2TB2TB2 YA2YA2C2D2C2D2YTYTJT JT YE2F2E2G2H2G2H2TKTKY TYTLJLJ JI2JI2JJ2JJ2 YJYJYJYJJTJTJTJT TK2TK2A2I2A2I2TMTMA2 A2A2A2YKYKJTJT KJKJA2TA2T JYJYTYT YH2YH2NTNT| Boot and saddle see the slanting | A |
| Rays begin to fall | B |
| Flinging lights and colours flaunting | A |
| Through the shadows tall | B |
| Onward onward must we travel | C |
| When will come the goal | D |
| Riddle I may not unravel | C |
| Cease to vex my soul | D |
| - | |
| Harshly break those peals of laughter | E |
| From the jays aloft | F |
| Can we guess what they cry after | E |
| We have heard them oft | F |
| Perhaps some strain of rude thanksgiving | A |
| Mingles in their song | G |
| Are they glad that they are living | A |
| Are they right or wrong | G |
| Right 'tis joy that makes them call so | H |
| Why should they be sad | I |
| Certes we are living also | H |
| Shall not we be glad | I |
| Onward onward must we travel | C |
| Is the goal more near | J |
| Riddle we may not unravel | C |
| Why so dark and drear | J |
| - | |
| Yon small bird his hymn outpouring | A |
| On the branch close by | K |
| Recks not for the kestrel soaring | A |
| In the nether sky | K |
| Though the hawk with wings extended | L |
| Poises over head | M |
| Motionless as though suspended | L |
| By a viewless thread | M |
| See he stoops nay shooting forward | N |
| With the arrow's flight | O |
| Swift and straight away to nor'ward | P |
| Sails he out of sight | O |
| Onward onward thus we travel | C |
| Comes the goal more nigh | K |
| Riddle we may not unravel | C |
| Who shall make reply | K |
| - | |
| Ha Friend Ephraim saint or sinner | J |
| Tell me if you can | Q |
| Tho' we may not judge the inner | J |
| By the outer man | Q |
| Yet by girth of broadcloth ample | C |
| And by cheeks that shine | R |
| Surely you set no example | C |
| In the fasting line | R |
| - | |
| Could you like yon bird discov'ring | K |
| Fate as close at hand | S |
| As the kestrel o'er him hov'ring | K |
| Still as he did stand | S |
| Trusting grandly singing gaily | T |
| Confident and calm | U |
| Not one false note in your daily | T |
| Hymn or weekly psalm | V |
| - | |
| Oft your oily tones are heard in | W |
| Chapel where you preach | X |
| This the everlasting burden | Y |
| Of the tale you teach | X |
| We are d d our sins are deadly | T |
| You alone are heal'd | Z |
| 'Twas not thus their gospel redly | T |
| Saints and martyrs seal'd | Z |
| You had seem'd more like a martyr | J |
| Than you seem to us | A2 |
| To the beasts that caught a Tartar | J |
| Once at Ephesus | A2 |
| Rather than the stout apostle | T |
| Of the Gentiles who | B2 |
| Pagan like could cuff and wrestle | T |
| They'd have chosen you | B2 |
| - | |
| Yet I ween on such occasion | Y |
| Your dissenting voice | A2 |
| Would have been in mild persuasion | Y |
| Raised against their choice | A2 |
| Man of peace and man of merit | C2 |
| Pompous wise and grave | D2 |
| Ephraim is it flesh or spirit | C2 |
| You strive most to save | D2 |
| Vain is half this care and caution | Y |
| O'er the earthly shell | T |
| We can neither baffle nor shun | Y |
| Dark plumed Azrael | T |
| Onward onward still we wander | J |
| Nearer draws the goal | T |
| Half the riddle's read we ponder | J |
| Vainly on the whole | T |
| - | |
| Eastward in the pink horizon | Y |
| Fleecy hillocks shame | E2 |
| This dim range dull earth that lies on | F2 |
| Tinged with rosy flame | E2 |
| Westward as a stricken giant | G2 |
| Stoops his bloody crest | H2 |
| And tho' vanquished frowns defiant | G2 |
| Sinks the sun to rest | H2 |
| Distant yet approaching quickly | T |
| From the shades that lurk | K |
| Like a black pall gathers thickly | T |
| Night when none may work | K |
| Soon our restless occupation | Y |
| Shall have ceas'd to be | T |
| Units in God's vast creation | Y |
| Ciphers what are we | T |
| Onward onward oh faint hearted | L |
| Nearer and more near | J |
| Has the goal drawn since we started | L |
| Be of better cheer | J |
| - | |
| Preacher all forbearance ask for | J |
| All are worthless found | I2 |
| Man must ay take man to task for | J |
| Faults while earth goes round | I2 |
| On this dank soil thistles muster | J |
| Thorns are broadcast sown | J2 |
| Seek not figs where thistles cluster | J |
| Grapes where thorns have grown | J2 |
| - | |
| Sun and rain and dew from heaven | Y |
| Light and shade and air | J |
| Heat and moisture freely given | Y |
| Thorns and thistles share | J |
| Vegetation rank and rotten | Y |
| Feels the cheering ray | J |
| Not uncared for unforgotten | Y |
| We too have our day | J |
| Unforgotten though we cumber | J |
| Earth we work His will | T |
| Shall we sleep through night's long slumber | J |
| Unforgotten still | T |
| Onward onward toiling ever | J |
| Weary steps and slow | T |
| Doubting oft despairing never | J |
| To the goal we go | T |
| - | |
| Hark the bells on distant cattle | T |
| Waft across the range | K2 |
| Through the golden tufted wattle | T |
| Music low and strange | K2 |
| Like the marriage peal of fairies | A2 |
| Comes the tinkling sound | I2 |
| Or like chimes of sweet St Mary's | A2 |
| On far English ground | I2 |
| How my courser champs the snaffle | T |
| And with nostril spread | M |
| Snorts and scarcely seems to ruffle | T |
| Fern leaves with his tread | M |
| Cool and pleasant on his haunches | A2 |
| Blows the evening breeze | A2 |
| Through the overhanging branches | A2 |
| Of the wattle trees | A2 |
| Onward to the Southern Ocean | Y |
| Glides the breath of Spring | K |
| Onward with a dreary motion | Y |
| I too glide and sing | K |
| Forward forward still we wander | J |
| Tinted hills that lie | T |
| In the red horizon yonder | J |
| Is the goal so nigh | T |
| - | |
| Whisper spring wind softly singing | K |
| Whisper in my ear | J |
| Respite and nepenthe bringing | K |
| Can the goal be near | J |
| Laden with the dew of vespers | A2 |
| From the fragrant sky | T |
| In my ear the wind that whispers | A2 |
| Seems to make reply | T |
| - | |
| 'Question not but live and labour | J |
| Till yon goal be won | Y |
| Helping every feeble neighbour | J |
| Seeking help from none | Y |
| Life is mostly froth and bubble | T |
| Two things stand like stone | Y |
| Kindness in another's trouble | T |
| Courage in your own ' | - |
| - | |
| Courage comrades this is certain | Y |
| All is for the best | H2 |
| There are lights behind the curtain | Y |
| Gentiles let us rest | H2 |
| As the smoke rack veers to seaward | N |
| From 'the ancient clay' | T |
| With its moral drifting leeward | N |
| Ends the wanderer's lay | T |
Adam Lindsay Gordon
(1)
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