Sunlight On The Sea: The Philosophy Of A Feast Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABABCDCBEFEF GBGBGHGHAFAF GBGBGIGIJFJF KBKBLGIGAFAF GBGBMGMGGFGF GBGBNONOGFGF ABABPGPGBFBF KBKBQRQRBFBF| Make merry comrades eat and drink | A |
| The sunlight flickers on the sea | B |
| The garlands gleam the glasses clink | A |
| The grape juice mantles fair and free | B |
| The lamps are trimm'd although the light | C |
| Of day still lingers on the sky | D |
| We sit between the day and night | C |
| And push the wine flask merrily | B |
| I see you feasting round me still | E |
| All gay of heart and strong of limb | F |
| Make merry friends your glasses fill | E |
| The lights are growing dim | F |
| - | |
| I miss the voice of one I've heard | G |
| The sunlight sinks upon the sea | B |
| He sang as blythe as any bird | G |
| And shook the rafters with his glee | B |
| But times have changed with him I wot | G |
| By fickle fortune cross'd and flung | H |
| Far stouter heart than mine he's got | G |
| If now he sings as then he sung | H |
| Yet some must swim when others sink | A |
| And some must sink when others swim | F |
| Make merry comrades eat and drink | A |
| The lights are growing dim | F |
| - | |
| I miss the face of one I've loved | G |
| The sunlight settles on the sea | B |
| Long since to distant climes he roved | G |
| He had his faults and so have we | B |
| His name was mentioned here this day | G |
| And it was coupled with a sneer | I |
| I heard nor had I aught to say | G |
| Though once I held his memory dear | I |
| Who cares 'mid wines and fruits and flowers | J |
| Though death or danger compass him | F |
| He had his faults and we have ours | J |
| The lights are growing dim | F |
| - | |
| I miss the form of one I know | K |
| The sunlight wanes upon the sea | B |
| 'Tis not so very long ago | K |
| We drank his health with three times three | B |
| And we were gay when he was here | L |
| And he is gone and we are gay | G |
| Where has he gone or far or near | I |
| Good sooth 'twere somewhat hard to say | G |
| You glance aside you doubtless think | A |
| My homily a foolish whim | F |
| 'Twill soon be ended eat and drink | A |
| The lights are growing dim | F |
| - | |
| The fruit is ripe the wine is red | G |
| The sunlight fades upon the sea | B |
| To us the absent are the dead | G |
| The dead to us must absent be | B |
| We too the absent ranks must join | M |
| And friends will censure and forget | G |
| There's metal base in every coin | M |
| Men vanish leaving traces yet | G |
| Of evil and of good behind | G |
| Since false notes taint the skylark's hymn | F |
| And dross still lurks in gold refined | G |
| The lights are growing dim | F |
| - | |
| We eat and drink or e'er we die | G |
| The sunlight flushes on the sea | B |
| Three hundred soldiers feasted high | G |
| An hour before Thermopylae | B |
| Leonidas pour'd out the wine | N |
| And shouted ere he drain'd the cup | O |
| Ho comrades let us gaily dine | N |
| This night with Pluto we shall sup | O |
| And if they leant upon a reed | G |
| And if their reed was slight and slim | F |
| There's something good in Spartan creed | G |
| The lights are growing dim | F |
| - | |
| Make merry comrades eat and drink | A |
| The sunlight flashes on the sea | B |
| My spirit is rejoiced to think | A |
| That even as they were so are we | B |
| For they like us were mortals vain | P |
| The slaves to earthly passions wild | G |
| Who slept with heaps of Persians slain | P |
| For winding sheets around them piled | G |
| The dead man's deeds are living still | B |
| My Festive speech is somewhat grim | F |
| Their good obliterates their ill | B |
| The lights are growing dim | F |
| - | |
| We eat and drink we come and go | K |
| The sunlight dies upon the open sea | B |
| I speak in riddles Is it so | K |
| My riddles need not mar your glee | B |
| For I will neither bid you share | Q |
| My thoughts nor will I bid you shun | R |
| Though I should see in yonder chair | Q |
| Th' Egyptian's muffled skeleton | R |
| One toast with me your glasses fill | B |
| Aye fill them level with the brim | F |
| De mortuis nisi bonum nil | B |
| The lights are growing dim | F |
Adam Lindsay Gordon
(1)
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