Sunlight On The Sea Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: AA B CDCDEFEDGHGH IDIDIJIJCHCH IDIDIKIKLHLH MDMDNIKICHCH IDIDMIMIIMIM IDIDMOM IMIM CDCDMIMIDMDM MDMDPMPMDMDM

A
A
-
-
-
-
-
-
The Philosophy of a FeastB
-
Make merry comrades eat and drinkC
The sunlight flickers on the seaD
The garlands gleam the glasses clinkC
The grape juice mantles fair and freeD
The lamps are trimm'd although the lightE
Of day still lingers on the skyF
We sit between the day and nightE
And push the wine flask merrilyD
I see you feasting round me stillG
All gay of heart and strong of limbH
Make merry friends your glasses fillG
The lights are growing dimH
-
I miss the voice of one I've heardI
The sunlight sinks upon the seaD
He sang as blythe as any birdI
And shook the rafters with his gleeD
But times have changed with him I wotI
By fickle fortune cross'd and flungJ
Far stouter heart than mine he's gotI
If now he sings as then he sungJ
Yet some must swim when others sinkC
And some must sink when others swimH
Make merry comrades eat and drinkC
The lights are growing dimH
-
I miss the face of one I've lovedI
The sunlight settles on the seaD
Long since to distant climes he rovedI
He had his faults and so have weD
His name was mentioned here this dayI
And it was coupled with a sneerK
I heard nor had I aught to sayI
Though once I held his memory dearK
Who cares 'mid wines and fruits and flowersL
Though death or danger compass himH
He had his faults and we have oursL
The lights are growing dimH
-
I miss the form of one I knowM
The sunlight wanes upon the seaD
'Tis not so very long agoM
We drank his health with three times threeD
And we were gay when he was hereN
And he is gone and we are gayI
Where has he gone or far or nearK
Good sooth 'twere somewhat hard to sayI
You glance aside you doubtless thinkC
My homily a foolish whimH
'Twill soon be ended eat and drinkC
The lights are growing dimH
-
The fruit is ripe the wine is redI
The sunlight fades upon the seaD
To us the absent are the deadI
The dead to us must absent beD
We too the absent ranks must joinnM
And friends will censure and forgetI
There's metal base in every coinM
Men vanish leaving traces yetI
Of evil and of good behindI
Since false notes taint the skylark's hymnM
And dross still lurks in gold refinedI
The lights are growing dimM
-
We eat and drink or ere we dieI
The sunlight flushes on the seaD
Three hundred soldiers feasted highI
An hour before ThermopylaeD
Leonidas pour'd out the wineM
And shouted ere he drain'd the cupO
'Ho comrades let us gaily dineM
This night with Pluto we shall sup '-
And if they leant upon a reedI
And if their reed was slight and slimM
There's something good in Spartan creedI
The lights are growing dimM
-
Make merry comrades eat and drinkC
The sunlight flashes on the seaD
My spirit is rejoiced to thinkC
That even as they were so are weD
For they like us were mortals vainM
The slaves to earthly passions wildI
Who slept with heaps of Persians slainM
For winding sheets around them piledI
The dead man's deeds are living stillD
My Festive speech is somewhat grimM
Their good obliterates their illD
The lights are growing dimM
-
We eat and drink we come and goM
The sunlight dies upon the open seaD
I speak in riddles Is it soM
My riddles need not mar your gleeD
For I will neither bid you shareP
My thoughts nor will I bid you shunM
Though I should see in yonder chairP
Th' Egyptian's muffled skeletonM
One toast with me your glasses fillD
Aye fill them level with the brimM
De mortuis nisi bonum nilD
The lights are growing dimM

Adam Lindsay Gordon



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