The Rhyme Of Joyous Garde Poem Rhyme Scheme

Recent Interactions*

This poem was read 4 times,

This poem was added to the favorite list by 0 members,

This poem was voted by 1 members.

(* Interactions only in the last 7 days)

New Poems

Wonderful Women
by Umaru Kanneh Boima
Freedom To Scratch In Peace
by Olute Aete
Happy New Year
by Felix Menda
Human Beings
by Dana Graslie
Lust
by Wisdom Greatness
An Isolated Tree's Song
by Sayeed Abubakar
A Strange Boy
by Sayeed Abubakar
O Soil
by Sayeed Abubakar
No War, No War-monger
by Sayeed Abubakar
Night's Town
by Sayeed Abubakar

Popular Poets

1. Emily Dickinson(2414 poems)
2. Madison Julius Cawein(1231 poems)
3. Ella Wheeler Wilcox(1136 poems)
4. William Wordsworth(1016 poems)
5. Robert Burns(986 poems)
6. Edgar Albert Guest(945 poems)
7. Thomas Moore(849 poems)
8. Robert Service(831 poems)

Adam Lindsay Gordon

The Rhyme Of Joyous Garde Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Write your comment about The Rhyme Of Joyous Garde poem by Adam Lindsay Gordon

Recent Interactions*

New Poems

Popular Poets

Through the lattice rushes the south wind dense	A
With fumes of the flowery frankincense	A
From hawthorn blossoming thickly	B
And gold is shower'd on grass unshorn	C
And poppy fire on shuddering corn	C
With May dew flooded and flush'd with morn	C
And scented with sweetness sickly	B
	-
The bloom and brilliance of summer days	D
The buds that brighten the fields that blaze	D
The fruits that ripen and redden	C
And all the gifts of a God sent light	E
Are sadder things in my shameful sight	E
Than the blackest gloom of the bitterest night	E
When the senses darken and deaden	C
	-
For the days recall what the nights efface	F
Scenes of glory and seasons of grace	F
For which there is no returning	G
Else the days were even as the nights to me	B
Now the axe is laid to the root of the tree	B
And to morrow the barren trunk may be	B
Cut down cast forth for the burning	G
	-
Would God I had died the death that day	H
When the bishop blessed us before the fray	H
At the shrine of the Saviour's Mother	I
We buckled the spur we braced the belt	J
Arthur and I together we knelt	J
And the grasp of his kingly hand I felt	J
As the grasp of an only brother	I
	-
The body and the blood of Christ we shared	K
Knees bended and heads bow'd down and bared	K
We listened throughout the praying	G
Eftsoon the shock of the foe we bore	L
Shoulder to shoulder on Severn's shore	L
Till our hilts were glued to our hands with gore	L
And our sinews slacken'd with slaying	G
	-
Was I far from Thy Kingdom gracious Lord	M
With a shattered casque and a shiver'd sword	M
On the threshold of Mary's chapel	N
Pardie I had well nigh won that crown	C
Which endureth more than a knight's renown	C
When the pagan giant had got me down	C
Sore spent in the deadly grapple	N
	-
May his craven spirit find little grace	F
He was seal'd to Satan in any case	F
Yet the loser had been the winner	I
Had I waxed fainter or he less faint	O
Then my soul was free from this loathsome taint	O
I had died as a Christian knight no saint	O
Perchance yet a pardon'd sinner	I
	-
But I strove full grimly beneath his weight	P
I clung to his poignard desperate	Q
I baffled the thrust that followed	R
And writhing uppermost rose to deal	S
With bare three inches of broken steel	S
One stroke Ha the headpiece crash'd piecemeal	S
And the knave in his black blood wallow'd	R
	-
So I lived for worse in fulness of time	T
When peace for a season sway'd the clime	T
And spears for a space were idle	N
Trusted and chosen of all the court	U
A favoured herald of fair report	U
I travell'd eastward and duly brought	V
A bride to a queenly bridal	N
	-
Pardie 'twas a morning even as this	W
The skies were warmer if aught I wis	W
Albeit the fields were duller	I
Or it may be that the envious spring	G
Abash'd at the sight of a fairer thing	G
Wax'd somewhat sadder of colouring	G
Because of her faultless colour	I
	-
With her through the Lyonesse I rode	R
Till the woods with the noontide fervour glow'd	R
And there for a space we halted	X
Where the intertwining branches made	Y
Cool carpets of olive tinted shade	Y
And the floors with fretwork of flame inlaid	Y
From leafy lattices vaulted	X
	-
And scarf and mantle for her I spread	Z
And strewed them over the grassiest bed	Z
And under the greenest awning	G
And loosen'd latch and buckle and freed	A2
From selle and housing the red roan steed	A2
And the jennet of swift Iberian breed	A2
That had carried us since the dawning	G
	-
The brown thrush sang through the briar and bower	I
All flush'd or frosted with forest flower	I
In the warm sun's wanton glances	B2
And I grew deaf to the song bird blind	C2
To blossom that sweeten'd the sweet spring wind	C2
I saw her only a girl reclined	C2
In her girlhood's indolent trances	B2
	-
And the song and the scent and sense wax'd weak	G
The wild rose withered beside the cheek	G
She poised on her fingers slender	I
The soft spun gold of her glittering hair	I
Ran rippling into a wondrous snare	I
That flooded the round arm bright and bare	I
And the shoulder's silvery splendour	I
	-
The deep dusk fires in those dreamy eyes	B2
Like seas clear coloured in summer skies	B2
Were guiltless of future treason	C
And I stood watching her still and mute	D2
Yet the evil seed in my soul found root	D2
And the sad plant throve and the sinful fruit	D2
Grew ripe in the shameful season	C
	-
Let the sin be mine as the shame was hers	B2
In desolate days of departed years	B2
She had leisure for shame and sorrow	I
There was light repentance and brief remorse	B2
When I rode against Saxon foes or Norse	B2
With clang of harness and clatter of horse	B2
And little heed for the morrow	I
	-
And now she is dead men tell me and I	E2
In this living death must I linger and lie	E2
Till my cup to the dregs is drunken	C
I looked through the lattice worn and grim	T
With eyelids darken'd and eyesight dim	T
And weary body and wasted limb	T
And sinew slacken'd and shrunken	C
	-
She is dead Gone down to the burial place	B2
Where the grave dews cleave to her faultless face	B2
Where the grave sods crumble around her	I
And that bright burden of burnish'd gold	F2
That once on those waxen shoulders roll'd	F2
Will it spoil with the damps of the deadly mould	F2
Was it shorn when the church vows bound her	I
	-
Now I know full well that the fair spear shaft	G2
Shall never gladden my hand nor the haft	G2
Of the good sword grow to my fingers	B2
Now the maddest fray the merriest din	C
Would fail to quicken this life stream thin	C
Yet the sleepy poison of that sweet sin	C
In the sluggish current still lingers	B2
	-
Would God I had slept with the slain men long	G
Or ever the heart conceived a wrong	G
That the innermost soul abhorred	M
Or ever these lying lips were strained	H2
To her lids pearl tinted and purple vein'd	H2
Or ever those traitorous kisses stained	H2
The snows of her spotless forehead	H2
	-
Let me gather a little strength to think	G
As one who reels on the outermost brink	G
To the innermost gulf descending	G
In that truce the longest and last of all	I2
In the summer nights of that festival	N
Soft vesture of samite and silken pall	J2
The beginning came of the ending	G
	-
And one trod softly with sandal'd feet	H2
Ah why are the stolen waters sweet	H2
And one crept stealthily after	I
I would I had taken him there and wrung	G
His knavish neck when the dark door swung	G
Or torn by the roots his treacherous tongue	G
And stifled his hateful laughter	I
	-
So the smouldering scandal blazed but he	B
My king to the last put trust in me	B
Aye well was his trust requited	H2
Now priests may patter and bells may toll	K2
He will need no masses to aid his soul	K2
When the angels open the judgment scroll	K2
His wrong will be tenfold righted	H2
	-
Then dawn'd the day when the mail was donn'd	H2
And the steed for the strife caparison'd	H2
But not 'gainst the Norse invader	I
Then was bloodshed not by untoward chance	B2
As the blood that is drawn by the jouster's lance	B2
The fray in the castle of Melegrance	B2
The fight in the lists with Mador	I
	-
Then the guilt made manifest then the siege	L2
When the true men rallying round the liege	L2
Beleaguer'd his base betrayer	I
Then the fruitless parleys the pleadings vain	C
And the hard fought battles with brave Gawaine	C
Twice worsted and once so nearly slain	C
I may well be counted his slayer	I
	-
Then the crime of Modred a little sin	C
At the side of mine though the knave was kin	C
To the king by the knave's hand stricken	C
And the once loved knight was he there to save	M2
That knightly king who that knighthood gave	M2
Ah Christ will he greet me as knight or knave	M2
In the day when the dust shall quicken	C
	-
Had he lightly loved had he trusted less	B2
I had sinn'd perchance with the sinfulness	B2
That through prayer and penance is pardoned	H2
Oh love most loyal Oh faith most sure	I
In the purity of a soul so pure	I
I found my safeguard I sinn'd secure	I
Till my heart to the sin grew harden'd	H2
	-
We were glad together in gladsome meads	B2
When they shook to the strokes of our snorting steeds	B2
We were joyful in joyous lustre	I
When it flush'd the coppice or fill'd the glade	H2
Where the horn of the Dane or the Saxon bray'd	H2
And we saw the heathen banner display'd	H2
And the heathen lances cluster	I
	-
Then a steel shod rush and a steel clad ring	G
And a crash of the spear staves splintering	G
And the billowy battle blended	H2
Riot of chargers revel of blows	B2
And fierce flush'd faces of fighting foes	B2
From croup to bridle that reel'd and rose	B2
In a sparkle of sword play splendid	H2
	-
And the long lithe sword in the hand became	T
As a leaping light as a falling flame	T
As a fire through the flax that hasted	H2
Slender and shining and beautiful	N
How it shore through shivering casque and skull	N
And never a stroke was void and null	N
And never a thrust was wasted	H2
	-
I have done for ever with all these things	B2
Deeds that were joyous to knights and kings	B2
In days that with songs were cherish'd	H2
The songs are ended the deeds are done	C
There shall none of them gladden me now not one	C
There is nothing good for me under the sun	C
But to perish as these things perish'd	H2
	-
Shall it profit me aught that the bishop seeks	B2
My presence daily and duly speaks	B2
Soft words of comfort and kindness	B2
Shall it aught avail me Certes he said	H2
Though thy soul is darken'd be not afraid	H2
God hateth nothing that He hath made	H2
His light shall disperse thy blindness	B2
	-
I am not afraid for myself although	I
I know I have had that light and I know	I
The greater my condemnation	C
When I well nigh swoon'd in the deep drawn bliss	B2
Of that first long sweet slow stolen kiss	B2
I would gladly have given for less than this	B2
Myself with my soul's salvation	C
	-
I would languish thus in some loathsome den	C
As a thing of naught in the eyes of men	C
In the mouths of men as a by word	H2
Through years of pain and when God saw fit	H2
Singing his praises my soul should flit	H2
To the darkest depth of the nethermost pit	H2
If hers could be wafted skyward	H2
	-
Lord Christ have patience a little while	N2
I have sinn'd because I am utterly vile	N2
Having light loving darkness rather	I
And I pray Thee deal with me as Thou wilt	H2
Yet the blood of Thy foes I have freely spilt	H2
And moreover mine is the greater guilt	H2
In the sight of Thee and Thy Father	I
	-
That saint Thy servant was counted dear	I
Whose sword in the garden grazed the ear	I
Of Thine enemy Lord Redeemer	I
Not thus on the shattering visor jarr'd	H2
In this hand the iron of the hilt cross barr'd	H2
When the blade was swallow'd up to the guard	H2
Through the teeth of the strong blasphemer	I
	-
If ever I smote as a man should smite	H2
If I struck one stroke that seem'd good in Thy sight	H2
By Thy loving mercy prevailing	G
Lord let her stand in the light of Thy face	B2
Cloth'd with Thy love and crown'd with Thy grace	B2
When I gnash my teeth in the terrible place	B2
That is fill'd with weeping and wailing	G
	-
Shall I comfort my soul on account of this	B2
In the world to come whatsoever it is	B2
There is no more earthly ill doing	G
For the dusty darkness shall slay desire	I
And the chaff may burn with unquenchable fire	I
But for green wild growth of thistle and briar	I
At least there is no renewing	G
	-
And this grievous burden of life shall change	O2
In the dim hereafter dreamy and strange	O2
And sorrows and joys diurnal	N
And partial blessings and perishing ills	B2
Shall fade in the praise or the pang that fills	B2
The glory of God's eternal hills	B2
Or the gloom of His gulf eternal	N
	-
Yet if all things change to the glory of One	C
Who for all ill doers gave His Own sweet Son	C
To His goodness so shall He change ill	P2
When the world as a wither'd leaf shall be	B
And the sky like a shrivell'd scroll shall flee	B
And souls shall be summon'd from land and sea	B
At the blast of His bright archangel	N