Maktoob Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH IJIJ KLKL MNMN OPOP QRQR STST UVWV XVXV YZYZ SA2B2A2 C2FD2F E2VE2V F2VF2V| A shell surprised our post one day | A |
| And killed a comrade at my side | B |
| My heart was sick to see the way | A |
| He suffered as he died | B |
| - | |
| I dug about the place he fell | C |
| And found no bigger than my thumb | D |
| A fragment of the splintered shell | C |
| In warm aluminum | D |
| - | |
| I melted it and made a mould | E |
| And poured it in the opening | F |
| And worked it when the cast was cold | E |
| Into a shapely ring | F |
| - | |
| And when my ring was smooth and bright | G |
| Holding it on a rounded stick | H |
| For seal I bade a Turco write | G |
| 'Maktoob' in Arabic | H |
| - | |
| 'Maktoob ' 'Tis written So they think | I |
| These children of the desert who | J |
| From its immense expanses drink | I |
| Some of its grandeur too | J |
| - | |
| Within the book of Destiny | K |
| Whose leaves are time whose cover space | L |
| The day when you shall cease to be | K |
| The hour the mode the place | L |
| - | |
| Are marked they say and you shall not | M |
| By taking thought or using wit | N |
| Alter that certain fate one jot | M |
| Postpone or conjure it | N |
| - | |
| Learn to drive fear then from your heart | O |
| If you must perish know O man | P |
| 'Tis an inevitable part | O |
| Of the predestined plan | P |
| - | |
| And seeing that through the ebon door | Q |
| Once only you may pass and meet | R |
| Of those that have gone through before | Q |
| The mighty the elite | R |
| - | |
| Guard that not bowed nor blanched with fear | S |
| You enter but serene erect | T |
| As you would wish most to appear | S |
| To those you most respect | T |
| - | |
| So die as though your funeral | U |
| Ushered you through the doors that led | V |
| Into a stately banquet hall | W |
| Where heroes banqueted | V |
| - | |
| And it shall all depend therein | X |
| Whether you come as slave or lord | V |
| If they acclaim you as their kin | X |
| Or spurn you from their board | V |
| - | |
| So when the order comes Attack | Y |
| And the assaulting wave deploys | Z |
| And the heart trembles to look back | Y |
| On life and all its joys | Z |
| - | |
| Or in a ditch that they seem near | S |
| To find and round your shallow trough | A2 |
| Drop the big shells that you can hear | B2 |
| Coming a half mile off | A2 |
| - | |
| When not to hear some try to talk | C2 |
| And some to clean their guns or sing | F |
| And some dig deeper in the chalk | D2 |
| I look upon my ring | F |
| - | |
| And nerves relax that were most tense | E2 |
| And Death comes whistling down unheard | V |
| As I consider all the sense | E2 |
| Held in that mystic word | V |
| - | |
| And it brings quieting like balm | F2 |
| My heart whose flutterings have ceased | V |
| The resignation and the calm | F2 |
| And wisdom of the East | V |
Alan Seeger
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
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