A Woman-s Apology Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: AAA BBB CCC DDD EEE FFG HEH IJI KKK EEE LLL MMM NNN FFF EEE EEE OPP CCC QQQ DDD OPP RRR SSS TTT UUU VVV EEE EEE III DDD WW EEE XXX EEE UUU SSS YYY ZZZ A2A2A2 TTT B2B2 C2C2C2 DDD TTT D2D2E2

In the green darkness of a summer woodA
Wherethro' ran winding ways a lady stoodA
Carved from the air in curving womanhoodA
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A maiden's form crowned by a matron's mienB
As about Lammas wheat stems may be seenB
The ear all golden but the stalk still greenB
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There as she stood waiting for sight or soundC
Down a dim alley without break or boundC
Slowly he came his gaze upon the groundC
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Nor ever once he lifted up his eyesD
Till he no more her presence could disguiseD
Then he her face saluted silentwiseD
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And silentwise no less she turned as thoughE
She was the leaf and he the current's flowE
And where he went there she perforce must goE
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And both kept speechless as the dumb or deadF
Nor did the earth so much as speak their treadF
So soft by last year's leaves 'twas carpetedG
-
And not a sound moved all the greenwood throughH
Save when some quest with fluttering wings outflewE
Ruffling the leaves then silence was anewH
-
And when the track they followed forked in twainI
They never doubted which one should be ta'enJ
But chose as though obeying secret reinI
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Until they came where boughs no longer screenedK
The sky and soon abruptly intervenedK
A rustic gate and over it they leanedK
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Leaned over it and green before them layE
A meadow ribbed with drying swathes of hayE
From which the hinds had lately gone awayE
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Beyond it yet more woods these too at restL
Smooth dipping down to shore unseen but guessedL
For lo the Sea with nothing on its breastL
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I was sure you would come '' she said with a voice like a broken wingM
That flutters and fails then flags while it nurses the failure's stingM
You could not refuse me that 'tis but such a little thingM
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Do I remember the words the farewell words that you spokeN
Answering soft with hard ere we parted under the oakN
Remember them Can I forget For each of them cut like a strokeN
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True were they true You think so or they had never been saidF
But somehow like lightning flashes they flickered about my headF
Flickered but touched me not They ought to have stricken me deadF
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What do I want with you now What I always wanted you knowE
A voice to be heard in the darkness a flower to be seen in the snowE
And a bond linking each fresh future with a lengthening long agoE
-
Is it too much Too little Well little or much 'tis allE
That rescues my life from the nothing it seems to be when I callE
For a life to reply and my voice comes back like a voice from the wallE
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If one played sweet on a lute yea so soft that you scarce could hearO
Would you clang all the chords with your hand that the octaves might ring out clearP
Lo asunder the strings are snapped and the music shrinks silent for fearP
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See the earth through the infinite spaces goes silently round and roundC
And the moon moveth on through the heavens and never maketh a soundC
And the wheels of eternity traverse their journey in stillness profoundC
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'Tis only the barren breakers that bellow on barren shoreQ
'Tis only the braggart thunders that rumble and rage and roarQ
Like a wave is the love that babbles but silent love loves evermoreQ
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Feeble shadowy shallow Is ocean then shallow that keepsD
Its harvest of shell and seaweed that none or garners or reapsD
That the diver may sound a moment but never drag from its deepsD
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Cowardice Yes we are cowards cowards from cradle to bierO
And the terror of life grows upon us as we grow year by yearP
Our smiles are but trembling ripples urged on by a subtide of fearP
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And hence or at substance or shadow we start though we scarce know whyR
Life seems like a haunted wood where we tremble and crouch and cryR
Beast or robber or ghost our courage is still to flyR
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So we look around for a guide and to place all our fears in his handS
That his courage may keep us brave that his grandeur may make us grandS
But remember a guide not an ambush Oh tell me you understandS
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Still silent still unpersuaded Ah I know what your thoughts repeatT
We are all alike and we love to keep passion aglow at our feetT
Like one that sitteth in shade and complacently smiles at the heatT
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You think so Then come into shade Rise up take the seat at my sideU
Or see I will kneel not you What is humble if this be prideU
What seems cold now will chance feel warm when the fierce glare of noon hath diedU
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Have you never when waves were breaking watched children at sport on the beachV
With their little feet tempting the foam fringe till with stronger and further reachV
Than they dreamed of a billow comes bursting how they turn and scamper and screechV
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Are we more than timider children With its blending of terror and gleeE
To us life call it love if you will is a deep mysterious seaE
That we play with till it grows earnest then straight we tremble and fleeE
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Oh never the pale east flushes with ripples of rising dayE
Never never the birds awakening sing loud upon gable and sprayE
But afresh you dawn on my life and my soul chants its matin layE
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When the scent of the elder is wafted from the hedge in the cottage laneI
Up the walk and over the terrace and in at the open paneI
You are there and my life seems perfumed like a garden after rainI
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The nightingale brings you nearer the woodpecker borrows your voiceD
The flower where the bees cling and cluster seems the flower of the flowers of your choiceD
I am sad with the cloud of your sadness with the joy of your joy I rejoiceD
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What dearer what nearer would you Once heart is betrothed to heartW
No closeness can bring them closer no parting can put them apartW
Oh take all the balm leave the bitter give the sweetness with none of its smart ''-
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The blue sea now had saddened into grayE
Solid and close the darkening woodlands layE
And twilight's floating dews clung heavy with the hayE
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One with all these he neither stirred nor spakeX
Though for a sound the silence seemed to acheX
Waiting and wondering when his voice the pain would breakX
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Then since the words hope forced despair to sayE
Seemed to have vanished with the vanished dayE
She turned her from the gate and slowly moved awayE
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And he too turned but pacing side by sideU
This mocking nearness did them more divideU
Than if betwixt them moaned the round of ocean wideU
-
But when o'erhead boughs once more met and spannedS
She halted laid upon his arm her handS
And questioned blank his face his heart to understandS
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Had trust or tenderness been hovering thereY
She would have known it in the duskiest airY
But face and form alike of every trace was bareY
-
Her touch he neither welcomed nor repelledZ
Pulses that once had quickened straight seemed quelledZ
He stood like one that is by courteous bondage heldZ
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One hand thus foiled the other rescuing cameA2
And in the darkness sheltered against shameA2
She fawned on him with both and trembled out his nameA2
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Then as a reaper when the days are meetT
His sickle curves about the bending wheatT
He hollowed out his arms and harvested his sweetT
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Now what shall I cling to '' she murmured Behold I am weak you are strongB2
Brief brief is the bridal of summer the mourning of winter is longB2
Never leave me unloved to discover love's right was but rapturous wrong ''-
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Again was silence Then she slowly feltC2
The clasp of cruel fondness round her meltC2
And heard a voice that seemed the voice of one that kneltC2
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The long long mourning of the winter daysD
Waits sure for them that bask in summer raysD
One must depart then life is death to one that staysD
-
This fixed decree we can nor change nor cheatT
For I must either leave or lose you sweetT
And all love's triumphs end in death and dark defeatT
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Death is unconscious change change conscious deathD2
Better to die outright than gasp for breathD2
Life dead hath done with pain Love lingerE2

Alfred Austin



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