Hymn To Death Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCBCBCCDEDECFFECE AGCGGCBCBCBHHHCFFCCC CIJKI ALLCCLFCFCLCCLMCCMNN CCGGMMMMCC IFOFOLLLLOOFFIIFPPOI OIQQ IICICCCOOOCCRRRFFCCF FOFOFSTSMMFTFT IFCFCLLFFOOOMMMMUU IVCVCCLCCLOOLLIILLL ICCCCCCCWOWOI | A |
What is it haunts the summer air | B |
A sense of something lately passed away | C |
Something pleasant something fair | B |
That was with us yesterday | C |
And is no longer there | B |
Now from the pasture comes no baby bleat | C |
Nor the frisk of frolic feet | C |
There is seen | D |
Blossom and bloom have spread their wings and flown | E |
And the bosks and orchards green | D |
The rosy flush of childhood have outgrown | E |
Lapwing and linnet and lark have fledged their brood | C |
Mavis and merle have gotten their desire | F |
The nightingale begins to tire | F |
Even the cuckoo's note hath fitful grown | E |
And in the closing leafage of the wood | C |
The ringdove now is left to coo alone | E |
- | |
II | A |
Then revel in your roses reckless June | G |
Revel and ripen swift to your decay | C |
But your turn will follow soon | G |
And the rounding harvest moon | G |
Avenge the too brief innocence of May | C |
Yet once again there scents the morning air | B |
The soul of something passed away | C |
Something precious something fair | B |
That was breathing yesterday | C |
And is no longer there | B |
It is Autumn dying dying | H |
With her leaves around her lying | H |
And Winter beggared heir unprofitably sighing | H |
Let her die | C |
Unto us as unto her | F |
Earth is but a sepulchre | F |
And the over arching sky | C |
Neither asks nor wonders why | C |
Those who here are left behind | C |
Season sweet and spacious mind | C |
Fain would save | I |
Yet with pale visages and streaming tears | J |
Must watch the harvest of the ripened years | K |
Locked in the bootless granary of the grave | I |
- | |
III | A |
Why do you call me hence | L |
To purge what fault to punish what offence | L |
Had I maligned my lot | C |
Or ever once the privilege forgot | C |
Of being though the spirit's inward sense | L |
Mirror and measure of all things that are | F |
Then it were right were just | C |
That like a falling leaf or failing star | F |
The winds of Heaven should blow about my dust | C |
Or had I used the years as waifs and strays | L |
To build myself a comfortable nest | C |
Groped life for golden garbage like the rest | C |
And as a lacquey on the public ways | L |
For private profit hired out my tongue | M |
Then against death 'twere vain to plead | C |
Then then 'twere meet indeed | C |
I should grow silenced like a bell unrung | M |
But bear me witness every Spring that came | N |
Since first with trembling furtive frame | N |
Out of my little crib I crept | C |
While others slept | C |
Because to me the rising moon | G |
Was more than sleep or toy or boon | G |
That never yet the thrush resumed to sing | M |
But straight my heart did build my voice was on the wing | M |
Found the first primrose gazing frank | M |
From its cradle in the bank | M |
Harked for the cuckoo days before he called | C |
Then halted at his note enthralled | C |
- | |
IV | I |
Why do you beckon to another sphere | F |
Here was I born | O |
Am deeply rooted here | F |
And would not be uptorn | O |
I want no other fields than these | L |
No other skies | L |
No redder dawn to break on bluer seas | L |
No brighter stars to rise | L |
Neither do I crave to know | O |
The origin of joy and woe | O |
I love the doubt the dark the fear | F |
That still surroundeth all things here | F |
I love the mystery nor seek to solve | I |
Content to let the stars revolve | I |
Nor ask to have their meaning clear | F |
Enough for me enough to feel | P |
To let the mystic shadows steal | P |
Into a land whither I cannot follow | O |
To see the stealthy sunlight leave | I |
Dewy dingle dappled hollow | O |
To watch when falls the hour of eve | I |
Quiet shadows on a quiet hill | Q |
To watch to wonder and be still | Q |
- | |
V | I |
And can it be | I |
That there will break the day | C |
For me for me | I |
When I no more shall hear the throstle flute | C |
Not because his voice is mute | C |
But that my soul sleeps stupefied in clay | C |
Never what never again | O |
Deep within some silent glen | O |
To make a couch with peace far from surmise of men | O |
Never never more to stand | C |
Spell bound in a leafy land | C |
Lie among the grasses tall | R |
Hear the yaffel call and call | R |
And lazily watch the lazy clouds slow floating over all | R |
That time and life will be but I shall ne'er | F |
Find little feet upon the stair | F |
Feel little arms about my throat | C |
Hear little gleeful voices float | C |
Upon the wavelets of the summer air | F |
That I again shall never share | F |
The peace that lies upon an English lawn | O |
Watch the last lingering planet shining fair | F |
Upon the unwrinkled forehead of the dawn | O |
Never never never more | F |
When fate or fancy bids me roam | S |
Lessen with loving thoughts the last long mile | T |
That leads unto my home | S |
Descry the roses down the casement falling | M |
Hear the garden thrushes calling | M |
Behold my dear ones standing at the door | F |
Void of fear void of guile | T |
And hail as I so oft have hailed before | F |
The broadening salutation of their smile | T |
- | |
VI | I |
Who will salute me There | F |
Who who come forth to greet | C |
Will Virgil stand upon the golden stair | F |
Shall I see Spenser's face and sit at Shakespeare's feet | C |
Will Galileo with unshrouded gaze | L |
Guide me through the starry maze | L |
Upon wings that never tire | F |
Up to the Heaven of Heavens and higher and ever higher | F |
If this be so | O |
Quick let me go | O |
But ah pale spectre paler still you grow | O |
You would but lure me to the other bank | M |
To find it blank | M |
Of all we loved not one hath e'er come back | M |
To beckon us along the track | M |
To point the way to indicate the goal | U |
And stretch out steadying arms to help the tottering soul | U |
- | |
VII | I |
But wilt thou make this compact with me Death | V |
And keep thy bond | C |
That even if mine be but borrowed breath | V |
Lent here awhile to be reclaimed beyond | C |
And its poor husk be dug into the ground | C |
Then though the Future may not find my face | L |
Nor arms that love me round my neck be wound | C |
Fair lips that lisp not yet my name shall sound | C |
And hearts that beat not yet be my warm dwellingplace | L |
That under trees which have no rootlets now | O |
But will then be trunk and bough | O |
And dome of sheltering leaves sometimes | L |
A tender tear shall fall upon my rhymes | L |
And hearts at secret war with life | I |
Or dreaming maid or disillusioned wife | I |
Shall my persuasive music bless | L |
Shall call me comforter in their distress | L |
And make me live again in sorrowing loveliness | L |
- | |
VIII | I |
So unto Death I do commend my Spirit | C |
And Time which is in league with Death that they | C |
May hold in trust and see my kin inherit | C |
All of me that is not clay | C |
Embalm my voice and keep it from decay | C |
Then I will not ask to stay | C |
Nay rather start at once upon the way | C |
Cheered by the faith that at our mortal birth | W |
For some high reason beyond Reason's ken | O |
We are put out to nurse on this strange earth | W |
Until Death comes to take us home again | O |
Alfred Austin
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
Write your comment about Hymn To Death poem by Alfred Austin
Best Poems of Alfred Austin