Aylmer's Field Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEF GHIJKL MNOCPQRSITUOVWXYFE ZA2B2C2VNONOVD2E2F2G 2H2 I2J2OK2L2K2M2OI2VL2N 2FO2P2VQ2V R2VS2T2LK2K2U2K2I2D2 V2O2W2X2K2Y2OZ2BLLCL A3K2K2K2K2R2LK2LK2B3 C3LK2D3E3K2F3G3R2ILE 2K2G2F3NH3I3LLLLLCVT MK2J3C3K2I2K3N LL3COLM3K2K2TN3R2 L2A2MK2K2K2VLLO3P3Q3 R3FK2K2S3K2K2K2K2F3V T3CLLU3LK2V3K2K2K2LW 3LZ2R2VX3Y3K2K2 TLVX3F3TLLX3 LK2P3Z3O3A4K2I2K2VWU 3LK2LEVL K2B4ELL2K2LLK2LI2LM3 LLK2T K3I2C L I2EK2K2 LR2LLL K2LLC4I2LLLD4VLLR2LK 2I2E4K2F4LVR2G4 L2 L K2LK2A4LVEVK2K2TELLK 2TK2K2VI2VLH4ETL2K2I 2K2K2R2TK2K2LEK2K2L2 A4I4TJ4LECEK4L2K2LI2 ELK2EEL U3FLLK2EP3LLJ4K2L4LL VEL2LK2VLL2LER2LK2LL M4 VN4K2K2LL2LLLK2VS3LT K2K2CK2LK2K2EK2K2LO4 LVVK2K2L2 K2EK2CLLLO3R2LEEL LK2I2LK2TEEK2K2LC2EL R2K2LTE K2R2LR2LK2LVVR2P4LLK 2K2K2K2L2ELTEK2K2CLE F3EEK2K2LVR2LK2 L4VLVK2LK2LLR2V Q4K2LN4LK2LK2LF3ELLK 2LK2R2VR2M2ER2K2T3R4 K2G4LEEL2K2K2LL2LA4K 2LL2K2K2FELR2 VEK2LL2LS4FF3LLEK2K2 T4LLL2LLK2LTK2U4R2LT K2K2S3LLL2K2C2K2LR2K 2LL2LK2ELR2TC2EL R2ELV G4P4CK2LTLLN3LEVM2L2 LL M2LK2K2L2M2LK2VLK2K2 K2K2L2EK2K2LR2K2L2LL LL2 R2A4LL EV4L2LL K2LLLLK2K2K2LR2L2 R2EK2K2O3LK2K2LK2LEL R2K2LK2 LK2EELLLG4EK2K2LELR2 ELLLET4W4VLLEK2LLLLE LK2K2EX4LLX4LK2LL2K2 R4LL2LLLLK2VK2K2L VK2LK2LLR4LK2K2S4L K2LLELK2K2LLLK2R4LLL 2K2K2ER4K2EK2LLES3LK 2LR4K2K2L2K2ELK2K2R2 LVR4L2R4VK2LLM2K2LO3 R2ER4LK2LLLLL LR2K2L2R4LL2ELLLK2R2 LL2K2K2LR2LR2K2M2LK2 LLE LY4K2LK2O3K2K2LVLK2L LVLM2K2K2L2EK2LEK2K2 LL

Dust are our frames and gilded dust our pride	A
Looks only for a moment whole and sound	B
Like that long buried body of the king	C
Found lying with his urns and ornaments	D
Which at a touch of light an air of heaven	E
Slipt into ashes and was found no more	F
	-
Here is a story which in rougher shape	G
Came from a grizzled cripple whom I saw	H
Sunning himself in a waste field alone	I
Old and a mine of memories who had served	J
Long since a bygone Rector of the place	K
And been himself a part of what he told	L
	-
Sir Aaylmer Aylmer that almighty man	M
The county God in whose capacious hall	N
Hung with a hundred shields the family tree	O
Sprang from the midriff of a prostrate king	C
Whose blazing wyvern weathercock'd the spire	P
Stood from his walls and wing'd his entry gates	Q
And swang besides on many a windy sign	R
Whose eyes from under a pyramidal head	S
Saw from his windows nothing save his own	I
What lovelier of his own had he than her	T
His only child his Edith whom he loved	U
As heiress and not heir regretfully	O
But 'he that marries her marries her name'	V
This fiat somewhat soothed himself and wife	W
His wife a faded beauty of the Baths	X
Insipid as the Queen upon a card	Y
Her all of thought and bearing hardly more	F
Than his own shadow in a sickly sun	E
	-
A land of hops and poppy mingled corn	Z
Little about it stirring save a brook	A2
A sleepy land where under the same wheel	B2
The same old rut would deepen year by year	C2
Where almost all the village had one name	V
Where Aylmer follow'd Aylmer at the Hall	N
And Averill Averill at the Rectory	O
Thrice over so that Rectory and Hall	N
Bound in an immemorial intimacy	O
Were open to each other tho' to dream	V
That Love could bind them closer well had made	D2
The hoar hair of the Baronet bristle up	E2
With horror worse than had he heard his priest	F2
Preach an inverted scripture sons of men	G2
Daughters of God so sleepy was the land	H2
	-
And might not Averill had he will'd it so	I2
Somewhere beneath his own low range of roofs	J2
Have also set his many shielded tree	O
There was an Aylmer Averill marriage once	K2
When the red rose was redder than itself	L2
And York's white rose as red as Lancaster's	K2
With wounded peace which each had prick'd to death	M2
'Not proven' Averill said or laughingly	O
'Some other race of Averills' prov'n or no	I2
What cared he what if other or the same	V
He lean'd not on his fathers but himself	L2
But Leolin his brother living oft	N2
With Averill and a year or two before	F
Call'd to the bar but ever call'd away	O2
By one low voice to one dear neighborhood	P2
Would often in his walks with Edith claim	V
A distant kinship to the gracious blood	Q2
That shook the heart of Edith hearing him	V
	-
Sanguine he was a but less vivid hue	R2
Than of that islet in the chestnut bloom	V
Flamed his cheek and eager eyes that still	S2
Took joyful note of all things joyful beam'd	T2
Beneath a manelike mass of rolling gold	L
Their best and brightest when they dwelt on hers	K2
Edith whose pensive beauty perfect else	K2
But subject to the season or the mood	U2
Shone like a mystic star between the less	K2
And greater glory varying to and fro	I2
We know not wherefore bounteously made	D2
And yet so finely that a troublous touch	V2
Thinn'd or would seem to thin her in a day	O2
A joyous to dilate as toward the light	W2
And these had been together from the first	X2
Leolin's first nurse was five years after hers	K2
So much the boy foreran but when his date	Y2
Doubled her own for want of playmates he	O
Since Averill was a decad and a half	Z2
His elder and their parents underground	B
Had tost his ball and flown his kite and roll'd	L
His hoop to pleasure Edith with her dipt	L
Against the rush of the air in the prone swing	C
Made blossom ball or daisy chain arranged	L
Her garden sow'd her name and kept it green	A3
In living letters told her fairy tales	K2
Show'd here the fairy footings on the grass	K2
The little dells of cowslip fairy palms	K2
The petty marestail forest fairy pines	K2
Or from the tiny pitted target blew	R2
What look'd a flight of fairy arrows aim'd	L
All at one mark all hitting make believes	K2
For Edith and himself or else he forged	L
But that was later boyish histories	K2
Of battle bold adventure dungeon wreck	B3
Flights terrors sudden rescues and true love	C3
Crown'd after trial sketches rude and faint	L
But where a passion yet unborn perhaps	K2
Lay hidden as the music of the moon	D3
Sleeps in the plain eggs of the nightingale	E3
And thus together save for college times	K2
Or Temple eaten terms a couple fair	F3
As ever painter painted poet sang	G3
Or Heav'n in lavish bounty moulded grew	R2
And more and more the maiden woman grown	I
He wasted hours with Averill there when first	L
The tented winter field was broken up	E2
Into that phalanx of the summer spears	K2
That soon should wear the garland there again	G2
When burr and bine were gather'd lastly there	F3
At Christmas ever welcome at the Hall	N
On whose dull sameness his full tide of youth	H3
Broke with a phosphorescence cheering even	I3
My lady and the Baronet yet had laid	L
No bar between them dull and self involved	L
Tall and erect but bending from his height	L
With half allowing smiles for all the world	L
And mighty courteous in the main his pride	L
Lay deeper than to wear it as his ring	C
He like an Aylmer in his Aylmerism	V
Would care no more for Leolin's walking with her	T
Than for his old Newfoundland's when they ran	M
To loose him at the stables for he rose	K2
Twofooted at the limit of his chain	J3
Roaring to make a third and how should Love	C3
Whom the cross lightnings of four chance met eyes	K2
Flash into fiery life from nothing follow	I2
Such dear familiarities of dawn	K3
Seldom but when he does Master of all	N
	-
So these young hearts not knowing that they loved	L
Not she at least nor conscious of a bar	L3
Between them nor by plight or broken ring	C
Bound but an immemorial intimacy	O
Wander'd at will but oft accompanied	L
By Averill his a brother's love that hung	M3
With wings of brooding shelter o'er her peace	K2
Might have been other save for Leolin's	K2
Who knows but so they wander'd hour by hour	T
Gather'd the blossom that rebloom'd and drank	N3
The magic cup that fill'd itself anew	R2
	-
A whisper half reveal'd her to herself	L2
For out beyond her lodges where the brook	A2
Vocal with here and there a silence ran	M
By sallowy rims arose the laborers' homes	K2
A frequent haunt of Edith on low knolls	K2
That dimpling died into each other huts	K2
At random scatter'd each a nest in bloom	V
Her art her hand her counsel all had wrought	L
About them here was one that summer blanch'd	L
Was parcel bearded with the traveller's joy	O3
In Autumn parcel ivy clad and here	P3
The warm blue breathings of a hidden hearth	Q3
Broke from a bower of vine and honeysuckle	R3
One look'd all rosetree and another wore	F
A close set robe of jasmine sown with stars	K2
This had a rosy sea of gillyflowers	K2
About it this a milky way on earth	S3
Like visions in the Northern dreamer's heavens	K2
A lily avenue climbing to the doors	K2
One almost to the martin haunted eaves	K2
A summer burial deep in hollyhocks	K2
Each its own charm and Edith's everywhere	F3
And Edith ever visitant with him	V
He but less loved than Edith of her poor	T3
For she so lowly lovely and so loving	C
Queenly responsive when the loyal hand	L
Rose from the clay it work'd in as she past	L
Not sowing hedgerow texts and passing by	U3
Nor dealing goodly counsel from a height	L
That makes the lowest hate it but a voice	K2
Of comfort and an open hand of help	V3
A splendid presence flattering the poor roofs	K2
Revered as theirs but kindlier than themselves	K2
To ailing wife or wailing infancy	K2
Or old bedridden palsy was adored	L
He loved for her and for himself A grasp	W3
Having the warmth and muscle of the heart	L
A childly way with children and a laugh	Z2
Ringing like proved golden coinage true	R2
Were no false passport to that easy realm	V
Where once with Leolin at her side the girl	X3
Nursing a child and turning to the warmth	Y3
The tender pink five beaded baby soles	K2
Heard the good mother softly whisper 'Bless	K2
God bless 'em marriages are made in Heaven '	-
	-
A flash of semi jealousy clear'd it to her	T
My Lady's Indian kinsman unannounced	L
With half a score of swarthy faces came	V
His own tho' keen and bold and soldierly	X3
Sear'd by the close ecliptic was not fair	F3
Fairer his talk a tongue that ruled the hour	T
Tho' seeming boastful so when first he dash'd	L
Into the chronicle of a deedful day	L
Sir Aylmer half forgot his lazy smile	X3
Of patron 'Good my lady's kinsman good '	-
My lady with her fingers interlock'd	L
And rotatory thumbs on silken knees	K2
Call'd all her vital spirits into each ear	P3
To listen unawares they flitted off	Z3
Busying themselves about the flowerage	O3
That stood from our a stiff brocade in which	A4
The meteor of a splendid season she	K2
Once with this kinsman ah so long ago	I2
Stept thro' the stately minuet of those days	K2
But Edith's eager fancy hurried with him	V
Snatch'd thro' the perilous passes of his life	W
Till Leolin ever watchful of her eye	U3
Hated him with a momentary hate	L
Wife hunting as the rumor ran was he	K2
I know not for he spoke not only shower'd	L
His oriental gifts on everyone	E
And most on Edith like a storm he came	V
And shook the house and like a storm he went	L
	-
Among the gifts he left her possibly	K2
He flow'd and ebb'd uncertain to return	B4
When others had been tested there was one	E
A dagger in rich sheath with jewels on it	L
Sprinkled about in gold that branch'd itself	L2
Fine as ice ferns on January panes	K2
Made by a breath I know not whence at first	L
Nor of what race the work but as he told	L
The story storming a hill fort of thieves	K2
He got it for their captain after fight	L
His comrades having fought their last below	I2
Was climbing up the valley at whom he shot	L
Down from the beetling crag to which he clung	M3
Tumbled the tawny rascal at his feet	L
This dagger with him which when now admired	L
By Edith whom his pleasure was to please	K2
At once the costly Sahib yielded it to her	T
	-
And Leolin coming after he was gone	K3
Tost over all her presents petulantly	I2
And when she show'd the wealthy scabbard saying	C
'Look what a lovely piece of workmanship '	-
Slight was his answer 'Well I care not for it '	-
Then playing with the blade he prick'd his hand	L
'A gracious gift to give a lady this '	-
'But would it be more gracious' ask'd the girl	I2
'Were I to give this gift of his to one	E
That is no lady ''Gracious No' said he	K2
'Me but I cared not for it O pardon me	K2
I seem to be ungraciousness itself '	-
'Take it' she added sweetly 'tho' his gift	L
For I am more ungracious ev'n than you	R2
I care not for it either ' and he said	L
'Why then I love it ' but Sir Aylmer past	L
And neither loved nor liked the thing he heard	L
	-
The next day came a neighbor Blues and reds	K2
They talk'd of blues were sure of it he thought	L
Then of the latest fox where started kill'd	L
In such a bottom 'Peter had the brush	C4
My Peter first ' and did Sir Aylmer know	I2
That great pock pitten fellow had been caught	L
Then made his pleasure echo hand to hand	L
And rolling as it were the substance of it	L
Between his palms a moment up and down	D4
'The birds were warm the birds were warm upon him	V
We have him now ' and had Sir Aylmer heard	L
Nay but he must the land was ringing of it	L
This blacksmith border marriage one they knew	R2
Raw from the nursery who could trust a child	L
That cursed France with her egalities	K2
And did Sir Aylmer deferentially	I2
With nearing chair and lower'd accent think	E4
For people talk'd that it was wholly wise	K2
To let that handsome fellow Averill walk	F4
So freely with his daughter people talk'd	L
The boy might get a notion into him	V
The girl might be entangled ere she knew	R2
Sir Aylmer Aylmer slowly stiffening spoke	G4
'The girl and boy Sir know their differences '	-
'Good' said his friend 'but watch ' and he 'enough	L2
More than enough Sir I can guard my own '	-
They parted and Sir Aylmer Aylmer watch'd	L
	-
Pale for on her the thunders of the house	K2
Had fallen first was Edith that same night	L
Pale as the Jeptha's daughter a rough piece	K2
Of early rigid color under which	A4
Withdrawing by the counter door to that	L
Which Leolin open'd she cast back upon him	V
A piteous glance and vanish'd He as one	E
Caught in a burst of unexpected storm	V
And pelted with outrageous epithets	K2
Turning beheld the Powers of the House	K2
On either side the hearth indignant her	T
Cooling her false cheek with a featherfan	E
Him glaring by his own stale devil spurr'd	L
And like a beast hard ridden breathing hard	L
'Ungenerous dishonorable base	K2
Presumptuous trusted as he was with her	T
The sole succeeder to their wealth their lands	K2
The last remaining pillar of their house	K2
The one transmitter of their ancient name	V
Their child ' 'Our child ' 'Our heiress ' 'Ours ' for still	I2
Like echoes from beyond a hollow came	V
Her sicklier iteration Last he said	L
'Boy mark me for your fortunes are to make	H4
I swear you shall not make them out of mine	E
Now inasmuch as you have practised on her	T
Perplext her made her half forget herself	L2
Swerve from her duty to herself and us	K2
Things in an Aylmer deem'd impossible	I2
Far as we track ourselves I say that this	K2
Else I withdraw favor and countenance	K2
From you and yours for ever shall you do	R2
Sir when you see her but you shall not see her	T
No you shall write and not to her but me	K2
And you shall say that having spoken with me	K2
And after look'd into yourself you find	L
That you meant nothing as indeed you know	E
That you meant nothing Such as match as this	K2
Impossible prodigious 'These were words	K2
As meted by his measure of himself	L2
Arguing boundless forbearance after which	A4
And Leolin's horror stricken answer 'I	I4
So foul a traitor to myself and her	T
Never oh never ' for about as long	J4
As the wind hover hangs in the balance paused	L
Sir Aylmer reddening from the storm within	E
Then broke all bonds of courtesy and crying	C
'Boy should I find you by my doors again	E
My men shall lash you from the like a dog	K4
Hence ' with a sudden execration drove	L2
The footstool from before him and arose	K2
So stammering 'scoundrel' out of teeth that ground	L
As in a dreadful dream while Leolin still	I2
Retreated half aghast the fierce old man	E
Follow'd and under his own lintel stood	L
Storming with lifted hands a hoary face	K2
Meet for the reverence of the hearth but now	E
Beneath a pale and unimpassion'd moon	E
Vext with unworthy madness and deform'd	L
	-
Slowly and conscious of the rageful eye	U3
That watch'd him till he heard the ponderous door	F
Close crashing with long echoes thro' the land	L
Went Leolin then his passions all in flood	L
And masters of his motion furiously	K2
Down thro' the bright lawns to his brother's ran	E
And foam'd away his heart at Averill's ear	P3
Whom Averill solaced as he might amazed	L
The man was his had been his father's friend	L
He must have seen himself had seen it long	J4
He must have known himself had known besides	K2
He never yet had set his daughter forth	L4
Here in the woman markets of the west	L
Where our Caucasians let themselves be sold	L
Some one he thought had slander'd Leolin to him	V
'Brother for I have loved you more as a son	E
Than brother let me tell you I myself	L2
What is their pretty saying jilted is it	L
Jilted I was I say it for your peace	K2
Pain'd and as bearing in myself the shame	V
The woman should have borne humiliated	L
I lived for years a stunted sunless life	L2
Till after our good parents past away	L
Watching your growth I seem'd again to grow	E
Leolin I almost sin in envying you	R2
The very whitest lamb in all my fold	L
Loves you I know her the worst thought she has	K2
Is whiter even than her pretty hand	L
She must prove true for brother where two fight	L
The strongest wins and truth and love are strength	M4
And you are happy let her parents be '	-
	-
But Leolin cried out the more upon them	V
Insolent brainless heartless heiress wealth	N4
Their wealth their heiress wealth enough was theirs	K2
For twenty matches Were he lord of this	K2
Why twenty boys and girls should marry on it	L
And forty blest ones bless him and himself	L2
Be wealthy still ay wealthier He believed	L
This filthy marriage hindering Mammon made	L
The harlot of the cities nature crost	L
Was mother of the foul adulteries	K2
That saturate soul with body Name too name	V
Their ancient name they might be proud its worth	S3
Was being Edith's Ah how pale she had look'd	L
Darling to night they must have rated her	T
Beyond all tolerance These old pheasant lords	K2
These partridge breeders of a thousand years	K2
Who had mildew'd in their thousands doing nothing	C
Since Egbert why the greater their disgrace	K2
Fall back upon a name rest rot in that	L
Not keep it noble make it nobler fools	K2
With such a vantage ground for nobleness	K2
He had known a man a quintessence of man	E
The life of all who madly loved and he	K2
Thwarted by one of these old father fools	K2
Had rioted his life out and made an end	L
He would not do it her sweet face and faith	O4
Held him from that but he had powers he knew it	L
Back would he to his studies make a name	V
Name fortune too the world should ring of him	V
To shame these mouldy Aylmers in their graves	K2
Chancellor or what is greatest would he be	K2
'O brother I am grieved to learn your grief	L2
Give me my fling and let me say my say '	-
	-
At which like one that sees his own excess	K2
And easily forgives it as his own	E
He laugh'd and then was mute but presently	K2
Wept like a storm and honest Averill seeing	C
How low his brother's mood had fallen fetch'd	L
His richest beeswing from a binn reserved	L
For banquets praised the waning red and told	L
The vintage when this Aylmer came of age	O3
Then drank and past it till at length the two	R2
Tho' Leolin flamed and fell again agreed	L
That much allowance must be made for men	E
After an angry dream this kindlier glow	E
Faded with morning but his purpose held	L
	-
Yet once by night again the lovers met	L
A perilous meeting under the tall pines	K2
That darken'd all the northward of her Hall	I2
Him to her meek and modest bosom prest	L
In agony she promised that no force	K2
Persuasion no nor death could alter her	T
He passionately hopefuller would go	E
Labor for his own Edith and return	E
In such a sunlight of prosperity	K2
He should not be rejected 'Write to me	K2
They loved me and because I love their child	L
They hate me there is war between us dear	C2
Which breaks all bonds but ours we must remain	E
Sacred to one another 'So they talk'd	L
Poor children for their comfort the wind blew	R2
The rain of heaven and their own bitter tears	K2
Tears and the careless rain of heaven mixt	L
Upon their faces as they kiss'd each other	T
In darkness and above them roar'd the pine	E
	-
So Leolin went and as we task ourselves	K2
To learn a language known but smatteringly	R2
In phrases here and there at random toil'd	L
Mastering the lawless science of our law	R2
That codeless myriad of precedent	L
That wilderness of single instances	K2
Thro' which a few by wit or fortune led	L
May beat a pathway out to wealth and fame	V
The jests that flash'd about the pleader's room	V
Lightning of the hour the pun the scurrilous tale	R2
Old scandals buried now seven decads deep	P4
In other scandals that have lived and died	L
And left the living scandal that shall die	L
Were dead to him already bent as he was	K2
To make disproof of scorn and strong in hopes	K2
And prodigal of all brain labor he	K2
Charier of sleep and wine and exercise	K2
Except when for a breathing while at eve	L2
Some niggard fraction of an hour he ran	E
Beside the river bank and then indeed	L
Harder the times were and the hands of power	T
Were bloodier and the according hearts of men	E
Seem'd harder too but the soft river breeze	K2
Which fann'd the gardens of that rival rose	K2
Yet fragrant in a heart remembering	C
His former talks with Edith on him breathed	L
Far purelier in his rushings to and fro	E
After his books to flush his blood with air	F3
Then to his books again My lady's cousin	E
Half sickening of his pension'd afternoon	E
Drove in upon the student once or twice	K2
Ran a Malayan muck against the times	K2
Had golden hopes for France and all mankind	L
Answer'd all queries touching those at home	V
With a heaved shoulder and a saucy smile	R2
And fain had haled him out into the world	L
And air'd him there his nearer friend would say	K2
'Screw not the chord too sharply lest it snap '	-
Then left alone he pluck'd her dagger forth	L4
From where his worldless heart had kept it warm	V
Kissing his vows upon it like a knight	L
And wrinkled benchers often talk'd of him	V
Approvingly and prophesied his rise	K2
For heart I think help'd head her letters too	L
Tho' far between and coming fitfully	K2
Like broken music written as she found	L
Or made occasion being strictly watch'd	L
Charm'd him thro' every labyrinth till he saw	R2
An end a hope a light breaking upon him	V
	-
But they that cast her spirit into flesh	Q4
Her worldy wise begetters plagued themselves	K2
To sell her those good parents for her good	L
Whatever eldest born of rank or wealth	N4
Might lie within their compass him they lured	L
Into their net made pleasant by the baits	K2
Of gold and beauty wooing him to woo	L
So month by month the noise about their doors	K2
And distant blaze of those dull banquets made	L
The nightly wirer of their innocent hare	F3
Falter before he took it All in vain	E
Sullen defiant pitying wroth return'd	L
Leolin's rejected rivals from their suit	L
So often that the folly taking wings	K2
Slipt o'er those lazy limits down the wind	L
With rumor and became in other fields	K2
A mockery to the yeomen over ale	R2
And laughter to their lords but those at home	V
As hunters round a hunted creature draw	R2
The cordon close and closer toward the death	M2
Narrow'd her goings out and comings in	E
Forbad her first the house of Averill	R2
Then closed her access to the wealthiest farms	K2
Last from her own home circle of the poor	T3
They barr'd her yet she bore it yet her cheek	R4
Kept color wondrous but O mystery	K2
What amulet drew her down to that old oak	G4
So old that twenty years before a part	L
Falling had let appear the brand of John	E
Once grovelike each huge arm a tree but now	E
The broken base of a black tower a cave	L2
Of touchwood with a single flourishing spray	K2
There the manorial lord too curiously	K2
Raking in that millenial touchwood dust	L
Found for himself a bitter treasure trove	L2
Burst his own wyvern on the seal and read	L
Writhing a letter from his child for which	A4
Came at the moment Leolin's emissary	K2
A crippled lad and coming turn'd to fly	L
But scared with threats of jail and halter gave	L2
To him that fluster'd his poor parish wits	K2
The letter which he brought and swore besides	K2
To play their go between as heretofore	F
Nor let them know themselves betray'd and then	E
Soul stricken at their kindness to him went	L
Hating his own lean heart and miserable	R2
	-
Thenceforward oft from out a despot dream	V
Panting he woke and oft as early as dawn	E
Aroused the black republic on his elms	K2
Sweeping the frothfly from the fescue brush'd	L
Thro' the dim meadow toward his treasure trove	L2
Seized it took home and to my lady who made	L
A downward crescent of her minion mouth	S4
Listless in all despondence read and tore	F
As if the living passion symbol'd there	F3
Were living nerves to feel the rent and burnt	L
Now chafing at his own great self defied	L
Now striking on huge stumbling blocks of scorn	E
In babyisms and dear diminutives	K2
Scatter'd all over the vocabulary	K2
Of such a love as like a chidden babe	T4
After much wailing hush'd itself at last	L
Hopeless of answer then tho' Averill wrote	L
And bad him with good heart sustain himself	L2
All would be well the lover heeded not	L
But passionately restless came and went	L
And rustling once at night about the place	K2
There by a keeper shot at slightly hurt	L
Raging return'd nor was it well for her	T
Kept to the garden now and grove of pines	K2
Watch'd even there and one was set to watch	U4
The watcher and Sir Aylmer watch'd them all	R2
Yet bitterer from his readings once indeed	L
Warm'd with his wines or taking pride in her	T
She look'd so sweet he kiss'd her tenderly	K2
Not knowing what possess'd him that one kiss	K2
Was Leolin's one strong rival upon earth	S3
Seconded for my lady follow'd suit	L
Seem'd hope's returning rose and then ensued	L
A Martin's summer of his faded love	L2
Or ordeal by kindness after this	K2
He seldom crost his child without a sneer	C2
The mother flow'd in shallower acrimonies	K2
Never one kindly smile one kindly word	L
So that the gentle creature shut from all	R2
Her charitable use and face to face	K2
With twenty months of silence slowly lost	L
Nor greatly cared to lose her hold on life	L2
Last some low fever ranging round to spy	L
The weakness of a people or a house	K2
Like flies that haunt a wound or deer or men	E
Or almost all that is hurting the hurt	L
Save Christ as we believe him found the girl	R2
And flung her down upon a couch of fire	T
Where careless of the household faces near	C2
And crying upon the name of Leolin	E
She and with her the race of Aylmer past	L
	-
Star to star vibrates light may soul to soul	R2
Strike thro' a finer element of her own	E
So from afar touch as at once or why	L
That night that moment when she named his name	V
Did the keen shriek 'yes love yes Edith yes '	-
Shrill till the comrade of his chambers woke	G4
And came upon him half arisen from sleep	P4
With a weird bright eye sweating and trembling	C
His hair as it were crackling into flames	K2
His body half flung forward in pursuit	L
And his long arms stretch'd as to grasp a flyer	T
Nor knew he wherefore he had made the cry	L
And being much befool'd and idioted	L
By the rough amity of the other sank	N3
As into sleep again The second day	L
My lady's Indian kinsman rushing in	E
A breaker of the bitter news from home	V
Found a dead man a letter edged with death	M2
Beside him and the dagger which himself	L2
Gave Edith reddn'd with no bandit's blood	L
'From Edith' was engraven on the blade	L
	-
Then Averill went and gazed upon his death	M2
And when he came again his flock believed	L
Beholding how the years which are not Time's	K2
Had blasted him that many thousand days	K2
Were clipt by horror from his term of life	L2
Yet the sad mother for the second death	M2
Scarce touch'd her thro' that nearness of the first	L
And being used to find her pastor texts	K2
Sent to the harrow'd brother praying him	V
To speak before the people of her child	L
And fixt the Sabbath Darkly that day rose	K2
Autumn's mock sunshine of the faded woods	K2
Was all the life of it for hard on these	K2
A breathless burthen of low folded heavens	K2
Stifled and chill'd at once but every roof	L2
Sent out a listener many too had known	E
Edith among the hamlets round and since	K2
The parents' harshness and the hapless loves	K2
And double death were widely murmur'd left	L
Their own gray tower or plain faced tabernacle	R2
To hear him all in mourning these and those	K2
With blots of it about them ribbon glove	L2
Or kerchief while the church one night except	L
For greenish glimmerings thro' the lancets made	L
Still paler the pale head of him who tower'd	L
Above them with his hopes in either grave	L2
	-
Long o'er his bent brows linger'd Averill	R2
His face magnetic to the hand from which	A4
Livid he pluck'd it forth and labor'd thro'	L
His brief prayer prelude gave the verse 'Behold	L
Your house is left unto you desolate '	-
But lapsed into so long a pause again	E
As half amazed half frighted all his flock	V4
Then from his height and loneliness of grief	L2
Bore down in flood and dash'd his angry heart	L
Against the desolations of the world	L
	-
Never since our bad earth became one sea	K2
Which rolling o'er the palaces of the proud	L
And all but those who knew the living God	L
Eight that were left to make a purer world	L
When since had flood fire earthquake thunder wrought	L
Such waste and havoc as the idolatries	K2
Which from the low light of mortality	K2
Shot up their shadows to the Heaven of Heavens	K2
And worshipt their own darkness as the Highest	L
'Gash thyself priest and honor thy brute Baal	R2
And to thy worst self sacrifice thyself	L2
For with thy worst self hast thou clothed thy God '	-
Then came a Lord in no wise like to Baal	R2
The babe shall lead the lion Surely now	E
The wilderness shall blossom as the rose	K2
Crown thyself worm and worship thine own lusts	K2
No coarse and blockish God of acreage	O3
Stands at thy gate for thee to grovel to	L
Thy God is far diffused in noble groves	K2
And princely halls and farms and flowing lawns	K2
And heaps of living gold that daily grow	L
And title scrolls and gorgeous heraldries	K2
In such a shape dost thou behold thy God	L
Thou wilt not gash thy flesh for him for thine	E
Fares richly in fine linen not a hair	L
Ruffled upon the scarfskin even while	R2
The deathless ruler of thy dying house	K2
Is wounded to the death that cannot die	L
And tho' thou numberest with the followers	K2
Of One who cried 'leave all and follow me '	-
Thee therefore with His light about thy feet	L
Thee with His message ringing in thine ears	K2
Thee shall thy brother man the Lord from Heaven	E
Born of a village girl carpenter's son	E
Wonderful Prince of peace the Mighty God	L
Count the more base idolater of the two	L
Crueller as not passing thro' the fire	L
Bodies but souls thy children's thro' the smoke	G4
The blight of low desires darkening thine own	E
To thine own likeness or if one of these	K2
Thy better born unhappily from thee	K2
Should as by miracle grow straight and fair	L
Friends I was bid to speak of such a one	E
By those who most have cause to sorrow for her	L
Fairer than Rachel by the palmy well	R2
Fairer than Ruth among the fields of corn	E
Fair as the Angel that said 'hail' she seem'd	L
Who entering fill'd the house with sudden light	L
For so mine own was brighten'd where indeed	L
The roof so lowly but that beam of Heaven	E
Dawn'd sometime thro' the doorway whose the babe	T4
Too ragged to be fondled on her lap	W4
Warm'd at her bosom The poor child of shame	V
The common care whom no one cared for leapt	L
To greet her wasting his forgotten heart	L
As with the mother he had never known	E
In gambols for her fresh and innocent eyes	K2
Had such a star of morning in their blue	L
That all neglected places of the field	L
Broke into nature's music when they saw her	L
Low was her voice but won mysterious way	L
Thro' the seal'd ear to which a louder one	E
Was all but silence free of alms her hand	L
The hand that robed your cottage walls with flowers	K2
Has often toil'd to clothe your little ones	K2
How often placed upon the sick man's brow	E
Cool'd it or laid his feverous pillow smooth	X4
Had you one sorrow and she shared it not	L
One burthen and she would not lighten it	L
One spiritual doubt she did not soothe	X4
Or when some heat of difference sparkled out	L
How sweetly would she glide between your wraths	K2
And steal you from each other for she walk'd	L
Wearing the light yoke of that Lord of love	L2
Who still'd the rolling wave of Galilee	K2
And one of him I was not bid to speak	R4
Was always with her whom you also knew	L
Him too you loved for he was worthy love	L2
And these had been together from the first	L
They might have been together till the last	L
Friends this frail bark of ours when sorely tried	L
May wreck itself without the pilot's guilt	L
Without the captain's knowledge hope with me	K2
Whose shame is that if he went hence with shame	V
Nor mine the fault if losing both of these	K2
I cry to vacant chairs and widow'd walls	K2
My house is left unto me desolate	L
	-
While thus he spoke his hearers wept but some	V
Sons of the glebe with other frowns than those	K2
That knit themselves for summer shadow scowl'd	L
At their great lord He when it seem'd he saw	K2
No pale sheet lightnings from afar but fork'd	L
Of the near storm and aiming at his head	L
Sat anger charm'd from sorrow soldierlike	R4
Erect but when the preacher's cadence flow'd	L
Softening thro' all the gentle attributes	K2
Of his lost child the wife who watch'd his face	K2
Paled at a sudden twitch of his iron mouth	S4
And 'O pray God that he hold up' she thought	L
'Or surely I shall shame myself and him '	-
	-
'Nor yours the blame for who beside your hearths	K2
Can take her place if echoing me you cry	L
Our house is left unto us desolate	L
But thou O thou that killest hadst thou known	E
O thou that stonest hadst thou understood	L
The things belonging to thy peace and ours	K2
Is there no prophet but the voice that calls	K2
Doom upon kings or in the waste 'Repent'	L
Is not our own child on the narrow way	L
Who down to those that saunter in the broad	L
Cries 'come up hither ' as a prophet to us	K2
Is there no stoning save with flint and rock	R4
Yes as the dead we weep for testify	L
No desolation but by sword and fire	L
Yes as your moanings witness and myself	L2
Am lonelier darker earthlier for my loss	K2
Give me your prayers for he is past your prayers	K2
Not past the living fount of pity in Heaven	E
But I that thought myself long suffering meek	R4
Exceeding poor in spirit how the words	K2
Have twisted back upon themselves and mean	E
Vileness we are grown so proud I wish'd my voice	K2
A rushing tempest of the wrath of God	L
To blow these sacrifices thro' the world	L
Sent like the twelve divided concubine	E
To inflame the tribes but there out yonder earth	S3
Lightens from her own central Hell O there	L
The red fruit of an old idolatry	K2
The heads of chiefs and princes fall so fast	L
They cling together in the ghastly sack	R4
The land all shambles naked marriages	K2
Flash from the bridge and ever murder'd France	K2
By shores that darken with the gathering wolf	L2
Runs in a river of blood to the sick sea	K2
Is this a time to madden madness then	E
Was this a time for these to flaunt their pride	L
May Pharaoh's darkness folds as dense as those	K2
Which hid the Holiest from the people's eyes	K2
Ere the great death shroud this great sin from all	R2
Doubtless our narrow world must canvass it	L
O rather pray for those and pity them	V
Who thro' their own desire accomplish'd bring	R4
Their own gray hairs with sorrow to the grave	L2
Who broke the bond which they desired to break	R4
Which else had link'd their race with times to come	V
Who wove coarse webs to snare her purity	K2
Grossly contriving their dear daughter's good	L
Poor souls and knew not what they did but sat	L
Ignorant devising their own daughter's death	M2
May not that earthly chastisement suffice	K2
Have not our love and reverence left them bare	L
Will not another take their heritage	O3
Will there be children's laughter in their hall	R2
For ever and for ever or one stone	E
Left on another or is it a light thing	R4
That I their guest their host their ancient friend	L
I made by these the last of all my race	K2
Must cry to these the last of theirs as cried	L
Christ ere His agony to those that swore	L
Not by the temple but the gold and made	L
Their own traditions God and slew the Lord	L
And left their memories a world's curse Behold	L
Your house is left unto you desolate '	-
	-
Ended he had not but she brook'd no more	L
Long since her heart had beat remorselessly	R2
Her crampt up sorrow pain'd her and a sense	K2
Of meanness in her unresisting life	L2
Then their eyes vext her for on entering	R4
He had cast the curtains of their seat aside	L
Black velvet of the costliest she herself	L2
Had seen to that fain had she closed them now	E
Yet dared not stir to do it only near'd	L
Her husband inch by inch but when she laid	L
Wifelike her hand in one of his he veil'd	L
His face with the other and at once as falls	K2
A creeper when the prop is broken fell	R2
The woman shrieking at his feet and swoon'd	L
Then her own people bore along the nave	L2
Her pendent hands and narrow meagre face	K2
Seam'd with the shallow cares of fifty years	K2
And here the Lord of all the landscape round	L
Ev'n to its last horizon and of all	R2
Who peer'd at him so keenly follow'd out	L
Tall and erect but in the middle aisle	R2
Reel'd as a footsore ox in crowded ways	K2
Stumbling across the market to his death	M2
Unpitied for he groped as blind and seem'd	L
Always about to fall grasping the pews	K2
And oaken finials till he touch'd the door	L
Yet to the lychgate where his chariot stood	L
Strode from the porch tall and erect again	E
	-
But nevermore did either pass the gate	L
Save under pall with bearers In one month	Y4
Thro' weary and yet wearier hours	K2
The childless mother went to seek her child	L
And when he felt the silence of his house	K2
About him and the change and not the change	O3
And those fixt eyes of painted ancestors	K2
Staring for ever from their gilded walls	K2
On him their last descendant his own head	L
Began to droop to fall the man became	V
Imbecile his one word was 'desolate'	L
Dead for two years before his death was he	K2
But when the second Christmas came escaped	L
His keepers and the silence which he felt	L
To find a deeper in the narrow gloom	V
By wife and child nor wanted at his end	L
The dark retinue reverencing death	M2
At golden thresholds nor from tender hearts	K2
And those who sorrow'd o'er a vanish'd race	K2
Pity the violet on the tyrant's grave	L2
Then the great Hall was wholly broken down	E
And the broad woodland parcell'd into farms	K2
And where the two contrived their daughter's good	L
Lies the hawk's cast the mole has made his run	E
The hedgehog underneath the plaintain bores	K2
The rabbit fondles his own harmless face	K2
The slow worm creeps and the thin weasel there	L
Follows the mouse and all is open field	L

Alfred Lord Tennyson

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