A Dark Month Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: A BCDDBC EFGGEF HIJJKI CLMMCL NODDNO PQRRPQ COSSCO OTOT UVUV OWOW XCXC CYCY CCCC ZA2ZA2 CPCP BB2BB2 C2D2C2D2 C2E2C2E2 BF2BF2 G2XG2X CPCP F2 OH2OI2 BJ2BJ2 K2BK2B OL2OL2 C2F2C2F2 OM2OM2 OCOC K2 C2IC2C2C2N2 O2C2O2G2O2C2 CPCCCP F2 C2C2C2C2C2C2 OOP2K2K2P2 K2K2EK2K2E K2K2NP2P2Q2 F2 E2E2 CC C2C2 DD BB BB R2R2 F2 C2BC2 IS2IS2 OE2OE2 BC2BC2 CCCC I IC2C2C2 T2DF2D OAOA IC2BC2 I OC2OC2 U2IU2I CE2CE2 IIII ODOD CCCC C2C2C2C2 OTOT OC2OC2 I CC2CC2 IC2IC2 OC2OC2 CICI OIOI IIII PC2PC2 I IIII OV2OV2 IC2IC2 W2F2W2F2 W2X2W2X2 I F2C2F2C2 GIGI C2CC2C OC2OC2 BPBP C2 C2C2C2 IIII IGIG C2IC2I C2OC2O CC2CC2 IJ2IJ2 C2E2C2E2 IIII C2C2C2C2 CC2CC2 W2F2W2F2 IBIB OC2OC2 F2 OT2OT2 CACA OCOC IT2IT2 F2 CCII Y2Y2C2C2 Q2NCC HHII IIII F2 CBCBC2CC2CC2CC2C F2 Z2C2Z2C2 C2BC2B KPHP IPIP F2 C2C2C2C2 BC2BC2 QIQI C2C2C2C2 P2C2P2C2 IIII IIII CICI C2A3C2A3 C2C2C2C2 C2CC2C K2OK2O C2C2C2C2 I JT2JT2 C2CC2C E2IE2I BABA KT2KT2 F2C2F2C2 IIII GC2GC2 OIOI IOIO K2C2K2C2 K2IK2I C2C2C2C2 IIII F2K2F2K2 IIII BC2BC2 I C2C2C2 C2C2C2 B3B3B3 C2C2C2 PPP III PPP I IC2IC2 C2IC2I IC2IC2 GC2GC2 IC3IC3 GIGI IIII I BC2BC2 BCBC BIBI BC2BC2 I C2IC2I C2E2C2E2 QC2QC2 C2OC2O C2C2C2C2 C2C2C2C2 F2 IT2IT2 C2F2C2F2 OC2OC2 BD3BD3 C2IC2I W2E2W2E2 F2 OAOA AE3AE3 OIOI IC2IC2 F2 C2I2 IBIB ICIC CQCQ CICI C2QC2Q IC2IC2 IC2IC2 IIII IGIO BY2BY2 BC2BC2 C2I2C2H2 IY2IY2 BBBB F2 BBBB C2BC2B C2BC2B F3BF3B C2 IBIBIB IC2IC2IC2 IC2IC2IC2 OC2OC2OC2 OBOBOB I OCOC W2E2W2E2 IC2IC2 I IIII BC2C2C2 IC2IC2 IBIB IBIB IC2IC2 I C2CC2CC IC2IC2C2 CC2CC2C2 IBIBB CICII C2C2C2C2C2 C2C2C2C2C2 IC2IC2C2 CBCBB

'La maison sans enfants ' VICTOR HUGO	A
	-
	-
I	-
	-
A month without sight of the sun	B
Rising or reigning or setting	C
Through days without use of the day	D
Who calls it the month of May	D
The sense of the name is undone	B
And the sound of it fit for forgetting	C
	-
We shall not feel if the sun rise	E
We shall not care when it sets	F
If a nightingale make night's air	G
As noontide why should we care	G
Till a light of delight that is done rise	E
Extinguishing grey regrets	F
	-
Till a child's face lighten again	H
On the twilight of older faces	I
Till a child's voice fall as the dew	J
On furrows with heat parched through	J
And all but hopeless of grain	K
Refreshing the desolate places	I
	-
Fall clear on the ears of us hearkening	C
And hungering for food of the sound	L
And thirsting for joy of his voice	M
Till the hearts in us hear and rejoice	M
And the thoughts of them doubting and darkening	C
Rejoice with a glad thing found	L
	-
When the heart of our gladness is gone	N
What comfort is left with us after	O
When the light of our eyes is away	D
What glory remains upon May	D
What blessing of song is thereon	N
If we drink not the light of his laughter	O
	-
No small sweet face with the daytime	P
To welcome warmer than noon	Q
No sweet small voice as a bird's	R
To bring us the day's first words	R
Mid May for us here is not Maytime	P
No summer begins with June	Q
	-
A whole dead month in the dark	C
A dawn in the mists that o'ercome her	O
Stifled and smothered and sad	S
Swift speed to it barren and bad	S
And return to us voice of the lark	C
And remain with us sunlight of summer	O
	-
II	-
	-
Alas what right has the dawn to glimmer	O
What right has the wind to do aught but moan	T
All the day should be dimmer	O
Because we are left alone	T
	-
Yestermorn like a sunbeam present	U
Hither and thither a light step smiled	V
And made each place for us pleasant	U
With the sense or the sight of a child	V
	-
But the leaves persist as before and after	O
Our parting the dull day still bears flowers	W
And songs less bright than his laughter	O
Deride us from birds in the bowers	W
	-
Birds and blossoms and sunlight only	X
As though such folly sufficed for spring	C
As though the house were not lonely	X
For want of the child its king	C
	-
III	-
	-
Asleep and afar to night my darling	C
Lies and heeds not the night	Y
If winds be stirring or storms be snarling	C
For his sleep is its own sweet light	Y
	-
I sit where he sat beside me quaffing	C
The wine of story and song	C
Poured forth of immortal cups and laughing	C
When mirth in the draught grew strong	C
	-
I broke the gold of the words to melt it	Z
For hands but seven years old	A2
And they caught the tale as a bird and felt it	Z
More bright than visible gold	A2
	-
And he drank down deep with his eyes broad beaming	C
Here in this room where I am	P
The golden vintage of Shakespeare gleaming	C
In the silver vessels of Lamb	P
	-
Here by my hearth where he was I listen	B
For the shade of the sound of a word	B2
Athirst for the birdlike eyes to glisten	B
For the tongue to chirp like a bird	B2
	-
At the blast of battle how broad they brightened	C2
Like fire in the spheres of stars	D2
And clung to the pictured page and lightened	C2
As keen as the heart of Mars	D2
	-
At the touch of laughter how swift it twittered	C2
The shrillest music on earth	E2
How the lithe limbs laughed and the whole child glittered	C2
With radiant riot of mirth	E2
	-
Our Shakespeare now as a man dumb stricken	B
Stands silent there on the shelf	F2
And my thoughts that had song in the heart of them sicken	B
And relish not Shakespeare's self	F2
	-
And my mood grows moodier than Hamlet's even	G2
And man delights not me	X
But only the face that morn and even	G2
My heart leapt only to see	X
	-
That my heart made merry within me seeing	C
And sang as his laugh kept time	P
But song finds now no pleasure in being	C
And love no reason in rhyme	P
	-
IV	F2
	-
Mild May blossom and proud sweet bay flower	O
What for shame would you have with us here	H2
It is not the month of the May flower	O
This but the fall of the year	I2
	-
Flowers open only their lips in derision	B
Leaves are as fingers that point in scorn	J2
The shows we see are a vision	B
Spring is not verily born	J2
	-
Yet boughs turn supple and buds grow sappy	K2
As though the sun were indeed the sun	B
And all our woods are happy	K2
With all their birds save one	B
	-
But spring is over but summer is over	O
But autumn is over and winter stands	L2
With his feet sunk deep in the clover	O
And cowslips cold in his hands	L2
	-
His hoar grim head has a hawthorn bonnet	C2
His gnarled gaunt hand has a gay green staff	F2
With new blown rose blossom on it	C2
But his laugh is a dead man's laugh	F2
	-
The laugh of spring that the heart seeks after	O
The hand that the whole world yearns to kiss	M2
It rings not here in his laughter	O
The sign of it is not this	M2
	-
There is not strength in it left to splinter	O
Tall oaks nor frost in his breath to sting	C
Yet it is but a breath as of winter	O
And it is not the hand of spring	C
	-
V	K2
	-
Thirty one pale maidens clad	C2
All in mourning dresses	I
Pass with lips and eyes more sad	C2
That it seems they should be glad	C2
Heads discrowned of crowns they had	C2
Grey for golden tresses	N2
	-
Grey their girdles too for green	O2
And their veils dishevelled	C2
None would say to see their mien	O2
That the least of these had been	G2
Born no baser than a queen	O2
Reared where flower fays revelled	C2
	-
Dreams that strive to seem awake	C
Ghosts that walk by daytime	P
Weary winds the way they take	C
Since for one child's absent sake	C
May knows well whate'er things make	C
Sport it is not Maytime	P
	-
VI	F2
	-
A hand at the door taps light	C2
As the hand of my heart's delight	C2
It is but a full grown hand	C2
Yet the stroke of it seems to start	C2
Hope like a bird in my heart	C2
Too feeble to soar or to stand	C2
	-
To start light hope from her cover	O
Is to raise but a kite for a plover	O
If her wings be not fledged to soar	P2
Desire but in dreams cannot ope	K2
The door that was shut upon hope	K2
When love went out at the door	P2
	-
Well were it if vision could keep	K2
The lids of desire as in sleep	K2
Fast locked and over his eyes	E
A dream with the dark soft key	K2
In her hand might hover and be	K2
Their keeper till morning rise	E
	-
The morning that brings after many	K2
Days fled with no light upon any	K2
The small face back which is gone	N
When the loved little hands once more	P2
Shall struggle and strain at the door	P2
They beat their summons upon	Q2
	-
VII	F2
	-
If a soul for but seven days were cast out of heaven and its mirth	E2
They would seem to her fears like as seventy years upon earth	E2
	-
Even and morrow should seem to her sorrow as long	C
As the passage of numberless ages in slumberless song	C
	-
Dawn roused by the lark would be surely as dark in her sight	C2
As her measureless measure of shadowless pleasure was bright	C2
	-
Noon gilt but with glory of gold would be hoary and grey	D
In her eyes that had gazed on the depths unamazed with the day	D
	-
Night hardly would seem to make darker her dream never done	B
When it could but withhold what a man may behold of the sun	B
	-
For dreams would perplex were the days that should vex her but seven	B
The sight of her vision made dark with division from heaven	B
	-
Till the light on my lonely way lighten that only now gleams	R2
I too am divided from heaven and derided of dreams	R2
	-
VIII	F2
	-
A twilight fire fly may suggest	C2
How flames the fire that feeds the sun	B
'A crooked figure may attest	C2
In little space a million '	-
	-
But this faint figured verse that dresses	I
With flowers the bones of one bare month	S2
Of all it would say scarce expresses	I
In crooked ways a millionth	S2
	-
A fire fly tenders to the father	O
Of fires a tribute something worth	E2
My verse a shard borne beetle rather	O
Drones over scarce illumined earth	E2
	-
Some inches round me though it brighten	B
With light of music making thought	C2
The dark indeed it may not lighten	B
The silence moves not hearing nought	C2
	-
Only my heart is eased with hearing	C
Only mine eyes are soothed with seeing	C
A face brought nigh a footfall nearing	C
Till hopes take form and dreams have being	C
	-
IX	I
	-
As a poor man hungering stands with insatiate eyes and hands	I
Void of bread	C2
Right in sight of men that feast while his famine with no least	C2
Crumb is fed	C2
	-
Here across the garden wall can I hear strange children call	T2
Watch them play	D
From the windowed seat above whence the goodlier child I love	F2
Is away	D
	-
Here the sights we saw together moved his fancy like a feather	O
To and fro	A
Now to wonder and thereafter to the sunny storm of laughter	O
Loud and low	A
	-
Sights engraven on storied pages where man's tale of seven swift ages	I
All was told	C2
Seen of eyes yet bright from heaven for the lips that laughed were seven	B
Sweet years old	C2
	-
X	I
	-
Why should May remember	O
March if March forget	C2
The days that began with December	O
The nights that a frost could fret	C2
	-
All their griefs are done with	U2
Now the bright months bless	I
Fit souls to rejoice in the sun with	U2
Fit heads for the wind's caress	I
	-
Souls of children quickening	C
With the whole world's mirth	E2
Heads closelier than field flowers thickening	C
That crowd and illuminate earth	E2
	-
Now that May's call musters	I
Files of baby bands	I
To marshal in joyfuller clusters	I
Than the flowers that encumber their hands	I
	-
Yet morose November	O
Found them no less gay	D
With nought to forget or remember	O
Less bright than a branch of may	D
	-
All the seasons moving	C
Move their minds alike	C
Applauding acclaiming approving	C
All hours of the year that strike	C
	-
So my heart may fret not	C2
Wondering if my friend	C2
Remember me not or forget not	C2
Or ever the month find end	C2
	-
Not that love sows lighter	O
Seed in children sown	T
But that life being lit in them brighter	O
Moves fleeter than even our own	T
	-
May nor yet September	O
Binds their hearts that yet	C2
Remember forget and remember	O
Forget and recall and forget	C2
	-
XI	I
	-
As light on a lake's face moving	C
Between a cloud and a cloud	C2
Till night reclaim it reproving	C
The heart that exults too loud	C2
	-
The heart that watching rejoices	I
When soft it swims into sight	C2
Applauded of all the voices	I
And stars of the windy night	C2
	-
So brief and unsure but sweeter	O
Than ever a moondawn smiled	C2
Moves measured of no tune's metre	O
The song in the soul of a child	C2
	-
The song that the sweet soul singing	C
Half listens and hardly hears	I
Though sweeter than joy bells ringing	C
And brighter than joy's own tears	I
	-
The song that remembrance of pleasure	O
Begins and forgetfulness ends	I
With a soft swift change in the measure	O
That rings in remembrance of friends	I
	-
As the moon on the lake's face flashes	I
So haply may gleam at whiles	I
A dream through the dear deep lashes	I
Whereunder a child's eye smiles	I
	-
And the least of us all that love him	P
May take for a moment part	C2
With angels around and above him	P
And I find place in his heart	C2
	-
XII	I
	-
Child were you kinless and lonely	I
Dear were you kin to me	I
My love were compassionate only	I
Or such as it needs would be	I
	-
But eyes of father and mother	O
Like sunlight shed on you shine	V2
What need you have heed of another	O
Such new strange love as is mine	V2
	-
It is not meet if unruly	I
Hands take of the children's bread	C2
And cast it to dogs but truly	I
The dogs after all would be fed	C2
	-
On crumbs from the children's table	W2
That crumble dropped from above	F2
Mr heart feeds fed with unstable	W2
Loose waifs of a child's light love	F2
	-
Though love in your heart were brittle	W2
As glass that breaks with a touch	X2
You haply would lend him a little	W2
Who surely would give you much	X2
	-
XIII	I
	-
Here is a rough	F2
Rude sketch of my friend	C2
Faint coloured enough	F2
And unworthily penned	C2
	-
Fearlessly fair	G
And triumphant he stands	I
And holds unaware	G
Friends' hearts in his hands	I
	-
Stalwart and straight	C2
As an oak that should bring	C
Forth gallant and great	C2
Fresh roses in spring	C
	-
On the paths of his pleasure	O
All graces that wait	C2
What metre shall measure	O
What rhyme shall relate	C2
	-
Each action each motion	B
Each feature each limb	P
Demands a devotion	B
In honour of him	P
	-
Head that the hand	C2
	-
Of a god might have blest	C2
Laid lustrous and bland	C2
On the curve of its crest	C2
	-
Mouth sweeter than cherries	I
Keen eyes as of Mars	I
Browner than berries	I
And brighter than stars	I
	-
Nor colour nor wordy	I
Weak song can declare	G
The stature how sturdy	I
How stalwart his air	G
	-
As a king in his bright	C2
Presence chamber may be	I
So seems he in height	C2
Twice higher than your knee	I
	-
As a warrior sedate	C2
With reserve of his power	O
So seems he in state	C2
As tall as a flower	O
	-
As a rose overtowering	C
The ranks of the rest	C2
That beneath it lie cowering	C
Less bright than their best	C2
	-
And his hands are as sunny	I
As ruddy ripe corn	J2
Or the browner hued honey	I
From heather bells borne	J2
	-
When summer sits proudest	C2
Fulfilled with its mirth	E2
And rapture is loudest	C2
In air and on earth	E2
	-
The suns of all hours	I
That have ripened the roots	I
Bring forth not such flowers	I
And beget not such fruits	I
	-
And well though I know it	C2
As fain would I write	C2
Child never a poet	C2
Could praise you aright	C2
	-
I bless you the blessing	C
Were less than a jest	C2
Too poor for expressing	C
I come to be blest	C2
	-
With humble and dutiful	W2
Heart from above	F2
Bless me O my beautiful	W2
Innocent love	F2
	-
This rhyme in your praise	I
With a smile was begun	B
But the goal of his ways	I
Is uncovered to none	B
	-
Nor pervious till after	O
The limit impend	C2
It is not in laughter	O
These rhymes of you end	C2
	-
XIV	F2
	-
Spring and fall and summer and winter	O
Which may Earth love least of them all	T2
Whose arms embrace as their signs imprint her	O
Summer or winter or spring or fall	T2
	-
The clear eyed spring with the wood birds mating	C
The rose red summer with eyes aglow	A
The yellow fall with serene eyes waiting	C
The wild eyed winter with hair all snow	A
	-
Spring's eyes are soft but if frosts benumb her	O
As winter's own will her shrewd breath sting	C
Storms may rend the raiment of summer	O
And fall grow bitter as harsh lipped spring	C
	-
One sign for summer and winter guides me	I
One for spring and the like for fall	T2
Whichever from sight of my friend divides me	I
That is the worst ill season of all	T2
	-
XV	F2
	-
Worse than winter is spring	C
If I come not to sight of my king	C
But then what a spring will it be	I
When my king takes homage of me	I
	-
I send his grace from afar	Y2
Homage as though to a star	Y2
As a shepherd whose flock takes flight	C2
May worship a star by night	C2
	-
As a flock that a wolf is upon	Q2
My songs take flight and are gone	N
No heart is in any to sing	C
Aught but the praise of my king	C
	-
Fain would I once and again	H
Sing deeds and passions of men	H
But ever a child's head gleams	I
Between my work and my dreams	I
	-
Between my hand and my eyes	I
The lines of a small face rise	I
And the lines I trace and retrace	I
Are none but those of the face	I
	-
XVI	F2
	-
Till the tale of all this flock of days alike	C
All be done	B
Weary days of waiting till the month's hand strike	C
Thirty one	B
Till the clock's hand of the month break off and end	C2
With the clock	C
Till the last and whitest sheep at last be penned	C2
Of the flock	C
I their shepherd keep the count of night and day	C2
With my song	C
Though my song be like this month which once was May	C2
All too long	C
	-
XVII	F2
	-
The incarnate sun a tall strong youth	Z2
On old Greek eyes in sculpture smiled	C2
But trulier had it given the truth	Z2
To shape him like a child	C2
	-
No face full grown of all our dearest	C2
So lightens all our darkness none	B
Most loved of all our hearts hold nearest	C2
So far outshines the sun	B
	-
As when with sly shy smiles that feign	K
Doubt if the hour be clear the time	P
Fit to break off my work again	H
Or sport of prose or rhyme	P
	-
My friend peers in on me with merry	I
Wise face and though the sky stay dim	P
The very light of day the very	I
Sun's self comes in with him	P
	-
XVIII	F2
	-
Out of sight	C2
Out of mind	C2
Could the light	C2
Prove unkind	C2
	-
Can the sun	B
Quite forget	C2
What was done	B
Ere he set	C2
	-
Does the moon	Q
When she wanes	I
Leave no tune	Q
That remains	I
	-
In the void	C2
Shell of night	C2
Overcloyed	C2
With her light	C2
	-
Must the shore	P2
At low tide	C2
Feel no more	P2
Hope or pride	C2
	-
No intense	I
Joy to be	I
In the sense	I
Of the sea	I
	-
In the pulses	I
Of her shocks	I
It repulses	I
When its rocks	I
	-
Thrill and ring	C
As with glee	I
Has my king	C
Cast off me	I
	-
Whom no bird	C2
Flying south	A3
Brings one word	C2
From his mouth	A3
	-
Not the ghost	C2
Of a word	C2
Riding post	C2
Have I heard	C2
	-
Since the day	C2
When my king	C
Took away	C2
With him spring	C
	-
And the cup	K2
Of each flower	O
Shrivelled up	K2
That same hour	O
	-
With no light	C2
Left behind	C2
Out of sight	C2
Out of mind	C2
	-
XIX	I
	-
Because I adore you	J
And fall	T2
On the knees of my spirit before you	J
After all	T2
	-
You need not insult	C2
My king	C
With neglect though your spirit exult	C2
In the spring	C
	-
Even me though not worth	E2
God knows	I
One word of you sent me in mirth	E2
Or one rose	I
	-
Out of all in your garden	B
That grow	A
Where the frost and the wind never harden	B
Flakes of snow	A
	-
Nor ever is rain	K
At all	T2
But the roses rejoice to remain	K
Fair and tall	T2
	-
The roses of love	F2
More sweet	C2
Than blossoms that rain from above	F2
Round our feet	C2
	-
When under high bowers	I
We pass	I
Where the west wind freckles with flowers	I
All the grass	I
	-
But a child's thoughts bear	G
More bright	C2
Sweet visions by day and more fair	G
Dreams by night	C2
	-
Than summer's whole treasure	O
Can be	I
What am I that his thought should take pleasure	O
Then in me	I
	-
I am only my love's	I
True lover	O
With a nestful of songs like doves	I
Under cover	O
	-
That I bring in my cap	K2
Fresh caught	C2
To be laid on my small king's lap	K2
Worth just nought	C2
	-
Yet it haply may hap	K2
That he	I
When the mirth in his veins is as sap	K2
In a tree	I
	-
Will remember me too	C2
Some day	C2
Ere the transit be thoroughly through	C2
Of this May	C2
	-
Or perchance if such grace	I
May be	I
Some night when I dream of his face	I
Dream of me	I
	-
Or if this be too high	F2
A hope	K2
For me to prefigure in my	F2
Horoscope	K2
	-
He may dream of the place	I
Where we	I
Basked once in the light of his face	I
Who now see	I
	-
Nought brighter not one	B
Thing bright	C2
Than the stars and the moon and the sun	B
Day nor night	C2
	-
XX	I
	-
Day by darkling day	C2
Overpassing bears away	C2
Somewhat of the burden of this weary May	C2
	-
Night by numbered night	C2
Waning brings more near in sight	C2
Hope that grows to vision of my heart's delight	C2
	-
Nearer seems to burn	B3
In the dawn's rekindling urn	B3
Flame of fragrant incense hailing his return	B3
	-
Louder seems each bird	C2
In the brightening branches heard	C2
Still to speak some ever more delightful word	C2
	-
All the mists that swim	P
Round the dawns that grow less dim	P
Still wax brighter and more bright with hope of him	P
	-
All the suns that rise	I
Bring that day more near our eyes	I
When the sight of him shall clear our clouded skies	I
	-
All the winds that roam	P
Fruitful fields or fruitless foam	P
Blow the bright hour near that brings his bright face home	P
	-
XXI	I
	-
I hear of two far hence	I
In a garden met	C2
And the fragrance blown from thence	I
Fades not yet	C2
	-
The one is seven years old	C2
And my friend is he	I
But the years of the other have told	C2
Eighty three	I
	-
To hear these twain converse	I
Or to see them greet	C2
Were sweeter than softest verse	I
May be sweet	C2
	-
The hoar old gardener there	G
With an eye more mild	C2
Perchance than his mild white hair	G
Meets the child	C2
	-
I had rather hear the words	I
That the twain exchange	C3
Than the songs of all the birds	I
There that range	C3
	-
Call chirp and twitter there	G
Through the garden beds	I
Where the sun alike sees fair	G
Those two heads	I
	-
And which may holier be	I
Held in heaven of those	I
Or more worth heart's thanks to see	I
No man knows	I
	-
XXII	I
	-
Of such is the kingdom of heaven	B
No glory that ever was shed	C2
From the crowning star of the seven	B
That crown the north world's head	C2
	-
No word that ever was spoken	B
Of human or godlike tongue	C
Gave ever such godlike token	B
Since human harps were strung	C
	-
No sign that ever was given	B
To faithful or faithless eyes	I
Showed ever beyond clouds riven	B
So clear a Paradise	I
	-
Earth's creeds may be seventy times seven	B
And blood have denied each creed	C2
If of such be the kingdom of heaven	B
It must be heaven indeed	C2
	-
XXIII	I
	-
The wind on the downs is bright	C2
As though from the sea	I
And morning and night	C2
Take comfort again with me	I
	-
He is nearer to day	C2
Each night to each morning saith	E2
Whose return shall revive dead May	C2
With the balm of his breath	E2
	-
The sunset says to the moon	Q
He is nearer to night	C2
Whose coming in June	Q
Is looked for more than the light	C2
	-
Bird answers to bird	C2
Hour passes the sign on to hour	O
And for joy of the bright news heard	C2
Flower murmurs to flower	O
	-
The ways that were glad of his feet	C2
In the woods that he knew	C2
Grow softer to meet	C2
The sense of his footfall anew	C2
	-
He is near now as day	C2
Says hope to the new born light	C2
He is near now as June is to May	C2
Says love to the night	C2
	-
XXIV	F2
	-
Good things I keep to console me	I
For lack of the best of all	T2
A child to command and control me	I
Bid come and remain at his call	T2
	-
Sun wind and woodland and highland	C2
Give all that ever they gave	F2
But my world is a cultureless island	C2
My spirit a masterless slave	F2
	-
And friends are about me and better	O
At summons of no man stand	C2
But I pine for the touch of a fetter	O
The curb of a strong king's hand	C2
	-
Each hour of the day in her season	B
Is mine to be served as I will	D3
And for no more exquisite reason	B
Are all served idly and ill	D3
	-
By slavery my sense is corrupted	C2
My soul not fit to be free	I
I would fain be controlled interrupted	C2
Compelled as a thrall may be	I
	-
For fault of spur and of bridle	W2
I tire of my stall to death	E2
My sail flaps joyless and idle	W2
For want of a small child's breath	E2
	-
XXV	F2
	-
Whiter and whiter	O
The dark lines grow	A
And broader opens and brighter	O
The sense of the text below	A
	-
Nightfall and morrow	A
Bring nigher the boy	E3
Whom wanting we want not sorrow	A
Whom having we want no joy	E3
	-
Clearer and clearer	O
The sweet sense grows	I
Of the word which hath summer for hearer	O
The word on the lips of the rose	I
	-
Duskily dwindles	I
Each deathlike day	C2
Till June realising rekindles	I
The depth of the darkness of May	C2
	-
XXVI	F2
	-
In his bright radiance and collateral light	C2
Must I be comforted not in his sphere	I2
	-
Stars in heaven are many	I
Suns in heaven but one	B
Nor for man may any	I
Star supplant the sun	B
	-
Many a child as joyous	I
As our far off king	C
Meets as though to annoy us	I
In the paths of spring	C
	-
Sure as spring gives warning	C
All things dance in tune	Q
Sun on Easter morning	C
Cloud and windy moon	Q
	-
Stars between the tossing	C
Boughs of tuneful trees	I
Sails of ships recrossing	C
Leagues of dancing seas	I
	-
Best in all this playtime	C2
Best of all in tune	Q
Girls more glad than Maytime	C2
Boys more bright than June	Q
	-
Mixed with all those dances	I
Far through field and street	C2
Sing their silent glances	I
Ring their radiant feet	C2
	-
Flowers wherewith May crowned us	I
Fall ere June be crowned	C2
Children blossom round us	I
All the whole year round	C2
	-
Is the garland worthless	I
For one rose the less	I
And the feast made mirthless	I
Love at least says yes	I
	-
Strange it were with many	I
Stars enkindling air	G
Should but one find any	I
Welcome strange it were	O
	-
Had one star alone won	B
Praise for light from far	Y2
Nay love needs his own one	B
Bright particular star	Y2
	-
Hope and recollection	B
Only lead him right	C2
In its bright reflection	B
And collateral light	C2
	-
Find as yet we may not	C2
Comfort in its sphere	I2
Yet these days will weigh not	C2
When it warms us here	H2
	-
When full orbed it rises	I
Now divined afar	Y2
None in all the skies is	I
Half so good a star	Y2
	-
None that seers importune	B
Till a sign be won	B
Star of our good fortune	B
Rise and reign our sun	B
	-
XXVII	F2
	-
I pass by the small room now forlorn	B
Where once each night as I passed I knew	B
A child's bright sleep from even to morn	B
Made sweet the whole night through	B
	-
As a soundless shell as a songless nest	C2
Seems now the room that was radiant then	B
And fragrant with his happier rest	C2
Than that of slumbering men	B
	-
The day therein is less than the day	C2
The night is indeed night now therein	B
Heavier the dark seems there to weigh	C2
And slower the dawns begin	B
	-
As a nest fulfilled with birds as a shell	F3
Fulfilled with breath of a god's own hymn	B
Again shall be this bare blank cell	F3
Made sweet again with him	B
	-
XXVIII	C2
	-
Spring darkens before us	I
A flame going down	B
With chant from the chorus	I
Of days without crown	B
Cloud rain and sonorous	I
Soft wind on the down	B
	-
She is wearier not of us	I
Than we of the dream	C2
That spring was to love us	I
And joy was to gleam	C2
Through the shadows above us	I
That shift as they stream	C2
	-
Half dark and half hoary	I
Float far on the loud	C2
Mild wind as a glory	I
Half pale and half proud	C2
From the twilight of story	I
Her tresses of cloud	C2
	-
Like phantoms that glimmer	O
Of glories of old	C2
With ever yet dimmer	O
Pale circlets of gold	C2
As darkness grows grimmer	O
And memory more cold	C2
	-
Like hope growing clearer	O
With wane of the moon	B
Shines toward us the nearer	O
Gold frontlet of June	B
And a face with it dearer	O
Than midsummer noon	B
	-
XXIX	I
	-
You send me your love in a letter	O
I send you my love in a song	C
Ah child your gift is the better	O
Mine does you but wrong	C
	-
No fame were the best less brittle	W2
No praise were it wide as earth	E2
Is worth so much as a little	W2
Child's love may be worth	E2
	-
We see the children above us	I
As they might angels above	C2
Come back to us child if you love us	I
And bring us your love	C2
	-
XXX	I
	-
No time for books or for letters	I
What time should there be	I
No room for tasks and their fetters	I
Full room to be free	I
	-
The wind and the sun and the Maytirne	B
Had never a guest	C2
More worthy the most that his playtime	C2
Could give of its best	C2
	-
If rain should come on peradventure	I
But sunshine forbid	C2
Vain hope in us haply might venture	I
To dream as it did	C2
	-
But never may come of all comers	I
Least welcome the rain	B
To mix with his servant the summer's	I
Rose garlanded train	B
	-
He would write but his hours are as busy	I
As bees in the sun	B
And the jubilant whirl of their dizzy	I
Dance never is done	B
	-
The message is more than a letter	I
Let love understand	C2
And the thought of his joys even better	I
Than sight of his hand	C2
	-
XXXI	I
	-
Wind high souled full hearted	C2
South west wind of the spring	C
Ere April and earth had parted	C2
Skies bright with thy forward wing	C
Grew dark in an hour with the shadow behind it that bade not a bird dare sing	C
	-
Wind whose feet are sunny	I
Wind whose wings are cloud	C2
With lips more sweet than honey	I
Still speak they low or loud	C2
Rejoice now again in the strength of thine heart let the depth of thy soul wax proud	C2
	-
We hear thee singing or sighing	C
Just not given to sight	C2
All but visibly flying	C
Between the clouds and the light	C2
And the light in our hearts is enkindled the shadow therein of the clouds put to flight	C2
	-
From the gift of thine hands we gather	I
The core of the flowers therein	B
Keen glad heart of heather	I
Hot sweet heart of whin	B
Twin breaths in thy godlike breath close blended of wild spring's wildest of kin	B
	-
All but visibly beating	C
We feel thy wings in the far	I
Clear waste and the plumes of them fleeting	C
Soft as swan's plumes are	I
And strong as a wild swan's pinions and swift as the flash of the flight of a star	I
	-
As the flight of a planet enkindled	C2
Seems thy far soft flight	C2
Now May's reign has dwindled	C2
And the crescent of June takes light	C2
And the presence of summer is here and the hope of a welcomer presence in sight	C2
	-
Wind sweet souled great hearted	C2
Southwest wind on the wold	C2
From us is a glory departed	C2
That now shall return as of old	C2
Borne back on thy wings as an eagle's expanding and crowned with the sundawn's gold	C2
	-
There is not a flower but rejoices	I
There is not a leaf but has heard	C2
All the fields find voices	I
All the woods are stirred	C2
There is not a nest but is brighter because of the coming of one bright bird	C2
	-
Out of dawn and morning	C
Noon and afternoon	B
The sun to the world gives warning	C
Of news that brightens the moon	B
And the stars all night exult with us hearing of joy that shall come with June	B

Algernon Charles Swinburne

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