Hesperia Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCBDEDEFGFGFHFHAIAA FJFJKLKLMAMAAHAHANAN AOAOPJPJFQFQARARSMSM FMFMFTFTAUAUMVMVMWMW SASAFAFAMXMX

OUT OF the golden remote wild west where the sea without shore isA
Full of the sunset and sad if at all with the fulness of joyB
As a wind sets in with the autumn that blows from the region of storiesC
Blows with a perfume of songs and of memories beloved from a boyB
Blows from the capes of the past oversea to the bays of the presentD
Filled as with shadow of sound with the pulse of invisible feetE
Far out to the shallows and straits of the future by rough ways or pleasantD
Is it thither the wind s wings beat is it hither to me O my sweetE
For thee in the stream of the deep tide wind blowing in with the waterF
Thee I behold as a bird borne in with the wind from the westG
Straight from the sunset across white waves whence rose as a daughterF
Venus thy mother in years when the world was a water at restG
Out of the distance of dreams as a dream that abides after slumberF
Strayed from the fugitive flock of the night when the moon overheadH
Wanes in the wan waste heights of the heaven and stars without numberF
Die without sound and are spent like lamps that are burnt by the deadH
Comes back to me stays by me lulls me with touch of forgotten caressesA
One warm dream clad about with a fire as of life that enduresI
The delight of thy face and the sound of thy feet and the wind of thy tressesA
And all of a man that regrets and all of a maid that alluresA
But thy bosom is warm for my face and profound as a manifold flowerF
Thy silence as music thy voice as an odour that fades in a flameJ
Not a dream not a dream is the kiss of thy mouth and the bountiful hourF
That makes me forget what was sin and would make me forget were it shameJ
Thine eyes that are quiet thine hands that are tender thy lips that are lovingK
Comfort and cool me as dew in the dawn of a moon like a dreamL
And my heart yearns baffled and blind moved vainly toward thee and movingK
As the refluent seaweed moves in the languid exuberant streamL
Fair as a rose is on earth as a rose under water in prisonM
That stretches and swings to the slow passionate pulse of the seaA
Closed up from the air and the sun but alive as a ghost rearisenM
Pale as the love that revives as a ghost rearisen in meA
From the bountiful infinite west from the happy memorial placesA
Full of the stately repose and the lordly delight of the deadH
Where the fortunate islands are lit with the light of ineffable facesA
And the sound of a sea without wind is about them and sunset is redH
Come back to redeem and release me from love that recalls and repressesA
That cleaves to my flesh as a flame till the serpent has eaten his fillN
From the bitter delights of the dark and the feverish the furtive caressesA
That murder the youth in a man or ever his heart have its willN
Thy lips cannot laugh and thine eyes cannot weep thou art pale as a rose isA
Paler and sweeter than leaves that cover the blush of the budO
And the heart of the flower is compassion and pity the core it enclosesA
Pity not love that is born of the breath and decays with the bloodO
As the cross that a wild nun clasps till the edge of it bruises her bosomP
So love wounds as we grasp it and blackens and burns as a flameJ
I have loved overmuch in my life when the live bud bursts with the blossomP
Bitter as ashes or tears is the fruit and the wine thereof shameJ
As a heart that its anguish divides is the green bud cloven asunderF
As the blood of a man self slain is the flush of the leaves that allureQ
And the perfume as poison and wine to the brain a delight and a wonderF
And the thorns are too sharp for a boy too slight for a man to endureQ
Too soon did I love it and lost love s rose and I cared not for glory sA
Only the blossoms of sleep and of pleasure were mixed in my hairR
Was it myrtle or poppy thy garland was woven with O my DoloresA
Was it pallor of slumber or blush as of blood that I found in thee fairR
For desire is a respite from love and the flesh not the heart is her fuelS
She was sweet to me once who am fled and escaped from the rage of her reignM
Who behold as of old time at hand as I turn with her mouth growing cruelS
And flushed as with wine with the blood of her lovers Our Lady of PainM
Low down where the thicket is thicker with thorns than with leaves in the summerF
In the brake is a gleaming of eyes and a hissing of tongues that I knewM
And the lithe long throats of her snakes reach round her their mouths overcome herF
And her lips grow cool with their foam made moist as a desert with dewM
With the thirst and the hunger of lust though her beautiful lips be so bitterF
With the cold foul foam of the snakes they soften and redden and smileT
And her fierce mouth sweetens her eyes wax wide and her eyelashes glitterF
And she laughs with a savour of blood in her face and a savour of guileT
She laughs and her hands reach hither her hair blows hither and hissesA
As a low lit flame in a wind back blown till it shudder and leapU
Let her lips not again lay hold on my soul nor her poisonous kissesA
To consume it alive and divide from thy bosom Our Lady of SleepU
Ah daughter of sunset and slumber if now it return into prisonM
Who shall redeem it anew but we if thou wilt let us flyV
Let us take to us now that the white skies thrill with a moon unarisenM
Swift horses of fear or of love take flight and depart and not dieV
They are swifter than dreams they are stronger than death there is none that hath riddenM
None that shall ride in the dim strange ways of his life as we rideW
By the meadows of memory the highlands of hope and the shore that is hiddenM
Where life breaks loud and unseen a sonorous invisible tideW
By the sands where sorrow has trodden the salt pools bitter and sterileS
By the thundering reef and the low sea wall and the channel of yearsA
Our wild steeds press on the night strain hard through pleasure and perilS
Labour and listen and pant not or pause for the peril that nearsA
And the sound of them trampling the way cleaves night as an arrow asunderF
And slow by the sand hill and swift by the down with its glimpses of grassA
Sudden and steady the music as eight hoofs trample and thunderF
Rings in the ear of the low blind wind of the night as we passA
Shrill shrieks in our faces the blind bland air that was mute as a maidenM
Stung into storm by the speed of our passage and deaf where we pastX
And our spirits too burn as we bound thine holy but mine heavy ladenM
As we burn with the fire of our flight ah love shall we win at the lastX

Algernon Charles Swinburne



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