Forsaking All Others Part 3 Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: A BBCCDDEEFF GGHH IIAAJ KK JLLMMN OOPPMMQ R SSTTUUVWXXYY Z A A2PA2P B2KB2 A C2YC2YC2Y A2JA2JA2J Y EED2D2IIE2E2A2A2F2F2 F2 IIEEG2G2YYH2H2 I2I2J2J2 Y K2L2K2L2 IA2IA2 CECE F2M2F2 Y IIN2N2IIYYO2O2P2P2A2 A2 I Q2R2Q2R2EYEY I S2T2S2T2 B BU2 V2W2V2 X2X2 W2 Y2Y2W2W2Y W2 YYW2W2IIA2 EEW2W2Z2Z2 YYM2M2A2A2A3A3 YYYB3W2B3 Y C3OOC3O D3E3D3E3M2 F3 M2A3A3M2YV2

IA
-
THERE was an instant when he might have saidB
He could not see the lady but insteadB
He nodded with a blank impassive faceC
And waited never moving from his placeC
Beside the window till a moment moreD
And she was there leaning against the doorD
Which she had closed She stood there silent staringE
Trembling with fear at her own act of daringE
But not with fear of him Erect and slimF
White as the daytime moon she spoke to himF
-
'I know ' she said 'that it was not your planG
That we should ever meet I know a manG
Assumes despotic power assumes his voiceH
In cases such as ours shall have the choiceH
-
'But is that just I ask is that fair playI
That you should have the right to throw awayI
Crush and destroy and utterly denyA
Our joint possession or rather mine for IA
Value our friendship so much more than youJ
Appear to ' 'No ' he said 'That is not true '-
-
She shook her head 'Ah if you thought it rareK
Precious and wonderful you would not dareK
Destroy it by yourself not even you '-
-
He answered 'I not only would I doJ
You speak of friendship What a silly wordL
And as dishonest as I ever heardL
Let us at least be candid for God's sakeM
And speak the truth what difference does it makeM
It is not friendship we are speaking ofN
But the first moments of a passionate love '-
-
'You're wrong ' she cried 'you're absolutely wrongO
Not everything emotional and strongO
Between a man and woman needs must beP
Physical love People like you and meP
Are wise enough and old enough to takeM
This fiery elemental thing and makeM
Something for every day serene and coolQ
I am not of the all or nothing school '-
-
He smiled 'We light hell fires and you engageR
They'll warm our palsied hands in our old age '-
At this she paused and then she said 'Your toneS
Wounds me I live so terribly aloneS
I am perhaps too eager for a friendT
But not a lover Oh please comprehendT
I want no lovers Think me vain or notU
But I assure you I might have a lotU
Of them But friendship such as you could giveV
Wisdom and strength and knowledge how to liveW
In this harsh world in which I draw my breathX
With so much pain it seems a sort of deathX
To yield so rich a promise to foregoY
Such happiness ' She heard him laugh 'You knowY
All that is nonsense ' 'Nonsense ' 'All but this '-
And on her willing lips she felt his kissZ
-
IIA
-
'I HAVE a new friend ' thought Lee 'I have a loverA2
Made of steel and fire as a lover ought to beP
And I do not much care if all the world discoverA2
That I adore him madly and that he loves meP
-
'Everything I do nowadays is pleasantB2
Talking walking brushing out my hairK
Oh isn't it fine a friend not being even presentB2
Can give the world a meaning and common things an air '-
-
IIIA
-
O AGONY infernalC2
That lovers undergoY
O secret trysts diurnalC2
That nobody must knowY
O vigilance eternalC2
The whole world for a foeY
-
But Lee and Wayne were cleverA2
And all that springtime throughJ
They met and met and neverA2
Were noticed so to doJ
And no one whatsoeverA2
Suspected them or knewJ
-
IVY
-
LOVE in a city in springE
Not so divine a thingE
As love the poet dreamsD2
Meadows and brimming streamsD2
Yet there is much to sayI
For love in New York in MayI
Parks set in tulip bedsE2
Yellows and whites and redsE2
Japanese plums in flowerA2
And that wisteria bowerA2
Dripping its blossoms sweetF2
Over a rustic seatF2
Where tramps and nursemaids meetF2
-
New York in early MayI
Breaks out in awnings gayI
Daisies and ivy trailingE
From every window railingE
And at this time of yearG2
Strange open hacks appearG2
Shabby and old and lowY
Wherein strange couples goY
Generally after darkH2
Clop clopping round the parkH2
-
And with it all the loudI2
Noisy indifferent crowdI2
Offers to lovers shrewdJ2
Infinite solitudeJ2
-
VY
-
FOUR thousand years ago a great king diedK2
And there were rites and hymns and long processionsL2
And he was buried in his pomp and prideK2
With all his vast possessionsL2
-
Gold beds with lapis lazuli inlayI
And chairs and perfume jars of alabasterA2
And many slaves were slain lest they betrayI
The tomb that held their masterA2
-
Lee leant her hand upon his mummy caseC
Opened to show the gold and silver platingE
And as Wayne came her look was an embraceC
'Darling I don't mind waitingE
-
'I like ' she said 'to settle in my seatF2
A moment ere the rising of the curtainM2
Waiting for something certain can be sweetF2
For something almost certain '-
-
VIY
-
THEY would meet for luncheon every dayI
At a small unknown French cafeI
Half way up town and half way downN2
With a chef deserving great renownN2
And Pierre the waiter would smile and sayI
'Bonjour Monsieur dame ' and theyI
Would see by his smile discreet and slyY
That he knew exactly the reason whyY
A couple so proud and rich should comeO2
To eat each day in a squalid slumO2
And nothing delighted his Gallic heartP2
More than to find he could play a partP2
And protect 'ces amoureux foux d' amour'A2
And guide their choice through the carte du jourA2
-
VIII
-
BUT most of all Lee loved the hoursQ2
When streets filled full of violet mistsR2
And after glows on taller towersQ2
Prove that the sunset still existsR2
And in Wayne's long dark car recliningE
They'd cross a bridge and bye and byeY
Turn back to see the city shiningE
Against a pale blue star sewn skyY
-
VIIII
-
'I KNOW ' she said 'I am a fool to weepS2
I know the time will pass however blackT2
Oh Jim if I could take a drug and sleepS2
And sleep till you come backT2
-
'Do you remember how poor Juliet saidB
'Think you that we shall ever meet again '-
And what was poor weak Romeo insteadB
Of you a king of menU2
-
'Don't be surprised to find me at the trainV2
With pipes and garlands and a choric danceW2
Telling the porters 'That is J H WayneV2
My one supreme romance ' '-
-
So it seemed natural to Lee to speakX2
If Wayne were going away for a weekX2
-
IXW2
-
HE had been gone three days when wearily strolling aboutY2
She stopped and sent him a wire writing it outY2
With a pencil chained to a desk 'This is to sayW2
There are over eighty thousand seconds a dayW2
Each one of them longer than seconds ought to beY
And a personal foe of yours devotedly Lee '-
-
XW2
-
A letter from Ruth a letter from LeeY
Wayne took them both with his bedroom keyY
Every day since he went awayW2
Lee had written him every dayW2
How kind how tender And yet his wifeI
Had always written him all his lifeI
Since that first Fall day since that first fond yearA2
When to part was really 'un peu mourir '-
Ruth's letters had come in her small black writingE
So faithful and now so unexcitingE
A long unbreakable chain whose fettersW2
Were formed of those little daily lettersW2
Leading him back to his alien youthZ2
And his love his first deep love of RuthZ2
-
Once he had waited young and lonelyY
For those daily letters to come the onlyY
Solace in absence terror smittenM2
Thinking Dear God if she hasn't writtenM2
When did they change what day what hourA2
Did her letters lose their magical powerA2
He was the same man and she the sameA3
Woman and still her letters cameA3
-
A letter from Ruth a letter from LeeY
Wayne took them both with his bedroom keyY
Was it a habit a memoryY
Of that deep old love that his heart once nursedB3
Who knowsW2
He opened Ruth's letter firstB3
-
XIY
-
THE day that Wayne was coming homeC3
Lee flitted fleet footed among the throngO
Of suburbanites shuffling their feet alongO
Under the turquoise domeC3
With the signs of the zodiac all turned wrongO
-
A blue capped official proud and remoteD3
Was writing unmoved as the crowd increasedE3
Messages brief as those fingers wroteD3
On the wall at Belshazzar's dreadful feastE3
'Train Fifty One is on time Train ElevenM2
On time Train Nineteen an hour late '-
And then the announcement big with fateF3
'Train Fifteen on Track Forty Seven '-
-
And Lee's heart beat with a wild elationM2
And she ran like a child in a childish gameA3
Pushed without pity or grace or shameA3
Past women and children to take her stationM2
Where she could perfectly seeY
Down the dark hole where the trainV2

Alice Duer Miller



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