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 M2A3A3M2YV2I | A |
- | |
THERE was an instant when he might have said | B |
He could not see the lady but instead | B |
He nodded with a blank impassive face | C |
And waited never moving from his place | C |
Beside the window till a moment more | D |
And she was there leaning against the door | D |
Which she had closed She stood there silent staring | E |
Trembling with fear at her own act of daring | E |
But not with fear of him Erect and slim | F |
White as the daytime moon she spoke to him | F |
- | |
'I know ' she said 'that it was not your plan | G |
That we should ever meet I know a man | G |
Assumes despotic power assumes his voice | H |
In cases such as ours shall have the choice | H |
- | |
'But is that just I ask is that fair play | I |
That you should have the right to throw away | I |
Crush and destroy and utterly deny | A |
Our joint possession or rather mine for I | A |
Value our friendship so much more than you | J |
Appear to ' 'No ' he said 'That is not true ' | - |
- | |
She shook her head 'Ah if you thought it rare | K |
Precious and wonderful you would not dare | K |
Destroy it by yourself not even you ' | - |
- | |
He answered 'I not only would I do | J |
You speak of friendship What a silly word | L |
And as dishonest as I ever heard | L |
Let us at least be candid for God's sake | M |
And speak the truth what difference does it make | M |
It is not friendship we are speaking of | N |
But the first moments of a passionate love ' | - |
- | |
'You're wrong ' she cried 'you're absolutely wrong | O |
Not everything emotional and strong | O |
Between a man and woman needs must be | P |
Physical love People like you and me | P |
Are wise enough and old enough to take | M |
This fiery elemental thing and make | M |
Something for every day serene and cool | Q |
I am not of the all or nothing school ' | - |
- | |
He smiled 'We light hell fires and you engage | R |
They'll warm our palsied hands in our old age ' | - |
At this she paused and then she said 'Your tone | S |
Wounds me I live so terribly alone | S |
I am perhaps too eager for a friend | T |
But not a lover Oh please comprehend | T |
I want no lovers Think me vain or not | U |
But I assure you I might have a lot | U |
Of them But friendship such as you could give | V |
Wisdom and strength and knowledge how to live | W |
In this harsh world in which I draw my breath | X |
With so much pain it seems a sort of death | X |
To yield so rich a promise to forego | Y |
Such happiness ' She heard him laugh 'You know | Y |
All that is nonsense ' 'Nonsense ' 'All but this ' | - |
And on her willing lips she felt his kiss | Z |
- | |
II | A |
- | |
'I HAVE a new friend ' thought Lee 'I have a lover | A2 |
Made of steel and fire as a lover ought to be | P |
And I do not much care if all the world discover | A2 |
That I adore him madly and that he loves me | P |
- | |
'Everything I do nowadays is pleasant | B2 |
Talking walking brushing out my hair | K |
Oh isn't it fine a friend not being even present | B2 |
Can give the world a meaning and common things an air ' | - |
- | |
III | A |
- | |
O AGONY infernal | C2 |
That lovers undergo | Y |
O secret trysts diurnal | C2 |
That nobody must know | Y |
O vigilance eternal | C2 |
The whole world for a foe | Y |
- | |
But Lee and Wayne were clever | A2 |
And all that springtime through | J |
They met and met and never | A2 |
Were noticed so to do | J |
And no one whatsoever | A2 |
Suspected them or knew | J |
- | |
IV | Y |
- | |
LOVE in a city in spring | E |
Not so divine a thing | E |
As love the poet dreams | D2 |
Meadows and brimming streams | D2 |
Yet there is much to say | I |
For love in New York in May | I |
Parks set in tulip beds | E2 |
Yellows and whites and reds | E2 |
Japanese plums in flower | A2 |
And that wisteria bower | A2 |
Dripping its blossoms sweet | F2 |
Over a rustic seat | F2 |
Where tramps and nursemaids meet | F2 |
- | |
New York in early May | I |
Breaks out in awnings gay | I |
Daisies and ivy trailing | E |
From every window railing | E |
And at this time of year | G2 |
Strange open hacks appear | G2 |
Shabby and old and low | Y |
Wherein strange couples go | Y |
Generally after dark | H2 |
Clop clopping round the park | H2 |
- | |
And with it all the loud | I2 |
Noisy indifferent crowd | I2 |
Offers to lovers shrewd | J2 |
Infinite solitude | J2 |
- | |
V | Y |
- | |
FOUR thousand years ago a great king died | K2 |
And there were rites and hymns and long processions | L2 |
And he was buried in his pomp and pride | K2 |
With all his vast possessions | L2 |
- | |
Gold beds with lapis lazuli inlay | I |
And chairs and perfume jars of alabaster | A2 |
And many slaves were slain lest they betray | I |
The tomb that held their master | A2 |
- | |
Lee leant her hand upon his mummy case | C |
Opened to show the gold and silver plating | E |
And as Wayne came her look was an embrace | C |
'Darling I don't mind waiting | E |
- | |
'I like ' she said 'to settle in my seat | F2 |
A moment ere the rising of the curtain | M2 |
Waiting for something certain can be sweet | F2 |
For something almost certain ' | - |
- | |
VI | Y |
- | |
THEY would meet for luncheon every day | I |
At a small unknown French cafe | I |
Half way up town and half way down | N2 |
With a chef deserving great renown | N2 |
And Pierre the waiter would smile and say | I |
'Bonjour Monsieur dame ' and they | I |
Would see by his smile discreet and sly | Y |
That he knew exactly the reason why | Y |
A couple so proud and rich should come | O2 |
To eat each day in a squalid slum | O2 |
And nothing delighted his Gallic heart | P2 |
More than to find he could play a part | P2 |
And protect 'ces amoureux foux d' amour' | A2 |
And guide their choice through the carte du jour | A2 |
- | |
VII | I |
- | |
BUT most of all Lee loved the hours | Q2 |
When streets filled full of violet mists | R2 |
And after glows on taller towers | Q2 |
Prove that the sunset still exists | R2 |
And in Wayne's long dark car reclining | E |
They'd cross a bridge and bye and bye | Y |
Turn back to see the city shining | E |
Against a pale blue star sewn sky | Y |
- | |
VIII | I |
- | |
'I KNOW ' she said 'I am a fool to weep | S2 |
I know the time will pass however black | T2 |
Oh Jim if I could take a drug and sleep | S2 |
And sleep till you come back | T2 |
- | |
'Do you remember how poor Juliet said | B |
'Think you that we shall ever meet again ' | - |
And what was poor weak Romeo instead | B |
Of you a king of men | U2 |
- | |
'Don't be surprised to find me at the train | V2 |
With pipes and garlands and a choric dance | W2 |
Telling the porters 'That is J H Wayne | V2 |
My one supreme romance ' ' | - |
- | |
So it seemed natural to Lee to speak | X2 |
If Wayne were going away for a week | X2 |
- | |
IX | W2 |
- | |
HE had been gone three days when wearily strolling about | Y2 |
She stopped and sent him a wire writing it out | Y2 |
With a pencil chained to a desk 'This is to say | W2 |
There are over eighty thousand seconds a day | W2 |
Each one of them longer than seconds ought to be | Y |
And a personal foe of yours devotedly Lee ' | - |
- | |
X | W2 |
- | |
A letter from Ruth a letter from Lee | Y |
Wayne took them both with his bedroom key | Y |
Every day since he went away | W2 |
Lee had written him every day | W2 |
How kind how tender And yet his wife | I |
Had always written him all his life | I |
Since that first Fall day since that first fond year | A2 |
When to part was really 'un peu mourir ' | - |
Ruth's letters had come in her small black writing | E |
So faithful and now so unexciting | E |
A long unbreakable chain whose fetters | W2 |
Were formed of those little daily letters | W2 |
Leading him back to his alien youth | Z2 |
And his love his first deep love of Ruth | Z2 |
- | |
Once he had waited young and lonely | Y |
For those daily letters to come the only | Y |
Solace in absence terror smitten | M2 |
Thinking Dear God if she hasn't written | M2 |
When did they change what day what hour | A2 |
Did her letters lose their magical power | A2 |
He was the same man and she the same | A3 |
Woman and still her letters came | A3 |
- | |
A letter from Ruth a letter from Lee | Y |
Wayne took them both with his bedroom key | Y |
Was it a habit a memory | Y |
Of that deep old love that his heart once nursed | B3 |
Who knows | W2 |
He opened Ruth's letter first | B3 |
- | |
XI | Y |
- | |
THE day that Wayne was coming home | C3 |
Lee flitted fleet footed among the throng | O |
Of suburbanites shuffling their feet along | O |
Under the turquoise dome | C3 |
With the signs of the zodiac all turned wrong | O |
- | |
A blue capped official proud and remote | D3 |
Was writing unmoved as the crowd increased | E3 |
Messages brief as those fingers wrote | D3 |
On the wall at Belshazzar's dreadful feast | E3 |
'Train Fifty One is on time Train Eleven | M2 |
On time Train Nineteen an hour late ' | - |
And then the announcement big with fate | F3 |
'Train Fifteen on Track Forty Seven ' | - |
- | |
And Lee's heart beat with a wild elation | M2 |
And she ran like a child in a childish game | A3 |
Pushed without pity or grace or shame | A3 |
Past women and children to take her station | M2 |
Where she could perfectly see | Y |
Down the dark hole where the train | V2 |
Alice Duer Miller
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
Write your comment about Forsaking All Others Part 3 poem by Alice Duer Miller
Best Poems of Alice Duer Miller