Run To Death Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BBCDCEFGFGHIJ KLKLMBMBNON PQPQ REREGSGSTUVU WXWYZB BKA2KA2B2AB2LFC2FC2D 2OD2| i A True Incident of Pre Revolutionary French History i | A |
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| Now the lovely autumn morning breathes its freshness in earth's face | B |
| In the crowned castle courtyard the blithe horn proclaims the chase | B |
| And the ladies on the terrace smile adieux with rosy lips | C |
| To the huntsmen disappearing down the cedar shaded groves | D |
| Wafting delicate aromas from their scented finger tips | C |
| And the gallants wave in answer with their gold embroidered gloves | E |
| On they rode past bush and bramble on they rode past elm and oak | F |
| And the hounds with anxious nostril sniffed the heather scented air | G |
| Till at last within his stirrups up Lord Gaston rose and spoke | F |
| He the boldest and the bravest of the wealthy nobles there | G |
| 'Friends ' quoth he 'the time hangs heavy for it is not as we thought | H |
| And these woods tho' fair and shady will afford I fear no sport | I |
| Shall we hence then worthy kinsmen and desert the hunter's track | J |
| For the chateau where the wine cup and the dice cup tempt us back ' | - |
| 'Ay ' the nobles shout in chorus 'Ay ' the powder'd lacquey cries | K |
| Then they stop with eager movement reining in quite suddenly | L |
| Peering down with half contemptuous half with wonder opened eyes | K |
| At a 'something' which is crawling with slow step from tree to tree | L |
| Is't some shadow phantom ghastly No a woman and a child | M |
| Swarthy woman with the 'gipsy' written clear upon her face | B |
| Gazing round her with her wide eyes dark and shadow fringed and wild | M |
| With the cowed suspicious glances of a persecuted race | B |
| Then they all with unasked question in each other's faces peer | N |
| For a common thought has struck them one their lips dare scarcely say | O |
| Till Lord Gaston cries impatient 'Why regret the stately deer | N |
| When such sport as yonder offers quick unleash the dogs away ' | - |
| Then they breath'd a shout of cheering grey haired man and stripling boy | P |
| And the gipsy roused to terror stayed her step and turned her head | Q |
| Saw the faces of those huntsmen lit with keenest cruel joy | P |
| Sent a cry of grief to Heaven closer clasped her child and fled | Q |
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| O ye nobles of the palace O ye gallant hearted lords | R |
| Who would stoop for Leila's kerchief or for Clementina's gloves | E |
| Who would rise up all indignant with your shining sheathless swords | R |
| At the breathing of dishonour to your languid lady loves | E |
| O I tell you daring nobles with your beauty loving stare | G |
| Who ne'er long the coy coquetting of the courtly dames withstood | S |
| Tho' a woman be the lowest and the basest and least fair | G |
| In your manliness forget not to respect her womanhood | S |
| And thou gipsy that hast often the pursuer fled before | T |
| That hast felt ere this the shadow of dark death upon thy brow | U |
| That hast hid among the mountains that hast roamed the forest o'er | V |
| Bred to hiding watching fleeing may thy speed avail thee now | U |
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| Still she flees and ever fiercer tear the hungry hounds behind | W |
| Still she flees and ever faster follow there the huntsmen on | X |
| Still she flees her black hair streaming in a fury to the wind | W |
| Still she flees tho' all the glimmer of a happy hope is gone | Y |
| 'Eh what baffled by a woman Ah sapristi she can run | Z |
| Should she 'scape us it would crown us with dishonour and disgrace | B |
| It is time' Lord Gaston shouted 'such a paltry chase were done ' | - |
| And the fleeter grew her footsteps so the hotter grew the chase | B |
| Ha at last the dogs are on her will she struggle ere she dies | K |
| See she holds her child above her all forgetful of her pain | A2 |
| While a hundred thousand curses shoot out darkly from her eyes | K |
| And a hundred thousand glances of the bitterest disdain | A2 |
| Ha the dogs are pressing closer they have flung her to the ground | B2 |
| Yet her proud lips never open with the dying sinner's cry | A |
| Till at last unto the Heavens just two fearful shrieks resound | B2 |
| When the soul is all forgotten in the body's agony | L |
| Let them rest there child and mother in the shadow of the oak | F |
| On the tender mother bosom of that earth from which they came | C2 |
| As they slow rode back those huntsmen neither laughed nor sang nor spoke | F |
| Hap there lurked unowned within them throbbings of a secret shame | C2 |
| But before the flow'ry terrace where the ladies smiling sat | D2 |
| With their graceful nothings trifling all the weary time away | O |
| Low Lord Gaston bowed and raising high his richly 'broider'd hat | D2 |
| 'Fairest ladies give us welcome 'Twas a famous hunt to day ' | - |
Amy Levy
(1)
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