Xantippe Poem Rhyme Scheme

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A Fragment i	A
	-
	-
What have I waked again I never thought	B
To see the rosy dawn or ev'n this grey	C
Dull solemn stillness ere the dawn has come	D
The lamp burns low low burns the lamp of life	E
The still morn stays expectant and my soul	F
All weighted with a passive wonderment	G
Waiteth and watcheth waiteth for the dawn	H
Come hither maids too soundly have ye slept	I
That should have watched me nay I would not chide	J
Oft have I chidden yet I would not chide	J
In this last hour now all should be at peace	K
I have been dreaming in a troubled sleep	L
Of weary days I thought not to recall	M
Of stormy days whose storms are hushed long since	N
Of gladsome days of sunny days alas	O
In dreaming all their sunshine seem'd so sad	P
As though the current of the dark To Be	Q
Had flow'd prophetic through the happy hours	R
And yet full well I know it was not thus	S
I mind me sweetly of the summer days	T
When leaning from the lattice I have caught	U
The fair far glimpses of a shining sea	Q
And nearer of tall ships which thronged the bay	C
And stood out blackly from a tender sky	A
All flecked with sulphur azure and bright gold	V
And in the still clear air have heard the hum	D
Of distant voices and methinks there rose	W
No darker fount to mar or stain the joy	X
Which sprang ecstatic in my maiden breast	Y
Than just those vague desires those hopes and fears	Z
Those eager longings strong though undefined	A2
Whose very sadness makes them seem so sweet	B2
What cared I for the merry mockeries	Z
Of other maidens sitting at the loom	C2
Or for sharp voices bidding me return	D2
To maiden labour Were we not apart	E2
I and my high thoughts and my golden dreams	Z
My soul which yearned for knowledge for a tongue	F2
That should proclaim the stately mysteries	Z
Of this fair world and of the holy gods	Z
Then followed days of sadness as I grew	G2
To learn my woman mind had gone astray	C
And I was sinning in those very thoughts	Z
For maidens mark such are not woman's thoughts	Z
And yet 'tis strange the gods who fashion us	Z
Have given us such promptings	Z
Fled the years	Z
Till seventeen had found me tall and strong	H2
And fairer runs it than Athenian maids	Z
Are wont to seem I had not learnt it well	I2
My lesson of dumb patience and I stood	J2
At Life's great threshold with a beating heart	E2
And soul resolved to conquer and attain	K2
Once walking 'thwart the crowded market place	Z
With other maidens bearing in the twigs	Z
White doves for Aphrodite's sacrifice	Z
I saw him all ungainly and uncouth	L2
Yet many gathered round to hear his words	Z
Tall youths and stranger maidens Sokrates	Z
I saw his face and marked it half with awe	M2
Half with a quick repulsion at the shape	N2
The richest gem lies hidden furthest down	O2
And is the dearer for the weary search	P2
We grasp the shining shells which strew the shore	Q2
Yet swift we fling them from us but the gem	R2
We keep for aye and cherish So a soul	F
Found after weary searching in the flesh	S2
Which half repelled our senses is more dear	T2
For that same seeking than the sunny mind	A2
Which lavish Nature marks with thousand hints	Z
Upon a brow of beauty We are prone	U2
To overweigh such subtle hints then deem	V2
In after disappointment we are fooled	W2
And when at length my father told me all	M
That I should wed me with great Sokrates	Z
I foolish wept to see at once cast down	O2
The maiden image of a future love	X2
Where perfect body matched the perfect soul	F
But slowly softly did I cease to weep	L
Slowly I 'gan to mark the magic flash	Y2
Leap to the eyes to watch the sudden smile	Z2
Break round the mouth and linger in the eyes	Z
To listen for the voice's lightest tone	U2
Great voice whose cunning modulations seemed	A3
Like to the notes of some sweet instrument	G
So did I reach and strain until at last	B3
I caught the soul athwart the grosser flesh	S2
Again of thee sweet Hope my spirit dreamed	A3
I guided by his wisdom and his love	X2
Led by his words and counselled by his care	C3
Should lift the shrouding veil from things which be	Q
And at the flowing fountain of his soul	F
Refresh my thirsting spirit	D3
And indeed	E3
In those long days which followed that strange day	C
When rites and song and sacrifice and flow'rs	Z
Proclaimed that we were wedded did I learn	D2
In sooth a many lessons bitter ones	Z
Which sorrow taught me and not love inspired	F3
Which deeper knowledge of my kind impressed	Y
With dark insistence on reluctant brain	K2
But that great wisdom deeper which dispels	Z
Narrowed conclusions of a half grown mind	A2
And sees athwart the littleness of life	E
Nature's divineness and her harmony	Q
Was never poor Xantippe's	Z
I would pause	Z
And would recall no more no more of life	E
Than just the incomplete imperfect dream	V2
Of early summers with their light and shade	G3
Their blossom hopes whose fruit was never ripe	H3
But something strong within me some sad chord	I3
Which loudly echoes to the later life	E
Me to unfold the after misery	Q
Urges with plaintive wailing in my heart	E2
Yet maidens mark I would not that ye thought	B
I blame my lord departed for he meant	J3
No evil so I take it to his wife	E
'Twas only that the high philosopher	K3
Pregnant with noble theories and great thoughts	Z
Deigned not to stoop to touch so slight a thing	L3
As the fine fabric of a woman's brain	K2
So subtle as a passionate woman's soul	F
I think if he had stooped a little and cared	M3
I might have risen nearer to his height	N3
And not lain shattered neither fit for use	Z
As goodly household vessel nor for that	O3
Far finer thing which I had hoped to be	Q
Death holding high his retrospective lamp	P3
Shows me those first far years of wedded life	E
Ere I had learnt to grasp the barren shape	N2
Of what the Fates had destined for my life	E
Then as all youthful spirits are was I	A
Wholly incredulous that Nature meant	J3
So little who had promised me so much	Q3
At first I fought my fate with gentle words	Z
With high endeavours after greater things	Z
Striving to win the soul of Sokrates	Z
Like some slight bird who sings her burning love	X2
To human master till at length she finds	Z
Her tender language wholly misconceived	R3
And that same hand whose kind caress she sought	B
With fingers flippant flings the careless corn	S3
I do remember how one summer's eve	T3
He seated in an arbour's leafy shade	G3
Had bade me bring fresh wine skins	Z
As I stood	J2
Ling'ring upon the threshold half concealed	U3
By tender foliage and my spirit light	N3
With draughts of sunny weather did I mark	V3
An instant the gay group before mine eyes	Z
Deepest in shade and facing where I stood	J2
Sat Plato with his calm face and low brows	Z
Which met above the narrow Grecian eyes	Z
The pale thin lips just parted to the smile	Z2
Which dimpled that smooth olive of his cheek	W3
His head a little bent sat Sokrates	Z
With one swart finger raised admonishing	L3
And on the air were borne his changing tones	Z
Low lounging at his feet one fair arm thrown	U2
Around his knee the other high in air	C3
Brandish'd a brazen amphor which yet rained	X3
Bright drops of ruby on the golden locks	Z
And temples with their fillets of the vine	Y3
Lay Alkibiades the beautiful	Z3
And thus with solemn tone spake Sokrates	Z
' This fair Aspasia which our Perikles	Z
Hath brought from realms afar and set on high	A
In our Athenian city hath a mind	A2
I doubt not of a strength beyond her race	Z
And makes employ of it beyond the way	C
Of women nobly gifted woman's frail	A4
Her body rarely stands the test of soul	F
She grows intoxicate with knowledge throws	Z
The laws of custom order 'neath her feet	B2
Feasting at life's great banquet with wide throat '	-
Then sudden stepping from my leafy screen	B4
Holding the swelling wine skin o'er my head	C4
With breast that heaved and eyes and cheeks aflame	D4
Lit by a fury and a thought I spake	E4
' By all great powers around us can it be	Q
That we poor women are empirical	Z3
That gods who fashioned us did strive to make	E4
Beings	Z

Amy Levy

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