Sword Blades And Poppy Seed Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDDEEFFGHIIIFFJ JFFKKLLMMNNOO FFPPPPPPPPFFJJQRSTFF FFFFFFFPPUUFFFFMM FFFVVIIFFWWXXTTTAAAM JJYYFFZZFFJJJFFFFFFA 2A2FFFFFB2B2C2C2FFAJ D2D2PPFFE2E2JJMMMM F2F2FFFFG2G2H2H2I2I2 FFFFJJJ2J2JJK2K2L2L2 M2M2PPN2N2L2L2PO2PPP FFFFJJHHP2P2Q2Q2J2J2 R2R2MMMFFS2S2T2T2MMU 2U2V2V2W2W2H2H2JJX2X 2XXY2Y2FFZ2Z2JJFFA3A 3JJFFB3B3JJY2Y2 JJFFC3C3FFFFY2Y2MMFF FFPPD3D3E3E3C3C3FFY2 Y2Y2Y2MMF3F3Y2Y2PPY2 Y2Y2Y2FFJ2HFFY2Y2Y2Y 2MMJJY2Y2G3G3Y2Y2FFY 2Y2N2N2H3H3AAY2Y2Y2Y 2Y2Y2JJFFFFJ2J2FFJJJ JFFFFAAFFY2Y2I3I3FFF FY2Y2PPC3C3PPMAAPPPP FFY2Y2PPFFPPY2Y2PPY2 Y2J3J3FFF2F2C3C3FFF2 F2E3E3C3C3PPFFC3C3K3 K3FFFFL3L3FFMMJJ Y2Y2PPJJJJFFY2Y2Y2Y2 JJAAZ2Z2Y2Y2Y2Y2M3M3 Y2Y2N3N3PP

A drifting April twilight sky	A
A wind which blew the puddles dry	A
And slapped the river into waves	B
That ran and hid among the staves	B
Of an old wharf A watery light	C
Touched bleak the granite bridge and white	C
Without the slightest tinge of gold	D
The city shivered in the cold	D
All day my thoughts had lain as dead	E
Unborn and bursting in my head	E
From time to time I wrote a word	F
Which lines and circles overscored	F
My table seemed a graveyard full	G
Of coffins waiting burial	H
I seized these vile abortions tore	I
Them into jagged bits and swore	I
To be the dupe of hope no more	I
Into the evening straight I went	F
Starved of a day's accomplishment	F
Unnoticing I wandered where	J
The city gave a space for air	J
And on the bridge's parapet	F
I leant while pallidly there set	F
A dim discouraged worn out sun	K
Behind me where the tramways run	K
Blossomed bright lights I turned to leave	L
When someone plucked me by the sleeve	L
Your pardon Sir but I should be	M
Most grateful could you lend to me	M
A carfare I have lost my purse	N
The voice was clear concise and terse	N
I turned and met the quiet gaze	O
Of strange eyes flashing through the haze	O
	-
The man was old and slightly bent	F
Under his cloak some instrument	F
Disarranged its stately line	P
He rested on his cane a fine	P
And nervous hand an almandine	P
Smouldered with dull red flames sanguine	P
It burned in twisted gold upon	P
His finger Like some Spanish don	P
Conferring favours even when	P
Asking an alms he bowed again	P
And waited But my pockets proved	F
Empty in vain I poked and shoved	F
No hidden penny lurking there	J
Greeted my search Sir I declare	J
I have no money pray forgive	Q
But let me take you where you live	R
And so we plodded through the mire	S
Where street lamps cast a wavering fire	T
I took no note of where we went	F
His talk became the element	F
Wherein my being swam content	F
It flashed like rapiers in the night	F
Lit by uncertain candle light	F
When on some moon forsaken sward	F
A quarrel dies upon a sword	F
It hacked and carved like a cutlass blade	F
And the noise in the air the broad words made	F
Was the cry of the wind at a window pane	P
On an Autumn night of sobbing rain	P
Then it would run like a steady stream	U
Under pinnacled bridges where minarets gleam	U
Or lap the air like the lapping tide	F
Where a marble staircase lifts its wide	F
Green spotted steps to a garden gate	F
And a waning moon is sinking straight	F
Down to a black and ominous sea	M
While a nightingale sings in a lemon tree	M
	-
I walked as though some opiate	F
Had stung and dulled my brain a state	F
Acute and slumbrous It grew late	F
We stopped a house stood silent dark	V
The old man scratched a match the spark	V
Lit up the keyhole of a door	I
We entered straight upon a floor	I
White with finest powdered sand	F
Carefully sifted one might stand	F
Muddy and dripping and yet no trace	W
Would stain the boards of this kitchen place	W
From the chimney red eyes sparked the gloom	X
And a cricket's chirp filled all the room	X
My host threw pine cones on the fire	T
And crimson and scarlet glowed the pyre	T
Wrapped in the golden flame's desire	T
The chamber opened like an eye	A
As a half melted cloud in a Summer sky	A
The soul of the house stood guessed and shy	A
It peered at the stranger warily	M
A little shop with its various ware	J
Spread on shelves with nicest care	J
Pitchers and jars and jugs and pots	Y
Pipkins and mugs and many lots	Y
Of lacquered canisters black and gold	F
Like those in which Chinese tea is sold	F
Chests and puncheons kegs and flasks	Z
Goblets chalices firkins and casks	Z
In a corner three ancient amphorae leaned	F
Against the wall like ships careened	F
There was dusky blue of Wedgewood ware	J
The carved white figures fluttering there	J
Like leaves adrift upon the air	J
Classic in touch but emasculate	F
The Greek soul grown effeminate	F
The factory of S egrave vres had lent	F
Elegant boxes with ornament	F
Culled from gardens where fountains splashed	F
And golden carp in the shadows flashed	F
Nuzzling for crumbs under lily pads	A2
Which ladies threw as the last of fads	A2
Eggshell trays where gay beaux knelt	F
Hand on heart and daintily spelt	F
Their love in flowers brittle and bright	F
Artificial and fragile which told aright	F
The vows of an eighteenth century knight	F
The cruder tones of old Dutch jugs	B2
Glared from one shelf where Toby mugs	B2
Endlessly drank the foaming ale	C2
Its froth grown dusty awaiting sale	C2
The glancing light of the burning wood	F
Played over a group of jars which stood	F
On a distant shelf it seemed the sky	A
Had lent the half tones of his blazonry	J
To paint these porcelains with unknown hues	D2
Of reds dyed purple and greens turned blues	D2
Of lustres with so evanescent a sheen	P
Their colours are felt but never seen	P
Strange wing eacute d dragons writhe about	F
These vases poisoned venoms spout	F
Impregnate with old Chinese charms	E2
Sealed urns containing mortal harms	E2
They fill the mind with thoughts impure	J
Pestilent drippings from the ure	J
Of vicious thinkings Ah I see	M
Said I you deal in pottery	M
The old man turned and looked at me	M
Shook his head gently No said he	M
	-
Then from under his cloak he took the thing	F2
Which I had wondered to see him bring	F2
Guarded so carefully from sight	F
As he laid it down it flashed in the light	F
A Toledo blade with basket hilt	F
Damascened with arabesques of gilt	F
Or rather gold and tempered so	G2
It could cut a floating thread at a blow	G2
The old man smiled It has no sheath	H2
'Twas a little careless to have it beneath	H2
My cloak for a jostle to my arm	I2
Would have resulted in serious harm	I2
But it was so fine I could not wait	F
So I brought it with me despite its state	F
An amateur of arms I thought	F
Bringing home a prize which he has bought	F
You care for this sort of thing Dear Sir	J
Not in the way which you infer	J
I need them in business that is all	J2
And he pointed his finger at the wall	J2
Then I saw what I had not noticed before	J
The walls were hung with at least five score	J
Of swords and daggers of every size	K2
Which nations of militant men could devise	K2
Poisoned spears from tropic seas	L2
That natives under banana trees	L2
Smear with the juice of some deadly snake	M2
Blood dipped arrows which savages make	M2
And tip with feathers orange and green	P
A quivering death in harlequin sheen	P
High up a fan of glancing steel	N2
Was formed of claymores in a wheel	N2
Jewelled swords worn at kings' levees	L2
Were suspended next midshipmen's dirks and these	L2
Elbowed stilettos come from Spain	P
Chased with some splendid Hidalgo's name	O2
There were Samurai swords from old Japan	P
And scimitars from Hindoostan	P
While the blade of a Turkish yataghan	P
Made a waving streak of vitreous white	F
Upon the wall in the firelight	F
Foils with buttons broken or lost	F
Lay heaped on a chair among them tossed	F
The boarding pike of a privateer	J
Against the chimney leaned a queer	J
Two handed weapon with edges dull	H
As though from hacking on a skull	H
The rusted blood corroded it still	P2
My host took up a paper spill	P2
From a heap which lay in an earthen bowl	Q2
And lighted it at a burning coal	Q2
At either end of the table tall	J2
Wax candles were placed each in a small	J2
And slim and burnished candlestick	R2
Of pewter The old man lit each wick	R2
And the room leapt more obviously	M
Upon my mind and I could see	M
What the flickering fire had hid from me	M
Above the chimney's yawning throat	F
Shoulder high like the dark wainscote	F
Was a mantelshelf of polished oak	S2
Blackened with the pungent smoke	S2
Of firelit nights a Cromwell clock	T2
Of tarnished brass stood like a rock	T2
In the midst of a heaving turbulent sea	M
Of every sort of cutlery	M
There lay knives sharpened to any use	U2
The keenest lancet and the obtuse	U2
And blunted pruning bill hook blades	V2
Of razors scalpels shears cascades	V2
Of penknives with handles of mother of pearl	W2
And scythes and sickles and scissors a whirl	W2
Of points and edges and underneath	H2
Shot the gleam of a saw with bristling teeth	H2
My head grew dizzy I seemed to hear	J
A battle cry from somewhere near	J
The clash of arms and the squeal of balls	X2
And the echoless thud when a dead man falls	X2
A smoky cloud had veiled the room	X
Shot through with lurid glares the gloom	X
Pounded with shouts and dying groans	Y2
With the drip of blood on cold hard stones	Y2
Sabres and lances in streaks of light	F
Gleamed through the smoke and at my right	F
A creese like a licking serpent's tongue	Z2
Glittered an instant while it stung	Z2
Streams and points and lines of fire	J
The livid steel which man's desire	J
Had forged and welded burned white and cold	F
Every blade which man could mould	F
Which could cut or slash or cleave or rip	A3
Or pierce or thrust or carve or strip	A3
Or gash or chop or puncture or tear	J
Or slice or hack they all were there	J
Nerveless and shaking round and round	F
I stared at the walls and at the ground	F
Till the room spun like a whipping top	B3
And a stern voice in my ear said Stop	B3
I sell no tools for murderers here	J
Of what are you thinking Please clear	J
Your mind of such imaginings	Y2
Sit down I will tell you of these things	Y2
	-
He pushed me into a great chair	J
Of russet leather poked a flare	J
Of tumbling flame with the old long sword	F
Up the chimney but said no word	F
Slowly he walked to a distant shelf	C3
And brought back a crock of finest delf	C3
He rested a moment a blue veined hand	F
Upon the cover then cut a band	F
Of paper pasted neatly round	F
Opened and poured A sliding sound	F
Came from beneath his old white hands	Y2
And I saw a little heap of sands	Y2
Black and smooth What could they be	M
Pepper I thought He looked at me	M
What you see is poppy seed	F
Lethean dreams for those in need	F
He took up the grains with a gentle hand	F
And sifted them slowly like hour glass sand	F
On his old white finger the almandine	P
Shot out its rays incarnadine	P
Visions for those too tired to sleep	D3
These seeds cast a film over eyes which weep	D3
No single soul in the world could dwell	E3
Without these poppy seeds I sell	E3
For a moment he played with the shining stuff	C3
Passing it through his fingers Enough	C3
At last he poured it back into	F
The china jar of Holland blue	F
Which he carefully carried to its place	Y2
Then with a smile on his aged face	Y2
He drew up a chair to the open space	Y2
'Twixt table and chimney Without preface	Y2
Young man I will say that what you see	M
Is not the puzzle you take it to be	M
But surely Sir there is something strange	F3
In a shop with goods at so wide a range	F3
Each from the other as swords and seeds	Y2
Your neighbours must have greatly differing needs	Y2
My neighbours he said and he stroked his chin	P
Live everywhere from here to Pekin	P
But you are wrong my sort of goods	Y2
Is but one thing in all its moods	Y2
He took a shagreen letter case	Y2
From his pocket and with charming grace	Y2
Offered me a printed card	F
I read the legend Ephraim Bard	F
Dealer in Words And that was all	J2
I stared at the letters whimsical	H
Indeed or was it merely a jest	F
He answered my unasked request	F
All books are either dreams or swords	Y2
You can cut or you can drug with words	Y2
My firm is a very ancient house	Y2
The entries on my books would rouse	Y2
Your wonder perhaps incredulity	M
I inherited from an ancestry	M
Stretching remotely back and far	J
This business and my clients are	J
As were those of my grandfather's days	Y2
Writers of books and poems and plays	Y2
My swords are tempered for every speech	G3
For fencing wit or to carve a breach	G3
Through old abuses the world condones	Y2
In another room are my grindstones and hones	Y2
For whetting razors and putting a point	F
On daggers sometimes I even anoint	F
The blades with a subtle poison so	Y2
A twofold result may follow the blow	Y2
These are purchased by men who feel	N2
The need of stabbing society's heel	N2
Which egotism has brought them to think	H3
Is set on their necks I have foils to pink	H3
An adversary to quaint reply	A
And I have customers who buy	A
Scalpels with which to dissect the brains	Y2
And hearts of men Ultramundanes	Y2
Even demand some finer kinds	Y2
To open their own souls and minds	Y2
But the other half of my business deals	Y2
With visions and fancies Under seals	Y2
Sorted and placed in vessels here	J
I keep the seeds of an atmosphere	J
Each jar contains a different kind	F
Of poppy seed From farthest Ind	F
Come the purple flowers opium filled	F
From which the weirdest myths are distilled	F
My orient porcelains contain them all	J2
Those Lowestoft pitchers against the wall	J2
Hold a lighter kind of bright conceit	F
And those old Saxe vases out of the heat	F
On that lowest shelf beside the door	J
Have a sort of Ideal couleur d'or	J
Every castle of the air	J
Sleeps in the fine black grains and there	J
Are seeds for every romance or light	F
Whiff of a dream for a summer night	F
I supply to every want and taste	F
'Twas slowly said in no great haste	F
He seemed to push his wares but I	A
Dumfounded listened By and by	A
A log on the fire broke in two	F
He looked up quickly Sir and you	F
I groped for something I should say	Y2
Amazement held me numb To day	Y2
You sweated at a fruitless task	I3
He spoke for me What do you ask	I3
How can I serve you My kind host	F
My penniless state was not a boast	F
I have no money with me He smiled	F
Not for that money I beguiled	F
You here you paid me in advance	Y2
Again I felt as though a trance	Y2
Had dimmed my faculties Again	P
He spoke and this time to explain	P
The money I demand is Life	C3
Your nervous force your joy your strife	C3
What infamous proposal now	P
Was made me with so calm a brow	P
Bursting through my lethargy	M
Indignantly I hurled the cry	A
Is this a nightmare or am I	A
Drunk with some infernal wine	P
I am no Faust and what is mine	P
Is what I call my soul Old Man	P
Devil or Ghost Your hellish plan	P
Revolts me Let me go My child	F
And the old tones were very mild	F
I have no wish to barter souls	Y2
My traffic does not ask such tolls	Y2
I am no devil is there one	P
Surely the age of fear is gone	P
We live within a daylight world	F
Lit by the sun where winds unfurled	F
Sweep clouds to scatter pattering rain	P
And then blow back the sun again	P
I sell my fancies or my swords	Y2
To those who care far more for words	Y2
Ideas of which they are the sign	P
Than any other life design	P
Who buy of me must simply pay	Y2
Their whole existence quite away	Y2
Their strength their manhood and their prime	J3
Their hours from morning till the time	J3
When evening comes on tiptoe feet	F
And losing life think it complete	F
Must miss what other men count being	F2
To gain the gift of deeper seeing	F2
Must spurn all ease all hindering love	C3
All which could hold or bind must prove	C3
The farthest boundaries of thought	F
And shun no end which these have brought	F
Then die in satisfaction knowing	F2
That what was sown was worth the sowing	F2
I claim for all the goods I sell	E3
That they will serve their purpose well	E3
And though you perish they will live	C3
Full measure for your pay I give	C3
To day you worked you thought in vain	P
What since has happened is the train	P
Your toiling brought I spoke to you	F
For my share of the bargain due	F
My life And is that all you crave	C3
In pay What even childhood gave	C3
I have been dedicate from youth	K3
Before my God I speak the truth	K3
Fatigue excitement of the past	F
Few hours broke me down at last	F
All day I had forgot to eat	F
My nerves betrayed me lacking meat	F
I bowed my head and felt the storm	L3
Plough shattering through my prostrate form	L3
The tearless sobs tore at my heart	F
My host withdrew himself apart	F
Busied among his crockery	M
He paid no farther heed to me	M
Exhausted spent I huddled there	J
Within the arms of the old carved chair	J
	-
A long half hour dragged away	Y2
And then I heard a kind voice say	Y2
The day will soon be dawning when	P
You must begin to work again	P
Here are the things which you require	J
By the fading light of the dying fire	J
And by the guttering candle's flare	J
I saw the old man standing there	J
He handed me a packet tied	F
With crimson tape and sealed Inside	F
Are seeds of many differing flowers	Y2
To occupy your utmost powers	Y2
Of storied vision and these swords	Y2
Are the finest which my shop affords	Y2
Go home and use them do not spare	J
Yourself let that be all your care	J
Whatever you have means to buy	A
Be very sure I can supply	A
He slowly walked to the window flung	Z2
It open and in the grey air rung	Z2
The sound of distant matin bells	Y2
I took my parcels Then as tells	Y2
An ancient mumbling monk his beads	Y2
I tried to thank for his courteous deeds	Y2
My strange old friend Nay do not talk	M3
He urged me you have a long walk	M3
Before you Good by and Good day	Y2
And gently sped upon my way	Y2
I stumbled out in the morning hush	N3
As down the empty street a flush	N3
Ran level from the rising sun	P
Another day was just begun	P

Amy Lowell

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About Sword Blades And Poppy Seed

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