The Shadow Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: AABCDAEEFFDGHHII JJHHKKLLHHMMNNOOHHPP QRSTSPPUUVVWWXXYYGNZ Z PP HHHHA2A2B2B2C2C2D2D2 HHE2E2HH PPE2E2F2F2F2JJYYG2G2 H2H2 LLNNNPPHHNNI2I2IINNR RJJHHPPWW WWNNHHNNNNNNWWWNNNPP NNJ2J2JJPPK2K2HB2B2N HHJ2PL2L2M2M2SSN2N2H HNNJ2J2 PP IIN2N2QRO2O2NNNNHHP2 Q2R2S2NNNNNNT2T2U2B2 U2 NNNNHHQ2Q2PPNNWWNN HPNNPPHHV2V2HHW2W2NN PPS2R2NNQ2Q2HHHHHHNN PPPP NN HHN2N2NNX2X2WWPPQ2Q2 NNPPPY2Y2Z2Z2PPH2H2H HHH NNA3A3HHB3B3N2N2PPHH E2E2PPNNPPJJNNNNPPE2 E2C3 P2P2 NND3D3E3E3PP F3G3 H3H3E2E2N2N2HHPW2NNN NNNNNNHHHHU2I3HH PPP X2X2 B2B2J3J3N2N2B2B2NNNN PPE2E2NNHHH2H2 PNW2W2

Paul Jannes was working very late	A
For this watch must be done by eight	A
To morrow or the Cardinal	B
Would certainly be vexed Of all	C
His customers the old prelate	D
Was the most important for his state	A
Descended to his watches and rings	E
And he gave his mistresses many things	E
To make them forget his age and smile	F
When he paid visits and they could while	F
The time away with a diamond locket	D
Exceedingly well So they picked his pocket	G
And he paid in jewels for his slobbering kisses	H
This watch was made to buy him blisses	H
From an Austrian countess on her way	I
Home and she meant to start next day	I
	-
Paul worked by the pointed tulip flame	J
Of a tallow candle and became	J
So absorbed that his old clock made him wince	H
Striking the hour a moment since	H
Its echo only half apprehended	K
Lingered about the room He ended	K
Screwing the little rubies in	L
Setting the wheels to lock and spin	L
Curling the infinitesimal springs	H
Fixing the filigree hands Chippings	H
Of precious stones lay strewn about	M
The table before him was a rout	M
Of splashes and sparks of coloured light	N
There was yellow gold in sheets and quite	N
A heap of emeralds and steel	O
Here was a gem there was a wheel	O
And glasses lay like limpid lakes	H
Shining and still and there were flakes	H
Of silver and shavings of pearl	P
And little wires all awhirl	P
With the light of the candle He took the watch	Q
And wound its hands about to match	R
The time then glanced up to take the hour	S
From the hanging clock	T
Good Merciful Power	S
How came that shadow on the wall	P
No woman was in the room His tall	P
Chiffonier stood gaunt behind	U
His chair His old cloak rabbit lined	U
Hung from a peg The door was closed	V
Just for a moment he must have dozed	V
He looked again and saw it plain	W
The silhouette made a blue black stain	W
On the opposite wall and it never wavered	X
Even when the candle quavered	X
Under his panting breath What made	Y
That beautiful dreadful thing that shade	Y
Of something so lovely so exquisite	G
Cast from a substance which the sight	N
Had not been tutored to perceive	Z
Paul brushed his eyes across his sleeve	Z
	-
Clear cut the Shadow on the wall	P
Gleamed black and never moved at all	P
	-
Paul's watches were like amulets	H
Wrought into patterns and rosettes	H
The cases were all set with stones	H
And wreathing lines and shining zones	H
He knew the beauty in a curve	A2
And the Shadow tortured every nerve	A2
With its perfect rhythm of outline	B2
Cutting the whitewashed wall So fine	B2
Was the neck he knew he could have spanned	C2
It about with the fingers of one hand	C2
The chin rose to a mouth he guessed	D2
But could not see the lips were pressed	D2
Loosely together the edges close	H
And the proud and delicate line of the nose	H
Melted into a brow and there	E2
Broke into undulant waves of hair	E2
The lady was edged with the stamp of race	H
A singular vision in such a place	H
	-
He moved the candle to the tall	P
Chiffonier the Shadow stayed on the wall	P
He threw his cloak upon a chair	E2
And still the lady's face was there	E2
From every corner of the room	F2
He saw in the patch of light the gloom	F2
That was the lady Her violet bloom	F2
Was almost brighter than that which came	J
From his candle's tulip flame	J
He set the filigree hands he laid	Y
The watch in the case which he had made	Y
He put on his rabbit cloak and snuffed	G2
His candle out The room seemed stuffed	G2
With darkness Softly he crossed the floor	H2
And let himself out through the door	H2
	-
The sun was flashing from every pin	L
And wheel when Paul let himself in	L
The whitewashed walls were hot with light	N
The room was the core of a chrysolite	N
Burning and shimmering with fiery might	N
The sun was so bright that no shadow could fall	P
From the furniture upon the wall	P
Paul sighed as he looked at the empty space	H
Where a glare usurped the lady's place	H
He settled himself to his work but his mind	N
Wandered and he would wake to find	N
His hand suspended his eyes grown dim	I2
And nothing advanced beyond the rim	I2
Of his dreaming The Cardinal sent to pay	I
For his watch which had purchased so fine a day	I
But Paul could hardly touch the gold	N
It seemed the price of his Shadow sold	N
With the first twilight he struck a match	R
And watched the little blue stars hatch	R
Into an egg of perfect flame	J
He lit his candle and almost in shame	J
At his eagerness lifted his eyes	H
The Shadow was there and its precise	H
Outline etched the cold white wall	P
The young man swore By God You Paul	P
There's something the matter with your brain	W
Go home now and sleep off the strain	W
	-
The next day was a storm the rain	W
Whispered and scratched at the window pane	W
A grey and shadowless morning filled	N
The little shop The watches chilled	N
Were dead and sparkless as burnt out coals	H
The gems lay on the table like shoals	H
Of stranded shells their colours faded	N
Mere heaps of stone dull and degraded	N
Paul's head was heavy his hands obeyed	N
No orders for his fancy strayed	N
His work became a simple round	N
Of watches repaired and watches wound	N
The slanting ribbons of the rain	W
Broke themselves on the window pane	W
But Paul saw the silver lines in vain	W
Only when the candle was lit	N
And on the wall just opposite	N
He watched again the coming of IT	N
Could he trace a line for the joy of his soul	P
And over his hands regain control	P
	-
Paul lingered late in his shop that night	N
And the designs which his delight	N
Sketched on paper seemed to be	J2
A tribute offered wistfully	J2
To the beautiful shadow of her who came	J
And hovered over his candle flame	J
In the morning he selected all	P
His perfect jacinths One large opal	P
Hung like a milky rainbow moon	K2
In the centre and blown in loose festoon	K2
The red stones quivered on silver threads	H
To the outer edge where a single fine	B2
Band of mother of pearl the line	B2
Completed On the other side	N
The creamy porcelain of the face	H
Bore diamond hours and no lace	H
Of cotton or silk could ever be	J2
Tossed into being more airily	P
Than the filmy golden hands the time	L2
Seemed to tick away in rhyme	L2
When at dusk the Shadow grew	M2
Upon the wall Paul's work was through	M2
Holding the watch he spoke to her	S
Lady Beautiful Shadow stir	S
Into one brief sign of being	N2
Turn your eyes this way and seeing	N2
This watch made from those sweet curves	H
Where your hair from your forehead swerves	H
Accept the gift which I have wrought	N
With your fairness in my thought	N
Grant me this and I shall be	J2
Honoured overwhelmingly	J2
	-
The Shadow rested black and still	P
And the wind sighed over the window sill	P
	-
Paul put the despised watch away	I
And laid out before him his array	I
Of stones and metals and when the morning	N2
Struck the stones to their best adorning	N2
He chose the brightest and this new watch	Q
Was so light and thin it seemed to catch	R
The sunlight's nothingness and its gleam	O2
Topazes ran in a foamy stream	O2
Over the cover the hands were studded	N
With garnets and seemed red roses budded	N
The face was of crystal and engraved	N
Upon it the figures flashed and waved	N
With zircons and beryls and amethysts	H
It took a week to make and his trysts	H
At night with the Shadow were his alone	P2
Paul swore not to speak till his task was done	Q2
The night that the jewel was worthy to give	R2
Paul watched the long hours of daylight live	S2
To the faintest streak then lit his light	N
And sharp against the wall's pure white	N
The outline of the Shadow started	N
Into form His burning hearted	N
Words so long imprisoned swelled	N
To tumbling speech Like one compelled	N
He told the lady all his love	T2
And holding out the watch above	T2
His head he knelt imploring some	U2
Littlest sign	B2
The Shadow was dumb	U2
	-
Weeks passed Paul worked in fevered haste	N
And everything he made he placed	N
Before his lady The Shadow kept	N
Its perfect passiveness Paul wept	N
He wooed her with the work of his hands	H
He waited for those dear commands	H
She never gave No word no motion	Q2
Eased the ache of his devotion	Q2
His days passed in a strain of toil	P
His nights burnt up in a seething coil	P
Seasons shot by uncognisant	N
He worked The Shadow came to haunt	N
Even his days Sometimes quite plain	W
He saw on the wall the blackberry stain	W
Of his lady's picture No sun was bright	N
Enough to dazzle that from his sight	N
	-
There were moments when he groaned to see	H
His life spilled out so uselessly	P
Begging for boons the Shade refused	N
His finest workmanship abused	N
The iridescent bubbles he blew	P
Into lovely existence poor and few	P
In the shadowed eyes Then he would curse	H
Himself and her The Universe	H
And more the beauty he could not make	V2
And give her for her comfort's sake	V2
He would beat his weary empty hands	H
Upon the table would hold up strands	H
Of silver and gold and ask her why	W2
She scorned the best which he could buy	W2
He would pray as to some high niched saint	N
That she would cure him of the taint	N
Of failure He would clutch the wall	P
With his bleeding fingers if she should fall	P
He could catch and hold her and make her live	S2
With sobs he would ask her to forgive	R2
All he had done And broken spent	N
He would call himself impertinent	N
Presumptuous a tradesman a nothing driven	Q2
To madness by the sight of Heaven	Q2
At other times he would take the things	H
He had made and winding them on strings	H
Hang garlands before her and burn perfumes	H
Chanting strangely while the fumes	H
Wreathed and blotted the shadow face	H
As with a cloudy nacreous lace	H
There were days when he wooed as a lover sighed	N
In tenderness spoke to his bride	N
Urged her to patience said his skill	P
Should break the spell A man's sworn will	P
Could compass life even that he knew	P
By Christ's Blood He would prove it true	P
	-
The edge of the Shadow never blurred	N
The lips of the Shadow never stirred	N
	-
He would climb on chairs to reach her lips	H
And pat her hair with his finger tips	H
But instead of young warm flesh returning	N2
His warmth the wall was cold and burning	N2
Like stinging ice and his passion chilled	N
Lay in his heart like some dead thing killed	N
At the moment of birth Then deadly sick	X2
He would lie in a swoon for hours while thick	X2
Phantasmagoria crowded his brain	W
And his body shrieked in the clutch of pain	W
The crisis passed he would wake and smile	P
With a vacant joy half imbecile	P
And quite confused not being certain	Q2
Why he was suffering a curtain	Q2
Fallen over the tortured mind beguiled	N
His sorrow Like a little child	N
He would play with his watches and gems with glee	P
Calling the Shadow to look and see	P
How the spots on the ceiling danced prettily	P
When he flashed his stones Mother the green	Y2
Has slid so cunningly in between	Y2
The blue and the yellow Oh please look down	Z2
Then with a pitiful puzzled frown	Z2
He would get up slowly from his play	P
And walk round the room feeling his way	P
From table to chair from chair to door	H2
Stepping over the cracks in the floor	H2
Till reaching the table again her face	H
Would bring recollection and no solace	H
Could balm his hurt till unconsciousness	H
Stifled him and his great distress	H
	-
One morning he threw the street door wide	N
On coming in and his vigorous stride	N
Made the tools on his table rattle and jump	A3
In his hands he carried a new burst clump	A3
Of laurel blossoms whose smooth barked stalks	H
Were pliant with sap As a husband talks	H
To the wife he left an hour ago	B3
Paul spoke to the Shadow Dear you know	B3
To day the calendar calls it Spring	N2
And I woke this morning gathering	N2
Asphodels in my dreams for you	P
So I rushed out to see what flowers blew	P
Their pink and purple scented souls	H
Across the town wind's dusty scrolls	H
And made the approach to the Market Square	E2
A garden with smells and sunny air	E2
I feel so well and happy to day	P
I think I shall take a Holiday	P
And to night we will have a little treat	N
I am going to bring you something to eat	N
He looked at the Shadow anxiously	P
It was quite grave and silent He	P
Shut the outer door and came	J
And leant against the window frame	J
Dearest he said we live apart	N
Although I bear you in my heart	N
We look out each from a different world	N
At any moment we may be hurled	N
Asunder They follow their orbits we	P
Obey their laws entirely	P
Now you must come or I go there	E2
Unless we are willing to live the flare	E2
Of a lighted instant and have it gone	C3
	-
A bee in the laurels began to drone	P2
A loosened petal fluttered prone	P2
	-
Man grows by eating if you eat	N
You will be filled with our life sweet	N
Will be our planet in your mouth	D3
If not I must parch in death's wide drouth	D3
Until I gain to where you are	E3
And give you myself in whatever star	E3
May happen O You Beloved of Me	P
Is it not ordered cleverly	P
	-
The Shadow bloomed like a plum and clear	F3
Hung in the sunlight It did not hear	G3
	-
Paul slipped away as the dusk began	H3
To dim the little shop He ran	H3
To the nearest inn and chose with care	E2
As much as his thin purse could bear	E2
As rapt souled monks watch over the baking	N2
Of the sacred wafer and through the making	N2
Of the holy wine whisper secret prayers	H
That God will bless this labour of theirs	H
So Paul in a sober ecstasy	P
Purchased the best which he could buy	W2
Returning he brushed his tools aside	N
And laid across the table a wide	N
Napkin He put a glass and plate	N
On either side in duplicate	N
Over the lady's excellent	N
With loveliness the laurels bent	N
In the centre the white flaked pastry stood	N
And beside it the wine flask Red as blood	N
Was the wine which should bring the lustihood	N
Of human life to his lady's veins	H
When all was ready all which pertains	H
To a simple meal was there with eyes	H
Lit by the joy of his great emprise	H
He reverently bade her come	U2
And forsake for him her distant home	I3
He put meat on her plate and filled her glass	H
And waited what should come to pass	H
	-
The Shadow lay quietly on the wall	P
From the street outside came a watchman's call	P
A cloudy night Rain beginning to fall	P
	-
And still he waited The clock's slow tick	X2
Knocked on the silence Paul turned sick	X2
	-
He filled his own glass full of wine	B2
From his pocket he took a paper The twine	B2
Was knotted and he searched a knife	J3
From his jumbled tools The cord of life	J3
Snapped as he cut the little string	N2
He knew that he must do the thing	N2
He feared He shook powder into the wine	B2
And holding it up so the candle's shine	B2
Sparked a ruby through its heart	N
He drank it Dear never apart	N
Again You have said it was mine to do	N
It is done and I am come to you	N
	-
Paul Jannes let the empty wine glass fall	P
And held out his arms The insentient wall	P
Stared down at him with its cold white glare	E2
Unstained The Shadow was not there	E2
Paul clutched and tore at his tightening throat	N
He felt the veins in his body bloat	N
And the hot blood run like fire and stones	H
Along the sides of his cracking bones	H
But he laughed as he staggered towards the door	H2
And he laughed aloud as he sank on the floor	H2
	-
The Coroner took the body away	P
And the watches were sold that Saturday	N
The Auctioneer said one could seldom buy	W2
Such watches and the prices were high	W2

Amy Lowell

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