The Monk Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BBBBBBCC A DBDBDBEE A FGFGFGHH C IBIBIBJJ C BBBBBBJJ C KBKBKBJJ C CLCLCLBB C MJMJMJBB B JNJNJNOO B BJBJBJBB B PQPQPQBB B BBBBBBGG B BRBRBSJJ C JJJJJJTT C BJBJBJUU C JVJVJVJJ C JBJBJBJJ C BJBJBJGG B JWJWJWJJ W XIXI IW W JYJYJYJJ W ZJZJZJUU W NININIWW C HRHRHRA2A2 C CJCJCJB2B2 C C2D2C2D2C2D2E2E2 C JF2JF2JG2H2 C GWGWGWBB W JJJJJJJJ W JKJKJKK W GWGWGWJJ W GD2GD2GD2BB W JGJGJGJJ C XWXWXWD2D2 C WJWJWJWW C JGJGJGWW C HWHWHWI2I2 C JJJJJJD2D2 W BGBGBGWW G JJJJJJBB G WD2WD2WD2BB G D2JD2JD2JCC D2 KJKJKJXX C XCXCXCD2D2 C WD2WD2WD2KK C E2BE2BE2BJJ C JHJHJHD2D2I | A |
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In Nino's chamber not a sound intrudes | B |
Upon the midnight's tingling silentness | B |
Where Nino sits before his book and broods | B |
Thin and brow burdened with some fine distress | B |
Some gloom that hangs about his mournful moods | B |
His weary bearing and neglected dress | B |
So sad he sits nor ever turns a leaf | C |
Sorrow's pale miser o'er his hoard of grief | C |
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II | A |
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Young Nino and Leonora they had met | D |
Once at a revel by some lover's chance | B |
And they were young with hearts already set | D |
To tender thoughts attuned to romance | B |
Wherefore it seemed they never could forget | D |
That winning touch that one bewildering glance | B |
But found at last a shelter safe and sweet | E |
Where trembling hearts and longing hands might meet | E |
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III | A |
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Ah sweet their dreams and sweet the life they led | F |
With that great love that was their bosoms' all | G |
Yet ever shadowed by some circling dread | F |
It gloomed at moments deep and tragical | G |
And so for many a month they seemed to tread | F |
With fluttering hearts whatever might befall | G |
Half glad half sad their sweet and secret way | H |
To the soft tune of some old lover's lay | H |
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IV | C |
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But she is gone alas he knows not where | I |
Or how his life that tender gift should lose | B |
Indeed his love was ever full of care | I |
The hasty joys and griefs of him who woos | B |
Where sweet success is neighbour to despair | I |
With stolen looks and dangerous interviews | B |
But one long week she came not nor the next | J |
And so he wandered here and there perplext | J |
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V | C |
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Nor evermore she came Full many days | B |
He sought her at their trysts devised deep schemes | B |
To lure her back and fell on subtle ways | B |
To win some word of her but all his dreams | B |
Vanished like smoke and then in sore amaze | B |
From town to town as one that crazed seems | B |
He wandered following in unhappy quest | J |
Uncertain clues that ended like the rest | J |
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VI | C |
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And now this midnight as he sits forlorn | K |
The printed page for him no meaning bears | B |
With every word some torturing dream is born | K |
And every thought is like a step that scares | B |
Old memories up to make him weep and mourn | K |
He cannot turn but from their latchless lairs | B |
The weary shadows of his lost delight | J |
Rise up like dusk birds through the lonely night | J |
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VII | C |
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And still with questions vain he probes his grief | C |
Till thought is wearied out and dreams grow dim | L |
What bitter chance what woe beyond belief | C |
Could keep his lady's heart so hid from him | L |
Or was her love indeed but light and brief | C |
A passing thought a moment's dreamy whim | L |
Aye there it stings the woe that never sleeps | B |
Poor Nino leans upon his book and weeps | B |
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VIII | C |
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Until at length the sudden grief that shook | M |
His pierced bosom like a gust is past | J |
And laid full weary on the wide spread book | M |
His eyes grow dim with slumber light and fast | J |
But scarcely have his dreams had time to look | M |
On lands of kindlier promise when aghast | J |
He starts up softly and in wondering wise | B |
Listens atremble with wide open eyes | B |
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IX | B |
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What sound was that Who knocks like one in dread | J |
With such swift hands upon his outer door | N |
Perhaps some beggar driven from his bed | J |
By gnawing hunger he can bear no more | N |
Or questing traveller with confused tread | J |
Straying bewildered in the midnight hoar | N |
Nino uprises scared he knows not how | O |
The dreams still pale about his burdened brow | O |
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X | B |
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The heavy bolt he draws and unawares | B |
A stranger enters with slow steps unsought | J |
A long robed monk and in his hand he bears | B |
A jewelled goblet curiously wrought | J |
But of his face beneath the cowl he wears | B |
For all his searching Nino seeth nought | J |
And slowly past him with long stride he hies | B |
While Nino follows with bewildered eyes | B |
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XI | B |
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Straight on he goes with dusky rustling gown | P |
His steps are soft his hands are white and fine | Q |
And still he bears the goblet on whose crown | P |
A hundred jewels in the lamplight shine | Q |
And ever from its edges dripping down | P |
Falls with dark stain the rich and lustrous wine | Q |
Wherefrom through all the chamber's shadowy deeps | B |
A deadly perfume like a vapour creeps | B |
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XII | B |
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And now he sets it down with careful hands | B |
On the slim table's polished ebony | B |
And for a space as if in dreams he stands | B |
Close hidden in his sombre drapery | B |
Oh lover by thy lady's last commands | B |
I bid thee hearken for I bear with me | B |
A gift to give thee and a tale to tell | G |
From her who loved thee while she lived too well | G |
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XIII | B |
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The stranger's voice falls slow and solemnly | B |
Tis soft and rich and wondrous deep of tone | R |
And Nino's face grows white as ivory | B |
Listening fast rooted like a shape of stone | R |
Ah blessed saints can such a dark thing be | B |
And was it death and is Leonora gone | S |
Oh love is harsh and life is frail indeed | J |
That gives men joy and then so makes them bleed | J |
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XIV | C |
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There is the gift I bring the stranger's head | J |
Turns to the cup that glitters at his side | J |
And now my tongue draws back for very dread | J |
Unhappy youth from what it must not hide | J |
The saddest tale that ever lips have said | J |
Yet thou must know how sweet Lenora died | J |
A broken martyr for love's weary sake | T |
And left this gift for thee to leave or take | T |
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XV | C |
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Poor Nino listens with that marble face | B |
And eyes that move not strangely wide and set | J |
The monk continues with his mournful grace | B |
She told me Nino how you often met | J |
In secret and your plighted loves kept pace | B |
Together tangled in the self same net | J |
Your dream's dark danger and its dread you knew | U |
And still you met and still your passion grew | U |
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XVI | C |
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And aye with that luxurious fire you fed | J |
Your dangerous longing daily crumb by crumb | V |
Nor ever cared that still above your head | J |
The shadow grew for that your lips were dumb | V |
You knew full keenly you could never wed | J |
'Twas all a dream the end must surely come | V |
For not on thee her father's eyes were turned | J |
To find a son when mighty lords were spurned | J |
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XVII | C |
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Thou knowest that new sprung prince that proud up start | J |
Pisa's new tyrant with his armed thralls | B |
Who bends of late to take the people's part | J |
Yet plays the king among his marble halls | B |
Whose gloomy palace in our city's heart | J |
Frowns like a fortress with its loop holed walls | B |
'Twas him he sought for fair Leonora's hand | J |
That so his own declining house might stand | J |
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XVIII | C |
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The end came soon 'twas never known to thee | B |
But when your love was scarce a six months old | J |
She sat one day beside her father's knee | B |
And in her ears the dreadful thing was told | J |
Within one month her bridal hour should be | B |
With Messer Gianni for his power and gold | J |
And as she sat with whitened lips the while | G |
The old man kissed her with his crafty smile | G |
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XIX | B |
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Poor pallid lady all the woe she felt | J |
Thou wretched Nino thou alone canst know | W |
Down at his feet with many a moan she knelt | J |
And prayed that he would never wound her so | W |
Ah tender saints it was a sight to melt | J |
The flintiest heart but his could never glow | W |
He sat with clenched hands and straightened head | J |
And frowned and glared and turned from white to red | J |
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XX | W |
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And still with cries about his knees she clung | X |
Her tender bosom broken with her care | I |
His words were brief with bitter fury flung | X |
'The father's will the child must meekly bear | I |
I am thy father thou a girl and young ' | - |
Then to her feet she rose in her despair | I |
And cried with tightened lips and eyes aglow | W |
One daring word a straight and simple 'No ' | - |
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XXI | W |
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Her father left her with wild words and sent | J |
Rough men who dragged her to a dungeon deep | Y |
Where many a weary soul in darkness pent | J |
For many a year had watched the slow days creep | Y |
And there he left her for his dark intent | J |
Where madness breeds and sorrows never sleep | Y |
Coarse robes he gave her and her lips he fed | J |
With bitter water and a crust of bread | J |
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XXII | W |
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And day by day still following out his plan | Z |
He came to her and with determined spite | J |
Strove with soft words and then with curse and ban | Z |
To bend her heart so wearied to his might | J |
And aye she bode his bitter pleasure's span | Z |
As one that hears but hath not sense or sight | J |
Ah Nino still her breaking heart held true | U |
Poor lady sad she had no thought but you | U |
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XXIII | W |
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The father tired at last and came no more | N |
But in his settled anger bade prepare | I |
The marriage feast with all luxurious store | N |
With pomps and shows and splendors rich and rare | I |
And so in toil another fortnight wore | N |
Nor knew she aught what things were in the air | I |
Till came the old lord's message brief and coarse | W |
Within three days she should be wed by force | W |
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XXIV | C |
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And all that noon and weary night she lay | H |
Poor child like death upon her prison stone | R |
And none that came to her but crept away | H |
Sickened at heart to see her lips so moan | R |
Her eyes so dim within their sockets grey | H |
Her tender cheeks so thin and ghastly grown | R |
But when the next morn's light began to stir | A2 |
She sent and prayed that I might be with her | A2 |
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XXV | C |
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This boon he gave perchance he deemed that I | C |
The chaplain of his house her childhood's friend | J |
With patient tones and holy words might try | C |
To soothe her purpose to his gainful end | J |
I bowed full low before his crafty eye | C |
But knew my heart had no base help to lend | J |
That night with many a silent prayer I came | B2 |
To poor Leonora in her grief and shame | B2 |
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XXVI | C |
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But she was strange to me I could not speak | C2 |
For glad amazement mixed with some dark fear | D2 |
I saw her stand no longer pale and weak | C2 |
But a proud maiden queenly and most clear | D2 |
With flashing eyes and vermeil in her cheek | C2 |
And on the little table set anear | D2 |
I marked two goblets of rare workmanship | E2 |
With some strange liquor crowned to the lip | E2 |
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XXVII | C |
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And then she ran to me and caught my hand | J |
Tightly imprisoned in her meagre twain | F2 |
And like the ghost of sorrow she did stand | J |
And eyed me softly with a liquid pain | F2 |
'Oh father grant I pray thee I command | J |
One boon to me I'll never ask again | G2 |
One boon to me and to my love to both | H2 |
Dear father grant and bind it with an oath ' | - |
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XXVIII | C |
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This granted I and then with many a wail | G |
She told me all the story of your woe | W |
And when she finished lightly but most pale | G |
To those two brimming goblets she did go | W |
And one she took within her fingers frail | G |
And looked down smiling in its crimson glow | W |
'And now thine oath I'll tell God grant to thee | B |
No rest in grave if thou be false to me | B |
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XXIX | W |
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'Alas poor me whom cruel hearts would wed | J |
On the sad morrow to that wicked lord | J |
But I'll not go nay rather I'll be dead | J |
Safe from their frown and from their bitter word | J |
Without my Nino life indeed were sped | J |
And sith we two can never more accord | J |
In this drear world so weary and perplext | J |
We'll die and win sweet pleasure in the next | J |
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XXX | W |
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'Oh father God will never give thee rest | J |
If thou be false to what thy lips have sworn | K |
And false to love and false to me distressed | J |
A helpless maid so broken and outworn | K |
This cup she put it softly to her breast | J |
I pray thee carry ere the morrow morn | K |
To Nino's hand and tell him all my pain | K |
This other with mine own lips I will drain ' | - |
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XXXI | W |
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Slowly she raised it to her lips the while | G |
I darted forward madly fain to seize | W |
Her dreadful hands but with a sudden wile | G |
She twisted and sprang from me with bent knees | W |
And rising turned upon me with a smile | G |
And drained her goblet to the very lees | W |
'Oh priest remember keep thine oath ' she cried | J |
And the spent goblet fell against her side | J |
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XXXII | W |
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And then she moaned and murmured like a bell | G |
'My Nino my sweet Nino ' and no more | D2 |
She said but fluttered like a bird and fell | G |
Lifeless as marble to the footworn floor | D2 |
And there she lies even now in lonely cell | G |
Poor lady pale with all the grief she bore | D2 |
She could not live and still be true to thee | B |
And so she's gone where no rude hands can be | B |
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XXXIII | W |
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The monk's voice pauses like some mournful flute | J |
Whose pondered closes for sheer sorrow fail | G |
And then with hand that seems as it would suit | J |
A soft girl best it is so light and frail | G |
He turns half round and for a moment mute | J |
Points to the goblet and so ends his tale | G |
Mine oath is kept thy lady's last command | J |
'Tis but a short hour since it left her hand | J |
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XXXIV | C |
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So ends the stranger surely no man's tongue | X |
Was e'er so soft or half so sweet as his | W |
Oft as he listened Nino's heart had sprung | X |
With sudden start as from a spectre's kiss | W |
For deep in many a word he deemed had rung | X |
The liquid fall of some loved emphasis | W |
And so it pierced his sorrow to the core | D2 |
The ghost of tones that he should hear no more | D2 |
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XXXV | C |
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But now the tale is ended and still keeps | W |
The stranger hidden in dusky weed | J |
And Nino stands wide eyed as one that sleeps | W |
And dimly wonders how his heart doth bleed | J |
Anon he bends yet neither moans nor weeps | W |
But hangs atremble like a broken reed | J |
Ah bitter fate that lured and sold us so | W |
Poor lady mine alas for all our woe | W |
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XXXVI | C |
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But even as he moans in such dark mood | J |
His wandering eyes upon the goblet fall | G |
Oh dreaming heart Oh strange ingratitude | J |
So to forget his lady's lingering call | G |
Her parting gift so rich so crimson hued | J |
The lover's draught that shall be cure for all | G |
He lifts the goblet lightly from its place | W |
And smiles and rears it with his courtly grace | W |
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XXXVII | C |
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Oh lady sweet I shall not long delay | H |
This gift of thine shall bring me to thine eyes | W |
Sure God will send on no unpardoned way | H |
The faithful soul that at such bidding dies | W |
When thou art gone I cannot longer stay | H |
To brave this world with all its wrath and lies | W |
Where hands of stone and tongues of dragon's breath | I2 |
Have bruised mine angel to her piteous death | I2 |
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XXXVIII | C |
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And now the gleaming goblet hath scarce dyed | J |
His lips' thin pallor with its deathly red | J |
When Nino starts in wonder fearful eyed | J |
For lo the stranger with outstretched head | J |
Springs at his face one soft and sudden stride | J |
And from his hand the deadly cup hath sped | J |
Dashed to the ground and all its seeded store | D2 |
Runs out like blood upon the marble floor | D2 |
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XXXIX | W |
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Oh Nino my sweet Nino speak to me | B |
Nor stand so strange nor look so deathly pale | G |
'Twas all to prove thy heart's dear constancy | B |
I brought that cup and told that piteous tale | G |
Ah chains and cells and cruel treachery | B |
Are weak indeed when women's hearts assail | G |
Art angry Nino 'Tis no monk that cries | W |
But sweet Leonora with her love lit eyes | W |
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XL | G |
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She dashes from her brow the pented hood | J |
The dusky robe falls rustling to her feet | J |
And there she stands as aye in dreams she stood | J |
Ah Nino see Sure man did never meet | J |
So warm a flower from such a sombre bud | J |
So trembling fair so wan so pallid sweet | J |
Aye Nino down like saint upon thy knee | B |
And soothe her hands with kisses warm and free | B |
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XLI | G |
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And now with broken laughter on her lips | W |
And now with moans remembering of her care | D2 |
She weeps and smiles and like a child she slips | W |
Her lily fingers through his curly hair | D2 |
The while her head with all it's sweet she dips | W |
Close to his ear to soothe and murmur there | D2 |
Oh Nino I was hid so long from thee | B |
That much I doubted what thy love might be | B |
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XLII | G |
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And though 'twas cruel hard of me to try | D2 |
Thy faithful heart with such a fearful test | J |
Yet now thou canst be happy sweet as I | D2 |
Am wondrous happy in thy truth confessed | J |
To haggard death indeed thou needst not fly | D2 |
To find the softness of thy lady's breast | J |
For such a gift was never death's to give | C |
But thou shalt have me for thy love and live | C |
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XLIII | D2 |
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Dost see these cheeks my Nino they're so thin | K |
Not round and soft as when thou touched them last | J |
So long with bitter rage they pent me in | K |
Like some poor thief in lonely dungeons cast | J |
Only this night through every bolt and gin | K |
By cunning stealth I wrought my way at last | J |
Straight to thine heart I fled unfaltering | X |
Like homeward pigeon with uncaged wing | X |
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XLIV | C |
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Nay Nino kneel not let me hear thee speak | X |
We must not tarry long the dawn is nigh | C |
So rises he for very gladness weak | X |
But half in fear that yet the dream may fly | C |
He touches mutely mouth and brow and cheek | X |
Till in his ear she 'gins to plead and sigh | C |
Dear love forgive me for that cruel tale | D2 |
That stung thine heart and made thy lips so pale | D2 |
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XLV | C |
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And so he folds her softly with quick sighs | W |
And both with murmurs warm and musical | D2 |
Talk and retalk with dim or smiling eyes | W |
Of old delights and sweeter days to fall | D2 |
And yet not long for ere the starlit skies | W |
Grow pale above the city's eastern wall | D2 |
They rise with lips and happy hands withdrawn | K |
And pass out softly into the dawn | K |
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XLVI | C |
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For Nino knows the captain of a ship | E2 |
The friend of many journeys who may be | B |
This very morn will let his cables slip | E2 |
For the warm coast of Sicily | B |
There in Palermo at the harbour's lip | E2 |
A brother lives of tried fidelity | B |
So to the quays by hidden ways they wend | J |
In the pale morn nor do they miss their friend | J |
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XLVII | C |
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And ere the shadow off another night | J |
Hath darkened Pisa many a foe shall stray | H |
Through Nino's home with eyes malignly bright | J |
In wolfish quest but shall not find his prey | H |
The while those lovers in their white winged flight | J |
Shall see far out upon the twilight grey | H |
Behind the glimmer of the sea before | D2 |
The dusky outlines of a kindlier shore | D2 |
Archibald Lampman
(1)
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