A Soul In Prison Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: A BCDEFGHIJKLMNOPLQRST UVWXYZOA2IB2C2D2BE2F 2WG2H2I2J2K2L2M2N2L2 O2P2Q2R2S2T2U2V2W2Q D2X2Y2Z2A3FB3C3 QHD3 E3F3B2GG3H3H3I3HL2J3 W2K3L3M3N3O3C3P3 Q3C3A3R3IS3RJ3T3U3V3 W3X3LLY3Z3JA4FB4M2C4 LD4E4U3LLC3 C3 VC3LF4G4H4 H4F3I4Q3LJ4LK4H4L4VE 3L2LC3LL CLLM4J2LN4 LLY3O4Q3J2C3P4L2Q4J4 J4WJ2 FFLR4LLLH4 M2C3S4LL3D2LJT4L U4LC3LI4L

The Doubter lays aside his bookA
-
Answered a score of times Oh looked for teacherB
is this all you will teach me I in the darkC
reaching my hand for you to help me forthD
to the happy sunshine where you stand Oh shameE
to be in the dark there prisoned answer youF
there are ledges somewhere there by which strong feetG
might scale to daylight I would lift you outH
with just a touch but that your need's so slightI
for there are ledges And I grope and strainJ
think I've found footing and slip baffled backK
slip maybe deeper downwards Oh my guideL
I find no ledges help me say at leastM
where they are placed that I may know to seekN
But you in anger Nay wild wilful soulO
thou will rot in the dark God's sunshine hereP
at thy prison's very lip blame not the guideL
have I not told thee there is footing for theeQ
and so you leave me and with even treadR
guide men along the highway where I thinkS
they need you lessT
-
Say 'twas my wanton hasteU
or my drowsed languor my too earthward eyesV
watching for hedge flowers or my too rapt gazeW
it the mock sunshine of a sky born cloudX
that led me blindling here say the black wallsY
grew round me while I slept or that I builtZ
with ignorant hands a temple for my soulO
to pray in to herself and that for wantA2
of a window heavenwards a loathsome nightI
of mildew and decay festered upon itB2
till the rotted pillars fell and tombed me inC2
let it so be my fault whichever wayD2
must I be left to die A murdererB
is helped by holy hands to the byway roadE2
that comes at God through shame a thief is helpedF2
A harlot a sleek cozener that praysW
swindles his customers and gives God thanksG2
and so to bed with prayers Let them repentH2
lay let them not repent you'll say These soulsI2
may yet be saved and make a joy in heavenJ2
you are thankful you have found them you whose chargeK2
is healing sin But I hundreds as IL2
whose sorrow 'tis only to long to knowM2
and know too plainly that we know not yetN2
we are beyond your mercies You pass byL2
and note the moral of our fate 'twill pointO2
a Sunday's sermon for we have our useP2
boggarts to placid Christians in their pewsQ2
Question not prove not lest you grow like theseR2
and then you tell them how we daze ourselvesS2
on problems now so many times resolvedT2
that you'll not re resolve them how we craveU2
new proofs as once an evil race desiredV2
new signs and could not see for stubbornnessW2
signs given alreadyQ
-
Proofs enough you sayD2
quote precedent Hear Moses and the prophetsX2
I know the answer given across the gulfY2
but I know too what Christ did there were proofsZ2
enough for John and Peter yet He taughtA3
new proofs and meanings to those doubting twoF
who sorrowing walked forth to EmmausB3
and came back joyfulC3
-
They you'd answer meQ
if you owned my instance sorrowed in their doubtH
and did not wholly doubt and lovedD3
-
Oh menE3
who read the age's heart in library booksF3
writ by our fathers this is how you know itB2
Do we say The old faith is obsoleteG
the world wags all the better let us laughG3
we of to day Why will you not divineH3
the fathomless sorrow of doubt why not divineH3
the yearning to be lost from it in loveI3
And who doubts wholly That were not to doubtH
Doubt's to be ignorant not to denyL2
doubt's to be wistful after perfect faithJ3
You will not think that you come not to usW2
to ask of us who know doubt what doubt isK3
but one by one you pass the echoes onL3
each of his own pulpit each of all the pulpitsM3
and in the swelling sound can never catchN3
the tremulous voice of doubt that wails in the coldO3
you make sham thunder for it to outpealC3
with your own better thundersP3
-
You wise manQ3
and worthy utter honest in your willC3
I love you and I trust you so I thoughtA3
Here's one whose love keeps measure to beliefR3
with onward vigorous feet one quick of sightI
to catch the clue in scholars' puzzle knotsS3
deft to unweave the coil to one straight threadR
one strong to grapple vague Protean faithJ3
and keep her to his heart in one fixed shapeT3
and living he comes forward in his strengthU3
as to a battlefield to answer challengeV3
as in a storm to buffet with the wavesW3
for shipwrecked men clutching the frothy crestsX3
and sinking he is stalwart on my sideL
mine who untrained and weaponless have warredL
at the powers of unbelief and am borne downY3
mine who am struggling in the sea for breathZ3
I looked to you as the sick man in his painJ
looks to the doctor whose sharp medicinesA4
have the taste of health behind them looked to youF
for well for a boon different from thisB4
My doctor tells me Why quite long agoM2
they knew your fever or one very likeC4
and they knew remedies you'll find them namedL
in many ancient writers let those serveD4
and Thick on the commons by the daily roadsE4
the herbs are growing that give instant strengthU3
to palsied limbs like yours clear such filmed sightL
you need but eyes to spy them hands to uprootL
that's allC3
-
All trulyC3
-
Strong accustomed eyesV
strong tutored hands see for me reach for meC3
But there's a cry like mine rings through the worldL
and no help comes And with slow severing raspF4
at our very heart roots the toothed question gratesG4
Do these who know most not know anythingH4
-
Oh teachers will you teach us Growing growingH4
like the great river made of little brooksF3
our once unrest swells to a smooth despairI4
stop us those little brooks you say you canQ3
Oh teachers teach us you who have been taughtL
learn for us you who have learned how to learnJ4
we jostling jostled through the market worldL
where our work lies lack breathing space lack calmK4
lack skill lack tools lack heart lack everythingH4
for your work of the studies Such roughed mindsL4
we bring to it as when the ploughman triesV
his hard unpliant fingers at the penE3
so toil and smudge then put the blurred scrawl byL2
unfinished till next holiday comes roundL
Thus maybe I shall die and the blurred scrawlC3
be still unfinished where I try to writeL
some clear belief enough to get by heartL
-
Die still in the dark Die having lived in the darkC
there's a sort of creeping horror thinking thatL
'Tis hard too for I yearned for light grew dazedL
not by my sight's unuse and choice of gloomM4
but by too bold a gaze at the sunJ2
thinking to apprehend his perfect lightL
not darkly through a glassN4
-
Too bold too boldL
Would I had been appeased with the earth's wontL
of helpful daily sunbeams bringing downY3
only so much heaven's light as may be borneO4
heaven's light enough for many a better manQ3
to see his God by Well but it is doneJ2
never in any day shall I now beC3
as if I had not gazed and seen strange lightsP4
swim amid darknesses against the skyL2
Never and when I dream as if I sawQ4
'tis dreaming of the sun and when I yearnJ4
in agony to see still do I yearnJ4
not for the sight I had in happier daysW
but for the eagle's strong gaze at the sunJ2
-
Ah well that's after death if all be trueF
Nay but for me never if all be trueF
I love not God because I know Him notL
I do but long to love Him long and longR4
with an ineffable great pain of voidL
I cannot say I love Him that not saidL
they of the creeds all tell me I am barredL
from the very hope of knowingH4
-
Maybe soM2
for daily I know less 'Tis the old taleC3
of men lost in the mouldy vaults of minesS4
or dank crypt cemeteries lamp puffed outL
guides comrades out of hearing on and onL3
groping and pushing he makes farther wayD2
from his goal of open daylight Best to waitL
till some one come to seek him But the strainJ
of such a patience and If no one comesT4
He cannot waitL
-
If one could hear a voiceU4
Not yet not yet myself have still to findL
what way to guide you forth but I seek wellC3
I have the lamp you lack I have a chartL
not yet but hope So might one strongly bearI4
through the long night attL

Augusta Davies Webster



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