Thinking Of The Past Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGHIJKLIM NOAPQRSTUV SRIRWRXY| In an idle hour I thought of former days | A |
| And former friends seemed to be standing in the room | B |
| And then I wondered 'Where are they now ' | C |
| Like fallen leaves they have tumbled to the Nether Springs | D |
| Han Yu swallowed his sulphur pills | E |
| Yet a single illness carried him straight to the grave | F |
| Y an Chen smelled autumn stone | G |
| But before he was old his strength crumbled away | H |
| Master Tu possessed the 'Secret of Health' | I |
| All day long he fasted from meat and spice | J |
| The Lord Ts'ui trusting a strong drug | K |
| Through the whole winter wore his summer coat | L |
| Yet some by illness and some by sudden death | I |
| All vanished ere their middle years were passed | M |
| - | |
| Only I who have never dieted myself | N |
| Have thus protracted a tedious span of age | O |
| I who in young days | A |
| Yielded lightly to every lust and greed | P |
| Whose palate craved only for the richest meat | Q |
| And knew nothing of bismuth or calomel | R |
| When hunger came I gulped steaming food | S |
| When thirst came I drank from the frozen stream | T |
| With verse I served the spirits of my Five Guts | U |
| With wine I watered the three Vital Spots | V |
| - | |
| Day by day joining the broken clod | S |
| I have lived till now almost sound and whole | R |
| There is no gap in my two rows of teeth | I |
| Limbs and body still serve me well | R |
| Already I have opened the seventh book of years | W |
| Yet I eat my fill and sleep quietly | R |
| I drink while I may the wine that lies in my cup | X |
| And all else commit to Heaven's care | Y |
Bai Juyi
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