The Kelpie Riders Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: A BB CC DE FF GG HH GG II JJ KK LL GG MM NN OO PP QQ BB RR SS TT SS A NN UU KK AA UU VV WW XX YY NN ZZ A2A2 YY CC QQ YN NN NN B2B2 A2A2 C2C2 ZZ D2D2 QQ CC CC BB NN PP BB NN E2E2 UU F2F2 A CC YY MM BB NN UU UU G2G2 H2H2 NN CH2 NN CC NN YY NN H2H2 CC CC CC H2H2 I2I2 H2H2 CC CC J2J2 CC YY K2K2 NN H2H2 CC NN NN L2L2 CC I2I2 UU M2M2 F2F2 NN NN NN YN YY NN NN YY CC NN CC YY H2H2 YY F2F2 H2H2 YY UU N2N2 I2I2 CC NN I2I2 YY UU F2F2 NN H2H2 NN J2 CC UU UU CC CC YY UU NN NN O2O2 CC NN CC I2I2 I2I2 NN YY UU I2I2 UU YY P2P2 H2H2 F2F2 YY H2H2 NN H2H2 NN UU NN CC J2 NN CC Q2Q2 CC NN UU J2J2 I2I2 CC H2H2

I	A
	-
Buried alive in calm Rochelle	B
Six in a row by a crystal well	B
	-
All Summer long on Bareau Fen	C
Slumber and sleep the Kelpie men	C
	-
By the side of each to cheer his ghost	D
A flagon of foam with a crumpet of frost	E
	-
Hear me friends for the years are fleet	F
Soon I leave the noise and the street	F
	-
For the silent uncompanioned way	G
Where the inn is cold and the night is gray	G
	-
But noon is warm and the world is still	H
Where the Kelpie riders have their will	H
	-
For never a wind dare stir or stray	G
Over those marshes salt and gray	G
	-
No bit of shade as big as your hand	I
To traverse or trammel the sleeping land	I
	-
Save where a dozen poplars fleck	J
The long gray grass and the well's blue beck	J
	-
Yet you mark their leaves are blanched and sear	K
Whispering daft at a nameless fear	K
	-
While round the hole of one is a rune	L
Black in the wash of the bleaching noon	L
	-
Ride for the wind is awake and away	G
Sleep for the harvest grain is gray	G
	-
No word more And many a mile	M
A ghostly bivouac rank and file	M
	-
They sleep to day on the marshes wide	N
Some far night they will wake and ride	N
	-
Once they were riders hot with speed	O
Kelpie Kelpie gallop at need	O
	-
With hills of the barren sea to roam	P
Housing their horses on the foam	P
	-
But earth is cool and the hush is long	Q
Beneath the lull of the slumber song	Q
	-
The crickets falter and strive to tell	B
To the dragon fly of the crystal well	B
	-
And love is a forgotten jest	R
Where the Kelpie riders take their rest	R
	-
And blossoming grasses hour by hour	S
Burn in the bud and freeze in the flower	S
	-
But never again shall their roving be	T
On the shifting hills of the tumbling sea	T
	-
With the salt and the rain and the glad desire	S
Strong as the wind and pure as fire	S
	-
II	A
	-
One doomful night in the April tide	N
With riot of brooks on the mountain side	N
	-
The goblin maidens of the hills	U
Went forth to the revel call of the rills	U
	-
Many as leaves of the falling year	K
To the swing of a ballad wild and clear	K
	-
They held the plain and the uplands high	A
And the merry dancers held the sky	A
	-
The Kelpie riders abroad on the sea	U
Caught sound of that call of eerie glee	U
	-
Over their prairie waste and wan	V
And the goblin maidens tolled them on	V
	-
The yellow eyes and the raven hair	W
And the tawny arms blown fresh and bare	W
	-
Were more than a mortal might behold	X
And live with the saints for a crown of gold	X
	-
The Kelpie riders were stricken sore	Y
They wavered and wheeled and rode for the shore	Y
	-
Kelpie Kelpie treble your stride	N
Never again on the sea we ride	N
	-
Kelpie Kelpie out of the storm	Z
On for the fields of earth are warm	Z
	-
Knee to knee they are riding in	A2
Brother brother the goblin kin	A2
	-
The meadows rocked as they clomb the scaur	Y
The pines re echo for evermore	Y
	-
The sound of the host of Kelpie men	C
But the windflowers died on Bareau Fen	C
	-
Over the marshes all night long	Q
The stars went round to a riding song	Q
	-
Kelpie Kelpie carry us through	Y
And the goblin maidens danced thereto	N
	-
Till dawn and the revel died with a shout	N
For the ocean riders were wearied out	N
	-
They looked and the grass was warm and soft	N
The dreamy clouds went over aloft	N
	-
A gloom of pines on the weather verge	B2
Had the lulling sound of their own white surge	B2
	-
A whip poor will far from their din	A2
Was saying his litanies therein	A2
	-
Then voices neither loud nor deep	C2
Tired so tired sleep ah sleep	C2
	-
The stars are calm and the earth is warm	Z
But the sea for an earldom is given to storm	Z
	-
Come now inherit the houses of doom	D2
Your fields of the sun shall be harried of gloom	D2
	-
They laid them down but over long	Q
They rest for the goblin maids are strong	Q
	-
The sun goes round and Bareau Fen	C
Is a door of earth on the Kelpie men	C
	-
Buried at dawn asleep unslain	C
With not a mound on the sunny plain	C
	-
Hard by the walls of calm Rochelle	B
Row on row by the crystal well	B
	-
And never again they are free to ride	N
Through all the years on the tossing tide	N
	-
	-
Barred from the breast of the barren foam	P
Where the heart within them is yearning home	P
	-
For one long drench of the surf to quell	B
The cursing doom of the goblin spell	B
	-
Only when bugling snows alight	N
To smother the marshes stark and white	N
	-
Or a low red moon peers over the rim	E2
Of a winter twilight crisp and dim	E2
	-
With a sound of drift on the buried lands	U
The goblin maidens loose their hands	U
	-
A wind comes down from the sheer blue North	F2
And the Kelpie riders get them forth	F2
	-
III	A
	-
Twice have I been on Bareau Fen	C
But the son of my son is a man since then	C
	-
Once as a lad I used to bear	Y
St Louis' cross through the chapel square	Y
	-
Leading the choristers' surpliced file	M
Slow up the dusk Cathedral aisle	M
	-
I was the boy of all Rochelle	B
The pure old father trusted well	B
	-
But one clear night in the winter's heart	N
I wandered out to that place apart	N
	-
The shafts of smoke went up to the stars	U
Straight as the Northern Streamer spars	U
	-
From the town's white roofs so still it was	U
The night in her dream let no word pass	U
	-
Nor ever a breath that one could feel	G2
Only the snow shrieked under my heel	G2
	-
Yet it seemed when I reached the poplar hole	H2
The ghost of a voice was crying Skoal	H2
	-
Rouse thee and drink for the well is sweet	N
And the crystal snow is good to eat	N
	-
I heeded little but stooped on my knee	C
And ate of a handful dreamily	H2
	-
'Twas cool to the mouth and slaking at first	N
But the lure of it was ill for thirst	N
	-
The voice cried Soul of the mortal span	C
Art thou not of the Kelpie clan	C
	-
What are you doing there in the ground	N
Kelpie rider and never a sound	N
	-
To roam the night but the ghost of a cry	Y
Ringing and swift there came reply	Y
	-
He is asleep where thou art afraid	N
In the tawny arms of a goblin maid	N
	-
Then I knew the voice was the voice of a girl	H2
And I marvelled much while a little swirl	H2
	-
Of snow leaped up far off on the plain	C
Of sparkling dust and died again	C
	-
For what do the cloisters know think ye	C
Of women's ways They be hard to see	C
	-
Again the voice cried Kin of my kin	C
The child of the Sun shall win shall win	C
	-
'Twas an evil weird that so befell	H2
Yet I leaned and drank of the bubbling well	H2
	-
I looked for my face in the crystal spring	I2
But the face that flickered there was a thing	I2
	-
To make the nape of your neck grow chill	H2
And every vein surge back and thrill	H2
	-
With a passion for something not their own	C
In a life their life has never known	C
	-
For raven hair and eyes like the sun	C
Are merry but dour to look upon	C
	-
She smiled through her lashes under the wave	J2
And my soul went forth her bartered slave	J2
	-
I swore By St Louis I'll come to thee	C
Though I ride to my doom in the gulfs of the sea	C
	-
Thy Kelpie rider shall wake and rue	Y
His ruined life in the loss of you	Y
	-
Then I fled in the start of a terror of joy	K2
O'er leagues where a legion might deploy	K2
	-
For the acres of snow were level and hard	N
Every flake like a crystal shard	N
	-
I was the runner of all Rochelle	H2
Could run with the hounds on Haric Fell	H2
	-
And something stark as a gust of the sea	C
Had a grip of the whimsy boy in me	C
	-
I ran like the drift on the ice low curled	N
When the winds of Yule are abroad on the world	N
	-
Sudden the beat of a throbbing sound	N
Lost in the core of the blue profound	N
	-
Kelpie Kelpie Kelpie come	L2
Was it my heart But my heart was numb	L2
	-
Kelpie Kelpie Was it the sea	C
Far on at the verge of Bareau lea	C
	-
I saw like an army shield and casque	I2
The breakers roll in the Roads of Basque	I2
	-
Kelpie Kelpie Was it the wolves	U
In the dusk of pines where night dissolves	U
	-
To streamers and stars through the mountain gorge	M2
I heard the blast of a giant forge	M2
	-
Then I knew the wind was awake from the North	F2
And the ocean riders were freed and forth	F2
	-
Time there is time now gallop my heart	N
Ere the black riders disperse and depart	N
	-
The dawn is late but the dawn comes round	N
And Fleetfoot Jean has the wind of a hound	N
	-
The hue and cry of the Kelpie horde	N
Was growing and grim on that white seaboard	N
	-
It rolled and gathered and died and grew	Y
Far off to the rear a smile thereto	N
	-
I turned a fathom behind my ear	Y
A rider rode with a shadowy leer	Y
	-
I sickened and sped He laughed aloud	N
Wind for a mourner snow for a shroud	N
	-
On and on half blown half blind	N
Shadow and self and the wind behind	N
	-
I slackened he slackened I fled he flew	Y
In a swirl of snow drift all night through	Y
	-
I scoured along the gusty fen	C
A quarry for hunting Kelpie men	C
	-
But only one could hold at my side	N
Brother brother I love thy stride	N
	-
Wilt thou follow thy whim to win	C
My merry maid of the goblin kin	C
	-
I swerved from my trail for he haunted my ear	Y
With his moaning jibe and his shadowy leer	Y
	-
So by good hap as we sped it fell	H2
I fetched a circuit back for the well	H2
	-
Like a spilth of spume on the crest of the bore	Y
When the combing tides make in for shore	Y
	-
That runner ran whose love was a wraith	F2
But the rider rode with revenge in his teeth	F2
	-
Another league and I touch the goal	H2
The mystic rune on the poplar bole	H2
	-
When the dusky eyes and the raven hair	Y
And the lithe brown arms shall greet me there	Y
	-
I ran like a harrier on the trace	U
In the leash of that ghoul and the wind gave chase	U
	-
A furlong now I caught the gleam	N2
Of the bubbling well with its tiny stream	N2
	-
An arrowy burst I cleared the beck	I2
And the Kelpie rider bestrode my neck	I2
	-
	-
	-
Dawn the still red winter dawn	C
I awoke on the plain the wind was gone	C
	-
All gracious and good as when God made	N
The living creatures and none was afraid	N
	-
I stooped to drink of the wholesome spring	I2
Under the poplars whispering	I2
	-
Face to my face in that water clear	Y
The Kelpie rider's jabbering leer	Y
	-
Ah God not me I was never so	U
Sainted Louis who can know	U
	-
The lords of life from the slaves of death	F2
What help avail the speeding breath	F2
	-
Of the spirit that knows not self's abode	N
When the soul is lost that knows not God	N
	-
I turned me home by St Louis' Hall	H2
Where the red sun burns on the windows tall	H2
	-
And I thought the world was strange and wild	N
And God with his altar only a child	N
	-
IV	J2
	-
Again one year in the prime of June	C
I came to the well in the heated noon	C
	-
Leaving Rochelle with its red roof tiles	U
By the Pottery Gate before St Giles	U
	-
There where the flower market is	U
Where every morning up from Duprisse	U
	-
The flower girls come by the long white lane	C
That skirts the edge of Bareau plain	C
	-
To the North the city wall in the sun	C
To the left the fen where the eye may run	C
	-
And have its will of the blazing blue	Y
The while I loitered the market through	Y
	-
Halting a moment to converse	U
With old Babette who had been my nurse	U
	-
There passed through the stalls a woman bright	N
With a kirtle of cinnabar and white	N
	-
Among the kerseys blue and I said	N
Who is it Babette with lifted head	N
	-
And the startled look possessed and strange	O2
Under the paint secure from change	O2
	-
Ah 'Sieur Jean do ye not ken	C
Of the eerie folk of Bareau Fen	C
	-
I blenched and she knew too well I wist	N
The fearsome fate of the goblin tryst	N
	-
The street is a cruel home 'Sieur Jean	C
But a weird uncanny drives her on	C
	-
'Tis a bitter tale for Christian folk	I2
How once she dreamed and how she woke	I2
	-
Ay ay I passed and reached the spring	I2
Where the poplars kept their whispering	I2
	-
Hid for an hour in the shade	N
In the rank marsh grass of a tiny glade	N
	-
There crossed the moor from the town afar	Y
In kirtle of white and cinnabar	Y
	-
A wanderer on that plain of tears	U
Bowed with a burden not of the years	U
	-
As one that goeth sorrowing	I2
For many an unforgotten thing	I2
	-
To the crystal well as the sun drew low	U
There came that harridan of woe	U
	-
She stooped to drink I heard her cry	Y
Ah God how tired out am I	Y
	-
I called him by the dearest name	P2
A girl may call I have my shame	P2
	-
'Yet death is crueller than life '	-
Once they said 'for all the strife '	-
	-
And so I lived but the wild will	H2
Broken and bitter drives to ill	H2
	-
And now I know what no one saith	F2
That love is crueller than death	F2
	-
How I did love him Is love too high	Y
My God for such lost folk as I	Y
	-
Her tears went down to the grass by the well	H2
In that passion of grief and where they fell	H2
	-
Windflowers trembled pale and white	N
A craven I crept away from the sight	N
	-
And turned me home to St Louis' Hall	H2
Where the sunflowers burn by the eastern wall	H2
	-
The vesper frankincense that day	N
Rose to the rafters and melted away	N
	-
And was no more than a cloud that stirs	U
Among the spires of Norway firs	U
	-
And I said The holy solitude	N
Of the hoary crypt and the wild green wood	N
	-
Are one to the God I have never known	C
Whose kingdom has neither bourn nor throne	C
	-
V	J2
	-
Now I am old and the years delay	N
But I know I know there will come a day	N
	-
When April is over the Norland town	C
And the loosened brooks from the hills go down	C
	-
When tears have quenched the sorrow of time	Q2
Wherein the earth shall rebuild her prime	Q2
	-
And the houses of dark be overthrown	C
When the goblin maids shall love their own	C
	-
Their arms forever unlaced from their hold	N
Of the earls of the sea on that alien wold	N
	-
And the feckless light of their golden eyes	U
Shall forget the desire that made them wise	U
	-
When the hands of the foam shall beckon and flee	J2
And the Kelpie riders ride for the sea	J2
	-
And the whip poor will the whole night long	I2
Repeat his litanies of song	I2
	-
Till morning whiten the world again	C
And the flowers revive on Bareau Fen	C
	-
Over the acres of calm Rochelle	H2
Fresh by the stream of the crystal well	H2

Bliss Carman (william)

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