A Legend Of Cologne Poem Rhyme Scheme

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Bret Harte

A Legend Of Cologne Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

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Above the bones	A
St Ursula owns	A
And those of the virgins she chaperons	A
Above the boats	A
And the bridge that floats	A
And the Rhine and the steamers' smoky throats	A
Above the chimneys and quaint tiled roofs	A
Above the clatter of wheels and hoofs	A
Above Newmarket's open space	A
Above that consecrated place	A
Where the genuine bones of the Magi seen are	B
And the dozen shops of the real Farina	C
Higher than even old Hohestrasse	A
Whose houses threaten the timid passer	D
Above them all	E
Through scaffolds tall	E
And spires like delicate limbs in splinters	A
The great Cologne's	A
Cathedral stones	A
Climb through the storms of eight hundred winters	A
	-
Unfinished there	F
In high mid air	F
The towers halt like a broken prayer	F
Through years belated	G
Unconsummated	G
The hope of its architect quite frustrated	G
Its very youth	H
They say forsooth	H
With a quite improper purpose mated	G
And every stone	I
With a curse of its own	I
Instead of that sermon Shakespeare stated	G
Since the day its choir	D
Which all admire	J
By Cologne's Archbishop was consecrated	G
	-
Ah THAT was a day	G
One well might say	G
To be marked with the largest whitest stone	I
To be found in the towers of all Cologne	I
Along the Rhine	K
From old Rheinstein	K
The people flowed like their own good wine	K
From Rudesheim	L
And Geisenheim	L
And every spot that is known to rhyme	L
From the famed Cat's Castle of St Goarshausen	K
To the pictured roofs of Assmannshausen	K
And down the track	M
From quaint Schwalbach	N
To the clustering tiles of Bacharach	M
From Bingen hence	A
To old Coblentz	A
From every castellated crag	M
Where the robber chieftains kept their swag	M
The folk flowed in and Ober Cassel	O
Shone with the pomp of knight and vassal	O
And pouring in from near and far	B
As the Rhine to its bosom draws the Ahr	B
Or takes the arm of the sober Mosel	O
So in Cologne knight squire and losel	O
Choked up the city's gates with men	K
From old St Stephen to Zint Marjen	K
	-
What had they come to see Ah me	L
I fear no glitter of pageantry	L
Nor sacred zeal	O
For Church's weal	O
Nor faith in the virgins' bones to heal	O
Nor childlike trust in frank confession	K
Drew these who dyed in deep transgression	K
Still in each nest	G
On every crest	G
Kept stolen goods in their possession	K
But only their gout	G
For something new	K
More rare than the roast of a wandering Jew	K
Or to be exact	G
To see in fact	G
A Christian soul in the very act	G
Of being damned secundum artem	L
By the devil before a soul could part 'em	L
	-
For a rumor had flown	K
Throughout Cologne	K
That the church in fact was the devil's own	K
That its architect	G
Being long suspect	G
Had confessed to the Bishop that he had wrecked	G
Not only his OWN soul but had lost	G
The VERY FIRST CHRISTIAN SOUL that crossed	G
The sacred threshold and all in fine	K
For that very beautiful design	K
Of the wonderful choir	D
They were pleased to admire	J
And really he must be allowed to say	G
To speak in a purely business way	G
That taking the ruling market prices	A
Of souls and churches in such a crisis	A
It would be shown	K
And his Grace must own	K
It was really a BARGAIN for Cologne	K
	-
Such was the tale	O
That turned cheeks pale	O
With the thought that the enemy might prevail	O
And the church doors snap	P
With a thunderclap	P
On a Christian soul in that devil's trap	P
But a wiser few	K
Who thought that they knew	K
Cologne's Archbishop replied Pooh pooh	K
Just watch him and wait	G
And as sure as fate	G
You'll find that the Bishop will give checkmate	G
	-
One here might note	G
How the popular vote	G
As shown in all legends and anecdote	G
Declares that a breach	Q
Of trust to o'erreach	Q
The devil is something quite proper for each	Q
And really if you	K
Give the devil his due	K
In spite of the proverb it's something you'll rue	K
But to lie and deceive him	L
To use and to leave him	L
From Job up to Faust is the way to receive him	L
Though no one has heard	G
It ever averred	G
That the Father of Lies ever yet broke HIS word	G
But has left this position	K
In every tradition	K
To be taken alone by the truth loving Christian	K
Bom from the tower	D
It is the hour	D
The host pours in in its pomp and power	D
Of banners and pyx	A
And high crucifix	A
And crosiers and other processional sticks	A
And no end of Marys	A
In quaint reliquaries	A
To gladden the souls of all true antiquaries	A
And an Osculum Pacis	A
A myth to the masses	A
Who trusted their bones more to mail and cuirasses	A
All borne by the throng	M
Who are marching along	M
To the square of the Dom with processional song	M
With the flaring of dips	A
And bending of hips	A
And the chanting of hundred perfunctory lips	A
And some good little boys	A
Who had come up from Neuss	A
And the Quirinuskirche to show off their voice	A
All march to the square	F
Of the great Dom and there	F
File right and left leaving alone and quite bare	F
A covered sedan	K
Containing so ran	K
The rumor the victim to take off the ban	K
	-
They have left it alone	K
They have sprinkled each stone	K
Of the porch with a sanctified Eau de Cologne	K
Guaranteed in this case	A
To disguise every trace	A
Of a sulphurous presence in that sacred place	A
Two Carmelites stand	G
On the right and left hand	G
Of the covered sedan chair to wait the command	G
Of the prelate to throw	R
Up the cover and show	R
The form of the victim in terror below	R
There's a pause and a prayer	F
Then the signal and there	F
Is a WOMAN by all that is good and is fair	F
	-
A woman and known	K
To them all one must own	K
TOO WELL KNOWN to the many to day to be shown	K
As a martyr or e'en	K
As a Christian A queen	K
Of pleasance and revel of glitter and sheen	K
So bad that the worst	G
Of Cologne spake up first	G
And declared 'twas an outrage to suffer one curst	G
And already a fief	S
Of the Satanic chief	S
To martyr herself for the Church's relief	S
But in vain fell their sneer	T
On the mob who I fear	T
On the whole felt a strong disposition to cheer	T
	-
A woman and there	F
She stands in the glare	F
Of the pitiless sun and their pitying stare	F
A woman still young	M
With garments that clung	M
To a figure though wasted with passion and wrung	M
With remorse and despair	F
Yet still passing fair	F
With jewels and gold in her dark shining hair	F
And cheeks that are faint	G
'Neath her dyes and her paint	G
A woman most surely but hardly a saint	G
	-
She moves She has gone	K
From their pity and scorn	K
She has mounted alone	K
The first step of stone	K
And the high swinging doors she wide open has thrown	K
Then pauses and turns	A
As the altar blaze burns	A
On her cheeks and with one sudden gesture she spurns	A
Archbishop and Prior	D
Knight ladye and friar	D
And her voice rings out high from the vault of the choir	D
	-
O men of Cologne	K
What I WAS ye have known	K
What I AM as I stand here One knoweth alone	K
If it be but His will	O
I shall pass from Him still	O
Lost curst and degraded I reckon no ill	O
If still by that sign	K
Of His anger divine	K
One soul shall he saved He hath blessed more than mine	K
O men of Cologne	K
Stand forth if ye own	K
A faith like to this or more fit to atone	K
And take ye my place	A
And God give you grace	A
To stand and confront Him like me face to face	A
	-
She paused Yet aloof	U
They all stand No reproof	U
Breaks the silence that fills the celestial roof	U
One instant no more	V
She halts at the door	V
Then enters A flood from the roof to the floor	V
Fills the church rosy red	G
She is gone	K
But instead	G
Who is this leaning forward with glorified head	G
And hands stretched to save	U
Sure this is no slave	U
Of the Powers of Darkness with aspect so brave	U
	-
They press to the door	V
But too late All is o'er	D
Naught remains but a woman's form prone on the floor	V
But they still see a trace	A
Of that glow in her face	A
That they saw in the light of the altar's high blaze	A
On the image that stands	A
With the babe in its hands	A
Enshrined in the churches of all Christian lands	A
	-
A Te Deum sung	M
A censer high swung	M
With praise benediction and incense wide flung	M
Proclaim that the CURSE	A
IS REMOVED and no worse	A
Is the Dom for the trial in fact the REVERSE	A
For instead of their losing	M
A soul in abusing	M
The Evil One's faith they gained one of his choosing	M
	-
Thus the legend is told	G
You will find in the old	G
Vaulted aisles of the Dom stiff in marble or cold	G
In iron and brass	A
In gown and cuirass	A
The knights priests and bishops who came to that Mass	A
And high o'er the rest	G
With her babe at her breast	G
The image of Mary Madonna the blest	G
But you look round in vain	K
On each high pictured pane	K
For the woman most worthy to walk in her train	K
	-
Yet standing to day	G
O'er the dust and the clay	G
'Midst the ghosts of a life that has long passed away	G
With the slow sinking sun	K
Looking softly upon	K
That stained glass procession I scarce miss the one	K
That it does not reveal	O
For I know and I feel	O
That these are but shadows the woman was real	O