A Destiny Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCBCDDA EFEFGGA HIHIJJF KLKLIIF MNMNOOF PQPQRRF POSOFFF TUTUVVM WXWXYYM MZMZ MM PA2PA2VVM TB2TB2C2C2M D2JD2JE2E2F UVUVF2F2F XG2XG2PVF LH2LH2I2I2F J2FJ2FK2K2F H2LH2L L2M J2MJ2MOOM JM2JM2TTT KTKTH2H2T TTTTTTT N2O2P2O2LLF TTTTFFF Q2TQ2TJJF R2S2R2S2L2L2F E2T2E2T2FFF BU2BV2TI | A |
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THERE was a lady who had early wed | B |
One whom she saw and lov'd in her bright youth | C |
When life was yet untried and when he said | B |
He too lov'd her he spoke no more than truth | C |
He lov'd as well as baser natures can | D |
But a mean heart and soul were in that man | D |
II | A |
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And they dwelt happily if happy be | E |
Not with harsh words to breed unnatural strife | F |
The cold world's Argus watching failed to see | E |
The flaw that dimm'd the lustre of their life | F |
Save that he seem'd tyrannical tho' gay | G |
Restless and selfish in his love of sway | G |
III | A |
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The calm of conscious power was not in him | H |
But rather struggling into broader light | I |
The secret sense they feel however dim | H |
Whose chance position gives a sort of right | I |
As from the height of a prescriptive throne | J |
To govern natures nobler than their own | J |
IV | F |
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And as her youth waned slowly on there fell | K |
A nameless shadow on that lady's heart | L |
And those she lov'd the best and she lov'd well | K |
Had of her confidence nor share nor part | L |
Her thoughts lay folded from Life's lessening light | I |
Like the sweet flowers which close themselves at night | I |
V | F |
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And men began to whisper evil things | M |
Against the honour of her wedded mate | N |
That which had pass'd for youth's wild wanderings | M |
Showed more suspicious in his settled state | N |
Until at length he stood at some chance game | O |
Discover'd branded with a Cheater's name | O |
VI | F |
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Out and away he slunk with felon air | P |
Then calling to him one who was his friend | Q |
Bid him to that unblemish'd wife repair | P |
And tell her what had chanced and what the end | Q |
How they must leave the country of their birth | R |
And hide in some more distant spot of earth | R |
VII | F |
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It was a coward's thought he could not bear | P |
Himself to be narrator of his shame | O |
He that had trampled oft now felt in fear | S |
Of her who still must keep his blighted name | O |
And shrank in fancy from that steadfast eye | F |
The window to a soul so pure and high | F |
VIII | F |
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She heard it O'er her brow there pass'd a flush | T |
Of sunset red and then so white a hue | U |
So deadly pale it seem'd as if no blush | T |
Through that transparent cheek should shine anew | U |
As if the blood had frozen in that hour | V |
And her check'd pulse for ever lost its power | V |
IX | M |
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And twice and once did she essay to speak | W |
And with a gesture almost of command | X |
Though in its motion it was deadly weak | W |
She faintly lifted up her graceful hand | X |
But then her soul came back to her strength woke | Y |
And with a low but even voice she spoke | Y |
X | M |
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'Go say to him who dream'd of other chance | M |
That HERE none sit in judgment on his sin | Z |
That to his door the world's scorn may advance | M |
And cloud his path but doth not enter in | Z |
Here dwell his Own to share to soothe disgrace ' | - |
Which having said she cover'd up her face | M |
XI | M |
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And as he left her sank in bitter prayer | P |
If prayer that may be term'd which comes to all | A2 |
That sudden gushing of our vain despair | P |
When none but God can hear or heed our call | A2 |
And the wreck'd soul feels in its helpless hour | V |
Where only dwells full mercy with full power | V |
XII | M |
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And he came home a crush'd and humbled wretch | T |
Whom when she saw she but this comfort found | B2 |
In her kind arms that shrinking form to catch | T |
Which tenderly about his neck she wound | B2 |
As in the first proud days of love and trust | C2 |
E'er yet his reckless head was bow'd in dust | C2 |
XIII | M |
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And they departed to a distant shore | D2 |
But wheresoe'er they dwelt however lone | J |
Shame like a marble statue at his door | D2 |
Flung her 'thwart shadow o'er his threshold stone | J |
Still darken'd all their daylight hours and kept | E2 |
Cold watch above them even while they slept | E2 |
XIV | F |
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And there was no more love between those two | U |
It died not in the shock of that dark hour | V |
Such shocks destroy not love whose purple hue | U |
Fades rather like some autumn wither'd flower | V |
Which day by day along the ruin'd walk | F2 |
We see then miss it from the sapless stalk | F2 |
XV | F |
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And while it fadeth oft with gentle hand | X |
Doth memory turn to life's dark journal book | G2 |
And passing foul misdeeds intently stand | X |
On its first page of glorious hope to look | G2 |
Weeping she reads and seeing all so fair | P |
Pleads hard for what we are by what we were | V |
XVI | F |
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So through that hour love lived and though in part | L |
'Twas one of most unutterable pain | H2 |
It had its sweetness too and told her heart | L |
All she could do and all she could sustain | H2 |
The holy love of woman buoy'd her up | I2 |
And God gave strength to drink the bitter cup | I2 |
XVII | F |
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But when as days crept on she saw him still | J2 |
Less grateful than abash'd beneath her eye | F |
And studying not how best to banish ill | J2 |
But what he might conceal and what deny | F |
Her soul revolted and conceived a scorn | K2 |
Sinful and harsh although of virtue born | K2 |
XVIII | F |
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And oft she pray'd with earnestness and pain | H2 |
That heaven would bid that proud contempt depart | L |
And wept to find the prayer and effort vain | H2 |
Though it was breathed in agony of heart | L |
Vain as the murmur of 'Thy will be done ' | - |
Breathed by the death bed of an only son | L2 |
XIX | M |
- | |
For when her children err'd as children will | J2 |
A sickening terror smote her heart with fears | M |
And scarce she measured the degree of ill | J2 |
Or made indulgence for their tender years | M |
They were HIS children and the chance of shame | O |
Kept watch for those who bore that father's name | O |
XX | M |
- | |
And thinking thus reproof would take a tone | J |
So strangely passionate severe and wild | M2 |
So deeply alter'd so unlike her own | J |
It stung and terrified her startled child | M2 |
Whose innate sense of justice seem'd to show | T |
Him over chidden being chidden so | T |
XXI | T |
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And then a gush of mother's love would swell | K |
Her grieving heart and she would fondly press | T |
The young offending head she loved so well | K |
Close to her own with many a soft caress | T |
Whose reconciling sweetness all in vain | H2 |
Stopp'd her boy's tears while her's ran down like rain | H2 |
XXII | T |
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The world which still pronounces from the show | T |
Of outward things whisper'd and talk'd of this | T |
Erring and obstinate its crowds ne'er know | T |
How much in judging they may judge amiss | T |
Or how much agony and broken peace | T |
May lie beneath the seeming of caprice | T |
XXIII | T |
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But he her husband for he was not dull | N2 |
Saw through these workings of a troubled mind | O2 |
And that her cup of sorrow might be full | P2 |
He taunted her with words and looks unkind | O2 |
Which with a patient bowing of the heart | L |
She took like one resolved to do her part | L |
XXIV | F |
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And years stole on for years go by like days | T |
Leaving but scatter'd hours to mark their course | T |
And brightness faded from that lady's gaze | T |
And her cheek hollow'd and her step lost force | T |
Till it was plain to even a careless eye | F |
That she was doom'd before her time to die | F |
XXV | F |
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She died as she had lived her secret soul | Q2 |
Shut from the sweet communion of true friends | T |
Her words though not her thoughts she could control | Q2 |
And still with calm respect his name she blends | T |
They all stood round her whom she call'd her Own | J |
And saw her die yet was that death bed lone | J |
XXVI | F |
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But in its darkest hour her thoughts were stirr'd | R2 |
And something falter'd from her dying tongue | S2 |
Mournful and tender half pronounced half heard | R2 |
For which he was too base his boys too young | S2 |
So whatso'er the warning faintly given | L2 |
It lay between her parting soul and Heaven | L2 |
XXVII | F |
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He wept for her ah who would not have wept | E2 |
To see that worn face in its pallid shroud | T2 |
Proving how much she suffer'd ere she slept | E2 |
At peace for ever Violent and loud | T2 |
Was the outbreaking of his sudden grief | F |
And like all feelings in that heart 'twas brief | F |
XXVIII | F |
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And something strange pass'd o'er his soul instead | B |
When thinking upon her whom he had lost | U2 |
Almost like a relief that she was dead | B |
She whose high nature scorn'd his fault the most | V2 |
And sh | T |
Caroline Elizabeth Sarah Norton
(1)
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