The Future. Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGHGIJGKLMN OPQRSTUVWMNGXNYZA2B2 C2D2KQYME2G F2B2G2H2I2J2KKK2L2M2 N2GO2C2VGP2JGK2C2Q2V PG GR2R2KKS2R2T2U2R2V2G HW2X2GS2GY2R2KZR2R2G Z2 M2R2R2R2R2KZR2T2GS2A 3B3R2R2C3R2R2R2R2D3G YR2C2G GHV2R2R2S2HJ2M2KGR2E 3R2D3GYF3I WAS a laughing child and gaily dwelt | A |
Where murmuring brooks and dark blue rivers roll'd | B |
And shadowy trees outspread their silent arms | C |
To welcome all the weary to their rest | D |
And there an antique castle rais'd its head | E |
Where dwelt a fair and fairy girl perchance | F |
Two summers she had seen beyond my years | G |
And all she said or did was said and done | H |
With such a light and airy sportiveness | G |
That oft I envied her for I was poor | I |
And lowly and to me her fate did seem | J |
Fraught with a certainty of happiness | G |
Years past and she was wed against her will | K |
To one who sought her for the gold she brought | L |
And they did vex and wound her gentle spirit | M |
Till madness took the place of misery | N |
- | |
And oft I heard her low soft gentle song | O |
Breathing of early times with mournful sound | P |
Till I could weep to hear and thought how sad | Q |
The envied future of her life had prov'd | R |
And then I grew a fond and thoughtful girl | S |
Loving and deeming I was lov'd again | T |
But he that won my easy heart full soon | U |
Turn'd to another she might be more fair | V |
But could not love him better And I wept | W |
Day after day till weary grew my spirit | M |
With fancying how happy she must be | N |
Whom he had chosen yet she was not so | G |
For he she wedded loved her for a time | X |
And then he changed even as he did to me | N |
Though something later and he sought another | Y |
To please his fancy far away from home | Z |
And he was kind oh yes he still was kind | A2 |
It vex'd her more for though she knew his love | B2 |
Had faded like the primrose after spring | C2 |
Yet there was nothing which she might complain | D2 |
Had cause to grieve her he was gentle still | K |
She would have given all the store she had | Q |
That he would but be angry for an hour | Y |
That she might come and soothe his wounded spirit | M |
And lay her weeping head upon his bosom | E2 |
And say how freely she forgave her wrongs | G |
- | |
But still with calm cold kindness he pursued | F2 |
Kindness the mockery of departed love | B2 |
His way and then she died the broken hearted | G2 |
And I thanked heaven who gave me not her lot | H2 |
Though I had wish'd it | I2 |
Again I was a wife a happy wife | J2 |
And he I loved was still unchangeable | K |
And kind and true and loved me from his soul | K |
But I was childless and my lonely heart | K2 |
Yearned for an image of my heart's beloved | L2 |
A something which should be my 'future' now | M2 |
That I had so much of my life gone by | N2 |
Something to look to after I should go | G |
And all except my memory be past | O2 |
There was a child a little rosy thing | C2 |
With sunny eyes and curled and shining hair | V |
That used to play among the daisy flowers | G |
Looking as innocent and fair as they | P2 |
And sail its little boat upon the stream | J |
Gazing with dark blue eyes in the blue waters | G |
And singing in its merriment of heart | K2 |
All the bright day and when the sun was setting | C2 |
It came unbid to its glad mother's side | Q2 |
To lisp with holy look its evening prayer | V |
And kneeling on the green and flowery ground | P |
At the sweet cottage door he fixed his eyes | G |
- | |
For some short moments on her tranquil face | G |
As if she was his guiding star to God | R2 |
And then with young meek innocent brow upraised | R2 |
Spoke the slow words with lips that longed to smile | K |
But dared not Oh I loved that child with all | K |
A mother's fondest love and as he grew | S2 |
More and more beautiful from day to day | R2 |
The half involuntary sigh I gave | T2 |
Spoke but too plain the wish that he were mine | U2 |
My child my own And in my solitude | R2 |
Often I clasped my hands and thought of him | V2 |
And looked with mournful and reproachful gaze | G |
To heaven which had denied me such a one | H |
Years past the child became a rebel boy | W2 |
The boy a wild untamed and passionate youth | X2 |
The youth a man but such a man so fierce | G |
So wild so headlong and so haughty too | S2 |
So cruel in avenging any wrongs | G |
So merciless when he had half avenged them | Y2 |
At length his hour had come a deed of blood | R2 |
Of murder was upon his guilty soul | K |
He stood in that same spot by his sweet home | Z |
The same blue river flowing by his feet | R2 |
Whose stream might never wash his guilt away | R2 |
The same green hills and mossy sloping banks | G |
Where the bright sun was smiling as of yore | Z2 |
- | |
With pallid cheek and dark and sullen brow | M2 |
The beautiful and lost you might have deemed | R2 |
That Satan newly banished stood and gazed | R2 |
On the bright scenery of an infant world | R2 |
For fallen as he was his Maker's hand | R2 |
Had stamped him beauteous and he was so still | K |
And his eyes turned from off his early home | Z |
With something like a shudder and they lighted | R2 |
On his poor broken hearted mother's grave | T2 |
And there was something in them of old times | G |
Ere sin had darkened o'er their tranquil blue | S2 |
In that most mournful look that made me weep | A3 |
'For I had gazed on him with fear and anguish | B3 |
Till now And 'weep for her ' my favourite said | R2 |
For she was good I murdered her I killed | R2 |
Many that harmed me not ' And still he spoke | C3 |
In a low listless voice and forms came round | R2 |
Who dragged him from us I remember not | R2 |
What followed then But on another day | R2 |
There was a crowd collected and a cart | R2 |
Slowly approached to give to shameful death | D3 |
Its burden and there was a prayer and silence | G |
Silence like that of death And then a murmur | Y |
And all was over And I groaned and turned | R2 |
To where his poor old father had been sitting | C2 |
And there he sate still with his feeble limbs | G |
- | |
And palsied head and dim and watery eyes | G |
Gazing up at the place where was his son | H |
And with a shuddering touch I sought to rouse him | V2 |
But could not for the poor old man was dead | R2 |
And then I flung myself upon the ground | R2 |
And mingled salt tears with the evening dew | S2 |
And thanked my God that he was not my son | H |
And that I was a childless lonely wife | J2 |
To morrow I will tell thee all that now | M2 |
Remains to tell but I am old and feeble | K |
And cannot speak for tears | G |
She rose and went | R2 |
But she returned no more The morrow came | E3 |
But not to her the tale of life was finished | R2 |
Not by her lips for she had ceased to breath | D3 |
But by this silent warning joined to hers | G |
How little we may count upon the future | Y |
Or reckon what that future may bring forth | F3 |
Caroline Elizabeth Sarah Norton
(1)
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