The Future. Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGHGIJGKLMN OPQRSTUVWMNGXNYZA2B2 C2D2KQYME2G F2B2G2H2I2J2KKK2L2M2 N2GO2C2VGP2JGK2C2Q2V PG GR2R2KKS2R2T2U2R2V2G HW2X2GS2GY2R2KZR2R2G Z2 M2R2R2R2R2KZR2T2GS2A 3B3R2R2C3R2R2R2R2D3G YR2C2G GHV2R2R2S2HJ2M2KGR2E 3R2D3GYF3

I WAS a laughing child and gaily dweltA
Where murmuring brooks and dark blue rivers roll'dB
And shadowy trees outspread their silent armsC
To welcome all the weary to their restD
And there an antique castle rais'd its headE
Where dwelt a fair and fairy girl perchanceF
Two summers she had seen beyond my yearsG
And all she said or did was said and doneH
With such a light and airy sportivenessG
That oft I envied her for I was poorI
And lowly and to me her fate did seemJ
Fraught with a certainty of happinessG
Years past and she was wed against her willK
To one who sought her for the gold she broughtL
And they did vex and wound her gentle spiritM
Till madness took the place of miseryN
-
And oft I heard her low soft gentle songO
Breathing of early times with mournful soundP
Till I could weep to hear and thought how sadQ
The envied future of her life had prov'dR
And then I grew a fond and thoughtful girlS
Loving and deeming I was lov'd againT
But he that won my easy heart full soonU
Turn'd to another she might be more fairV
But could not love him better And I weptW
Day after day till weary grew my spiritM
With fancying how happy she must beN
Whom he had chosen yet she was not soG
For he she wedded loved her for a timeX
And then he changed even as he did to meN
Though something later and he sought anotherY
To please his fancy far away from homeZ
And he was kind oh yes he still was kindA2
It vex'd her more for though she knew his loveB2
Had faded like the primrose after springC2
Yet there was nothing which she might complainD2
Had cause to grieve her he was gentle stillK
She would have given all the store she hadQ
That he would but be angry for an hourY
That she might come and soothe his wounded spiritM
And lay her weeping head upon his bosomE2
And say how freely she forgave her wrongsG
-
But still with calm cold kindness he pursuedF2
Kindness the mockery of departed loveB2
His way and then she died the broken heartedG2
And I thanked heaven who gave me not her lotH2
Though I had wish'd itI2
Again I was a wife a happy wifeJ2
And he I loved was still unchangeableK
And kind and true and loved me from his soulK
But I was childless and my lonely heartK2
Yearned for an image of my heart's belovedL2
A something which should be my 'future' nowM2
That I had so much of my life gone byN2
Something to look to after I should goG
And all except my memory be pastO2
There was a child a little rosy thingC2
With sunny eyes and curled and shining hairV
That used to play among the daisy flowersG
Looking as innocent and fair as theyP2
And sail its little boat upon the streamJ
Gazing with dark blue eyes in the blue watersG
And singing in its merriment of heartK2
All the bright day and when the sun was settingC2
It came unbid to its glad mother's sideQ2
To lisp with holy look its evening prayerV
And kneeling on the green and flowery groundP
At the sweet cottage door he fixed his eyesG
-
For some short moments on her tranquil faceG
As if she was his guiding star to GodR2
And then with young meek innocent brow upraisedR2
Spoke the slow words with lips that longed to smileK
But dared not Oh I loved that child with allK
A mother's fondest love and as he grewS2
More and more beautiful from day to dayR2
The half involuntary sigh I gaveT2
Spoke but too plain the wish that he were mineU2
My child my own And in my solitudeR2
Often I clasped my hands and thought of himV2
And looked with mournful and reproachful gazeG
To heaven which had denied me such a oneH
Years past the child became a rebel boyW2
The boy a wild untamed and passionate youthX2
The youth a man but such a man so fierceG
So wild so headlong and so haughty tooS2
So cruel in avenging any wrongsG
So merciless when he had half avenged themY2
At length his hour had come a deed of bloodR2
Of murder was upon his guilty soulK
He stood in that same spot by his sweet homeZ
The same blue river flowing by his feetR2
Whose stream might never wash his guilt awayR2
The same green hills and mossy sloping banksG
Where the bright sun was smiling as of yoreZ2
-
With pallid cheek and dark and sullen browM2
The beautiful and lost you might have deemedR2
That Satan newly banished stood and gazedR2
On the bright scenery of an infant worldR2
For fallen as he was his Maker's handR2
Had stamped him beauteous and he was so stillK
And his eyes turned from off his early homeZ
With something like a shudder and they lightedR2
On his poor broken hearted mother's graveT2
And there was something in them of old timesG
Ere sin had darkened o'er their tranquil blueS2
In that most mournful look that made me weepA3
'For I had gazed on him with fear and anguishB3
Till now And 'weep for her ' my favourite saidR2
For she was good I murdered her I killedR2
Many that harmed me not ' And still he spokeC3
In a low listless voice and forms came roundR2
Who dragged him from us I remember notR2
What followed then But on another dayR2
There was a crowd collected and a cartR2
Slowly approached to give to shameful deathD3
Its burden and there was a prayer and silenceG
Silence like that of death And then a murmurY
And all was over And I groaned and turnedR2
To where his poor old father had been sittingC2
And there he sate still with his feeble limbsG
-
And palsied head and dim and watery eyesG
Gazing up at the place where was his sonH
And with a shuddering touch I sought to rouse himV2
But could not for the poor old man was deadR2
And then I flung myself upon the groundR2
And mingled salt tears with the evening dewS2
And thanked my God that he was not my sonH
And that I was a childless lonely wifeJ2
To morrow I will tell thee all that nowM2
Remains to tell but I am old and feebleK
And cannot speak for tearsG
She rose and wentR2
But she returned no more The morrow cameE3
But not to her the tale of life was finishedR2
Not by her lips for she had ceased to breathD3
But by this silent warning joined to hersG
How little we may count upon the futureY
Or reckon what that future may bring forthF3

Caroline Elizabeth Sarah Norton



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