The Lady Of La Garaye - Prologue Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABABACDEFG FHHIIJJKLMLMNNOOLL DDPPQRQRSS TTUUVV WBBWWXYZZ XXA2A2B2B2C2D2NN E2F2G2RH2H2I2I2 J2CJ2CA2A2 K2K2XL2XL2H2H2H2H2H2 H2X XM2M2PPN2N2O2H2P2H2P 2NZNZ H2I2H2I2H2XH2XH2H2 K2K2Q2Q2NH2H2NA2A2 R2R2S2S2 T2T2YYI2I2H2H2U2U2XX V2V2H2H2A2A2 XXW2XW2XX2X2Y2Y2H2H2 SSH2H2AZAZ Z2 A3XXBBB3B3SSC3C3ND3N D3 XXH2H2NE3H2H2F3F3Q2G 3BBG3

RUINS A charm is in the wordA
It makes us smile it makes us sighB
'Tis like the note of some spring birdA
Recalling other Springs gone byB
And other wood notes which we heardA
With some sweet face in some green laneC
And never can so hear againD
Ruins They were not desolateE
To us the ruins we rememberF
Early we came and lingered lateG
-
Through bright July or rich SeptemberF
With young companions wild with gleeH
We feasted 'neath some spreading treeH
And looked into their laughing eyesI
And mocked the echo for repliesI
Oh eyes and smiles and days of yoreJ
Can nothing your delight restoreJ
ReturnK
Return In vain we listenL
Those voices have been lost to earthM
Our hearts may throb our eyes may glistenL
They'll call no more in love or mirthM
For like a child sent out to playN
Our youth hath had its holidayN
And silence deepens where we standO
Lone as in some foreign landO
Where our language is not spokenL
And none know our hearts are brokenL
-
Ruins How we loved them thenD
How we loved the haunted glenD
Which grey towers overlookP
Mirrored in the glassy brookP
How we dreamed and how we guessedQ
Looking up with earnest glancesR
Where the black crow built its nestQ
And we built our wild romancesR
Tracing in the crumbled dwellingS
Bygone tales of no one's tellingS
-
This was the Chapel that the stairT
Here where all lies damp and bareT
The fragrant thurible was swungU
The silver lamp in beauty hungU
And in that mass of ivied shadeV
The pale nuns sang the abbot prayedV
-
This was the Kitchen Cold and blankW
The huge hearth yawns and wide and highB
The chimney shows the open skyB
There daylight peeps through many a crankW
Where birds immund find shelter dankW
And when the moonlight shineth throughX
Echoes the wild tu whit tu whooY
Of mournful owls whose languid flightZ
Scarce stirs the silence of the nightZ
-
This is the Courtyard damp and drearX
The men at arms were mustered hereX
Here would the fretted war horse boundA2
Starting to hear the trumpet soundA2
And Captains then of warlike fameB2
Clanked and glittered as they cameB2
Forgotten names forgotten warsC2
Forgotten gallantry and scarsD2
How is your little busy dayN
Perished and crushed and swept awayN
-
Here is the Lady's Chamber whenceE2
With looks of lovely innocenceF2
Some heroine our fancy dressesG2
In golden locks or raven tressesR
And pearl embroidered silks and stuffsH2
And quaintly quilted sleeves and ruffsH2
Looked forth to see retainers goI2
Or trembled at the assaulting foeI2
-
This was the Dungeon deep and darkJ2
Where the starved prisoner moaned in vainC
Until Death left him stiff and starkJ2
Unconscious of the galling chainC
By which the thin bleached bones were boundA2
When chance revealed them under groundA2
-
Oh Time oh ever conquering TimeK2
These men had once their primeK2
But now succeeding generations hearX
Beneath the shadow of each crumbling archL2
The music low and drearX
The muffled music of thy onward marchL2
Made up of piping winds and rustling leavesH2
And plashing rain drops falling from slant eavesH2
And all mysterious unconnected soundsH2
With which the place aboundsH2
Time doth effaceH2
Each day some lingering traceH2
Of human government and human careX
-
The things of airX
And earth usurp the walls to be their ownM2
Creatures that dwell aloneM2
Occupy boldly every mouldering nookP
Wherein we peer and lookP
Seems with wild denizens so swarming rifeN2
We know the healthy stir of human lifeN2
Must be for ever goneO2
The walls where hung the warriors' shining casquesH2
Are green with moss and mouldP2
The blindworm coils where Queens have slept nor asksH2
For shelter from the coldP2
The swallow he is master all the dayN
And the great owl is ruler through the nightZ
The little bat wheels on his circling wayN
With restless flittering flightZ
-
And that small black bat and the creeping thingsH2
At will they come and goI2
And the soft white owl with velvet wingsH2
And a shriek of human woeI2
The brambles let no footstep passH2
By that rent in the broken stairX
Where the pale tufts of the windle strae grassH2
Hang like locks of dry dead hairX
But there the keen wind ever weeps and moansH2
Working a passage through the mouldering stonesH2
-
Oh Time oh conquering TimeK2
I know that wild wind's chimeK2
Which like a passing bellQ2
Or distant knellQ2
Speaks to man's heart of Death and of DecayN
While thy step passes o'er the necks of KingsH2
And over common thingsH2
And into Earth's green orchards making wayN
Halts where the fruits of human hope aboundA2
And shakes their trembling ripeness to the groundA2
-
But hark a sudden shoutR2
Of laughter and a nimble giddy routR2
Who know not yet what saddened hours may meanS2
Come dancing through the sceneS2
-
Ruins Ruins let us roamT2
Through what was a human homeT2
What care weY
How deep its depths of darkness beY
Follow FollowI2
Down the hollowI2
Through the bramble fencing thornsH2
Where the white snail hides her hornsH2
Leap across the dreadful gapU2
To that corner's mossy lapU2
Do and dareX
Clamber up the crumbling stairX
Trip along the narrow wallV2
Where the sudden rattling fallV2
Of loosened stones on winter nightsH2
In his dreams the peasant frightsH2
And push them till their rolling soundA2
Dull and heavy beat the groundA2
-
Now a song high up and clearX
Like a lark's enchants the earX
Or some happy face looks downW2
Looking oh so fresh and fairX
Wearing youth's most glorious crownW2
One rich braid of golden hairX
Or two hearts that wildly beatX2
And two pair of eager feetX2
Linger in the turret's bendY2
As they side by side ascendY2
For the momentary blissH2
Of a lover's stolen kissH2
And emerge into the shiningS
Of that summer day's decliningS
Disengaging clasping handsH2
As they meet their comrade bandsH2
With the smile that lately hoveredA
Making lips and eyes so brightZ
And the blush which darkness coveredA
Mantling still in rosy lightZ
-
Ruins Oh ye have your charmZ2
-
Death is cold but life is warmA3
And the fervent days we knewX
Ere our hopes grew faint and fewX
Claim even now a happy sighB
Thinking of those hours gone byB
Of the wooing long since passedB3
Of the love that still shall lastB3
Of the wooing and the winningS
Brightest end to bright beginningS
When the feet we sought to guideC3
Tripped so lightly by our sideC3
That as swift they made their wayN
Through the path and tangled brakeD3
Safely we could swear and sayN
We loved all ruins for their sakeD3
-
Gentle hearts one ruin moreX
From amongst so many scoreX
One from out a host of namesH2
To your notice puts forth claimsH2
Come with me make holidayN
In the woods of La GarayeE3
Sit within those tangled bowersH2
Where fleet by the silent hoursH2
Only broken by a songF3
From the chirping woodland throngF3
Listen to the tale I tellQ2
Grave the story is not sadG3
And the peasant plodding byB
Greets the place with kindly eyeB
For the inmates that it hadG3

Caroline Elizabeth Sarah Norton



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