The Passion Play Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCDEAFGHIEJHKLEMBCEE A BNBBOBPQPEBRBPQASTEE P A UVUEUBEUWUEBBUAABBXU UYXEBEBBBZUBUBA2UEB2 ZEEEBYBEBBI | A |
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Where falls the shadow of the Kofel cross | B |
Athwart the Alpine snows the rose of faith | C |
Is blooming still in consecrated hearts | D |
And holy men another cross have hewn | E |
Whereon the symboled Christ again shall die | A |
To cleanse the world of sin Within the vale | F |
Where flows the Ammer like a trail of tears | G |
Upon the Holy Mother's face I see | H |
The men and women faithful to their vows | I |
Breathing the passion of Gethsemane | E |
I see the Saviour in Jerusalem | J |
I see the godless traders scourged I see | H |
Their wares strewn on the temple floor their doves | K |
Set free to wander on the roving winds | L |
I see Iscariot kiss the Nazarene | E |
I see the hate of Herod and I hear | M |
The multitude half sob half wail The Cross | B |
Then up the Way of Tears to Golgotha | C |
Crowned with the thorn and then last bitter scene | E |
The mortal death of God's immortal Son | E |
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II | A |
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The eagle wheels around the Kofel crags | B |
The chamois leaps the tumbling glacier stream | N |
The sunbeams dance upon the glistening snows | B |
Like pixies and the wooded mountain slopes | B |
Thrill with the notes of songbirds hymns of joy | O |
Break from the forests and the smiling plains | B |
And where the Ammer winds its silvery way | P |
The wild swan ever follows like a prayer | Q |
Who of God's creatures then has lost his way | P |
'Tis not the chamois eagle or the swan | E |
'Tis not the mountain torrent or the birds | B |
That twitter all day long within the wood | R |
'Tis not the Ammer flowing to the sea | B |
Who of God's creatures then has lost his way | P |
Let us go in the Coliseum where | Q |
The fresh hewn cross is lifted to the sky | A |
Let us gaze on the reverential throng | S |
That marks Christ's passion in a silent awe | T |
And think a moment on the world of Man | E |
Man made in God's own image yet the one | E |
Of all God's creatures who has lost his way | P |
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III | A |
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When on the brooding darkness of the void | U |
Wherein the world swung like a tiny star | V |
Death hovered with his sable wings outspread | U |
And Hell yawned far below God gave to man | E |
His promise of redemption through the blood | U |
That dripped from pierced hands high on Calvary | B |
The mortal death of God's immortal Son | E |
The centuries have crumbled into dust | U |
Cities have risen on the shores of Time | W |
Then passed away like footprints in the sand | U |
Empires have vanished kings have laid them down | E |
In silence but the word of Him remains | B |
Who cried in agony upon the tree | B |
Forgive them for they know not what they do | U |
Once more the fresh hewn cross lifts to the sky | A |
In consecrated Oberammergau | A |
Once more I see the Christ in humble guise | B |
Teaching the multitudes and hear his voice | B |
In supplication and in parable | X |
Proclaim his mission to a sinful world | U |
Ah could the world but gaze upon that Christ | U |
With heart attuned unto the symboled love | Y |
That makes his face a radiant miracle | X |
The world hath need of thy great lesson now | E |
The money changers throng the Temple gates | B |
The kiss of Judas burns from lips to brow | E |
The hate of Herod rankles in the hearts | B |
Of scorners and the poisoned crown of thorns | B |
Which Greed has woven for humanity | B |
Bites like the chaplet that the Saviour wore | Z |
The day that He was crowned and crucified | U |
Methinks I see around the shining cross | B |
Phantoms that shudder when the name of Christ | U |
Is whispered by the multitude I see | B |
Grim Avarice with shriveled fingers clutch | A2 |
A golden bauble shrinking by his side | U |
Oppression stands and hugs a clanking chain | E |
While deeper in the gloom with eyes aglow | B2 |
And matted hair still dripping red with gore | Z |
Sits War her trembling hand enclasped within | E |
The spectral hand of Death O Christus thou | E |
To whom it has been given once again | E |
To symbolize the passion of the cross | B |
Approach thy task with heart inspired by love | Y |
And when the Saviour's words fall from thy lips | B |
Be thine the Saviour's exaltation when | E |
He told the dying thief upon the cross | B |
That he should be with Him in Paradise | B |
Charles Hamilton Musgrove
(1)
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