By The Waters Of Babylon Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: A BCBCDCDEDFGEGHGIJIJK JKLKLMLMMMMNMNONOPOP QPQRQSQRQTQTMTMUMUTU TVTVTWTXTXTXTYTYTYTT TTMTMTMT

B CA
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-
Here where I dwell I waste to skin and boneB
The curse is come upon me and I wasteC
In penal torment powerless to atoneB
The curse is come on me which makes no hasteC
And doth not tarry crushing both the proudD
Hard man and him the sinner double facedC
Look not upon me for my soul is bowedD
Within me as my body in this mireE
My soul crawls dumb struck sore bestead and cowedD
As Sodom and Gomorrah scourged by fireF
As Jericho before God's trumpet pealG
So we the elect ones perish in His ireE
Vainly we gird on sackcloth vainly kneelG
With famished faces toward JerusalemH
His heart is shut against us not to feelG
His ears against our cry He shutteth themI
His hand He shorteneth that He will not saveJ
His law is loud against us to condemnI
And we as unclean bodies in the graveJ
Inheriting corruption and the darkK
Are outcast from His presence which we craveJ
Our Mercy hath departed from His ArkK
Our Glory hath departed from His restL
Our Shield hath left us naked as a markK
Unto all pitiless eyes made manifestL
Our very Father hath forsaken usM
Our God hath cast us from Him we oppress'dL
Unto our foes are even marvellousM
A hissing and a butt for pointing handsM
Whilst God Almighty hunts and grinds us thusM
For He hath scattered us in alien landsM
Our priests our princes our anointed kingN
And bound us hand and foot with brazen bandsM
Here while I sit my painful heart takes wingN
Home to the home land I may see no moreO
Where milk and honey flow where waters springN
And fail not where I dwelt in days of yoreO
Under my fig tree and my fruitful vineP
There where my parents dwelt at ease beforeO
Now strangers press the olives that are mineP
Reap all the corners of my harvest fieldQ
And make their fat hearts wanton with my wineP
To them my trees to them my gardens yieldQ
Their sweets and spices and their tender greenR
O'er them in noontide heat outspread their shieldQ
Yet these are they whose fathers had not beenS
Housed with my dogs whom hip and thigh we smoteQ
And with their blood washed their pollutions cleanR
Purging the land which spewed them from its throatQ
Their daughters took we for a pleasant preyT
Choice tender ones on whom the fathers doteQ
Now they in turn have led our own awayT
Our daughters and our sisters and our wivesM
Sore weeping as they weep who curse the dayT
To live remote from help dishonoured livesM
Soothing their drunken masters with a songU
Or dancing in their golden tinkling gyvesM
Accurst if they remember through the longU
Estrangement of their exile twice accursedT
If they forget and join the accursed throngU
How doth my heart that is so wrung not burstT
When I remember that my way was plainV
And that God's candle lit me at the firstT
Whilst now I grope in darkness grope in vainV
Desiring but to find Him Who is lostT
To find him once again but once againW
His wrath came on us to the uttermostT
His covenanted and most righteous wrathX
Yet this is He of Whom we made our boastT
Who lit the Fiery Pillar in our pathX
Who swept the Red Sea dry before our feetT
Who in His jealousy smote kings and hathX
Sworn once to David One shall fill thy seatT
Born of thy body as the sun and moonY
'Stablished for aye in sovereignty completeT
O Lord remember David and that soonY
The Glory hath departed IchabodT
Yet now before our sun grow dark at noonY
Before we come to nought beneath Thy rodT
Before we go down quick into the pitT
Remember us for good O God our GodT
Thy Name will I remember praising itT
Though Thou forget me though Thou hide Thy faceM
And blot me from the Book which Thou hast writT
Thy Name will I remember in my praiseM
And call to mind Thy faithfulness of oldT
Though as a weaver Thou cut off my daysM
And end me as a tale ends that is toldT

Christina Rossetti



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