Imagination Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABABCDBDD EAEAAFAFF GHGHHIHII CJCJJHJHH KLKLLMLMM LNLNNONOO PLPLLBLBC QOOOQOBC LLLLLRLRR STSTULTLLVLWL LLLLL LLLLLLLLL

Imagination to thine occult sightA
All things are crystal earth and sea and skyB
The seen and the unseen but limpid lightA
Unvisioned stars shall not thy wings defyB
For thee the Future hath no secrecyC
Not with the senses dost thou share the chainsD
Of Time and Space's prison thou dost flyB
At will the narrow bourne of their domainsD
For realms where never bruit of Time and Space attainsD
-
All earth is empire of thy tireless questE
Thy wings achieve the cloud invested heightA
Or down the distant sunset flooded WestE
Thou vanishest in long unerring flightA
That far outspeeds the swarthy plumes of NightA
Thou findest rest a space on sunset sandsF
But soon a star with Westward sinking lightA
Doth speak of more remote untrodden strandsF
And forth thou farest toward those undiscovered landsF
-
No realm nor place is secret from thy gazeG
The kingdoms of the bird and fish are thineH
Thy pinions try the eagle's lucid waysG
Then sink to search the foaming vasts of brineH
Thou soar'st to meet the morning's lucent shineH
Where Night and Day beneath thy feet are spreadI
In long insuperable battle lineH
Then in a breath thou front'st the sunset's redI
Or seekest midnight's realm of mystery and dreadI
-
The ocean yields its secrets unto theeC
Far down beneath the agitated waveJ
Where winds stir not the anger of the seaC
Thou plungest to some Nereid's emerald caveJ
Whose floors the varied shells of ocean paveJ
Here wealth of pearls and strange sea flowers is thineH
But soon aweary grown thy soul doth craveJ
The noontide air and where the breakers shineH
Thou soar'st to watch their furious cliff assailing lineH
-
And then thou questest dusks obscure and strangeK
Perpetual twilights in some jungle's heartL
Where darkness comes a scarcely noted changeK
Here trees inweave as if with conscious artL
O'er pools that of the gloom appear a partL
Nor know the silver kiss of star or moonM
And birds strange plumaged unauthentic dartL
Through shadows that affirm and then impugnM
And leaves and flowers unfamiliar to the noonM
-
Now o'er a Winter land thou hoverestL
Its sunlit snow to mark on transient wingN
To trees in glittering icy armour dressedL
Mild Southern winds bear bruit of coming SpringN
And seek to rouse with amorous whisperingN
The white robed grass the clouds austere and greyO
That late were earth's dark vaulted coveringN
In ranks disordered dim now flee awayO
And skies of azure threaten Winter's waning swayO
-
Thy pinions find a desert drear forlornP
Where purple Night fills all the fruitless landL
Deepest a little ere the East of mornP
Grows ominous Her all deleting handL
Seems promise that her reign awhile shall standL
When Day with baleful Cyclopean eyeB
Upleaps in flame and of his sway the sandL
Grows ostent swift In gardens of the skyB
At his fell breath the stars are withered utterlyC
-
Of other worlds thy wings ambitious areQ
O'er airless gulfs that yawn past reach of DayO
Unfathomed voids of space 'twixt star and star Unhesitatingly thou dost essayO
Some world exclusive from the sun's wide swayO
Strange forms of life thine eyes thereon descryQ
New unfamiliar that yet tread a wayO
Which dim and difficult like ours doth lieB
Through dark and pain toward goals that gleam in unityC
-
The outer barriers of our system pastL
Thou stayst thy flight to mark in awe and dreadL
Some world that ruins down the darkling vastL
Or suns and asteroids that hurtling redL
To cataclysmic vortices are fedL
And equallized in ruin Then in gloomR
Of planets derelict long ages deadL
That whirl where never suns nor stars illumeR
Thou 'light'st a space to muse upon their frozen doomR
-
Thy magic spells recall the Past to lifeS
Before thine eyes the pageant of the yearsT
Doth move with its reanimated strifeS
Its record of forgotten hopes and fearsT
Dead loves and hates and buried joys and tearsU
Long fallen to thy voice obedientL
Arise and live again unto thine earsT
Voices for ages still are eloquentL
And thou beholdest forms long years in darkness pentL
Once more the might of Rome and BabylonV
Lies as a shadow over East and WestL
Again Greece sheds a glory as of dawnW
Whose lambent splendour all the years attestL
-
Once more in empire's tidal quick unrestL
Egypt and Tyre and Persia rise in stateL
And Alexander's world lust is addressedL
Unto their humbling thrones and nations greatL
Again are raised or levelled as the Fates dictateL
-
'Mong peoples and through realms restored to lightL
At will thou wanderest Thou dost beholdL
Swart Egypt's gods enthroned in templed mightL
Along the Nile and 'fore thine eyes unfoldL
Their vanished pomps with glare of gems and goldL
Thou look'st on Rome when at its utmost heightL
Her grandeur dazzled earth the wars of oldL
Upflame and rage anew within thy sightL
With sanguine pageant of advance retreat and fightL

Clark Ashton Smith



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