From: Preludes For Memnon Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A ABCBBBDB EFGFAHAH IAAAAAAA CJAJAKCK AAAAALAL MNANONAN PQRQSQTQ UVFVAVWV AXHX A AHY AKZ BTA ASALXII | A |
- | |
I read the primrose and the sea | A |
and remember nothing | B |
I read Arcturus and the snow | C |
and remember nothing | B |
I read the green and white book of spring | B |
and remember nothing | B |
I read the hatred in a man s eye | D |
Lord I remember nothing | B |
- | |
Scorn spat at me and spoke | E |
I remember it not | F |
The river was frozen round the ship | G |
I remember it not | F |
I found a secret message in a blade of grass | A |
and it is forgotten | H |
I called my lovers by their sweet names | A |
they are all forgotten | H |
- | |
Where are my lovers now | I |
buried in me | A |
The blades of grass the ships the scorners | A |
here in me | A |
The haters in the spring snow and Arcturus | A |
here in me | A |
The primrose and the sea | A |
here in me | A |
- | |
I know what humans know | C |
no less no more | J |
I know how the summer breaks | A |
on Neptune s shore | J |
I know how winter freezes | A |
the Milky Way | K |
My heart s home is in Limbo | C |
and there I stay | K |
- | |
Praise Limbo heart and praise | A |
forgetfulness | A |
We know what the tiger knows | A |
no more no less | A |
We know what the primrose thinks | A |
and think it too | L |
We walk when the snail walks | A |
across the dew | L |
- | |
I was a rash man in my time | M |
but now I am still | N |
I spoke with god s voice once | A |
now I am still | N |
Evil made my right hand strong | O |
which now is still | N |
Wisdom gave me pride once | A |
but it is still | N |
- | |
Lie down poor heart at last | P |
and have your rest | Q |
Remember to forget | R |
and have your rest | Q |
Think of yourself as once you were | S |
at your best | Q |
And then lie down alone | T |
and have your rest | Q |
- | |
These things are as time weaves them | U |
on his loom | V |
Forgot forgetting we survive not | F |
mortal bloom | V |
Let us give thanks to space | A |
for a little room | V |
Space is our face and time our death | W |
two poles of doom | V |
- | |
Come dance around the compass | A |
pointing north | X |
Before face downward frozen | H |
we go forth | X |
- | |
LXIII | A |
- | |
Thus systole addressed diastole | A |
The heart contracting with its grief of burden | H |
To the lax heart with grief of burden gone | Y |
- | |
Thus star to dead leaf speaks thus cliff to sea | A |
And thus the spider on a summer s day | K |
To the bright thistledown trapped in the web | Z |
- | |
No language leaps this chasm like a lightning | B |
Here is no message of assuagement blown | T |
From Ecuador to Greenland here is only | A |
- | |
A trumpet blast that calls dead men to arms | A |
The granite s pity for the cloud the whisper | S |
Of time to space | A |
Conrad Potter Aiken
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