From: Time In The Rock Poem Rhyme Scheme

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XXIV	A
If one voice not another must speak first	B
out of the silence the stillness the preceding	C
speaking clearly speaking slowly measuring calmly	D
the heavy syllables of doubt or of despair	E
speaking passionately speaking bitterly hunger or hope	F
ordering the words that are like sounds of flame	G
if one speaks first before that other or the third	H
out of the silence bringing the dark message	I
the grave and great acceptance of the rock	J
the huge world held in the huge hand of faith	K
	-
	-
and if it says I hold the world like this	L
here in the light amid these crumbling walls	M
here in the half light the deceptive moment	N
here in the darkness like a candle lifted	O
take it relieve me of it bear it away	P
have it now and forever for your own	Q
this that was mine this that my voice made mine	R
this that my word has shaped for you	S
	-
	-
if this voice speaks before us speaks before	T
ourselves can speak challenging thus the dark	U
waking the sleeping watcher from his sleep	V
altering the dreamer s dream while still he dreams	W
so that on waking ah what despair he knows	X
to learn that while he slept the world was made	Y
made by that voice and himself made no less	Z
and now inalterably curved forever	A2
	-
yes if to wake to cease to dream be this	L
to face a self made ready while we slept	B2
shaped in the world s shape by the single voice	C2
if thus we wake too late and find ourselves	D2
already weeping already upon the road	E2
that climbs past shame and pain to crucifixion	F2
seeing at once with eyes just opened the world	G2
vast bright and cruciform on which so soon	H2
ascending we must die	I2
and to look backward	H
but know no turning back to go forward	H
even as we turn our faces to the past	J2
still gazing downward from the hill we climb	K2
searching the dark for that strange dream we had	L2
which the voice altered and broke	M2
ah can it comfort us	N2
us helpless us thus shaped by a word	H
sleepwalking shadows in the voice shaped world	G2
ah can it comfort us that we ourselves	D2
will bear the word with us we too we too	S
to speak again again again again	O2
ourselves the voice for those not yet awakened	P2
altering the dreams of those who dream and shaping	C
while still they sleep their inescapable pain	Q2
	-
LX	D2
The chairback will cast a shadow on the white wall	R2
you can observe its shape the square of paper	A2
will receive and record the impulse of the pencil	S2
and keep it too till time rubs it out	T2
the seed will arrange as suits it the shape of the earth	U2
to right or left thrusting and the old clock	J
goes fast or slow as it rusts or is oiled	V2
These things or others for your consideration	F2
these changes or others these records	D2
or others less permanent Come if you will	W2
to the sea s edge the beach of hard sand	X2
notice how the wave designs itself in quick bubbles	D2
the wave s ghost etched in bubbles and then gone	Y2
froth of a suggestion and then gone	Y2
Notice too the path of the wind in a field of wheat	Z2
the motion indicated Notice in a mirror	A2
how the lips smile so little and for so little while	A3
Notice how little and how seldom you notice	D2
the movement of the eyes in your own face reflection	F2
of a moment s reflection What were you thinking	C
to deliver to the glass this instant of change what margin	F2
belonged only to the expectation of echo	B3
and was calculated perhaps to that end what was left	C3
essential or immortal	S2
	-
Your hand too	S
gloved perhaps encased but none the less	D2
already bone already a skeleton	F2
sharp as a fingerpost that points to time	K2
what record does it leave and where what paper	A2
does it inscribe with an immortal message	I
where and with what permanence does it say I	I2
Perhaps giving itself to the lover s hand	X2
or in a farewell or in a blow	B3
or in a theft which will pay interest	D3
Perhaps in your own pocket jingling coins	D2
or against a woman s breast Perhaps holding	C
the pencil dictated by another s thought	E3
	-
These things do not perplex these things are simple	S2
but what of the heart that wishes to survive change	F3
and cannot its love lost in confusions and dismay	P
what of the thought dispersed in its own algebras	D2
hypothesis proved fallacy what of the will	W2
which finds its aim unworthy Are these too simple	S2
	-
LXVII	A
Walk man on the stage of your own imagining	C
peel an orange or dust your shoe take from your pocket	G3
the soiled handkerchief and blow your nose	D2
as if it were indeed necessary to be natural	S2
and speak too if an idea should recommend itself	A
speak to the large bright imaginary audience	D2
that flattering multiplication of yourself	A
so handsomely deployed and so expectant	N
tell them between flingings of orange peel	H3
or such other necessary details of your r le	I3
precisely what they are or what you are	J3
since lamentably they are so much the same thing	C
Decrepit inheritor of the initial star	J3
do you yourself sometimes imagine	F2
or even perhaps say to that peculiar audience	D2
something of this as that yourself and they	P
comprise one statement supercilious	D2
the actor may be often is to those who hear him	K3
but to be supercilious to one s self	A
even in one s dramatic moments marvellous	D2
decay of what in God s first declaration	F2
might have been good	L3

Conrad Potter Aiken

From: Time In The Rock Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

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