The House Of Dust: Part 03: 07: Porcelain Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCBDEB FGAGHI CCJBBAKBBBJBAALABBMA ANBOEACCGCEC ACAFCCPCQHRSTAUAEMAA EVGCE AKGWXYHGAGTE CZA2CEAE| You see that porcelain ranged there in the window mdash | A |
| Platters and soup plates done with pale pink rosebuds | B |
| And tiny violets and wreaths of ivy | C |
| See how the pattern clings to the gleaming edges | B |
| They're works of art mdash minutely seen and felt | D |
| Each petal done devoutly Is it failure | E |
| To spend your blood like this | B |
| - | |
| Study them you will see there in the porcelain | F |
| If you stare hard enough a sort of swimming | G |
| Of lights and shadows ghosts within a crystal mdash | A |
| My brain unfolding There you'll see me sitting | G |
| Day after day close to a certain window | H |
| Looking down sometimes to see the people | I |
| - | |
| Sometimes my wife comes there to speak to me | C |
| Sometimes the grey cat waves his tail around me | C |
| Goldfish swim in a bowl glisten in sunlight | J |
| Dilate to a gorgeous size blow delicate bubbles | B |
| Drowse among dark green weeds On rainy days | B |
| You'll see a gas light shedding light behind me mdash | A |
| An eye shade round my forehead There I sit | K |
| Twirling the tiny brushes in my paint cups | B |
| Painting the pale pink rosebuds minute violets | B |
| Exquisite wreaths of dark green ivy leaves | B |
| On this leaf goes a dream I dreamed last night | J |
| Of two soft patterned toads mdash I thought them stones | B |
| Until they hopped And then a great black spider mdash | A |
| Tarantula perhaps a hideous thing mdash | A |
| It crossed the room in one tremendous leap | L |
| Here mdash as I coil the stems between two leaves mdash | A |
| It is as if dwindling to atomy size | B |
| I cried the secret between two universes | B |
| A friend of mine took hasheesh once and said | M |
| Just as he fell asleep he had a dream mdash | A |
| Though with his eyes wide open mdash | A |
| And felt or saw or knew himself a part | N |
| Of marvelous slowly wreathing intricate patterns | B |
| Plane upon plane depth upon coiling depth | O |
| Amazing leaves folding one on another | E |
| Voluted grasses twists and curves and spirals mdash | A |
| All of it darkly moving as for me | C |
| I need no hasheesh for it mdash it's too easy | C |
| Soon as I shut my eyes I set out walking | G |
| In a monstrous jungle of monstrous pale pink roseleaves | C |
| Violets purple as death dripping with water | E |
| And ivy leaves as big as clouds above me | C |
| - | |
| Here in a simple pattern of separate violets mdash | A |
| With scalloped edges gilded mdash here you have me | C |
| Thinking of something else My wife you know mdash | A |
| There's something lacking mdash force or will or passion | F |
| I don't know what it is mdash and so sometimes | C |
| When I am tired or haven't slept three nights | C |
| Or it is cloudy with low threat of rain | P |
| I get uneasy mdash just like poplar trees | C |
| Ruffling their leaves mdash and I begin to think | Q |
| Of poor Pauline so many years ago | H |
| And that delicious night Where is she now | R |
| I meant to write mdash but she has moved by this time | S |
| And then besides she might find out I'm married | T |
| Well there is more mdash I'm getting old and timid mdash | A |
| The years have gnawed my will I've lost my nerve | U |
| I never strike out boldly as I used to mdash | A |
| But sit here painting violets and remember | E |
| That thrilling night Photographers she said | M |
| Asked her to pose for them her eyes and forehead mdash | A |
| Dark brown eyes and a smooth and pallid forehead mdash | A |
| Were thought so beautiful mdash And so they were | E |
| Pauline These violets are like words remembered | V |
| Darling she whispered Darling Darling Darling | G |
| Well I suppose such days can come but once | C |
| Lord how happy we were | E |
| - | |
| Here if you only knew it is a story mdash | A |
| Here in these leaves I stopped my work to tell it | K |
| And then when I had finished went on thinking | G |
| A man I saw on a train I was still a boy | W |
| Who killed himself by diving against a wall | X |
| Here is a recollection of my wife | Y |
| When she was still my sweetheart years ago | H |
| It's funny how things change mdash just change by growing | G |
| Without an effort And here are trivial things mdash | A |
| A chill an errand forgotten a cut while shaving | G |
| A friend of mine who tells me he is married | T |
| Or is that last so trivial Well no matter | E |
| - | |
| This is the sort of thing you'll see of me | C |
| If you look hard enough This in its way | Z |
| Is a kind of fame My life arranged before you | A2 |
| In scrolls of leaves rosebuds violets ivy | C |
| Clustered or wreathed on plate and cup and platter | E |
| Sometimes I say I'm just like John the Baptist mdash | A |
| You have my head before you on a platter | E |
Conrad Potter Aiken
(1)
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About The House Of Dust: Part 03: 07: Porcelain
The House Of Dust: Part 03: 07: Porcelain is a poem by Conrad Potter Aiken. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
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