The House Of Dust: Part 03: 11: Conversation: Undertones Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCAA AADAD EAAA FGAAA AGHFH GG AAI AJ KLAAAAMM GAAAAANNIGJJAAAAGO PQPAP| What shall we talk of Li Po Hokusai | A |
| You narrow your long dark eyes to fascinate me | B |
| You smile a little Outside the night goes by | C |
| I walk alone in a forest of ghostly trees | A |
| Your pale hands rest palm downwards on your knees | A |
| - | |
| 'These lines mdash converging they suggest such distance | A |
| The soul is drawn away beyond horizons | A |
| Lured out to what One dares not think | D |
| Sometimes I glimpse these infinite perspectives | A |
| In intimate talk with such as you and shrink | D |
| - | |
| 'One feels so petty mdash One feels such mdash emptiness mdash ' | - |
| You mimic horror let fall your lifted hand | E |
| And smile at me with brooding tenderness | A |
| Alone on darkened waters I fall and rise | A |
| Slow waves above me break faint waves of cries | A |
| - | |
| 'And then these colors but who would dare describe them | F |
| This faint rose coral pink this green mdash pistachio mdash | G |
| So insubstantial Like the dim ghostly things | A |
| Two lovers find in love's still twilight chambers | A |
| Old peacock fans and fragrant silks and rings | A |
| - | |
| 'Rings let us say drawn from the hapless fingers | A |
| Of some great lady many centuries nameless mdash | G |
| Or is that too sepulchral mdash dulled with dust | H |
| And necklaces that crumble if you touch them | F |
| And gold brocades that breathed on fall to rust | H |
| - | |
| 'No mdash I am wrong it is not these I sought for mdash | G |
| Why did they come to mind You understand me mdash | G |
| You know these strange vagaries of the brain mdash ' | - |
| mdash I walk alone in a forest of ghostly trees | A |
| Your pale hands rest palm downwards on your knees | A |
| These strange vagaries of yours are all too plain | I |
| - | |
| 'But why perplex ourselves with tedious problems | A |
| Of art or such things while we sit here living | J |
| With all that's in our secret hearts to say mdash ' | - |
| Hearts mdash Your pale hand softly strokes the satin | K |
| You play deep music mdash know well what you play | L |
| You stroke the satin with thrilling of finger tips | A |
| You smile with faintly perfumed lips | A |
| You loose your thoughts like birds | A |
| Brushing our dreams with soft and shadowy words | A |
| We know your words are foolish yet sit here bound | M |
| In tremulous webs of sound | M |
| - | |
| 'How beautiful is intimate talk like this mdash | G |
| It is as if we dissolved grey walls between us | A |
| Stepped through the solid portals become but shadows | A |
| To hear a hidden music Our own vast shadows | A |
| Lean to a giant size on the windy walls | A |
| Or dwindle away we hear our soft footfalls | A |
| Echo forever behind us ghostly clear | N |
| Music sings far off flows suddenly near | N |
| And dies away like rain | I |
| We walk through subterranean caves again mdash | G |
| Vaguely above us feeling | J |
| A shadowy weight of frescos on the ceiling | J |
| Strange half lit things | A |
| Soundless grotesques with writhing claws and wings | A |
| And here a beautiful face looks down upon us | A |
| And someone hurries before unseen and sings | A |
| Have we seen all I wonder in these chambers mdash | G |
| Or is there yet some gorgeous vault arched low | O |
| Where sleeps an amazing beauty we do not know ' | - |
| - | |
| The question falls we walk in silence together | P |
| Thinking of that deep vault and of its secret | Q |
| This lamp these books this fire | P |
| Are suddenly blown away in a whistling darkness | A |
| Deep walls crash down in the whirlwind of desire | P |
Conrad Potter Aiken
(1)
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The House Of Dust: Part 03: 11: Conversation: Undertones 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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