Ikon: The Harrowing Of Hell Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGHIHJKFBHLMNOC JHPQQRSTQUVWXYBZIA2

Down through the tomb's inward archA
He has shouldered out into LimboB
to gather them dazed from dreamless slumberC
the merciful dead the prophetsD
the innocents just His own age and thoseE
unnumbered others waiting hereF
unaware in an endless void He is endingG
now stooping to tug at their handsH
to pull them from their sarcophagiI
dazzled almost unwilling DidmasH
neighbor in death Golgotha dustJ
still streaked on the dried sweat of his bodyK
no one had washed and anointed is hereF
for sequence is not known in LimboB
the promise given from cross to crossH
at noon arches beyond sunset and dawnL
All these He will swiftly leadM
to the Paradise road they are safeN
That done there must take place that struggleO
no human presumes to pictureC
living dying descending to rescue the justJ
from shadow were lesser travailsH
than this to breakP
through earth and stone of the faithless worldQ
back to the cold sepulchre tearstainedQ
stifling shroud to break from i them iR
back into breath and heartbeat and walkS
the world again closed into days and weeks againT
wounds of His anguish open and SpiritQ
streaming through every cell of fleshU
so that if mortal sight could bearV
to perceive it it would be seenW
His mortal flesh was lit from within nowX
and aching for home He must returnY
first in Divine patience and knowB
hunger again and giveZ
to humble friends the joyI
of giving Him food fish and a honeycombA2

Denise Levertov



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