The Tavern Of Despair Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGF HCICJKLK MN ONPQRQ STUTIVWV XYZYA2CEC B2C2D2C2E2F2G2F2 H2I2J2I2G2K2L2K2 M2M2N2O2P2Q2 FQ2 R2S2T2S2U2YV2Y W2KLKXFIF

The wraiths of murdered hopes and lovesA
Come whispering at the doorB
Come creeping through the weeping mistC
That drapes the barren moorD
But we within have turned the keyE
'Gainst Hope and Love and CareF
Where Wit keeps tryst with Folly atG
The Tavern of DespairF
-
And we have come by divers waysH
To keep this merry trystC
But few of us have kept withinI
The Narrow Way I wistC
For we are those whose ampler witsJ
And hearts have proved our curseK
Foredoomed to ken the better thingsL
And aye to do the worseK
-
Long since we learned to mock ourselvesM
And from self mockery fellN
-
To heedless laughter in the faceO
Of Heaven Earth and HellN
We quiver 'neath and mock God's rodP
We feel and mock His wrathQ
We mock our own blood on the thornsR
That rim the Primrose PathQ
-
We mock the eerie glimmering shapesS
That range the outer woldT
We mock our own cold hearts becauseU
They are so dead and coldT
We flout the things we might have beenI
Had self to self proved trueV
We mock the roses flung awayW
We mock the garnered rueV
-
The fates that gibe have lessoned usX
There sups to night on earthY
No madder crew of wastrels thanZ
This fellowship of mirthY
Of mirth drink fools nor let it flagA2
Lest from the outer mistC
Creep in that other companyE
Unbidden to the trystC
-
We're grown so fond of paradoxB2
Perverseness holds us thrallC2
So what each jester loves the bestD2
He mocks the most of allC2
But as the jest and laugh go roundE2
Each in his neighbor's eyesF2
Reads while he flouts his heart's desireG2
The knowledge that he liesF2
-
Not one of us but had some pearlsH2
And flung them to the swineI2
Not one of us but had some giftJ2
Some spark of fire divineI2
Each might have been God's ministerG2
In the temple of some artK2
Each feels his gift perverted moveL2
Wormlike through his dry heartK2
-
If God called Azrael to Him nowM2
And bade Death bend the bowM2
Against the saddest heart that beatsN2
Here on this earth belowO2
Not any sobbing breast would gainP2
The guerdon of that barbQ2
-
The saddest ones are those that wearF
The jester's motley garbQ2
-
Whose shout aye loudest rings and whoseR2
The maddest cranks and quipsS2
Who mints his soul to laughter's coinT2
And wastes it with his lipsS2
Has grown too sad for sighs and seeksU2
To cheat himself with mirthY
We fools self doomed to motley areV2
The weariest wights on earthY
-
But yet for us whose brains and heartsW2
Strove aye in paths perverseK
Doomed still to know the better thingsL
And still to do the worseK
What else is there remains for usX
But make a jest of careF
And set the rafters ringing inI
Our Tavern of DespairF

Don Marquis



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