A Night In Italy Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABABACCA DEFGHIIH JKJLGMMG NBNBODDO PQPQRNNS TNUNVPPV MWMWNXXN FNDNBNNB UYUYTTTT NWNWNZZN NUNTMA2A2M NBNBOB2B2O C2DC2DZNNZ D2VD2VE2NNE2 F2G2F2H2BI2I2B J2I2J2I2K2I2I2U NTNTL2M2M2L2 A2UA2K2TN2N2T TO2TO2P2Q2Q2R2 BNBNS2T2G2U2 V2W2V2W2I2OOI2

Sweet are the rosy memories of the lipsA
That first kiss'd ours albeit they kiss no moreB
Sweet is the sight of sunset sailing shipsA
Altho' they leave us on a lonely shoreB
Sweet are familiar songs tho' Music dipsA
Her hollow shell in Thought's forlornest wellsC
And sweet tho' sad the sound of midnight bellsC
When the oped casement with the night rain dripsA
-
There is a pleasure which is born of painD
The grave of all things hath its violetE
Else why thro' days which never come againF
Roams Hope with that strange longing like RegretG
Why put the posy in the cold dead handH
Why plant the rose above the lonely graveI
Why bring the corpse across the salt sea waveI
Why deem the dead more near in native landH
-
Thy name hath been a silence in my lifeJ
So long it falters upon language nowK
O more to me than sister or than wifeJ
Once and now nothing It is hard to knowL
That such things have been and are not and yetG
Life loiters keeps a pulse at even measureM
And goes upon its business and its pleasureM
And knows not all the depths of its regretG
-
Ah could the memory cast her spots as doN
The snake's brood theirs in spring and be once moreB
Wholly renew'd to dwell i' the time that 's newN
With no reiterance of those pangs of yoreB
Peace peace My wild song will go wanderingO
Too wantonly down paths a private painD
Hath trodden bare What was it jarr'd the strainD
Some crush'd illusion left with crumpled wingO
-
Tangled in Music's web of twin egrave d stringsP
That started that false note and crack'd the tuneQ
In its beginning Ah forgotten thingsP
Stumble back strangely and the ghost of JuneQ
Stands by December's fire cold cold and putsR
The last spark out How could I sing arightN
With those old airs haunting me all the nightN
And those old steps that sound when daylight shutsS
-
For back she comes and moves reproachfullyT
The mistress of my moods and looks bereftN
Cruel to the last as tho' 'twere I not sheU
That did the wrong and broke the spell and leftN
Memory comfortless Away awayV
Phantoms about whose brows the bindweed clingsP
Hopeless regret In thinking of these thingsP
Some men have lost their minds and others mayV
-
Yet O for one deep draught in this dull hourM
One deep deep draught of the departed timeW
O for one brief strong pulse of ancient powerM
To beat and breathe thro' all the valves of rhymeW
Thou Memory with thy downward eyes that artN
The cup bearer of gods pour deep and longX
Brim all the vacant chalices of songX
With health Droop down thine urn I hold my heartN
-
One draught of what I shall not taste againF
Save when my brain with thy dark wine is brimm'dN
One draught and then straight onward spite of painD
And spite of all things changed with gaze undimm'dN
Love's footsteps thro' the waning Past to exploreB
Undaunted and to carve in the wan lightN
Of Hope's last outposts on Song's utmost heightN
The sad resemblance of an hour or moreB
-
Midnight and love and youth and ItalyU
Love in the land where love most lovely seemsY
Land of my love tho' I be far from theeU
Lend for love's sake the light of thy moonbeamsY
The spirit of thy cypress groves and allT
Thy dark eyed beauty for a little whileT
To my desire Yet once more let her smileT
Fall o'er me o'er me let her long hair fallT
-
Under the bless egrave d darkness unreprovedN
We were alone in that best hour of timeW
Which first reveal'd to us how much we lovedN
'Neath the thick starlight The young night sublimeW
Hung trembling o'er us At her feet I kneltN
And gazed up from her feet into her eyesZ
Her face was bow'd we breathed each other's sighsZ
We did not speak not move we look'd we feltN
-
The night said not a word The breeze was deadN
The leaf lay without whispering on the treeU
As I lay at her feet Droop'd was her headN
One hand in mine and one still pensivelyT
Went wandering through my hair We were togetherM
How Where What matter Somewhere in a dreamA2
Drifting slow drifting down a wizard streamA2
Whither Together then what matter whitherM
-
It was enough for me to clasp her handN
To blend with her love looks my own no moreB
Enough with thoughts like ships that cannot landN
Blown by faint winds about a magic shoreB
To realize in each mysterious feelingO
The droop of the warm cheek so near my ownB2
The cool white arm about my shoulder thrownB2
Those exquisite fair feet where I was kneelingO
-
How little know they life's divinest blissC2
That know not to possess and yet refrainD
Let the young Psyche roam a fleeting kissC2
Grasp it a few poor grains of dust remainD
See how those floating flowers the butterfliesZ
Hover the garden thro' and take no rootN
Desire for ever hath a flying footN
Free pleasure comes and goes beneath the skiesZ
-
Close not thy hand upon the innocent joyD2
That trusts itself within thy reach It mayV
Or may not linger Thou canst but destroyD2
The wing egrave d wanderer Let it go or stayV
Love thou the rose yet leave it on its stemE2
Think Midas starved by turning all to goldN
Bless egrave d are those that spare and that withholdN
Because the whole world shall be trusted themE2
-
The foolish Faun pursues the unwilling NymphF2
That culls her flowers beside the precipiceG2
Or dips her shining ankles in the lymphF2
But just when she must perish or be hisH2
Heaven puts an arm out She is safe The shoreB
Gains some new fountain or the lilied lawnI2
A rarer sort of rose but ah poor FaunI2
To thee she shall be changed for evermoreB
-
Chase not too close the fading rapture LeaveJ2
To Love his long auroras slowly seenI2
Be ready to release as to receiveJ2
Deem those the nearest soul to soul betweenI2
Whose lips yet lingers reverence on a sighK2
Judge what thy sense can reach not most thine ownI2
If once thy soul hath seized it The unknownI2
Is life to love religion poetryU
-
The moon had set There was not any lightN
Save of the lonely legion'd watch stars paleT
In outer air and what by fits made brightN
Hot oleanders in a rosy valeT
Search'd by the lamping fly whose little sparkL2
Went in and out like passion's bashful hopeM2
Meanwhile the sleepy globe began to slopeM2
A ponderous shoulder sunward thro' the darkL2
-
And the night pass'd in beauty like a dreamA2
Aloof in those dark heavens paused DestinyU
With her last star descending in the gleamA2
Of the cold morrow from the emptied skyK2
The hour the distance from her old self allT
The novelty and loneness of the placeN2
Had left a lovely awe on that fair faceN2
And all the land grew strange and magicalT
-
As droops some billowy cloud to the crouch'd hillT
Heavy with all heaven's tears for all earth's careO2
She droop'd unto me without force or willT
And sank upon my bosom murmuring thereO2
A woman's inarticulate passionate wordsP2
O moment of all moments upon earthQ2
O life's supreme How worth how wildly worthQ2
Whole worlds of flame to know this world affordsR2
-
What even Eternity can not restoreB
When all the ends of life take hands and meetN
Round centres of sweet fire Ah never moreB
Ah never shall the bitter with the sweetN
Be mingled so in the pale after yearsS2
One hour of life immortal spirits possessT2
This drains the world and leaves but wearinessG2
And parching passion and perplexing tearsU2
-
Sad is it that we cannot even keepV2
That hour to sweeten life's last toil but YouthW2
Grasps all and leaves us and when we would weepV2
We dare not let our tears fall lest in truthW2
They fall upon our work which must be doneI2
And so we bind up our torn hearts from breakingO
Our eyes from weeping and our brows from achingO
And follow the long pathway all aloneI2

Earl Of Lytton, Edward Robert Bulwer Lytton



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