Miriam Fay's Letter Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGHIFJCKLMANOPQ RSRTUPV FJWXKYZKA2B2C2 D2OE2LYHF2G2H2I2J2K2 LOL2AM2PN2O2OLP2Q2H2 R2 AS2T2U2KV2W2X2Y2Z2Z2 A3LB3AA2MGWC3D3RUE3A L F3G3H3I3LJ3H3K3L3Y2M 3LZ2KRN3O3P3Q3Q3I2R3 R2S3L T3U3ZV3W3X3Y3Z3KPA4B 4FIGHC4L2D4FE4 Y3F4G4H4LFKI4D4TKJ4K 4KL4M4V2N4O4P4V2I2VQ 4R4S4H4T4S4U2U4V4D3J UOTA2W4X4J2I2 KI3A3AY4KZ4Y2Z2KL3OZ 2

Elenor Murray asked to go in trainingA
And came to see me but the school was fullB
We could not take her Then she asked to standC
Upon a list and wait I put her offD
She came back and she came back till at lastE
I took her application then she cameF
And pushed herself and asked when she could comeG
And start to train At last I laughed and saidH
Well come to morrow I had never seenI
Such eagerness persistence So she cameF
She tried to make a friend of me perhapsJ
Since it was best I being in commandC
But anyway she wooed me tried to please meK
And spite of everything I grew to love herL
Though I distrusted her But yet againM
I had belief in her best self though doubtingA
The girl somehow But when I learned the girlN
Had never had religious disciplineO
Her father without faith her mother tooP
Her want of moral sense I understoodQ
She lacked stability of spirit to dayR
She would be one thing something else the nextS
Shot up in fire which failed and died awayR
And I began to see her fraternizeT
With girls who had her traits too full of lifeU
To be what they should be unstable tooP
Much like herselfV
-
Not long before she cameF
Into the training school six months perhapsJ
She had some tragedy I don't know whatW
Had been quite ill in body and in mindX
When she went into training I could seeK
Her purpose to wear down herself forgetY
In weariness of body something livedZ
She was alert and dutiful and sunnyK
Kept all the rules was studious led the classA2
Excelled I think in studies of the nervesB2
The mind grown sickC2
-
As we grew better friendsD2
More intimate she talked about religionO
And sacred subjects asked about the churchE2
I gave her books to read encouraged herL
Asked her to make her peace with God and setY
Her feet in pious paths At last she saidH
She wished to be baptized confirmed I madeF2
The plans for her she was baptized confirmedG2
Went to confessional and seemed renewedH2
In spirit by conversion For at onceI2
Her zeal was like a flame at PentecostJ2
She almost took the veil but missing thatK2
She followed out the discipline to the letterL
Kept all the feast days went to mass communionO
Did works of charity indeed I thinkL2
She spent her spare hours all in all at sewingA
There with the sisters for the poor She hadM2
When she came to me jewelry of valueP
A diamond solitaire some other thingsN2
I missed them and she said she sold them gaveO2
The money to a home for friendless childrenO
And I remember when she said her fatherL
Had wronged misvalued her but now her loveP2
Made more abundant by the love of ChristQ2
Had brought her to forgiveness All her moodH2
Was of humility and sacrificeR2
-
One time I saw her at the convent sittingA
Upon a foot stool at the gracious feetS2
Of the Mother Superior sewing for the poorT2
Hair parted in the middle curls combed outU2
Then was it that I missed her jewelryK
She looked just like a poor maid humble patientV2
Head bent above her sewing eyes avertedW2
The room was silent with religious thoughtX2
I loved her then and pitied her But nowY2
I think she had that in her which at timesZ2
Made her a flagellant at other timesZ2
A rioter She used the church to dragA3
Her life from something took it for a bladderL
To float her soul when it was perilled FirstB3
She did not sell her jewelry this ringA
Too brilliant for forgetting or to passA2
Unnoticed when she wore it showed againM
Upon her finger after she had comeG
Out of her training was a graduateW
She had a faculty for getting inC3
Where elegance and riches were She wentD3
Among the great ones when she found a wayR
And traveled with them where she learned the lifeU
Of notables aristocrats It was thereE3
Or when from duty free and feasting gaddingA
The ring showed on her fingerL
-
In two yearsF3
She dropped the church New friends made in the schoolG3
New interests work that took her energiesH3
And this religious flare had cured her upI3
Of what was killing her when first I knew herL
There was another thing that drew her backJ3
To flesh away from spirit She saw bodiesH3
And handled bodies as a nurse forgotK3
The body is the spirit's temple fellL3
To some materialism of thought And nowY2
Avoided me was much away of courseM3
On duty here and there I tried to hold herL
Protect and guide her wrote to her at timesZ2
To make confession take communion SheK
Ignored these letters But I heard her sayR
The body was as natural as the soulN3
And just as natural its desires She keptO3
Out of the wreck of faith one thing aloneP3
If she kept that She could endure to hearQ3
God's name profaned but would not stand to hearQ3
The Savior's spoken in irreverenceI2
She was afraid no doubt Or to be justR3
The tender love of Christ his sacrificeR2
Perhaps had won her wholly let it goS3
I'll say that much for herL
-
Why am I harshT3
Because I saw the good in her all streakedU3
With so much evil evil known and livedZ
In knowledge of it clung to none the lessV3
Unstable as water how could she succeedW3
Untruthful how could confidence be hersX3
I sometimes think she joined the church to maskY3
A secret life renewed forgiven sinsZ3
After she cloaked herself with pietyK
Perhaps at least when she saw what to doP
And how to do it using these detoursA4
Of piety to throw us off who elseB4
Had seen what doors she entered whence she cameF
She wronged the church I think made it a screenI
To stand behind for kisses to look fromG
Inviting kisses Then as I have saidH
She took materialism from her workC4
And so renewed her sins She drank I thinkL2
And smoked and feasted but as for the restD4
The smoke obscured the flame but there is flameF
Or fire at least where there is smokeE4
-
You askY3
What took her to the war Why only thisF4
Adventure chance of marriage amorous conquestsG4
The girl was mad for men although I sawH4
Her smoke obscured the flame I never saw herL
Except with robins far too tame or lameF
To interest her and robins prove to meK
The hawk is somewhere waits for night to joinI4
His playmate when the robins are at restD4
You see the girl has madness in her fliesT
From exaltation up to ecstasyK
Feeds on emotion never has enoughJ4
Tries all things states of spirit even beliefsK4
Passes from lust I think to celibacyK
Feasts fasts eats starves has raptures then inflictsL4
The whip upon her back is penitentM4
Then proud is humble then is arrogantV2
Looks down demurely stares you out of faceN4
But runs the world around For in point of factO4
She traveled much knew cities and their waysP4
And when I used to see her at the conventV2
So meek clothed like a sewing maid at onceI2
The pictures that she showed me of herselfV
At seaside places or on boulevardsQ4
Her beauty clothed in linen or in silkR4
Came back to mind and I would resurrectS4
The fragments of our talks in which I sawH4
How she knew foods and drinks and restaurantsT4
And fashionable shops This girl could fool the electS4
She fooled me for a time I found her outU2
Did she aspire Perhaps if you believeU4
It's aspiration to seek out the richV4
And ape them Not for me Of course she wentD3
To get adventure in the war perhapsJ
She got too much But as to waste of lifeU
She might have been a quiet noble womanO
Keeping her place in life not trying to riseT
Out of her class too useless in her classA2
Making herself all worthy serviceableW4
You'll find 'twas pride that slew her Very likeX4
She found a rich man tried to hold him lostJ2
Her honor and her life in consequenceI2
-
-
-
When Merival showed this letter to the juryK
Marion the juryman spoke upI3
You know that type of woman saintly hagA3
I wouldn't take her word about a thingA
By way of inference or analysisY4
They had some trouble she and ElenorK
You may be sure And Merival repliedZ4
Take it for what it's worth I leave you nowY2
To see the man who owns the Daily TimesZ2
He's turned upon our inquest did you seeK
The jab he gives me I can jab as wellL3
So Merival went out and took with him
A riffle in the waters of circumstance
Set up by Elenor Murray's death to oneO
Remote secure in greatness to the man
Who ran the TimesZ2

Edgar Lee Masters



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