Absolution Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABABCDDD EDEDDFFD FGFFHF H FFFFIJJ FDFD KLLK DFDFFMMF FFFFFNNF OFOFFPQF RKRKDSSD BDBD DTTD FDFDU KU VDVDFFFF DODOFUU FUFUDWWD XY Z FJJ A2B2A2B2TC2C2 OJOD2DD OFOFFPP RHRHF FF TBT E2F2F2E2 G2DJDTRH2T AFAFI2FBTHREE months had passed since she had knelt before | A |
The grate of the confessional and he | B |
The priest had wondered why she came no more | A |
To tell her sinless sins the vanity | B |
Whose valid reason graced her simple dress | C |
The prayers forgotten or the untold beads | D |
The little thoughtless words the slight misdeeds | D |
Which made the sum of her unrighteousness | D |
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She was the fairest maiden in his fold | E |
With her sweet mouth and musical pure voice | D |
Her deep grey eyes her hair's tempestuous gold | E |
Her gracious graceful figure's perfect poise | D |
Her happy laugh her wild unconscious grace | D |
Her gentle ways to old or sick or sad | F |
The comprehending sympathy she had | F |
Had made of her the idol of the place | D |
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And when she grew so silent and so sad | F |
So thin and quiet pale and hollow eyed | G |
And cared no more to laugh and to be glad | F |
With other maidens by the waterside | F |
All wondered kindly grieved the elders were | H |
And some few girls went whispering about | F |
'She loves who is it Let us find it out ' | - |
But never dared to speak of it to her | H |
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But the priest's duty bade him seek her out | F |
And say 'My child why dost thou sit apart | F |
Hast thou some grief Hast thou some secret doubt | F |
Come and unfold to me thine inmost heart | F |
God's absolution can assuage all grief | I |
And all remorse and woe beneath the sun | J |
Whatever thou hast said or thought or done | J |
The Holy Church can give thy soul relief ' | - |
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He stood beside her young and strong and swayed | F |
With pity for the sorrow in her eyes | D |
Which as she raised them to his own conveyed | F |
Into his soul a sort of sad surprise | D |
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For in those grey eyes had a new light grown | K |
The light that only bitter love can bring | L |
And he had fancied her too pure a thing | L |
For even happy love to dare to own | K |
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Yet all the more he urged on her 'Confess | D |
And do not doubt some comfort will be lent | F |
By Holy Church thy penitence to bless | D |
Trust her my child ' With unconvinced consent | F |
She answered 'I will come ' and so at last | F |
Out of the summer evening's crimson glow | M |
With heart reluctant and with footsteps slow | M |
Into the cool great empty church she passed | F |
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'By my own fault my own most grievous fault | F |
I cannot say for it is not ' she said | F |
Kneeling within the grey stone chapel's vault | F |
And on the ledge her golden hair was spread | F |
Over the clasping hands that still increased | F |
Their nervous pressure poor white hands and thin | N |
While with hot lips she poured her tale of sin | N |
Into the cold ear of the patient priest | F |
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'Love broke upon me in a dream it came | O |
Without beginning for to me it seemed | F |
That all my life this thing had been the same | O |
And never otherwise than as I dreamed | F |
I only knew my heart entire complete | F |
Was given to my other self my love | P |
That I through all the world would gladly move | Q |
So I might follow his ador d feet | F |
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'I dreamed my soul saw suddenly appear | R |
Immense abysses infinite heights unknown | K |
Possessed new worlds new earths sphere after sphere | R |
New sceptres kingdoms crowns became my own | K |
When I had all all earth all time all space | D |
And every blessing human and divine | S |
I hated the possessions that were mine | S |
And only cared for his belov d face | D |
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'I dreamed that in unmeasured harmony | B |
Rain of sweet sounds fell on my ravished sense | D |
And thrilled my soul with swelling ecstasy | B |
And rose to unimagined excellence | D |
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And while the music bade my heart rejoice | D |
And on my senses thrust delicious sway | T |
I wished the perfect melody away | T |
And in its place longed for his worshipped voice | D |
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'And at the last I felt his arms enfold | F |
His kisses crown my life his whispered sighs | D |
Echo my own unrest his spirit hold | F |
My spirit powerless underneath his eyes | D |
My face flushed with new joy and felt more fair | U |
He clasped me close and cried 'My own my own ' | - |
And then I woke in dawn's chill light alone | K |
With empty arms held out to empty air | U |
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'I never knew I loved him till that dream | V |
Drew from my eyes the veil and left me wise | D |
What I had thought was reverence grew to seem | V |
Only my lifelong love in thin disguise | D |
And in my dream it looked so sinless too | F |
So beautiful harmonious and right | F |
The vision faded with the morning light | F |
The love will last as long as I shall do | F |
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'But in the world where I have wept my tears | D |
My love is sinful and a bitter shame | O |
How can I bear the never ending years | D |
When every night I hear him call my name | O |
For though that first dream's dear delight is past | F |
Yet since that night each night I dream him there | U |
With lips caressing on my brow and hair | U |
And in my arms I hold my heaven fast ' | - |
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'Child have you prayed against it ' 'Have I prayed | F |
Have I not clogged my very soul with prayer | U |
Stopped up my ears with sound of praying made | F |
My very body faint with kneeling there | U |
Before the sculptured Christ and all for this | D |
That when my lips can pray no more and sleep | W |
Shuts my unwilling eyes my love will leap | W |
To dreamland's bounds to meet me with his kiss | D |
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'Strive against this what profit is the strife | X |
If through the day a little strength I gain | Y |
At night he comes and calls me 'love' and 'wife ' | - |
And straightway I am all his own again | Z |
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And if from love's besieging force my fight | F |
Some little victory have hardly won | J |
What do I gain As soon as day is done | J |
I yield once more to love's delicious might ' | - |
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'Avoid him ' 'Ay in dewy garden walk | A2 |
How often have I strayed avoiding him | B2 |
And heard his voice mix with the common talk | A2 |
Yet never turned his way My eyes grow dim | B2 |
With weeping over what I lose by day | T |
And find by night yet never have to call | C2 |
My own O God is there no help at all | C2 |
No hope no chance and no escapeful way ' | - |
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'And who is he to whom thy love is given ' | - |
'What Holy Church demands to know his name | O |
No rest for me on earth no hope of heaven | J |
Unless I tell it Ah for very shame | O |
I cannot yet why not I will I can | D2 |
I have grown mad with brooding on my curse | D |
Here Take the name no better and no worse | D |
My case will be Father thou art the man ' | - |
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An icy shock shivered through all his frame | O |
An overwhelming cold astonishment | F |
But on the instant the revulsion came | O |
His blood felt what her revelation meant | F |
And madly rushed along his veins and cried | F |
'For you too life is possible and love | P |
No more a word you miss the meaning of | P |
But all your life's desire unsatisfied ' | - |
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Then through his being crept a new strange fear | R |
Fear of himself and through himself for her | H |
His every fibre felt her presence near | R |
Disquiet in his breast began to stir | H |
'Lord Christ ' his soul cried while his heart beat fast | F |
'Give strength in this my hour of utmost need ' | - |
And with the prayer strength came to him indeed | F |
And with calm voice he answered her at last | F |
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'Child go in peace Wrestle and watch and pray | T |
And I will spend this night in prayer for thee | B |
That God will take thy strange great grief away | T |
Thou hast confessed thy sin Absolvo te ' | - |
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Silence most absolute a little while | E2 |
Then passed the whisper of her trailing gown | F2 |
Over the knee worn stones and soft died down | F2 |
The dim deserted incense memoried aisle | E2 |
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She passed away and yet when she was gone | G2 |
His heart still echoed her remembered sighs | D |
What sin unpardonable had he done | J |
That evermore those grey unquiet eyes | D |
Floated between him and the dying day | T |
How had she grown so desperately dear | R |
Why did her love words echo in his ear | H2 |
Through all the prayers he forced his lips to say | T |
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All night he lay upon the chancel floor | A |
And coined his heart in tears and prayers and new | F |
Strange longings he had never known before | A |
Her very memory so thrilled him through | F |
That to his being's core a shiver stole | I2 |
Of utter boundless measureless delight | F |
Even while with unceasing desperate mi | B |
Edith Nesbit
(1)
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