The Dead To The Living Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCDCEFGHIEJEKLMLNO POQRSRTUEUCVVVWXPK YZA2ZVB2VB2VC2D2C2E2 F2G2F2B2H2I2H2G2VSV J2EK2EVL2B2L2M2B2N2B 2OO2P2O2Q2VVVR2FMFQV C N2 ZLS2MS2Work while it is day the night cometh when no man can work | A |
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IN the childhood of April while purple woods | B |
With the young year's blood in them smiled | C |
I passed through the lanes and the wakened fields | D |
And stood by the grave of the child | C |
And the pain awoke that is never dead | E |
Though it sometimes sleeps and again | F |
It set its teeth in this heart of mine | G |
And fastened its claws in my brain | H |
For it seemed so hard that the little hands | I |
And the little well loved head | E |
Should be out of reach of my living lips | J |
And be side by side with the dead | E |
Not side by side with us who had loved | K |
But with these who had never seen | L |
The grace of the smile the gold of the hair | M |
And the eyes of my baby queen | L |
Yet with trees about where the brown birds build | N |
And with long green grass above | O |
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She lies in the cold sweet breast of earth | P |
Beyond the reach of our love | O |
Whatever befalls in the coarse loud world | Q |
We know she will never wake | R |
When I thought of the sorrow she might have known | S |
I was almost glad for her sake | R |
Tears might have tired those kiss closed eyes | T |
Grief hardened the mouth I kissed | U |
I was almost glad that my dear was dead | E |
Because of the pain she had missed | U |
Oh if I could but have died a child | C |
With a white child soul like hers | V |
As pure as the wind flowers down in the copse | V |
Where the soul of the spring's self stirs | V |
Or if I had only done with it all | W |
And might lie by her side unmoved | X |
I envied the very clods of earth | P |
Their place near the child I loved | K |
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And my soul rose up in revolt at life | Y |
As I stood dry eyed by her grave | Z |
When sudden the grass of the churchyard sod | A2 |
Rolled back like a green smooth wave | Z |
The brown earth looked like the brown sea rocks | V |
The tombstones were white like spray | B2 |
And white like surf were the curling folds | V |
Of the shrouds where the dead men lay | B2 |
For each in his place with his quiet face | V |
I saw the dead lie low | C2 |
Who had worked and suffered and found life sad | D2 |
So many sad years ago | C2 |
Unchanged by time I saw them lie | E2 |
As when first they were laid to rest | F2 |
The tired eyes closed the sad lips still | G2 |
And the work worn hands on the breast | F2 |
There were some who had found the green world so grey | B2 |
They had left it before their time | H2 |
And some were little ones like my dear | I2 |
And some had died in their prime | H2 |
And some were old they had had their fill | G2 |
Of bitter unfruitful hours | V |
And knew that none of them none had known | S |
A flower of a hope like ours | V |
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Through their shut eyelids the dead looked up | J2 |
And without a voice they said | E |
'We lived without hope without hope we died | K2 |
And hopeless we lie here dead | E |
And death is better than life that draws | V |
Pain in as it draws in breath | L2 |
If life never dreams of a coming day | B2 |
When life shall not envy death | L2 |
Through the dark of our hours and our times we lived | M2 |
Uncheered by a single ray | B2 |
Of such hope as lightens the lives of you | N2 |
Who are finding life hard to day | B2 |
With our little lanterns of human love | O |
We lighted our dark warm night | O2 |
But you in the chill of the dawn are set | P2 |
With your face to the eastern light | O2 |
Freedom is waiting with hands held out | Q2 |
Till you tear the veil from her face | V |
And when once men have seen the light of her eyes | V |
And felt her divine embrace | V |
The light of the world will be risen indeed | R2 |
And will shine in the eyes of men | F |
And those who come after will find life fair | M |
And their lives worth living then | F |
Will you strive to the light in your loud rough world | Q |
That these things may come to pass | V |
Or lie in the shadow beside the child | C |
And strive to the sun through the grass ' | - |
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'My world while I may ' I cried 'but you | N2 |
Whose lives were as dark as your grave ' | - |
'We too are a part of the coming light ' | - |
They called through the smooth green wave | Z |
Their white shrouds gleamed as the flood of green | L |
Rolled over and hid them from me | S2 |
Hid all but the little hands and the hair | M |
And the face that I always see | S2 |
Edith Nesbit
(1)
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