The Bread Of Angels Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGHIJKLMBNNBOJP QR STUVWXYZA2B2C2D2E2F2 G2F2H2I2 J2A K2L2M2BND2 N2O2P2Q2R2S2T2U2U2U2 V2C W2X2XY2Z2 A3G S2B3C3D3E3F3G3H3 NT2R2I3J3K3L3M3 N3NO3P3BF2Q3UO3D2UR3 UB2S3UNU2JD2 T3UU3V3W3X3KB3Y3UR

AT that lost hour disowned of day and nightA
The after birth of midnight when life's faceB
Turns to the wall and the last lamp goes outC
Before the incipient irony of dawnD
In that obliterate interval of timeE
Between the oil's last flicker and the firstF
Reluctant shudder of averted dayG
Threading the city's streets like mine own ghostH
Wakening the echoes of dispeopled dreamsI
I smiled to see how the last light that foughtJ
Extinction was the old familiar glareK
Of supper tables under gas lit ceilingsL
The same old stale monotonous carouseM
Of greed and surfeit nodding face to faceB
O'er the picked bones of pleasureN
So that the city seemed at that waste hourN
Like some expiring planet from whose faceB
All nobler life had perished love and hateO
And labor and the ecstasy of thoughtJ
Leaving the eyeless creatures of the oozeP
Dull offspring of its first inchoate birthQ
The last to cling to its exhausted breastR
-
And threading thus the aimless streets that strayedS
Conjectural through a labyrinth of deathT
Strangely I came upon two hooded nunsU
Hands in their sleeves heads bent as if beneathV
Some weight of benediction gliding byW
Punctual as shadows that perform their roundX
Upon the inveterate bidding of the sunY
Again and yet again their ordered courseZ
At the same hour crossed mine obedient shadesA2
Cast by some high orbed pity on the wasteB2
Of midnight evil and my wondering thoughtsC2
Tracked them from the hushed convent where there kinD2
Lay hived in sweetness of their prayer built cellsE2
What wind of fate had loosed them from the leeF2
Of that dear anchorage where their sisters sleptG2
On what emprise of heavenly piracyF2
Did such frail craft put forth upon this worldH2
In what incalculable currents caughtI2
-
And swept beyond the signal lights of homeJ2
Did their white coifs set sail against the nightA
-
At last upon my wonder drawn I followedK2
The secret wanderers till I saw them pauseL2
Before the dying glare of those tall panesM2
Where greed and surfeit nodded face to faceB
O'er the picked bones of pleasureN
And the door opened and the nuns went inD2
-
Again I met them followed them againN2
Straight as a thought of mercy to its goalO2
To the same door they sped I stood aloneP2
And suddenly the silent city shookQ2
With inarticulate clamor of gagged lipsR2
As in Jerusalem when the veil was rentS2
And the dead drove the living from the streetsT2
And all about me stalked the shrouded deadU2
Dead hopes dead efforts loves and sorrows deadU2
With empty orbits groping for their deadU2
In that blind mustering of murdered faithsV2
And the door opened and the nuns came outC
-
I turned and followed Once again we cameW2
To such a threshold such a door received themX2
They vanished and I waited The grim roundX
Ceased only when the festal panes grew darkY2
And the last door had shot its tardy boltZ2
'Too late ' I heard one murmur and 'Too late '-
The other in unholy antiphonA3
And with dejected steps they turned awayG
-
They turned and still I tracked them till they bentS2
Under the lee of a calm convent wallB3
Bounding a quiet street I knew the streetC3
One of those village byways strangely trappedD3
In the city's meshes where at loudest noonE3
The silence spreads like moss beneath the footF3
And all the tumult of the town becomesG3
Idle as Ocean's fury in a shellH3
-
Silent at noon but now at this void hourN
When the blank sky hung over the blank streetsT2
Clear as a mirror held above dead lipsR2
Came footfalls and a thronging of dim shapesI3
About the convent door a suppliant lineJ3
Of pallid figures ghosts of happier folkK3
Moving in some gray underworld of wantL3
On which the sun of plenty never dawnsM3
-
And as the nuns approached I saw the throngN3
Pale emanation of that outcast hourN
Divide like vapor when the sun breaks throughO3
And take the glory on its tattered edgeP3
For so a brightness ran from face to faceB
Faint as a diver's light beneath the seaF2
And as a wave draws up the beach the crowdQ3
Drew to the nunsU
I waited Then those twoO3
Strange pilgrims of the sanctuaries of sinD2
Brought from beneath their large conniving cloaksU
Two hidden baskets brimming with rich storeR3
Of broken viands pasties jellies meatsU
Crumbs of Belshazzar's table evil wasteB2
Of that interminable nightly feastS3
Of greed and surfeit nodding face to faceU
O'er the picked bones of pleasureN
And piteous hands were stretched to take the breadU2
Of this strange sacrament this manna broughtJ
Out of the antique wilderness of sinD2
-
Each seized a portion turning comfortedT3
From this new breaking of the elementsU
And while I watched the mystery of renewalU3
Whereby the dead bones of old sins becomeV3
The living body of the love of GodW3
It seemed to me that a like change transformedX3
The city's self a little wandering airK
Ruffled the ivy on the convent wallB3
A bird piped doubtfully the dawn repliedY3
And in that ancient gray necropolisU
Somewhere a child awoke and took the breastR

Edith Wharton



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