Lancelot 03 Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGHIJGKLMNOPQPR STUUSVWXYKZBA2B2C2QA 2A2D2RE2PF2RA2G2G2A2 DE2H2H2I2ZA2UTDA2A2A 2A2UA2JJ2K2DL2H2M2 N2O2H2P2A2J2UL2E2LKQ 2E2R2H2A2P2Z S2T2P2SA2A2U2KA2H2UP 2V2A2KTA2UW2K2A2CZJG UA2X2Y2I2Z2NA3RA2B3U A2A2A2C3GLancelot looked about him but he saw | A |
No Guinevere The place where she had sat | B |
Was now an empty chair that might have been | C |
The shadowy throne of an abandoned world | D |
But for the living fragrance of a kiss | E |
That he remembered and a living voice | F |
That hovered when he saw that she was gone | G |
There was too much remembering while he felt | H |
Upon his cheek the warm sound of her words | I |
There was too much regret there was too much | J |
Remorse Regret was there for what had gone | G |
Remorse for what had come Yet there was time | K |
That had not wholly come There was time enough | L |
Between him and the night as there were shoals | M |
Enough no doubt that in the sea somewhere | N |
Were not yet hidden by the drowning tide | O |
So there is here between me and the dark | P |
Some twilight left he said He sighed and said | Q |
Again Time tide and twilight and the dark | P |
And then for me the Light But what for her | R |
I do not think of anything but life | S |
That I may give to her by going now | T |
And if I look into her eyes again | U |
Or feel her breath upon my face again | U |
God knows if I may give so much as life | S |
Or if the durance of her loneliness | V |
Would have it for the asking What am I | W |
What have I seen that I must leave behind | X |
So much of heaven and earth to burn itself | Y |
Away in white and gold until in time | K |
There shall be no more white and no more gold | Z |
I cannot think of such a time as that | B |
I cannot yet I must for I am he | A2 |
That shall have hastened it and hurried on | B2 |
To dissolution all that wonderment | C2 |
That envy of all women who have said | Q |
She was a child of ice and ivory | A2 |
And of all men save one And who is he | A2 |
Who is this Lancelot that has betrayed | D2 |
His King and served him with a cankered honor | R |
Who is this Lancelot that sees the Light | E2 |
And waits now in the shadow for the dark | P |
Who is this King this Arthur who believes | F2 |
That what has been and is will be for ever | R |
Who has no eyes for what he will not see | A2 |
And will see nothing but what's passing here | G2 |
In Camelot which is passing Why are we here | G2 |
What are we doing kings queens Camelots | A2 |
And Lancelots And what is this dim world | D |
That I would leave and cannot leave tonight | E2 |
Because a Queen is in it and a King | H2 |
Has gone away to some place where there's hunting | H2 |
Carleon or Carlisle Who is this Queen | I2 |
This pale witch wonder of white fire and gold | Z |
This Guinevere that I brought back with me | A2 |
From Cameliard for Arthur who knew then | U |
What Merlin told as he forgets it now | T |
And rides away from her God watch the world | D |
To some place where there's hunting What are kings | A2 |
And how much longer are there to be kings | A2 |
When are the millions who are now like worms | A2 |
To know that kings are worms if they are worms | A2 |
When are the women who make toys of men | U |
To know that they themselves are less than toys | A2 |
When Time has laid upon their skins the touch | J |
Of his all shrivelling fingers When are they | J2 |
To know that men must have an end of them | K2 |
When men have seen the Light and left the world | D |
That I am leaving now Yet here I am | L2 |
And all because a king has gone a hunting | H2 |
Carleon or Carlisle | M2 |
- | |
So Lancelot | N2 |
Fed with a sullen rancor which he knew | O2 |
To be as false as he was to the King | H2 |
The passion and the fear that now in him | P2 |
Were burning like two slow infernal fires | A2 |
That only flight and exile far away | J2 |
From Camelot should ever cool again | U |
Yet here I am he said and here I am | L2 |
Time tide and twilight and there is no twilight | E2 |
And there is not much time But there's enough | L |
To eat and drink in and there may be time | K |
For me to frame a jest or two to prove | Q2 |
How merry a man may be who sees the Light | E2 |
And I must get me up and go along | R2 |
Before the shadows blot out everything | H2 |
And leave me stumbling among skeletons | A2 |
God what a rain of ashes falls on him | P2 |
Who sees the new and cannot leave the old | Z |
- | |
He rose and looked away into the south | S2 |
Where a gate was by which he might go out | T2 |
Now if he would while Time was yet there with him | P2 |
Time that was tearing minutes out of life | S |
While he stood shivering in his loneliness | A2 |
And while the silver lights of memory | A2 |
Shone faintly on a far off eastern shore | U2 |
Where he had seen on earth for the last time | K |
The triumph and the sadness in the face | A2 |
Of Galahad for whom the Light was waiting | H2 |
Now he could see the face of him again | U |
He fancied and his flickering will adjured him | P2 |
To follow it and be free He followed it | V2 |
Until it faded and there was no face | A2 |
And there was no more light Yet there was time | K |
That had not come though he could hear it now | T |
Like ruining feet of marching conquerors | A2 |
That would be coming soon and were not men | U |
Forlornly and unwillingly he came back | W2 |
To find the two dim chairs In one of them | K2 |
Was Guinevere and on her phantom face | A2 |
There fell a golden light that might have been | C |
The changing gleam of an unchanging gold | Z |
That was her golden hair He sprang to touch | J |
The wonder of it but she too was gone | G |
Like Galahad he was alone again | U |
With shadows and one face that he still saw | A2 |
The world had no more faces now than one | X2 |
That for a moment with a flash of pain | Y2 |
Had shown him what it is that may be seen | I2 |
In embers that break slowly into dust | Z2 |
Where for a time was fire He saw it there | N |
Before him and he knew it was not good | A3 |
That he should learn so late and of this hour | R |
What men may leave behind them in the eyes | A2 |
Of women who have nothing more to give | B3 |
And may not follow after Once again | U |
He gazed away to southward but the face | A2 |
Of Galahad was not there He turned and saw | A2 |
Before him in the distance many lights | A2 |
In Arthur's palace for the dark had come | C3 |
To Camelot while Time had come and gone | G |
Edwin Arlington Robinson
(1)
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