Merlin Iv Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGHIFIJKBBLBBIM IFNOBBPBBBBQRSTIBIIU IMIBFVBBIINSWJBBPBIF KXBYBFBI UBIZBBA2B2FC2BIFBD2I BBE2MF2G2B BBH2F2III2IE2IJ2BK2L 2BK2BBBK2IBIP M2BMBPN2BIIXSJSPBFIF SBFIPUSIIIE2N2RBSS O2SJBII SIBBBISBSP2Q2R2PPEEI BBSBS2BBBIT2JSSYIIU2 PK2IR2IV2IPSIW2S C2PSX2INBY2SP2IIS IZ2BSIV2BSIIIBIK2 BBSA3S2B3SBSI IC3IBBIV2SIBBRV2XK2I BFBBPBRBBIBBSBSSIBBK 2I SPRMIISSSD3K2IBSE3IB BBIIIIPBSBSSB2A3 E2PIYF3KI SSSBBSNK2IBSBIRBIBSI IIXLSSBFI

The tortured King seeing Merlin wholly meshed	A
In his defection even to indifference	B
And all the while attended and exalted	C
By some unfathomable obscurity	D
Of divination where the Grail unseen	E
Broke yet the darkness where a king saw nothing	F
Feared now the lady Vivian more than Fate	G
For now he knew that Modred Lancelot	H
The Queen the King the Kingdom and the World	I
Were less to Merlin who had made him King	F
Than one small woman in Broceliande	I
Whereas the lady Vivian seeing Merlin	J
Acclaimed and tempted and allured again	K
To service in his old magnificence	B
Feared now King Arthur more than storms and robbers	B
For Merlin though he knew himself immune	L
To no least whispered little wish of hers	B
That might afflict his ear with ecstasy	B
Had yet sufficient of his old command	I
Of all around him to invest an eye	M
With quiet lightning and a spoken word	I
With easy thunder so accomplishing	F
A profit and a pastime for himself	N
And for the lady Vivian when her guile	O
Outlived at intervals her graciousness	B
And this equipment of uncertainty	B
Which now had gone away with him to Britain	P
With Dagonet so plagued her memory	B
That soon a phantom brood of goblin doubts	B
Inhabited his absence which had else	B
Been empty waiting and a few brave fears	B
And a few more she knew that were not brave	Q
Or long to be disowned or manageable	R
She thought of him as he had looked at her	S
When first he had acquainted her alarm	T
At sight of the King's letter with its import	I
And she remembered now his very words	B
The King believes today as in his boyhood	I
That I am Fate he said and when they parted	I
She had not even asked him not to go	U
She might as well she thought have bid the wind	I
Throw no more clouds across a lonely sky	M
Between her and the moon so great he seemed	I
In his oppressed solemnity and she	B
In her excess of wrong imagining	F
So trivial in an hour and after all	V
A creature of a smaller consequence	B
Than kings to Merlin who made kings and kingdoms	B
And had them as a father and so she feared	I
King Arthur more than robbers while she waited	I
For Merlin's promise to fulfil itself	N
And for the rest that was to follow after	S
He said he would come back and so he will	W
He will because he must and he is Merlin	J
The master of the world or so he was	B
And he is coming back again to me	B
Because he must and I am Vivian	P
It's all as easy as two added numbers	B
Some day I'll hear him ringing at the gate	I
As he rang on that morning in the spring	F
Ten years ago and I shall have him then	K
For ever He shall never go away	X
Though kings come walking on their hands and knees	B
To take him on their backs When Merlin came	Y
She told him that and laughed and he said strangely	B
Be glad or sorry but no kings are coming	F
Not Arthur surely for now Arthur knows	B
That I am less than Fate	I
	-
Ten years ago	U
The King had heard with unbelieving ears	B
At first what Merlin said would be the last	I
Reiteration of his going down	Z
To find a living grave in Brittany	B
Buried alive I told you I should be	B
By love made little and by woman shorn	A2
Like Samson of my glory and the time	B2
Is now at hand I follow in the morning	F
Where I am led I see behind me now	C2
The last of crossways and I see before me	B
A straight and final highway to the end	I
Of all my divination You are King	F
And in your kingdom I am what I was	B
Wherever I have warned you see as far	D2
As I have seen for I have shown the worst	I
There is to see Require no more of me	B
For I can be no more than what I was	B
So on the morrow the King said farewell	E2
And he was never more to Merlin's eye	M
The King than at that hour for Merlin knew	F2
How much was going out of Arthur's life	G2
With him as he went southward to the sea	B
	-
Over the waves and into Brittany	B
Went Merlin to Broceliande Gay birds	B
Were singing high to greet him all along	H2
A broad and sanded woodland avenue	F2
That led him on forever so he thought	I
Until at last there was an end of it	I
And at the end there was a gate of iron	I2
Wrought heavily and invidiously barred	I
He pulled a cord that rang somewhere a bell	E2
Of many echoes and sat down to rest	I
Outside the keeper's house upon a bench	J2
Of carven stone that might for centuries	B
Have waited there in silence to receive him	K2
The birds were singing still leaves flashed and swung	L2
Before him in the sunlight a soft breeze	B
Made intermittent whisperings around him	K2
Of love and fate and danger and faint waves	B
Of many sweetly stinging fragile odors	B
Broke lightly as they touched him cherry boughs	B
Above him snowed white petals down upon him	K2
And under their slow falling Merlin smiled	I
Contentedly as one who contemplates	B
No longer fear confusion or regret	I
May smile at ruin or at revelation	P
	-
A stately fellow with a forest air	M2
Now hailed him from within with searching words	B
And curious looks till Merlin's glowing eye	M
Transfixed him and he flinched My compliments	B
And homage to the lady Vivian	P
Say Merlin from King Arthur's Court is here	N2
A pilgrim and a stranger in appearance	B
Though in effect her friend and humble servant	I
Convey to her my speech as I have said it	I
Without abbreviation or delay	X
And so deserve my gratitude forever	S
But Merlin the man stammered Merlin Merlin	J
One Merlin is enough I know no other	S
Now go you to the lady Vivian	P
And bring to me her word for I am weary	B
Still smiling at the cherry blossoms falling	F
Down on him and around him in the sunlight	I
He waited never moving never glancing	F
This way or that until his messenger	S
Came jingling into vision weighed with keys	B
And inly shaken with much wondering	F
At this great wizard's coming unannounced	I
And unattended When the way was open	P
The stately messenger now bowing low	U
In reverence and awe bade Merlin enter	S
And Merlin having entered heard the gate	I
Clang back behind him and he swore no gate	I
Like that had ever clanged in Camelot	I
Or any other place if not in hell	E2
I may be dead and this good fellow here	N2
With all his keys he thought may be the Devil	R
Though I were loath to say so for the keys	B
Would make him rather more akin to Peter	S
And that's fair reasoning for this fair weather	S
	-
The lady Vivian says you are most welcome	O2
Said now the stately favored servitor	S
And are to follow me She said Say Merlin	J
A pilgrim and a stranger in appearance	B
Though in effect my friend and humble servant	I
Is welcome for himself and for the sound	I
Of his great name that echoes everywhere '	-
I like you and I like your memory	S
Said Merlin curiously but not your gate	I
Why forge for this elysian wilderness	B
A thing so vicious with unholy noise	B
There's a way out of every wilderness	B
For those who dare or care enough to find it	I
The guide said and they moved along together	S
Down shaded ways through open ways with hedgerows	B
And into shade again more deep than ever	S
But edged anon with rays of broken sunshine	P2
In which a fountain raining crystal music	Q2
Made faery magic of it through green leafage	R2
Till Merlin's eyes were dim with preparation	P
For sight now of the lady Vivian	P
He saw at first a bit of living green	E
That might have been a part of all the green	E
Around the tinkling fountain where she gazed	I
Upon the circling pool as if her thoughts	B
Were not so much on Merlin whose advance	B
Betrayed through his enormity of hair	S
The cheeks and eyes of youth as on the fishes	B
But soon she turned and found him now alone	S2
And held him while her beauty and her grace	B
Made passing trash of empires and his eyes	B
Told hers of what a splendid emptiness	B
Her tedious world had been without him in it	I
Whose love and service were to be her school	T2
Her triumph and her history This is Merlin	J
She thought and I shall dream of him no more	S
And he has come he thinks to frighten me	S
With beards and robes and his immortal fame	Y
Or is it I who think so I know not	I
I'm frightened sure enough but if I show it	I
I'll be no more the Vivian for whose love	U2
He tossed away his glory or the Vivian	P
Who saw no man alive to make her love him	K2
Till she saw Merlin once in Camelot	I
And seeing him saw no other In an age	R2
That has no plan for me that I can read	I
Without him shall he tell me what I am	V2
And why I am I wonder While she thought	I
And feared the man whom her perverse negation	P
Must overcome somehow to soothe her fancy	S
She smiled and welcomed him and so they stood	I
Each finding in the other's eyes a gleam	W2
Of what eternity had hidden there	S
	-
Are you always all in green as you are now	C2
Said Merlin more employed with her complexion	P
Where blood and olive made wild harmony	S
With eyes and wayward hair that were too dark	X2
For peace if they were not subordinated	I
If so you are then so you make yourself	N
A danger in a world of many dangers	B
If I were young God knows if I were safe	Y2
Concerning you in green like a slim cedar	S
As you are now to say my life was mine	P2
Were you to say to me that I should end it	I
Longevity for me were jeopardized	I
Have you your green on always and all over	S
	-
Come here and I will tell you about that	I
Said Vivian leading Merlin with a laugh	Z2
To an arbored seat where they made opposites	B
If you are Merlin and I know you are	S
For I remember you in Camelot	I
You know that I am Vivian as I am	V2
And if I go in green why let me go so	B
And say at once why you have come to me	S
Cloaked over like a monk and with a beard	I
As long as Jeremiah's I don't like it	I
I'll never like a man with hair like that	I
While I can feed a carp with little frogs	B
I'm rather sure to hate you if you keep it	I
And when I hate a man I poison him	K2
	-
You've never fed a carp with little frogs	B
Said Merlin I can see it in your eyes	B
I might then if I haven't said the lady	S
For I'm a savage and I love no man	A3
As I have seen him yet I'm here alone	S2
With some three hundred others all of whom	B3
Are ready I dare say to die for me	S
I'm cruel and I'm cold and I like snakes	B
And some have said my mother was a fairy	S
Though I believe it not	I
	-
Why not believe it	I
Said Merlin I believe it I believe	C3
Also that you divine as I had wished	I
In my surviving ornament of office	B
A needless imposition on your wits	B
If not yet on the scope of your regard	I
Even so you cannot say how old I am	V2
Or yet how young I'm willing cheerfully	S
To fight left handed Hell's three headed hound	I
If you but whistle him up from where he lives	B
I'm cheerful and I'm fierce and I've made kings	B
And some have said my father was the Devil	R
Though I believe it not Whatever I am	V2
I have not lived in Time until to day	X
A moment's worth of wisdom there escaped him	K2
But Vivian seized it and it was not lost	I
	-
Embroidering doom with many levities	B
Till now the fountain's crystal silver fading	F
Became a splash and a mere chilliness	B
They mocked their fate with easy pleasantries	B
That were too false and small to be forgotten	P
And with ingenious insincerities	B
That had no repetition or revival	R
At last the lady Vivian arose	B
And with a crying of how late it was	B
Took Merlin's hand and led him like a child	I
Along a dusky way between tall cones	B
Of tight green cedars Am I like one of these	B
You said I was though I deny it wholly	S
Very said Merlin to his bearded lips	B
Uplifting her small fingers O that hair	S
She moaned as if in sorrow Must it be	S
Must every prophet and important wizard	I
Be clouded so that nothing but his nose	B
And eyes and intimations of his ears	B
Are there to make us know him when we see him	K2
Praise heaven I'm not a prophet Are you glad	I
	-
He did not say that he was glad or sorry	S
For suddenly came flashing into vision	P
A thing that was a manor and a castle	R
With walls and roofs that had a flaming sky	M
Behind them like a sky that he remembered	I
And one that had from his rock sheltered haunt	I
Above the roofs of his forsaken city	S
Made flame as if all Camelot were on fire	S
The glow brought with it a brief memory	S
Of Arthur as he left him and the pain	D3
That fought in Arthur's eyes for losing him	K2
And must have overflowed when he had vanished	I
But now the eyes that looked hard into his	B
Were Vivian's not the King's and he could see	S
Or so he thought a shade of sorrow in them	E3
She took his two hands You are sad she said	I
He smiled Your western lights bring memories	B
Of Camelot We all have memories	B
Prophets and women who are like slim cedars	B
But you are wrong to say that I am sad	I
Would you go back to Camelot she asked	I
Her fingers tightening Merlin shook his head	I
Then listen while I tell you that I'm glad	I
She purred as if assured that he would listen	P
At your first warning much too long ago	B
Of this quaint pilgrimage of yours to see	S
The fairest and most orgulous of ladies'	B
No language for a prophet I am sure	S
Said I When this great Merlin comes to me	S
My task and avocation for some time	B2
Will be to make him willing if I can	A3
To teach and feed me with an ounce of wisdom '	-
For I have eaten to an empty shell	E2
After a weary feast of observation	P
Among the glories of a tinsel world	I
That had for me no glory till you came	Y
A life that is no life Would you go back	F3
To Camelot Merlin shook his head again	K
And the two smiled together in the sunset	I
	-
They moved along in silence to the door	S
Where Merlin said Of your three hundred here	S
There is but one I know and him I favor	S
I mean the stately one who shakes the keys	B
Of that most evil sounding gate of yours	B
Which has a clang as if it shut forever	S
If there be need I'll shut the gate myself	N
She said And you like Blaise Then you shall have him	K2
He was not born to serve but serve he must	I
It seems and be enamoured of my shadow	B
He cherishes the taint of some high folly	S
That haunts him with a name he cannot know	B
And I could fear his wits are paying for it	I
Forgive his tongue and humor it a little	R
I knew another one whose name was Blaise	B
He said and she said lightly Well what of it	I
And he was nigh the learnedest of hermits	B
His home was far away from everywhere	S
And he was all alone there when he died	I
Now be a pleasant Merlin Vivian said	I
Patting his arm and have no more of that	I
For I'll not hear of dead men far away	X
Or dead men anywhere this afternoon	L
There'll be a trifle in the way of supper	S
This evening but the dead shall not have any	S
Blaise and this man will tell you all there is	B
For you to know Then you'll know everything	F
She laughed and vanished like a humming bird	I

Edwin Arlington Robinson

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