Fasting Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABB CCDD EEFF GGHH IIJK LLAA LLLL MMNO AABB GGII PPQQ LLRR SSTU IIDD VVGG LLWW AAXY ZZBB| 'Tis morning now yet silently I stand | A |
| Uplift the curtain with a weary hand | A |
| Look out while darkness overspreads the way | B |
| And long for day | B |
| - | |
| Calm peace is frighted with my mood to night | C |
| Nor visits my dull chamber with her light | C |
| To guide my senses into her sweet rest | D |
| And leave me blest | D |
| - | |
| Long hours since the city rocked and sung | E |
| Itself to slumber only the stars swung | E |
| Aloft their torches in the midnight skies | F |
| With watchful eyes | F |
| - | |
| No sound awakes I even breathe no sigh | G |
| Nor hear a single footstep passing by | G |
| Yet I am not alone for now I feel | H |
| A presence steal | H |
| - | |
| Within my chamber walls I turn to see | I |
| The sweetest guest that courts humanity | I |
| With subtle slow enchantment draws she near | J |
| And Sleep is here | K |
| - | |
| What care I for the olive branch of Peace | L |
| Kind Sleep will bring a thrice distilled release | L |
| Nepenthes that alone her mystic hand | A |
| Can understand | A |
| - | |
| And so she bends this welcome sorceress | L |
| To crown my fasting with her light caress | L |
| Ah sure my pain will vanish at the bliss | L |
| Of her warm kiss | L |
| - | |
| But still my duty lies in self denial | M |
| I must refuse sweet Sleep although the trial | M |
| Will reawaken all my depth of pain | N |
| So once again | O |
| - | |
| I lift the curtain with a weary hand | A |
| With more than sorrow silently I stand | A |
| Look out while darkness overspreads the way | B |
| And long for day | B |
| - | |
| Go Sleep I say before the darkness die | G |
| To one who needs you even more than I | G |
| For I can bear my part alone but he | I |
| Has need of thee | I |
| - | |
| His poor tired eyes in vain have sought relief | P |
| His heart more tired still with all its grief | P |
| His pain is deep while mine is vague and dim | Q |
| Go thou to him | Q |
| - | |
| When thou hast fanned him with thy drowsy wings | L |
| And laid thy lips upon the pulsing strings | L |
| That in his soul with fret and fever burn | R |
| To me return | R |
| - | |
| She goes The air within the quiet street | S |
| Reverberates to the passing of her feet | S |
| I watch her take her passage through the gloom | T |
| To your dear home | U |
| - | |
| Beloved would you knew how sweet to me | I |
| Is this denial and how fervently | I |
| I pray that Sleep may lift you to her breast | D |
| And give you rest | D |
| - | |
| A privilege that she alone can claim | V |
| Would that my heart could comfort you the same | V |
| But in the censer Sleep is swinging high | G |
| All sorrows die | G |
| - | |
| She comes not back yet all my miseries | L |
| Wane at the thought of your calm sleeping eyes | L |
| Wane as I hear the early matin bell | W |
| The dawn foretell | W |
| - | |
| And so dear heart still silently I stand | A |
| Uplift the curtain with a weary hand | A |
| The long long night has bitter been and lone | X |
| But now 'tis gone | Y |
| - | |
| Dawn lights her candles in the East once more | Z |
| And darkness flees her chariot before | Z |
| The Lenten morning breaks with holy ray | B |
| And it is day | B |
Emily Pauline Johnson
(1)
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