Admetus Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: A BCDEFGHICJKLMN OPQQQJQJQRQSTUQQQVRQ WQXAYZA2B2LWQC2QJPD2 E2AE2QAF2E2G2H2 E2QI2E2E2E2E2JJ2QE2Q QQQE2K2LL2M2AG2QQQQI N2K2LO2AP2QQQE2E2 VAE2E2Q2QIE2AQL2E2E2 V R2S2VAE2QT2QE2VS2F2U 2QO2QQAM2E2QQAE2CAI2 QQQE2E2HQV2HQJW2JE2E 2E2AAE2VE2E2E2IE2QBE 2QI2E2LK2QB2AQD2E2QL 2BE2E2BQ2QR2X2Y2E2E2 E2QVVQE2QQQJJAAE2QCE 2Z2A3QE2BQI2B3JQQC3A 3QE2E2F2QQQE2QBBD3BE 2QE2QQQQE2JD3E2E2QE2 R2E3M2R2QE2I2AQR2E2E 2R2B V2AIF3L2QR2IE2AE2E2V E2QQBE2QQE2E2E2QE2G3 H3JI3E2E2BEJVE2QQE2P 2QE2E2K2J3E2E2QJAQE2 K2QQE2K2AE2E3K3E2D3E 2 E2E2D3QR2E2QQQE2E2E2 JN2E2QK2JE3JIE2QK2VQ E2JE2JQD3E2D3QI3AE2E 2E2R2E2AAAQAAAE2E3B2 E2F2E2AAE2R2E2N2L3VE 2JE3IJJQQE2BE2R2E3B2 EE2E2AE2E3AE2QBQS2E2 K3AAR2JS2BE2E2AE2I2G 3E2BE2QE2E2QE2E2JE2K 3QB2QJV2JE2QE2E2F2E2 QAE2QQD3E2JQQ VJG3AE2JE2BQE2QQQE3B 2AE2E2E2QQJE2M3AE3JE 2QBAQQQAQQBBS2E3JQE2 E3E2QE2AE2AM3N3O3VQE 2QQE3QBJAE2BR2E2QE2P 3B2QQ3 AE2L2QJS2E2AE2QQI3E2 E2E2AE2E2R3JE2QS3BE2 E2 QQT3E2E2QE2

To my friend Ralph Waldo Emerson	A
	-
	-
He who could beard the lion in his lair	B
To bind him for a girl and tame the boar	C
And drive these beasts before his chariot	D
Might wed Alcestis For her low brows' sake	E
Her hairs' soft undulations of warm gold	F
Her eyes clear color and pure virgin mouth	G
Though many would draw bow or shiver spear	H
Yet none dared meet the intolerable eye	I
Or lipless tusk of lion or boar	C
This heard Admetus King of Thessaly	J
Whose broad fat pastures spread their ample fields	K
Down to the sheer edge of Amphrysus' stream	L
Who laughed disdainful at the father's pride	M
That set such value on one milk faced child	N
	-
One morning as he rode alone and passed	O
Through the green twilight of Thessalian woods	P
Between two pendulous branches interlocked	Q
As through an open casement he descried	Q
A goddess as he deemed in truth a maid	Q
On a low bank she fondled tenderly	J
A favorite hound her floral face inclined	Q
above the glossy graceful animal	J
That pressed his snout against her cheek and gazed	Q
Wistfully with his keen sagacious eyes	R
One arm with lax embrace the neck enwreathed	Q
With polished roundness near the sleek gray skin	S
Admetus fixed with wonder dare not pass	T
Intrusive on her holy innocence	U
And sacred girlhood but his fretful steed	Q
Snuffed the air and champed and pawed the ground	Q
And hearing this the maiden raised her head	Q
No let or hindrance then might stop the king	V
Once having looked upon those supreme eyes	R
The drooping boughs disparting forth he sped	Q
And then drew in his steed to ask the path	W
Like a lost traveller in an alien land	Q
Although each river cloven vale with streams	X
Arrowy glancing to the blue Aegean	A
Each hallowed mountain the abode of gods	Y
Pelion and Ossa fringed with haunted groves	Z
The height spring crowned of dedicate Olympus	A2
And pleasant sun fed vineyards were to him	B2
Familiar as his own face in the stream	L
Nathless he paused and asked the maid what path	W
Might lead him from the forest She replied	Q
But still he tarried and with sportsman's praise	C2
Admired the hound and stooped to stroke its head	Q
And asked her if she hunted Nay not she	J
Her father Pelias hunted in these woods	P
Where there was royal game He knew her now	D2
Alcestis and he left her with due thanks	E2
No goddess but a mortal to be won	A
By such a simple feat as driving boars	E2
And lions to his chariot What was that	Q
To him who saw the boar of Calydon	A
The sacred boar of Artemis at bay	F2
In the broad stagnant marsh and sent his darts	E2
In its tough quivering flank and saw its death	G2
Stung by sure arrows of Arcadian nymph	H2
	-
To river pastures of his flocks and herds	E2
Admetus rode where sweet breathed cattle grazed	Q
Heifers and goats and kids and foolish sheep	I2
Dotted cool spacious meadows with bent heads	E2
And necks' soft wool broken in yellow flakes	E2
Nibbling sharp toothed the rich thick growing blades	E2
One herdsman kept the innumerable droves	E2
A boy yet young as immortality	J
In listless posture on a vine grown rock	J2
Around him huddled kids and sheep that left	Q
The mother's udder for his nighest grass	E2
Which sprouted with fresh verdure where he sat	Q
And yet dull neighboring rustics never guessed	Q
A god had been among them till he went	Q
Although with him they acted as he willed	Q
Renouncing shepherds' silly pranks and quips	E2
Because his very presence made them grave	K2
Amphryssius after their translucent stream	L
They called him but Admetus knew his name	L2
Hyperion god of sun and song and silver speech	M2
Condemned to serve a mortal for his sin	A
To Zeus in sending violent darts of death	G2
A raising hand irreverent against	Q
The one eyed forgers of the thunderbolt	Q
For shepherd's crook he held the living rod	Q
Of twisted serpents later Hermes' wand	Q
Him sought the king discovering soon hard by	I
Idle as one in nowise bound to time	N2
Watching the restless grasses blow and wave	K2
The sparkle of the sun upon the stream	L
Regretting nothing living with the hour	O2
For him who had his light and song within	A
Was naught that did not shine and all things sang	P2
Admetus prayed for his celestial aid	Q
To win Alcestis which the god vouchsafed	Q
Granting with smiles as grant all gods who smite	Q
With stern hand sparing not for piteousness	E2
But give their gifts in gladness	E2
	-
Thus the king	V
Led with loose rein the beasts as tame as kine	A
And townsfolk thronged within the city streets	E2
As round a god and mothers showed their babes	E2
And maidens loved the crowned intrepid youth	Q2
And men aloud worship though the very god	Q
Who wrought the wonder dwelled unnoted nigh	I
Divinely scornful of neglect or praise	E2
Then Pelias seeing this would be his son	A
As he had vowed called for his wife and child	Q
With Anaxibia Alcestis came	L2
A warm flush spreading o'er her eager face	E2
In looking on the rider of the woods	E2
And knowing him her suitor and the king	V
	-
Admetus won Alcestis thus to wife	R2
And these with mated hearts and mutual love	S2
Lived a life blameless beautiful the king	V
Ordaining justice in the gates the queen	A
With grateful offerings to the household gods	E2
Wise with the wisdom of the pure in heart	Q
One child she bore Eumelus and he throve	T2
Yet none the less because they sacrificed	Q
The firstlings of their flocks and fruits and flowers	E2
Did trouble come for sickness seized the king	V
Alcestis watched with many handed love	S2
But unavailing service for he lay	F2
With languid limbs despite his ancient strength	U2
Of sinew and his skill with spear and sword	Q
His mother came Clymene and with her	O2
His father Pheres his unconscious child	Q
They brought him while forlorn Alcestis sat	Q
Discouraged with the face of desolation	A
The jealous gods would bind his mouth from speech	M2
And smite his vigorous frame with impotence	E2
And ruin with bitter ashes worms and dust	Q
The beauty of his crowned exalted head	Q
He knew her presence soon he would not know	A
Nor feel her hand in his lie warm and close	E2
Nor care if she were near him any more	C
Exhausted with long vigils thus the queen	A
Held hard and grievous thoughts till heavy sleep	I2
Possessed her weary sense and she dreamed	Q
And even in her dream her trouble lived	Q
For she was praying in a barren field	Q
To all the gods for help when came across	E2
The waste of air and land from distant skies	E2
A spiritual voice divinely clear	H
Whose unimaginable sweetness thrilled	Q
Her aching heart with tremor of strange joy	V2
Arise Alcestis cast away white fear	H
A god dwells with you seek and you shall find	Q
Then quiet satisfaction filled her soul	J
Almost akin to gladness and she woke	W2
Weak as the dead Admetus lay there still	J
But she superb with confidence arose	E2
And passed beyond the mourners' curious eyes	E2
Seeking Amphryssius in the meadow lands	E2
She found him with the godlike mien of one	A
Who roused awakens unto deeds divine	A
I come Hyperion with incessant tears	E2
To crave the life of my dear lord the king	V
Pity me for I see the future years	E2
Widowed and laden with disastrous days	E2
And ye the gods will miss him when the fires	E2
Upon your shrines unfed neglected die	I
Who will pour large libations in your names	E2
And sacrifice with generous piety	Q
Silence and apathy will greet you there	B
Where once a splendid spirit offered praise	E2
Grant me this boon divine and I will beat	Q
With prayer at morning's gates before they ope	I2
Unto thy silver hoofed and flame eyed steeds	E2
Answer ere yet the irremeable stream	L
Be crossed answer O god and save	K2
She ceased	Q
With full throat salt with tears and looked on him	B2
And with a sudden cry of awe fell prone	A
For lo he was transmuted to a god	Q
The supreme aureole radiant round his brow	D2
Divine refulgences on his face his eyes	E2
Awful with splendor and his august head	Q
With blinding brilliance crowned by vivid flame	L2
Then in a voice that charmed the listening air	B
Woman arise I have no influence	E2
On Death who is the servant of the Fates	E2
Howbeit for thy passion and thy prayer	B
The grace of thy fair womanhood and youth	Q2
Thus godlike will I intercede for thee	Q
And sue the insatiate sisters for this life	R2
Yet hope not blindly loth are these to change	X2
Their purpose neither will they freely give	Y2
But haggling lend or sell perchance the price	E2
Will counterveil the boon Consider this	E2
Now rise and look upon me And she rose	E2
But by her stood no godhead bathed in light	Q
But young Amphryssius herdsman to the king	V
Benignly smiling	V
Fleet as thought the god	Q
Fled from the glittering earth to blackest depths	E2
Of Tartarus and none might say he sped	Q
On wings ambrosial or with feet as swift	Q
As scouring hail or airy chariot	Q
Borne by the flame breathing steeds ethereal	J
But with a motion inconceivable	J
Departed and was there Before the throne	A
Of Ades first he hailed the long sought queen	A
Stolen with violent hands from grassy fields	E2
And delicate airs of sunlit Sicily	Q
Pensive gold haired but innocent eyed no more	C
As when she laughing plucked the daffodils	E2
But grave as on fulfilling a strange doom	Z2
And low at Ades' feet wrapped in grim murk	A3
And darkness thick the three gray women sat	Q
Loose robed and chapleted with wool and flowers	E2
Purple narcissi round their horrid hair	B
Intent upon her task the first one held	Q
The tender thread that at a touch would snap	I2
The second weaving it with warp and woof	B3
Into strange textures some stained dark and foul	J
Some sanguine colored and some black as night	Q
And rare ones white or with a golden thread	Q
Running throughout the web the farthest hag	C3
With glistening scissors cut her sisters' work	A3
To these Hyperion but they never ceased	Q
Nor raised their eyes till with soft moderate tones	E2
But by their powerful persuasiveness	E2
Commanding all to listen and obey	F2
He spoke and all hell heard and these three looked	Q
And waited his request	Q
I come a god	Q
At pure mortal queen's request who sues	E2
For life renewed unto her dying lord	Q
Admetus and I also pray this prayer	B
Then cease for when hath Fate been moved by prayer	B
But strength and upright heart should serve with you	D3
I ask ye not forever to forbear	B
But spare a while a moment unto us	E2
A lifetime unto men The Fates swerve not	Q
For supplications like the pliant gods	E2
Have they not willed a life's thread should be cut	Q
With them the will is changeless as the deed	Q
O men ye have not learned in all the past	Q
Desires are barren and tears yield no fruit	Q
How long will ye besiege the thrones of gods	E2
With lamentations When lagged Death for all	J
Your timorous shirking We work not like you	D3
Delaying and relenting purposeless	E2
With unenduring issues but our deeds	E2
Forever interchained and interlocked	Q
Complete each other and explain themselves	E2
Ye will a life then why not any life	R2
What care we for the king He is not worth	E3
These many words indeed we love not speech	M2
We care not if he live or lose such life	R2
As men are greedy for filled full with hate	Q
Sins beneath scorn and only lit by dreams	E2
Or one sane moment or a useless hope	I2
Lasting how long the space between the green	A
And fading yellow of the grass they tread	Q
But he withdrawing not Will any life	R2
Suffice ye for Admetus Yea the crones	E2
Three times repeated We know no such names	E2
As king or queen or slave we want but life	R2
Begone and vex us in our work no more	B
	-
With broken blessings inarticulate joy	V2
And tears Alcestis thanked Hyperion	A
And worshipped Then he gently Who will die	I
So that the king may live And she You ask	F3
Nay who will live when life clasps hands with shame	L2
And death with honor Lo you are a god	Q
You cannot know the highest joy of life	R2
To leave it when 't is worthier to die	I
His parents kinsmen courtiers subjects slaves	E2
For love of him myself would die were none	A
Found ready but what Greek would stand to see	E2
A woman glorified and falter Once	E2
And only once the gods will do this thing	V
In all the ages such a man themselves	E2
Delight to honor holy temperate chaste	Q
With reverence for his daemon and his god	Q
Thus she triumphant to they very door	B
Of King Admetus' chamber All there saw	E2
Her ill timed gladness with much wonderment	Q
But she No longer mourn The king is saved	Q
The Fates will spare him Lift your voice in praise	E2
Sing paeans to Apollo crown your brows	E2
With laurel offer thankful sacrifice	E2
O Queen what mean these foolish words misplaced	Q
And what an hour is this to thank the Fates	E2
Thrice blessed be the gods for God himself	G3
Has sued for me they are not stern and deaf	H3
Cry and they answer commune with your soul	J
And they send counsel weep with rainy grief	I3
And these will sweeten you your bitterest tears	E2
On one condition King Admetus lives	E2
And ye on hearing will lament no more	B
Each emulous to save Then for she spake	E
Assured as having heard an oracle	J
They asked What deed of ours may serve the king	V
The Fates accept another life for his	E2
And one of you may die Smiling she ceased	Q
But silence answered her What do ye thrust	Q
Your arrows in your hearts beneath your cloaks	E2
Dying like Greeks too proud to own the pang	P2
This ask I not In all the populous land	Q
But one need suffer for immortal praise	E2
The generous Fates have sent no pestilence	E2
Famine nor war it is as though they gave	K2
Freely and only make the boon more rich	J3
By such slight payment Now a people mourns	E2
And ye may change the grief to jubilee	E2
Filling the cities with a pleasant sound	Q
But as for me what faltering words can tell	J
My joy in extreme sharpness kin to pain	A
A monument you have within my heart	Q
Wreathed with kind love and dear remembrances	E2
And I will pray for you before I crave	K2
Pardon and pity for myself from God	Q
Your name will be the highest in the land	Q
Oftenest fondest on my grateful lips	E2
After the name of him you die to save	K2
What silent still Since when has virtue grown	A
Less beautiful than indolence and ease	E2
Is death more terrible more hateworthy	E3
More bitter than dishonor Will ye live	K3
On shame Chew and find sweet its poisoned fruits	E2
What sons will ye bring forth mean souled like you	D3
Or like your parents brave to blush like girls	E2
And say 'Our fathers were afraid to die '	-
Ye will not dare to raise heroic eyes	E2
Unto the eyes of aliens In the streets	E2
Will women and young children point at you	D3
Scornfully and the sun will find you shamed	Q
And night refuse to shield you What a life	R2
Is this ye spin and fashion for yourselves	E2
And what new tortures of suspense and doubt	Q
Will death invent for such as are afraid	Q
Acastus thou my brother in the field	Q
Foremost who greeted me with sanguine hands	E2
From ruddy battle with a conqueror's face	E2
These honors wilt thou blot with infamy	E2
Nay thou hast won no honors a mere girl	J
Would do as much as thou at such a time	N2
In clamorous battle 'midst tumultuous sounds	E2
Neighing of war steeds shouts of sharp command	Q
Snapping of shivered spears for all are brave	K2
When all men look to them expectantly	J
But he is truly brave who faces death	E3
Within his chamber at a sudden call	J
At night when no man sees content to die	I
When life can serve no longer those he loves	E2
Then thus Acastus Sister I fear not	Q
Death nor the empty darkness of the grave	K2
And hold my life but as a little thing	V
Subject unto my people's call and Fate	Q
But if 't is little no greater is the king's	E2
And though my heart bleeds sorely I recall	J
Astydamia who thus would mourn for me	E2
We are not cowards we youth of Thessaly	J
And Thessaly yea all Greece knoweth it	Q
Nor will we brook the name from even you	D3
Albeit a queen and uttering these wild words	E2
Through your umwonted sorrow Then she knew	D3
That he stood firm and turning from him cried	Q
To the king's parents Are ye deaf with grief	I3
Pheres Clymene Ye can save your son	A
Yet rather stand and weep with barren tears	E2
O shame to think that such gray reverend hairs	E2
Should cover such unvenerable heads	E2
What would ye lose a remnant of mere life	R2
A few slight raveled threads and give him years	E2
To fill with glory Who when he is gone	A
Will call you gentlest names this side of heaven	A
Father and mother Knew ye not this man	A
Ere he was royal a poor helpless child	Q
Crownless and kingdomless One birth alone	A
Sufficeth not Clymene once again	A
You must give life with travail and strong pain	A
Has he not lived to outstrip your swift hopes	E2
What mother can refuse a second birth	E3
To such a son But ye denying him	B2
What after offering may appease the gods	E2
What joy outweigh the grief of this one day	F2
What clamor drown the hours' myriad tongues	E2
Crying 'Your son your son where is your son	A
Unnatural mother timid foolish man	A
Then Pheres gravely These are graceless words	E2
From you our daughter Life is always life	R2
And death comes soon enough to such as we	E2
We twain are old and weak have served our time	N2
And made our sacrifices Let the young	L3
Arise now in their turn and save the king	V
O gods look on your creatures do ye see	E2
And seeing have ye patience Smite them all	J
Unsparing with dishonorable death	E3
Vile slaves a woman teaches you to die	I
Intrepid with exalted steadfast soul	J
Scorn in my heart and love unutterable	J
I yield the Fates my life and like a god	Q
Command them to revere that sacred head	Q
Thus kiss I thrice the dear blind holy eyes	E2
And bid them see and thrice I kiss this brow	B
And thus unfasten I the pale proud lips	E2
With fruitful kissings bringing love and life	R2
And without fear or any pang I breathe	E3
My soul in him	B2
Alcestis I awake	E
I hear I hear unspeak thy reckless words	E2
For lo thy life blood tingles in my veins	E2
And streameth through my body like new wine	A
Behold thy spirit dedicate revives	E2
My pulse and through thy sacrifice I breathe	E3
Thy lips are bloodless kiss me not again	A
Ashen thy cheeks faded thy flower like hands	E2
O woman perfect in thy womanhood	Q
And in thy wifehood I adjure thee now	B
As mother by the love thou bearest our child	Q
In this thy hour of passion and of love	S2
Of sacrifice and sorrow to unsay	E2
Thy words sublime I die that thou mayest live	K3
And deemest thou that I accept the boon	A
Craven like these my subjects Lo my queen	A
Is life itself a lovely thing bare life	R2
And empty breath a thing desirable	J
Or is it rather happiness and love	S2
That make it precious to its inmost core	B
When these are lost are there not swords in Greece	E2
And flame and poison deadly waves and plagues	E2
No man has ever lacked these things and gone	A
Unsatisfied It is not these the gods refuse	E2
Nay never clutch my sleeve and raise thy lip	I2
Not these I seek but I will stab myself	G3
Poison my life and burn my flesh with words	E2
And save or follow thee Lo hearken now	B
I bid the gods take back their loathsome gifts	E2
O spurn them and I scorn them and I hate	Q
Will they prove deaf to this as to my prayers	E2
With tongue reviling blasphemous I curse	E2
With mouth polluted from deliberate heart	Q
Dishonored be their names scorned be their priests	E2
Ruined their altars mocked their oracles	E2
It is Admetus King of Thessaly	J
Defaming thus annihilate him gods	E2
So that his queen who worships you may live	K3
He paused as one expectant but no bolt	Q
From the insulted heavens answered him	B2
But awful silence followed Then a hand	Q
A boyish hand upon his shoulder fell	J
And turning he beheld his shepherd boy	V2
Not wrathful but divinely pitiful	J
Who spake in tender thrilling tones The gods	E2
Cannot recall their gifts Blaspheme them not	Q
Bow down and worship rather Shall he curse	E2
Who sees not and who hears not neither knows	E2
Nor understands Nay thou shalt bless and pray	F2
Pray for the pure heart purged by prayer divines	E2
And seeth when the bolder eyes are blind	Q
Worship and wonder these befit a man	A
At every hour and mayhap will the gods	E2
Yet work a miracle for knees that bend	Q
And hands that supplicate	Q
Then all they knew	D3
A sudden sense of awe and bowed their heads	E2
Beneath the stripling's gaze Admetus fell	J
Crushed by that gentle touch and cried aloud	Q
Pardon and pity I am hard beset	Q
	-
	-
There waited at the doorway of the king	V
One grim and ghastly shadowy horrible	J
Bearing the likeness of a king himself	G3
Erect as one who serveth not upon	A
His head a crown within his fleshless hands	E2
A sceptre monstrous winged intolerable	J
To him a stranger coming 'neath the trees	E2
Which slid down flakes of light now on his hair	B
Close curled now on his bared and brawny chest	Q
Now on his flexile vine like veined limbs	E2
With iron network of strong muscle thewed	Q
And godlike brows and proud mouth unrelaxed	Q
Firm was his step no superfluity	Q
Of indolent flesh impeded this man's strength	E3
Slender and supple every perfect limb	B2
Beautiful with the glory of a man	A
No weapons bare he neither shield his hands	E2
Folded upon his breast his movements free	E2
Of all incumbrance When his mighty strides	E2
Had brought him nigh the waiting one he paused	Q
Whose palace this and who art thou grim shade	Q
The palace of the King of Thessaly	J
And my name is not strange unto thine ears	E2
For who hath told men that I wait for them	M3
The one sure thing on earth Yet all they know	A
Unasking and yet answered I am Death	E3
The only secret that the gods reveal	J
But who are thou who darest question me	E2
Alcides and that thing I dare not do	Q
Hath found no name Whom here awaitest thou	B
Alcestis Queen of Thessaly a queen	A
Who wooed me as the bridegroom woos the bride	Q
For her life sacrificed will save her lord	Q
Admetus as the Fates decreed I wait	Q
Impatient eager and I enter soon	A
With darkening wing invisible a god	Q
And kiss her lips and kiss her throbbing heart	Q
And then the tenderest hands can do no more	B
Than close her eyes and wipe her cold white brow	B
Inurn her ashes and strew flowers above	S2
This woman is a god a hero Death	E3
In this her sacrifice I see a soul	J
Luminous starry earth can spare her not	Q
It is not rich enough in purity	E2
To lose this paragon Save her O Death	E3
Thou surely art more gentle than the Fates	E2
Yet these have spared her lord and never meant	Q
That she should suffer and that this their grace	E2
Beautiful royal on one side should turn	A
Sudden and show a fearful fatal face	E2
Nay have they not O fond and foolish man	A
Naught comes unlooked for unforeseen by them	M3
Doubt when they favor thee though thou mayest laugh	N3
When they have scourged thee with an iron scourge	O3
Behold their smile is deadlier than their sting	V
And every boon of theirs is double faced	Q
Yea I am gentler unto ye than these	E2
I slay relentless but when have I mocked	Q
With poisoned gifts and generous hands that smite	Q
Under the flowers for my name is Truth	E3
Were this fair queen more fair more pure more chaste	Q
I would not spare her for your wildest prayer	B
Nor her best virtue Is the earth's mouth full	J
Is the grave satisfied Discrown me then	A
For life is lord and men may mock the gods	E2
With immortality I sue no more	B
But I command thee spare this woman's life	R2
Or wrestle with Alcides Wrestle with thee	E2
Thou puny boy And Death laughed loud and swelled	Q
To monstrous bulk fierce eyed with outstretched wings	E2
And lightnings round his brow but grave and firm	P3
Strong as a tower Alcides waited him	B2
And these began to wrestle and a cloud	Q
Impenetrable fell and all was dark	Q3
	-
	-
Farewell Admetus and my little son	A
Eumelus O these clinging baby hands	E2
Thy loss is bitter for no chance no fame	L2
No wealth of love can ever compensate	Q
for a dead mother Thou O king fulfill	J
The double duty love him with my love	S2
And make him bold to wrestle shiver spears	E2
Noble and manly Grecian to the bone	A
And tell him that his mother spake with gods	E2
Farewell farewell Mine eyes are growing blind	Q
The darkness gathers O my heart my heart	Q
No sound made answer save the cries of grief	I3
From all the mourners and the suppliance	E2
Of strick'n Admetus O have mercy gods	E2
O gods have mercy mercy upon us	E2
Then from the dying woman's couch again	A
Her voice was heard but with strange sudden tones	E2
Lo I awake the light comes back to me	E2
What miracle is this And thunders shook	R3
The air and clouds of mighty darkness fell	J
And the earth trembled and weird horrid sounds	E2
Were heard of rushing wings and fleeing feet	Q
And groans and all were silent dumb with awe	S3
Saving the king who paused not in his prayer	B
Have mercy gods and then again O gods	E2
Have mercy	E2
	-
Through the open casement poured	Q
Bright floods of sunny light the air was soft	Q
Clear delicate as though a summer storm	T3
Had passed away and those there standing saw	E2
Afar upon the plain Death fleeing thence	E2
And at the doorway weary well nigh spent	Q
Alcides flushed with victory	E2

Emma Lazarus

Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme

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