Saint Romualdo Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST UVWXYZDA2B2 C2D2E2ZF2G2H2I2J2K2L 2M2N2O2P2Q2WR2S2T2U2 V2W2X2Y2X2XZ2A3 B3EC3D3X2E3X2Z2EF3G3 H3I3X2J3K3X2I3L3B3W2 X2B3X2H3X2V2M3N3B3X2 XB3X2XO3G3I3X2X2X2XL 3X2X2F3X2P3X2Q3R3X2S 3X2T3U3X2N2E3V3XX2X2 E3 W3Z2X3C3X2X2Q3YE3X2E 3X2Y3Z3A4M3B4X3C4Z2D 4Z3E4X2F4X2YC3E3P3G4 H4XX2X2I3E3V3E3I4M3J 4K4C3L4FI3E3M4N4F4O4 P4XE3X2X2FQ4O4U3I4X2 XX2E3X2F4X2P3V3 X2X2E3E3E3XP4XX2V3X2 X2AX2E3X2X2E3X2Q4J4Y R4E3ZE3E3X2E3E3X2X2F X2B4S4YE3E3B4X2T4X2E 3 X2Z3U4V4R4AX2X2X2X2E 3E3V3Z2X2X2E3XE3E3E3 X2XU3J4X2XX2XM2E3X2X 2E3X2X2E3X2X2X2W4E3X 4X2E3J4V3ZE3XX2YI give God thanks that I a lean old man | A |
Wrinkled infirm and crippled with keen pains | B |
By austere penance and continuous toil | C |
Now rest in spirit and possess the peace | D |
Which passeth understanding Th' end draws nigh | E |
Though the beginning is yesterday | F |
And a broad lifetime spreads 'twixt this and that | G |
A favored life though outwardly the butt | H |
Of ignominy malice and affront | I |
Yet lighted from within by the clear star | J |
Of a high aim and graciously prolonged | K |
To see at last its utmost goal attained | L |
I speak not of mine Order and my House | M |
Here founded by my hands and filled with saints | N |
A white society of snowy souls | O |
Swayed by my voice by mine example led | P |
For this is but the natural harvest reaped | Q |
From labors such as mine when blessed by God | R |
Though I rejoice to think my spirit still | S |
Will work my purposes through worthy hands | T |
After my bones are shriveled into dust | U |
Yet have I gleaned a finer sweeter fruit | V |
Of holy satisfaction sure and real | W |
Though subtler than the tissue of the air | X |
The power completely to detach the soul | Y |
From her companion through this life the flesh | Z |
So that in blessed privacy of peace | D |
Communing with high angels she can hold | A2 |
Serenely rapt her solitary course | B2 |
- | |
Ye know O saints of heaven what I have borne | C2 |
Of discipline and scourge the twisted lash | D2 |
Of knotted rope that striped my shrinking limbs | E2 |
Vigils and fasts protracted till my flesh | Z |
Wasted and crumbled from mine aching bones | F2 |
And the last skin one woof of pain and sores | G2 |
Thereto like yellow parchment loosely clung | H2 |
Exposure to the fever and the frost | I2 |
When 'mongst the hollows of the hills I lurked | J2 |
From persecution of misguided folk | K2 |
Accustoming my spirit to ignore | L2 |
The burden of the cross while picturing | M2 |
The bliss of disembodied souls the grace | N2 |
Of holiness the lives of sainted men | O2 |
And entertaining all exalted thoughts | P2 |
That nowise touched the trouble of the hour | Q2 |
Until the grief and pain seemed far less real | W |
Than the creations of my brain inspired | R2 |
The vision the beatitude were true | S2 |
The agony was but an evil dream | T2 |
I speak not now as one who hath not learned | U2 |
The purport of those lightly bandied words | V2 |
Evil and Fate but rather one who knows | W2 |
The thunders of the terrors of the world | X2 |
No mortal chance or change no earthly shock | Y2 |
Can move or reach my soul securely throned | X2 |
On heights of contemplation and calm prayer | X |
Happy serene no less actual joy | Z2 |
Of present peace than faith in joys to come | A3 |
- | |
This soft sweet yellow evening how the trees | B3 |
Stand crisp against the clear bright colored sky | E |
How the white mountain tops distinctly shine | C3 |
Taking and giving radiance and the slopes | D3 |
Are purpled with rich floods of peach hued light | X2 |
Thank God my filmy old dislustred eyes | E3 |
Find the same sense of exquisite delight | X2 |
My heart vibrates to the same touch of joy | Z2 |
In scenes like this as when my pulse danced high | E |
And youth coursed through my veins This the one link | F3 |
That binds the wan old man that now I am | G3 |
To the wild lad who followed up the hounds | H3 |
Among Ravenna's pine woods by the sea | I3 |
For there how oft would I lose all delight | X2 |
In the pursuit the triumph or the game | J3 |
To stray alone among the shadowy glades | K3 |
And gaze as one who is not satisfied | X2 |
With gazing at the large bright breathing sea | I3 |
The forest glooms and shifting gleams between | L3 |
The fine dark fringes of the fadeless trees | B3 |
On gold green turf sweet brier and wild pink rose | W2 |
How rich that buoyant air with changing scent | X2 |
Of pungent pine fresh flowers and salt cool seas | B3 |
And when all echoes of the chase had died | X2 |
Of horn and halloo bells and baying hounds | H3 |
How mine ears drank the ripple of the tide | X2 |
On the fair shore the chirp of unseen birds | V2 |
The rustling of the tangled undergrowth | M3 |
And the deep lyric murmur of the pines | N3 |
When through their high tops swept the sudden breeze | B3 |
There was my world there would my heart dilate | X2 |
And my aspiring soul dissolve in prayer | X |
Unto that Spirit of Love whose energies | B3 |
Were active round me yet whose presence sphered | X2 |
In the unsearchable unbodied air | X |
Made itself felt but reigned invisible | O3 |
This ere the day that made me what I am | G3 |
Still can I see the hot bright sky the sea | I3 |
Illimitably sparkling as they showed | X2 |
That morning Though I deemed I took no note | X2 |
Of heaven or earth or waters yet my mind | X2 |
Retains to day the vivid portraiture | X |
Of every line and feature of the scene | L3 |
Light hearted 'midst the dewy lanes I fared | X2 |
Unto the sea whose jocund gleam I caught | X2 |
Between the slim boles when I heard the clink | F3 |
Of naked weapons then a sudden thrust | X2 |
Sickening to hear and then a stifled groan | P3 |
And pressing forward I beheld the sight | X2 |
That seared itself for ever on my brain | Q3 |
My kinsman Ser Ranieri on the turf | R3 |
Fallen upon his side his bright young head | X2 |
Among the pine spurs and his cheek pressed close | S3 |
Unto the moist chill sod his fingers clutched | X2 |
A handful of loose weeds and grass and earth | T3 |
Uprooted in his anguish as he fell | U3 |
And slowly from his heart the thick stream flowed | X2 |
Fouling the green leaving the fair sweet face | N2 |
Ghastly transparent with blue stony eyes | E3 |
Staring in blankness on that other one | V3 |
Who triumphed over him With hot desire | X |
Of instant vengeance I unsheathed my sword | X2 |
To rush upon the slayer when he turned | X2 |
In his first terror of blood guiltiness | E3 |
- | |
Within my heart a something snapped and brake | W3 |
What was it but the chord of rapturous joy | Z2 |
For ever stilled I tottered and would fall | X3 |
Had I not leaned against the friendly pine | C3 |
For all realities of life unmoored | X2 |
From their firm anchorage appeared to float | X2 |
Like hollow phantoms past my dizzy brain | Q3 |
The strange delusion wrought upon my soul | Y |
That this had been enacted ages since | E3 |
This very horror curdled at my heart | X2 |
This net of trees spread round these iron heavens | E3 |
Were closing over me when I had stood | X2 |
Unnumbered cycles back and fronted HIM | Y3 |
My father and he felt mine eyes as now | Z3 |
Yet saw me not and then as now that form | A4 |
The one thing real lay stretched between us both | M3 |
The fancy passed and I stood sane and strong | B4 |
To grasp the truth Then I remembered all | X3 |
A few fierce words between them yester eve | C4 |
Concerning some poor plot of pasturage | Z2 |
Soon silenced into courteous frigid calm | D4 |
This was the end I could not meet him now | Z3 |
To curse him to accuse him or to save | E4 |
And draw him from the red entanglement | X2 |
Coiled by his own hands round his ruined life | F4 |
God pardon me My heart that moment held | X2 |
No drop of pity toward this wretched soul | Y |
And cowering down as though his guilt were mine | C3 |
I fled amidst the savage silences | E3 |
Of that grim wood resolved to nurse alone | P3 |
My boundless desolation shame and grief | G4 |
- | |
There in that thick leaved twilight of high noon | H4 |
The quiet of the still suspended air | X |
Once more my wandering thoughts were calmly ranged | X2 |
Shepherded by my will I wept I prayed | X2 |
A solemn prayer conceived in agony | I3 |
Blessed with response instant miraculous | E3 |
For in that hour my spirit was at one | V3 |
With Him who knows and satisfies her needs | E3 |
The supplication and the blessing sprang | I4 |
From the same source inspired divinely both | M3 |
I prayed for light self knowledge guidance truth | J4 |
And these like heavenly manna were rained down | K4 |
To feed my hungered soul His guilt was mine | C3 |
What angel had been sent to stay mine arm | L4 |
Until the fateful moment passed away | F |
That would have ushered an eternity | I3 |
Of withering remorse I found the germs | E3 |
In mine own heart of every human sin | M4 |
That waited but occasion's tempting breath | N4 |
To overgrow with poisoned bloom my life | F4 |
What God thus far had saved me from myself | O4 |
Here was the lofty truth revealed that each | P4 |
Must feel himself in all must know where'er | X |
The great soul acts or suffers or enjoys | E3 |
His proper soul in kinship there is bound | X2 |
Then my life purpose dawned upon my mind | X2 |
Encouraging as morning As I lay | F |
Crushed by the weight of universal love | Q4 |
Which mine own thoughts had heaped upon myself | O4 |
I heard the clear chime of a slow sweet bell | U3 |
I knew it whence it came and what it sang | I4 |
From the gray convent nigh the wood it pealed | X2 |
And called the monks to prayer Vigil and prayer | X |
Clean lives white days of strict austerity | X2 |
Such were the offerings of these holy saints | E3 |
How far might such not tend to expiate | X2 |
A riotous world's indulgence Here my life | F4 |
Doubly austere and doubly sanctified | X2 |
Might even for that other one atone | P3 |
So bound to mine till both should be forgiven | V3 |
- | |
They sheltered me not questioning the need | X2 |
That led me to their cloistered solitude | X2 |
How rich how freighted with pure influence | E3 |
With dear security of perfect peace | E3 |
Was the first day I passed within those walls | E3 |
The holy habit of perpetual prayer | X |
The gentle greetings the rare temperate speech | P4 |
The chastening discipline the atmosphere | X |
Of settled and profound tranquillity | X2 |
Were even as living waters unto one | V3 |
Who perisheth of thirst Was this the world | X2 |
That yesterday seemed one huge battlefield | X2 |
For brutish passions Could the soul of man | A |
Withdraw so easily and erect apart | X2 |
Her own fair temple for her own high ends | E3 |
But this serene contentment slowly waned | X2 |
As I discerned the broad disparity | X2 |
Betwixt the form and spirit of the laws | E3 |
That bound the order in strait brotherhood | X2 |
Yet when I sought to gain a larger love | Q4 |
More rigid discipline severer truth | J4 |
And more complete surrender of the soul | Y |
Unto her God this was to my reproach | R4 |
And scoffs and gibes beset me on all sides | E3 |
In mine own cell I mortified my flesh | Z |
I held aloof from all my brethren's feasts | E3 |
To wrestle with my viewless enemies | E3 |
Till they should leave their blessing on my head | X2 |
For nightly was I haunted by that face | E3 |
White bloodless as I saw it 'midst the ferns | E3 |
Now staring out of darkness and it held | X2 |
Mine eyes from slumber and my brain from rest | X2 |
And drove me from my straw to weep and pray | F |
Rebellious thoughts such subtle torture wrought | X2 |
Upon my spirit that I lay day long | B4 |
In dumb despair until the blessed hope | S4 |
Of mercy dawned again upon my soul | Y |
As gradual as the slow gold moon that mounts | E3 |
The airy steps of heaven My faith arose | E3 |
With sure perception that disaster wrong | B4 |
And every shadow of man's destiny | X2 |
Are merely circumstance and cannot touch | T4 |
The soul's fine essence they exist or die | X2 |
Only as she affirms them or denies | E3 |
- | |
This faith sustain me even to the end | X2 |
It floods my heart with peace as surely now | Z3 |
As on that day the friars drove me forth | U4 |
Urging that my asceticism too harsh | V4 |
Endured through pride would bring into reproach | R4 |
Their customs and their order Then began | A |
My exile in the mountains where I bode | X2 |
A hunted man The elements conspired | X2 |
Against me and I was the seasons' sport | X2 |
Drenched parched and scorched and frozen alternately | X2 |
Burned with shrewd frosts prostrated by fierce heats | E3 |
Shivering 'neath chilling dews and gusty rains | E3 |
And buffeted by all the winds of heaven | V3 |
Yet was this period my time of joy | Z2 |
My daily thoughts perpetual converse held | X2 |
With angels ministrant mine ears were charmed | X2 |
With sweet accordance of celestial sounds | E3 |
Song harp and choir clear ringing through the air | X |
And visions were revealed unto mine eyes | E3 |
By night and day of Heaven's very courts | E3 |
In shadowless undimmed magnificence | E3 |
I gave God thanks not that He sheltered me | X2 |
And fed me as He feeds the fowls of air | X |
For had I perished this too had been well | U3 |
But for the revelation of His truth | J4 |
The glory the beatitude vouchsafed | X2 |
To exalt to heal to quicken to inspire | X |
So that the pinched lean excommunicate | X2 |
Was crowned with joy more solid more secure | X |
Than all the comfort of the vales could bring | M2 |
Then the good Lord touched certain fervid hearts | E3 |
Aspiring toward His love to come to me | X2 |
Timid and few at first but as they heard | X2 |
From mine own lips the precious oracles | E3 |
That soothed the trouble of their souls appeased | X2 |
Their spiritual hunger and disclosed | X2 |
All of the God within them to themselves | E3 |
They flocked about me and they hailed me saint | X2 |
And sware to follow and to serve the good | X2 |
Which my word published and my life declared | X2 |
Thus the lone hermit of the mountain top | W4 |
Descended leader of a band of saints | E3 |
And midway 'twixt the summit and the vale | X4 |
I perched my convent Yet I bated not | X2 |
One whit of strict restraint and abstinence | E3 |
And they who love me and who serve the truth | J4 |
Have learned to suffer with me and have won | V3 |
The supreme joy that is not of the flesh | Z |
Foretasting the delights of Paradise | E3 |
This faith to them imparted will endure | X |
After my tongue hath ceased to utter it | X2 |
And the great peace hath settled on my soul | Y |
Emma Lazarus
(1)
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