The Soul's Quest Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BBBCC CDDD E EEFFF G HH HB F FFIII GGGJJ JKKK F FFBBB A LLLMM NOOO P PPFFF BB QQ QRRR A AAGGG FF RR RSSS G GGGGG GGGPP PPPP T TUVVV WWWXX XFFF B BB A GGG LLLGG GGGG E EEYYY GGGAA AZZZ A2 A2A2B2B2B2 GGGQQ QC2C2C2 G A2GGGG RRRGG FFF B2 B2B2BBB B2B2B2VV VQQQ B BBPART I | A |
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IN the land that is neither night nor day | B |
Where the mists sleep over the forests grey | B |
A sad sad spirit wandered away | B |
The woods are still no brooks no wind | C |
No fair green meadows can she find | C |
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But a low red light in the sky behind | C |
Far over the plain to the spirit's sight | D |
The city's towers are black as night | D |
Against the edge of the low red light | D |
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This side the city in darkness lies | E |
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But westward at the glowering skies | E |
It glares with a thousand fiery eyes | E |
The road is long the hedgerows bare | F |
There's the chill of death in the silent air | F |
And a glimmer of darkness everywhere | F |
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'O sad sad spirit what thy quest | G |
With those flowing locks and that shadowy vest ' | - |
The spirit answers 'I seek for rest ' | - |
'Where seekest rest when the air is cold | H |
On the long dim road and the clock hath tolled | H |
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The muffled hours form the belfry old | H |
'Where seekest rest through the twilight grey | B |
Of the mists that sleep on the woods alway ' | - |
'I seek to morrow or yesterday ' | - |
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Her face is pale her feet are bare | F |
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Her sad dark eyes wide open stare | F |
At the glimmering darkness everywhere | F |
To those cheeks no rose hath summer brought | I |
But on their pallor time hath wrought | I |
The troubled lines of an after thought | I |
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Her arms are crossed upon her breast | G |
Her round limbs shape the shadowy vest | G |
And thus all silent seeks she rest | G |
Her tread is light on the cold hard road | J |
For the tread may be light yet heavy the load | J |
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Of grief at the heart and thoughts that goad | J |
She plucks a leaf from the roadway side | K |
And under its shade two violets hide | K |
As if from her cold touch they hide | K |
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She twines the violets in her hair | F |
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They have no scent she does not care | F |
For the glimmer of darkness is everywhere | F |
And on through the dim of the twilight grey | B |
While the pale sky gloweth far away | B |
She seeks to morrow or yesterday | B |
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PART II | A |
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'O Abbess Abbess the air is chill | L |
I heard the chaunting over the hill | L |
Like an angel's voice when the soul is still | L |
'O Abbess open wide thy gate | M |
Out on the cold dim road I wait | M |
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A spirit lone and desolate | N |
'Take thou these hands and these weary feet | O |
Cold as a corpse in its winding sheet | O |
For the song of the nuns was so strange and sweet | O |
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'Here with the sisters let me dwell | P |
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Under these walls in the loneliest cell | P |
Waiting the sound of the matin bell | P |
'Cut off these locks of flowing hair | F |
Cover with weeds this bosom bare | F |
For the glimmer of darkness is everywhere | F |
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'Ask not my name nor whence my way | B |
For the mist sleeps over the wood alway | B |
And I seek to morrow or yesterday ' | - |
She's passed beneath the chapel door | Q |
The nuns are kneeling on the floor | Q |
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But a low wind moaneth evermore | Q |
Sweeter and sweeter the sisters sing | R |
Till high in the roof the echoes ring | R |
For they know that God is listening | R |
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'Ave Maria hear our cry | A |
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As the shadows roll across the sky | A |
For those that live and those that die | A |
'Ave Maria Virgin blest | G |
Help the sin stained and distrest | G |
Give the weary hearted rest | G |
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'Ave Maria who didst bear | F |
Jesus in this world of care | F |
Grant us all thy bliss to share ' | - |
Sweeter and sweeter the sisters sing | R |
From arch to arch the echoes ring | R |
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For they know that God is listening | R |
Out of the north the oceans roll | S |
Washing the lands from pole to pole | S |
No rest no rest for the old world's soul | S |
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The after glow of suns that set | G |
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O'er fields with morning dew once wet | G |
Where all life's flowering roadways met | G |
Long shadows of our joys has sent | G |
Sloping adown the way we went | G |
Towards darkness where our feet are bent | G |
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Is it the moan of the evening wind | G |
Or the voice of the ocean in the mind | G |
While the pale red light looms up behind | G |
Is it moan of wind or convent bell | P |
Or cry of the ocean I cannot tell | P |
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But a voice in her heart has locked the spell | P |
She does not hear the organ's swell | P |
In vain she strives her beads to tell | P |
For a voice in her heart has locked the spell | P |
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She broods among the tangled fears | T |
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The undergrowth of perished years | T |
That darken round the lake of tears | U |
Silent and dank they fringe the brim | V |
Of waters motionless and dim | V |
Unmoved by wings of Seraphim | V |
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No lights on the altar the spirit sees | W |
The cloistered aisles are but leafless trees | W |
And the music the sigh of the evening breeze | W |
No matin or vesper bell for her | X |
The leafless branches never stir | X |
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In the pale pale light of the days that were | X |
No matin or vesper hymn or prayer | F |
Can shut those eyes' wide open stare | F |
At the glimmering darkness everywhere | F |
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The sweetest singing dies away | B |
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No note of birds for those who stray | B |
In the land that is neither night nor day | B |
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PART III | A |
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In the shadowy light of the silent land | G |
With the tall gaunt hedges on either hand | G |
On the long dim road doth the spirit stand | G |
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Under the hedges the air is chill | L |
And the mists sleep over the forest still | L |
And are folded like wings on the sides of the hill | L |
Her arms are crossed upon her breast | G |
Her round limbs shape the shadowy vest | G |
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Her feet are worn with seeking rest | G |
To her cheeks no rose hath summer brought | G |
While on their pallor time hath wrought | G |
The troubled lines of an after thought | G |
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But sweet is the gaze of those sad dark eyes | E |
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And sweet their look of mute surprise | E |
As something in the road she spies | E |
Spurned under foot o'ergrown with moss | Y |
Counted of foolish men but loss | Y |
On the cold hard road lies Jesus' cross | Y |
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In the dim twilight as she stood | G |
She saw the marks of Jesus' Blood | G |
Then stooped and kissed the Holy Rood | G |
There are sounds of joy from the years gone by | A |
There's a pale red light in the forward sky | A |
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And a star looks down through the mist on high | A |
Hush for the light falls clear from that star | Z |
Hush for the day dawn kindles afar | Z |
Hush for the gate of the sky is ajar | Z |
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What is the voice of the boundless sea | A2 |
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As it clasps the lands excitedly | A2 |
Not the voice of the dead but of what shall be | A2 |
Of what shall be when the world shall cease | B2 |
And oceans die in the reign of peace | B2 |
When God grants pardon and release | B2 |
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O sweetest taste of Jesus' Blood | G |
Joy bursts upon her like a flood | G |
The spirit kisseth Holy Rood | G |
A low wind moaneth evermore | Q |
The nuns still kneel upon the floor | Q |
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But Jesus trod this way before | Q |
She lifts the sacred emblem up | C2 |
This was His drink His bitter cup | C2 |
And all His loved with Him must sup | C2 |
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Beneath its arms she bows her head | G |
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Those arms so rudely fashion d | A2 |
Which Jesus made His dying bed | G |
She bends beneath the cross's weight | G |
But now no longer desolate | G |
She stands before the convent gate | G |
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Sweeter and sweeter the sisters sing | R |
From arch and roof the echoes ring | R |
While God above is listening | R |
'Ave Maria Virgin blest | G |
Help the sin stained and distrust | G |
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Grant the weary hearted rest ' | - |
The altar lights are shining fair | F |
And Jesus' cross is standing there | F |
The darkness brightens everywhere | F |
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In silent bliss the spirit kneels | B2 |
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For mortal utterance half conceals | B2 |
The deepest joy the bosom feels | B2 |
She bears her burden day by day | B |
It wakens her at morning grey | B |
And calms her at eve's setting ray | B |
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She bears it through the length of years | B2 |
The rough wood drives away her fears | B2 |
The blood stains check all earthly tears | B2 |
Through daily round of deed and psalm | V |
She moves in silent strength and calm | V |
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The cross her solace and her balm | V |
She bears it round from door to door | Q |
And lonely hearts that ached before | Q |
Find joy and peace for evermore | Q |
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So in the present people say | B |
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Of holy deed and prayer alway | B |
She finds to morrow and yesterday | B |
Frederick George Scott
(1)
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