A Book Of Dreams Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A A BCBC CCCC CCCC DEDE CCCC CCCC CCCC FGFG HCHC ICIC JCJC A KFKF LFLF BFBF MCMC NKNK FFFF AOAO CCCC FPFP GCGC A FIFI HQHQ CCCC AFAF ICIC RFRF SCSC TCTC UVUV OCOC CWCW A XYXY CCCC FZFZ CA2CA2 CICI CNCN CCCC B2OB2O C2BFB ZFZF IOIO TCD2C E2CE2C A CHCH FCFC PGPG CHCH CLCL E2FE2F F2CF2C G2CG2C H2LH2L IH2IH2 AI2AI2 C ICIC TZTZ H2SH2S H2H2H2H2 J2MJ2M IOIO A A GH2GH2CE2CE2 YK2YD2CH2CH2 AIAIGNGN AE2AE2 FFFF COCOFGFG FK2FTCOCO CH2CH2FE2FE2 CL2CL2 M2FM2F CN2CN2O2FO2F AP2AP2Q2CQ2C E2O2E2O2ZAZA R2CR2C AAAA A H2OOOFCFC IOIOOL2OL2 OIOICCCC CTCT TITI J2OJ2OFM2FM2 TFTFOCOC TCTCOFOF A OFOF FP2FP2 MOMO GE2GE2 S2CS2C AIAI FP2FP2 OCOC CCCC LGLG N2CN2C G2FG2F FMFM COCO A AO2AO2 GP2GP2 CCCC P2CP2C T2ZT2Q2 OCOC OCOC A FO2FO2 CP2CP2 CK2CQ2 CLCL FU2FU2 FOFO V2IV2I GFGF W2GW2G A XP2XP2CFCF P2E2P2E2AFAF AP2AP2FX2FX2 FCFCCCCC CPCPXFXF COCOQFQF CFCFOO2OO2PART I | A |
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I | A |
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I lay and dreamed The Master came | B |
In seamless garment drest | C |
I stood in bonds 'twixt love and shame | B |
Not ready to be blest | C |
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He stretched his arms and gently sought | C |
To clasp me to his heart | C |
I shrank for I unthinking thought | C |
He knew me but in part | C |
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I did not love him as I would | C |
Embraces were not meet | C |
I dared not ev'n stand where he stood | C |
I fell and kissed his feet | C |
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Years years have passed away since then | D |
Oft hast thou come to me | E |
The question scarce will rise again | D |
Whether I care for thee | E |
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In thee lies hid my unknown heart | C |
In thee my perfect mind | C |
In all my joys my Lord thou art | C |
The deeper joy behind | C |
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But when fresh light and visions bold | C |
My heart and hope expand | C |
Up comes the vanity of old | C |
That now I understand | C |
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Away away from thee I drift | C |
Forgetting not forgot | C |
Till sudden yawns a downward rift | C |
I start and see thee not | C |
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Ah then come sad unhopeful hours | F |
All in the dark I stray | G |
Until my spirit fainting cowers | F |
On the threshold of the day | G |
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Hence not even yet I child like dare | H |
Nestle unto thy breast | C |
Though well I know that only there | H |
Lies hid the secret rest | C |
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But now I shrink not from thy will | I |
Nor guilty judge my guilt | C |
Thy good shall meet and slay my ill | I |
Do with me as thou wilt | C |
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If I should dream that dream once more | J |
Me in my dreaming meet | C |
Embrace me Master I implore | J |
And let me kiss thy feet | C |
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II | A |
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I stood before my childhood's home | K |
Outside its belt of trees | F |
All round my glances flit and roam | K |
O'er well known hills and leas | F |
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When sudden rushed across the plain | L |
A host of hurrying waves | F |
Loosed by some witchery of the brain | L |
From far dream hidden caves | F |
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And up the hill they clomb and came | B |
A wild fast flowing sea | F |
Careless I looked as on a game | B |
No terror woke in me | F |
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For just the belting trees within | M |
I saw my father wait | C |
And should the waves the summit win | M |
There was the open gate | C |
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With him beside all doubt was dumb | N |
There let the waters foam | K |
No mightiest flood would dare to come | N |
And drown his holy home | K |
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Two days passed by With restless toss | F |
The red flood brake its doors | F |
Prostrate I lay and looked across | F |
To the eternal shores | F |
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The world was fair and hope was high | A |
My friends had all been true | O |
Life burned in me and Death and I | A |
Would have a hard ado | O |
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Sudden came back the dream so good | C |
My trouble to abate | C |
At his own door my Father stood | C |
I just without the gate | C |
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Thou know'st what is and what appears | F |
I said mine eyes to thine | P |
Are windows thou hear'st with thine ears | F |
But also hear'st with mine | P |
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Thou knowest my weak soul's dismay | G |
How trembles my life's node | C |
Thou art the potter I am the clay | G |
'Tis thine to bear the load | C |
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III | A |
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A piece of gold had left my purse | F |
Which I had guarded ill | I |
I feared a lack but feared yet worse | F |
Regret returning still | I |
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I lifted up my feeble prayer | H |
To him who maketh strong | Q |
That thence no haunting thoughts of care | H |
Might do my spirit wrong | Q |
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And even before my body slept | C |
Such visions fair I had | C |
That seldom soul with chamber swept | C |
Was more serenely glad | C |
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No white robed angel floated by | A |
On slow reposing wings | F |
I only saw with inward eye | A |
Some very common things | F |
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First rose the scarlet pimpernel | I |
With burning purple heart | C |
I saw within it and could spell | I |
The lesson of its art | C |
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Then came the primrose child like flower | R |
And looked me in the face | F |
It bore a message full of power | R |
And confidence and grace | F |
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And breezes rose on pastures trim | S |
And bathed me all about | C |
Wool muffled sheep bells babbled dim | S |
Or only half spoke out | C |
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Sudden it closed some door of heaven | T |
But what came out remained | C |
The poorest man my loss had given | T |
For that which I had gained | C |
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Thou gav'st me Lord a brimming cup | U |
Where I bemoaned a sip | V |
How easily thou didst make up | U |
For that my fault let slip | V |
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What said the flowers what message new | O |
Embalmed my soul with rest | C |
I scarce can tell only they grew | O |
Right out of God's own breast | C |
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They said to every flower he made | C |
God's thought was root and stem | W |
Perhaps said what the lilies said | C |
When Jesus looked at them | W |
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IV | A |
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Sometimes in daylight hours awake | X |
Our souls with visions teem | Y |
Which to the slumbering brain would take | X |
The form of wondrous dream | Y |
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Once with my thought sight I descried | C |
A plain with hills around | C |
A lordly company on each side | C |
Leaves bare the middle ground | C |
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Great terrace steps at one end rise | F |
To something like a throne | Z |
And thither all the radiant eyes | F |
As to a centre shone | Z |
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A snow white glory dim defined | C |
Those seeking eyes beseech | A2 |
Him who was not in fire or wind | C |
But in the gentle speech | A2 |
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They see his eyes far fixed wait | C |
Adown the widening vale | I |
They turning look their breath they bate | C |
With dread filled wonder pale | I |
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In raiment worn and blood bedewed | C |
With faltering step and numb | N |
Toward the shining multitude | C |
A weary man did come | N |
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His face was white and still composed | C |
As of a man nigh dead | C |
The eyes through eyelids half unclosed | C |
A faint wan splendour shed | C |
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Drops on his hair disordered hung | B2 |
Like rubies dull of hue | O |
His hands were pitifully wrung | B2 |
And stricken through and through | O |
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Silent they stood with tender awe | C2 |
Between their ranks he came | B |
Their tearful eyes looked down and saw | F |
What made his feet so lame | B |
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He reached the steps below the throne | Z |
There sank upon his knees | F |
Clasped his torn hands with stifled groan | Z |
And spake in words like these | F |
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Father I am come back Thy will | I |
Is sometimes hard to do | O |
From all that multitude so still | I |
A sound of weeping grew | O |
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Then mournful glad came down the One | T |
He kneeled and clasped his child | C |
Lay on his breast the outworn man | D2 |
And wept until he smiled | C |
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The people who in bitter woe | E2 |
And love had sobbed and cried | C |
Raised aweful eyes at length and Lo | E2 |
The two sat side by side | C |
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V | A |
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Dreaming I slept Three crosses stood | C |
High in the gloomy air | H |
One bore a thief and one the Good | C |
The other waited bare | H |
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A soldier came up to the place | F |
And took me for the third | C |
My eyes they sought the Master's face | F |
My will the Master's word | C |
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He bent his head I took the sign | P |
And gave the error way | G |
Gesture nor look nor word of mine | P |
The secret should betray | G |
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The soldier from the cross's foot | C |
Turned I stood waiting there | H |
That grim expectant tree for fruit | C |
My dying form must bear | H |
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Up rose the steaming mists of doubt | C |
And chilled both heart and brain | L |
They shut the world of vision out | C |
And fear saw only pain | L |
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Ah me my hands the hammer's blow | E2 |
The nails that rend and pierce | F |
The shock may stun but slow and slow | E2 |
The torture will grow fierce | F |
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Alas the awful fight with death | F2 |
The hours to hang and die | C |
The thirsting gasp for common breath | F2 |
The weakness that would cry | C |
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My soul returned A faintness soon | G2 |
Will shroud thee in its fold | C |
The hours will bring the fearful noon | G2 |
'Twill pass and thou art cold | C |
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'Tis his to care that thou endure | H2 |
To curb or loose the pain | L |
With bleeding hands hang on thy cure | H2 |
It shall not be in vain | L |
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But ah the will which thus could quail | I |
Might yield oh horror drear | H2 |
Then more than love the fear to fail | I |
Kept down the other fear | H2 |
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I stood nor moved But inward strife | A |
The bonds of slumber broke | I2 |
Oh had I fled and lost the life | A |
Of which the Master spoke | I2 |
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VI | C |
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Methinks I hear as o'er this life's dim dial | I |
The last shades darken friends say He was good | C |
I struggling fail to speak my faint denial | I |
They whisper His humility withstood | C |
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I knowing better part with love unspoken | T |
And find the unknown world not all unknown | Z |
The bonds that held me from my centre broken | T |
I seek my home the Saviour's homely throne | Z |
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How he will greet me walking on I wonder | H2 |
I think I know what I will say to him | S |
I fear no sapphire floor of cloudless thunder | H2 |
I fear no passing vision great and dim | S |
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But he knows all my weary sinful story | H2 |
How will he judge me pure and strong and fair | H2 |
I come to him in all his conquered glory | H2 |
Won from the life that I went dreaming there | H2 |
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I come I fall before him faintly saying | J2 |
Ah Lord shall I thy loving pardon win | M |
Earth tempted me my walk was but a straying | J2 |
I have no honour but may I come in | M |
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I hear him say Strong prayer did keep me stable | I |
To me the earth was very lovely too | O |
Thou shouldst have prayed I would have made thee able | I |
To love it greatly but thou hast got through | O |
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PART II | A |
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I | A |
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A gloomy and a windy day | G |
No sunny spot is bare | H2 |
Dull vapours in uncomely play | G |
Go weltering through the air | H2 |
If through the windows of my mind | C |
I let them come and go | E2 |
My thoughts will also in the wind | C |
Sweep restless to and fro | E2 |
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I drop my curtains for a dream | Y |
What comes A mighty swan | K2 |
With plumage like a sunny gleam | Y |
And folded airy van | D2 |
She comes from sea plains dreaming sent | C |
By sea maids to my shore | H2 |
With stately head proud humbly bent | C |
And slackening swarthy oar | H2 |
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Lone in a vaulted rock I lie | A |
A water hollowed cell | I |
Where echoes of old storms go by | A |
Like murmurs in a shell | I |
The waters half the gloomy way | G |
Beneath its arches come | N |
Throbbing to outside billowy play | G |
The green gulfs waver dumb | N |
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Undawning twilights through the cave | A |
In moony glimmers go | E2 |
Half from the swan above the wave | A |
Half from the swan below | E2 |
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As to my feet she gently drifts | F |
Through dim wet shiny things | F |
And with neck low curved backward lifts | F |
The shoulders of her wings | F |
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Old earth is rich with many a nest | C |
Of softness ever new | O |
Deep delicate and full of rest | C |
But loveliest there are two | O |
I may not tell them save to minds | F |
That are as white as they | G |
But none will hear of other kinds | F |
They all are turned away | G |
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On foamy mounds between the wings | F |
Of a white sailing swan | K2 |
A flaky bed of shelterings | F |
There you will find the one | T |
The other well it will not out | C |
Nor need I tell it you | O |
I've told you one and can you doubt | C |
When there are only two | O |
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Fill full my dream O splendid bird | C |
Me o'er the waters bear | H2 |
Never was tranquil ocean stirred | C |
By ship so shapely fair | H2 |
Nor ever whiteness found a dress | F |
In which on earth to go | E2 |
So true profound and rich unless | F |
It was the falling snow | E2 |
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Her wings with flutter half aloft | C |
Impatient fan her crown | L2 |
I cannot choose but nestle soft | C |
Into the depth of down | L2 |
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With oary pulsing webs unseen | M2 |
Out the white frigate sweeps | F |
In middle space we hang between | M2 |
The air and ocean deeps | F |
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Up the wave's mounting flowing side | C |
With stroke on stroke we rack | N2 |
As down the sinking slope we slide | C |
She cleaves a talking track | N2 |
Like heather bells on lonely steep | O2 |
Like soft rain on the glass | F |
Like children murmuring in their sleep | O2 |
Like winds in reedy grass | F |
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Her white breast heaving like a wave | A |
She beats the solemn time | P2 |
With slow strong sweep intent and grave | A |
Hearkens the ripples rime | P2 |
All round from flat gloom upward drawn | Q2 |
I catch the gleam vague wide | C |
With which the waves from dark to dawn | Q2 |
Heave up the polished side | C |
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The night is blue the stars aglow | E2 |
Crowd the still vaulted steep | O2 |
Sad o'er the hopeless restless flow | E2 |
Of the self murmurous deep | O2 |
A thicker night with gathered moan | Z |
A dull dethroned sky | A |
The shadows of its stars alone | Z |
Left in to know it by | A |
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What faints across yon lifted loop | R2 |
Where the west gleams its last | C |
With sea veiled limbs a sleeping group | R2 |
Of Nereids dreaming past | C |
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Row on fair swan who knows but I | A |
Ere night hath sought her cave | A |
May see in splendour pale float by | A |
The Venus of the wave | A |
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II | A |
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A rainbow wave o'erflowed her | H2 |
A glory that deepened and grew | O |
A song of colour and odour | O |
That thrilled her through and through | O |
'Twas a dream of too much gladness | F |
Ever to see the light | C |
They are only dreams of sadness | F |
That weary out the night | C |
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Slow darkness began to rifle | I |
The nest of the sunset fair | O |
Dank vapour began to stifle | I |
The scents that enriched the air | O |
The flowers paled fast and faster | O |
They crumbled leaf and crown | L2 |
Till they looked like the stained plaster | O |
Of a cornice fallen down | L2 |
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And the change crept nigh and nigher | O |
Inward and closer stole | I |
Till the flameless blasting fire | O |
Entered and withered her soul | I |
But the fiends had only flouted | C |
Her vision of the night | C |
Up came the morn and routed | C |
The darksome things with light | C |
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Wide awake I have often been in it | C |
The dream that all is none | T |
It will come in the gladdest minute | C |
And wither the very sun | T |
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Two moments of sad commotion | T |
One more of doubt's palsied rule | I |
And the great wave pulsing ocean | T |
Is only a gathered pool | I |
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A flower is a spot of painting | J2 |
A lifeless loveless hue | O |
Though your heart be sick to fainting | J2 |
It says not a word to you | O |
A bird knows nothing of gladness | F |
Is only a song machine | M2 |
A man is a reasoning madness | F |
A woman a pictured queen | M2 |
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Then fiercely we dig the fountain | T |
Oh whence do the waters rise | F |
Then panting we climb the mountain | T |
Oh are there indeed blue skies | F |
We dig till the soul is weary | O |
Nor find the water nest out | C |
We climb to the stone crest dreary | O |
And still the sky is a doubt | C |
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Let alone the roots of the fountain | T |
Drink of the water bright | C |
Leave the sky at rest on the mountain | T |
Walk in its torrent of light | C |
Although thou seest no beauty | O |
Though widowed thy heart yet cries | F |
With thy hands go and do thy duty | O |
And thy work will clear thine eyes | F |
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III | A |
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A great church in an empty square | O |
A haunt of echoing tones | F |
Feet pass not oft enough to wear | O |
The grass between the stones | F |
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The jarring hinges of its gates | F |
A stifled thunder boom | P2 |
The boding heart slow listening waits | F |
As for a coming doom | P2 |
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The door stands wide With hideous grin | M |
Like dumb laugh evil frore | O |
A gulf of death all dark within | M |
Hath swallowed half the floor | O |
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Its uncouth sides of earth and clay | G |
O'erhang the void below | E2 |
Ah some one force my feet away | G |
Or down I needs must go | E2 |
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See see the horrid crumbling slope | S2 |
It breathes up damp and fust | C |
What man would for his lost loves grope | S2 |
Amid the charnel dust | C |
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Down down The coffined mould glooms high | A |
Methinks with anguish dull | I |
I enter by the empty eye | A |
Into a monstrous skull | I |
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Stumbling on what I dare not guess | F |
Blind wading through the gloom | P2 |
Still down still on I sink I press | F |
To meet some awful doom | P2 |
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My searching hands have caught a door | O |
With iron clenched and barred | C |
Here the gaunt spider's castle core | O |
Grim Death keeps watch and ward | C |
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Its two leaves shake its bars are bowed | C |
As if a ghastly wind | C |
That never bore a leaf or cloud | C |
Were pressing hard behind | C |
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They shake they groan they outward strain | L |
What thing of dire dismay | G |
Will freeze its form upon my brain | L |
And fright my soul away | G |
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They groan they shake they bend they crack | N2 |
The bars the doors divide | C |
A flood of glory at their back | N2 |
Hath burst the portals wide | C |
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In flows a summer afternoon | G2 |
I know the very breeze | F |
It used to blow the silvery moon | G2 |
About the summer trees | F |
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The gulf is filled with flashing tides | F |
Blue sky through boughs looks in | M |
Mosses and ferns o'er floor and sides | F |
A mazy arras spin | M |
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The empty church the yawning cleft | C |
The earthy dead despair | O |
Are gone and I alive am left | C |
In sunshine and in air | O |
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IV | A |
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Some dreams in slumber's twilight sly | A |
Through the ivory wicket creep | O2 |
Then suddenly the inward eye | A |
Sees them outside the sleep | O2 |
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Once wandering in the border gray | G |
I spied one past me swim | P2 |
I caught it on its truant way | G |
To nowhere in the dim | P2 |
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All o'er a steep of grassy ground | C |
Lay ruined statues old | C |
Such forms as never more are found | C |
Save deep in ancient mould | C |
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A host of marble Anakim | P2 |
Shattered in deadly fight | C |
Oh what a wealth one broken limb | P2 |
Had been to waking sight | C |
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But sudden the weak mind to mock | T2 |
That could not keep its own | Z |
Without a shiver or a shock | T2 |
Behold the dream was gone | Q2 |
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For each dim form of marble rare | O |
Stood broken rush or reed | C |
So bends on autumn field long bare | O |
Some tall rain battered weed | C |
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The shapeless night hung empty drear | O |
O'er my scarce slumbering head | C |
There is no good in staying here | O |
My spirit moaned and fled | C |
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V | A |
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The simplest joys that daily pass | F |
Grow ecstasies in sleep | O2 |
A wind on heights of waving grass | F |
In a dream has made me weep | O2 |
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No wonder then my heart one night | C |
Was joy full to the brim | P2 |
I was with one whose love and might | C |
Had drawn me close to him | P2 |
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But from a church into the street | C |
Came pouring crowding on | K2 |
A troubled throng with hurrying feet | C |
And Lo my friend was gone | Q2 |
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Alone upon a miry road | C |
I walked a wretched plain | L |
Onward without a goal I strode | C |
Through mist and drizzling rain | L |
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Low mounds of ruin ugly pits | F |
And brick fields scarred the globe | U2 |
Those wastes where desolation sits | F |
Without her ancient robe | U2 |
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The dreariness the nothingness | F |
Grew worse almost than fear | O |
If ever hope was needful bliss | F |
Hope sure was needful here | O |
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Did potent wish work joyous change | V2 |
Like wizard's glamour spell | I |
Wishes not always fruitless range | V2 |
And sometimes it is well | I |
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I know not Sudden sank the way | G |
Burst in the ocean waves | F |
Behold a bright blue billowed bay | G |
Red rocks and sounding caves | F |
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Dreaming I wept Awake I ask | W2 |
Shall earthly dreams forsooth | G |
Set the old Heavens too hard a task | W2 |
To match them with the truth | G |
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VI | A |
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Once more I build a dream awake | X |
Which sleeping I would dream | P2 |
Once more an unborn fancy take | X |
And try to make it seem | P2 |
Some strange delight shall fill my breast | C |
Enticed from sleep's abyss | F |
With sense of motion yet of rest | C |
Of sleep yet waking bliss | F |
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It comes I lie on something warm | P2 |
That lifts me from below | E2 |
It rounds me like a mighty arm | P2 |
Though soft as drifted snow | E2 |
A dream indeed Oh happy me | A |
Whom Titan woman bears | F |
Afloat upon a gentle sea | A |
Of wandering midnight airs | F |
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A breeze just cool enough to lave | A |
With sense each conscious limb | P2 |
Glides round and under like a wave | A |
Of twilight growing dim | P2 |
She bears me over sleeping towns | F |
O'er murmuring ears of corn | X2 |
O'er tops of trees o'er billowy downs | F |
O'er moorland wastes forlorn | X2 |
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The harebells in the mountain pass | F |
Flutter their blue about | C |
The myriad blades of meadow grass | F |
Float scarce heard music out | C |
Over the lake ah nearer float | C |
Nearer the water's breast | C |
Let me look deeper let me doat | C |
Upon that lily nest | C |
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Old homes we brush in wood on road | C |
Their windows do not shine | P |
Their dwellers must be all abroad | C |
In lovely dreams like mine | P |
Hark drifting syllables that break | X |
Like foam bells on fleet ships | F |
The little airs are all awake | X |
With softly kissing lips | F |
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Light laughter ripples down the wind | C |
Sweet sighs float everywhere | O |
But when I look I nothing find | C |
For every star is there | O |
O lady lovely lady strong | Q |
Ungiven thy best gift lies | F |
Thou bear'st me in thine arms along | Q |
Dost not reveal thine eyes | F |
- | |
Pale doubt lifts up a snaky crest | C |
In darts a pang of loss | F |
My outstretched hand for hills of rest | C |
Finds only mounds of moss | F |
Faint and far off the stars appear | O |
The wind begins to weep | O2 |
'Tis night indeed chilly and drear | O |
And all but me asleep | O2 |
George Macdonald
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