New Year's Eve: A Waking Dream Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABABABCC DEDEDEFF GHGHGHII JKJKJKLM NONONOPP QOQOQORR SESESETT UVUVUVRR QWXWQWYY ZA2ZA2ZA2B2B2 C2DD2DD2DE2F2 G2H2G2H2G2H2OO ZI2ZI2ZI2E2F2 J2K2J2K2J2K2L2L2 M2YM2YM2YEE N2O2P2O2N2Q2R2S2 GT2GT2GT2U2U2 IV2IV2IV2W2W2 X2KX2KX2KYY EY2EY2EY2Y2Y2 Z2IZ2IZ2IQQ Y2HY2HY2A3Y2Y2| I have not any fearful tale to tell | A |
| Of fabled giant or of dragon claw | B |
| Or bloody deed to pilfer and to sell | A |
| To those who feed with such a gaping maw | B |
| But what in yonder hamlet there befell | A |
| Or rather what in it my fancy saw | B |
| I will declare albeit it may seem | C |
| Too simple and too common for a dream | C |
| - | |
| Two brothers were they and they sat alone | D |
| Without a word beside the winter's glow | E |
| For it was many years since they had known | D |
| The love that bindeth brothers till the snow | E |
| Of age had frozen it and it had grown | D |
| An icy withered stream that would not flow | E |
| And so they sat with warmth about their feet | F |
| And ice about their hearts that would not beat | F |
| - | |
| And yet it was a night for quiet hope | G |
| A night the very last of all the year | H |
| To many a youthful heart did seem to ope | G |
| An eye within the future round and clear | H |
| And age itself that travels down the slope | G |
| Sat glad and waiting as the hour drew near | H |
| The dreamy hour that hath the heaviest chime | I |
| Jerking our souls into the coming time | I |
| - | |
| But they alas for age when it is old | J |
| The silly calendar they did not heed | K |
| Alas for age when in its bosom cold | J |
| There is not warmth to nurse a bladed weed | K |
| They thought not of the morrow but did hold | J |
| A quiet sitting as their hearts did feed | K |
| Inwardly on themselves as still and mute | L |
| As if they were a cold from head to foot | M |
| - | |
| O solemn kindly night she looketh still | N |
| With all her moon upon us now and then | O |
| And though she dwelleth most in craggy hill | N |
| She hath an eye unto the hearts of men | O |
| So past a corner of the window sill | N |
| She thrust a long bright finger just as ten | O |
| Had struck and on the dial plate it came | P |
| Healing each hour's raw edge with tender flame | P |
| - | |
| There is a something in the winds of heaven | Q |
| That stirreth purposely and maketh men | O |
| And unto every little wind is given | Q |
| A thing to do ere it is still again | O |
| So when the little clock had struck eleven | Q |
| The edging moon had drawn her silver pen | O |
| Across a mirror making them aware | R |
| Of something ghostlier than their own grey hair | R |
| - | |
| Therefore they drew aside the window blind | S |
| And looked upon the sleeping town below | E |
| And on the little church which sat behind | S |
| As keeping watch upon the scanty row | E |
| Of steady tombstones some of which inclined | S |
| And others upright in the moon did show | E |
| Like to a village down below the waves | T |
| It was so still and cool among the graves | T |
| - | |
| But not a word from either mouth did fall | U |
| Except it were some very plain remark | V |
| Ah why should such as they be glad at all | U |
| For years they had not listened to the lark | V |
| The child was dead in them yet did there crawl | U |
| A wish about their hearts and as the bark | V |
| Of distant sheep dog came they were aware | R |
| Of a strange longing for the open air | R |
| - | |
| Ah many an earthy weaving year had spun | Q |
| A web of heavy cloud about their brain | W |
| And many a sun and moon had come and gone | X |
| Since they walked arm in arm these brothers twain | W |
| But now with tim d pace their feet did stun | Q |
| The village echoes into quiet pain | W |
| The street appear d very short and white | Y |
| And they like ghosts unquiet for the light | Y |
| - | |
| Right through the churchyard one of them did say | Z |
| I knew not which was elder of the two | A2 |
| Right through the churchyard is our better way | Z |
| Ay said the other past the scrubby yew | A2 |
| I have not seen her grave for many a day | Z |
| And it is in me that with moonlight too | A2 |
| It might be pleasant thinking of old faces | B2 |
| And yet I seldom go into such places | B2 |
| - | |
| Strange strange indeed to me the moonlight wan | C2 |
| Sitting about a solitary stone | D |
| Stranger than many tales it is to scan | D2 |
| The earthy fragment of a human bone | D |
| But stranger still to see a grey old man | D2 |
| Apart from all his fellows and alone | D |
| With the pale night and all its giant quiet | E2 |
| Therefore that stone was strange and those two by it | F2 |
| - | |
| It was their mother's grave and here were hid | G2 |
| The priceless pulses of a mother's soul | H2 |
| Full sixty years it was since she had slid | G2 |
| Into the other world through that deep hole | H2 |
| But as they stood it seemed the coffin lid | G2 |
| Grew deaf with sudden hammers 'twas the mole | H2 |
| Niddering about its roots Be still old men | O |
| Be very still and ye will hear again | O |
| - | |
| Ay ye will hear it Ye may go away | Z |
| But it will stay with you till ye are dead | I2 |
| It is but earthy mould and quiet clay | Z |
| But it hath power to turn the oldest head | I2 |
| Their eyes met in the moon and they did say | Z |
| More than a hundred tongues had ever said | I2 |
| So they passed onwards through the rapping wicket | E2 |
| Into the centre of a firry thicket | F2 |
| - | |
| It was a solemn meeting of Earth's life | J2 |
| An inquest held upon the death of things | K2 |
| And in the naked north full thick and rife | J2 |
| The snow clouds too were meeting as on wings | K2 |
| Shorn round the edges by the frost's keen knife | J2 |
| And the trees seemed to gather into rings | K2 |
| Waiting to be made blind as they did quail | L2 |
| Among their own wan shadows thin and pale | L2 |
| - | |
| Many strange noises are there among trees | M2 |
| And most within the quiet moony light | Y |
| Therefore those aged men are on their knees | M2 |
| As if they listened somewhat Ye are right | Y |
| Upwards it bubbles like the hum of bees | M2 |
| Although ye never heard it till to night | Y |
| The mighty mother calleth ever so | E |
| To all her pale eyed children from below | E |
| - | |
| Ay ye have walked upon her paven ways | N2 |
| And heard her voices in the market place | O2 |
| But ye have never listened what she says | P2 |
| When the snow moon is pressing on her face | O2 |
| One night like this is more than many days | N2 |
| To him who hears the music and the bass | Q2 |
| Of deep immortal lullabies which calm | R2 |
| His troubled soul as with a hushing psalm | S2 |
| - | |
| I know not whether there is power in sleep | G |
| To dim the eyelids of the shining moon | T2 |
| But so it seemed then for still more deep | G |
| She grew into a heavy cloud which soon | T2 |
| Hiding her outmost edges seemed to keep | G |
| A pressure on her so there came a swoon | T2 |
| Among the shadows which still lay together | U2 |
| But in their slumber knew not one another | U2 |
| - | |
| But while the midnight grop d for the chime | I |
| As she were heavy with excess of dreams | V2 |
| She from the cloud's thick web a second time | I |
| Made many shadows though with minished beams | V2 |
| And as she look d eastward through the rime | I |
| Of a thin vapour got of frosty steams | V2 |
| There fell a little snow upon the crown | W2 |
| Of a near hillock very bald and brown | W2 |
| - | |
| And on its top they found a little spring | X2 |
| A very helpful little spring indeed | K |
| Which evermore unwound a tiny string | X2 |
| Of earnest water with continual speed | K |
| And so the brothers stood and heard it sing | X2 |
| For all was snowy still and not a seed | K |
| Had struck and nothing came but noises light | Y |
| Of the continual whitening of the night | Y |
| - | |
| There is a kindness in the falling snow | E |
| It is a grey head to the spring time mild | Y2 |
| So as the creamy vapour bow d low | E |
| Crowning the earth with honour undefiled | Y2 |
| Within each withered man arose a glow | E |
| As if he fain would turn into a child | Y2 |
| There was a gladness somewhere in the ground | Y2 |
| Which in his bosom nowhere could be found | Y2 |
| - | |
| Not through the purple summer or the blush | Z2 |
| Of red voluptuous roses did it come | I |
| That silent speaking voice but through the slush | Z2 |
| And snowy quiet of the winter numb | I |
| It was a barren mound that heard the gush | Z2 |
| Of living water from two fountains dumb | I |
| Two rocky human hearts which long had striven | Q |
| To make a pleasant noise beneath high heaven | Q |
| - | |
| Now from the village came the onward shout | Y2 |
| Of lightsome voices and of merry cheer | H |
| It was a youthful group that wandered out | Y2 |
| To do obeisance to the glad new year | H |
| And as they passed they sang with voices stout | Y2 |
| A song which I was very fain to hear | A3 |
| But as they darkened on away it died | Y2 |
| And the two men walked homewards side by side | Y2 |
George Macdonald
(1)
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New Year's Eve: A Waking Dream is a poem by George Macdonald. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
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