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 Y2HY2HY2A3Y2Y2I 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)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
Write your comment about New Year's Eve: A Waking Dream poem by George Macdonald
Best Poems of George Macdonald