New Year's Eve: A Waking Dream Poem Rhyme Scheme

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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 timed pace their feet did stun	Q
The village echoes into quiet pain	W
The street appeared 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 groped 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 looked 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 bowed 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

New Year's Eve: A Waking Dream Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

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