The Old Garden Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: A BCDC EFGF EHEH IEGE JKLK JEEE EEME NOJO A PQPQ BJEJ JRER JJEJ PJSJ ETET RUEU JJRJ A JJJJ EVWV JJJJ JXEX JYEY M EZRZ PRJR PA2PA2 ERPR JJPJ M JB2MB2 PXPX PJRJ PJEJ M RTMT PGPG GC2GC2 RVEV RJVJ M RVD2V GRJR GJEJ RGRG

IA
-
I stood in an ancient gardenB
With high red walls aroundC
Over them grey and green lichensD
In shadowy arabesque woundC
-
The topmost climbing blossomsE
On fields kine haunted looked outF
But within were shelter and shadowG
With daintiest odours aboutF
-
There were alleys and lurking arboursE
Deep glooms into which to diveH
The lawns were as soft as fleecesE
Of daisies I counted but fiveH
-
The sun dial was so agedI
It had gathered a thoughtful graceE
'Twas the round about of the shadowG
That so had furrowed its faceE
-
The flowers were all of the oldestJ
That ever in garden sprungK
Red and blood red and dark purpleL
The rose lamps flaming hungK
-
Along the borders fringedJ
With broad thick edges of boxE
Stood foxgloves and gorgeous poppiesE
And great eyed hollyhocksE
-
There were junipers trimmed into castlesE
And ash trees bowed into tentsE
For the garden though ancient and pensiveM
Still wore quaint ornamentsE
-
It was all so stately fantasticN
Its old wind hardly would stirO
Young Spring when she merrily enteredJ
Scarce felt it a place for herO
-
IIA
-
I stood in the summer morningP
Under a cavernous yewQ
The sun was gently climbingP
And the scents rose after the dewQ
-
I saw the wise old mansionB
Like a cow in the noon day heatJ
Stand in a lake of shadowsE
That rippled about its feetJ
-
Its windows were oriel and latticedJ
Lowly and wide and fairR
And its chimneys like clustered pillarsE
Stood up in the thin blue airR
-
White doves like the thoughts of a ladyJ
Haunted it all aboutJ
With a train of green and blue cometsE
The peacock went marching stoutJ
-
The birds in the trees were singingP
A song as old as the worldJ
Of love and green leaves and sunshineS
And winter folded and furledJ
-
They sang that never was sadnessE
But it melted and passed awayT
They sang that never was darknessE
But in came the conquering dayT
-
And I knew that a maiden somewhereR
In a low oak panelled roomU
In a nimbus of shining garmentsE
An aureole of white browed bloomU
-
Looked out on the garden dreamyJ
And knew not it was oldJ
Looked past the gray and the sombreR
Saw but the green and the goldJ
-
IIIA
-
I stood in the gathering twilightJ
In a gently blowing windJ
Then the house looked half uneasyJ
Like one that was left behindJ
-
The roses had lost their rednessE
And cold the grass had grownV
At roost were the pigeons and peacockW
The sun dial seemed a head stoneV
-
The world by the gathering twilightJ
In a gauzy dusk was cladJ
Something went into my spiritJ
And made me a little sadJ
-
Grew and gathered the twilightJ
It filled my heart and brainX
The sadness grew more than sadnessE
It turned to a gentle painX
-
Browned and brooded the twilightJ
Pervaded absorbed the calmY
Till it seemed for some human sorrowsE
There could not be any balmY
-
IVM
-
Then I knew that up a staircaseE
Which untrod will yet creak and shakeZ
Deep in a distant chamberR
A ghost was coming awakeZ
-
In the growing darkness growingP
Growing till her eyes appearR
Like spots of a deeper twilightJ
But more transparent clearR
-
Thin as hot air up tremblingP
Thin as sun molten crapeA2
An ethereal shadow of somethingP
Is taking a certain shapeA2
-
A shape whose hands hang listlessE
Let hang its disordered hairR
A shape whose bosom is heavingP
But draws not in the airR
-
And I know what time the moonlightJ
On her nest of shadows will sitJ
Out on the dim lawn glidingP
That shadowy shadow will flitJ
-
VM
-
The moon is dreaming upwardJ
From a sea of cloud and gleamB2
She looks as if she had seen meM
Never but in a dreamB2
-
Down the stair I know she is comingP
Bare footed lifting her trainX
It creaks not she hears it creakingP
Where once there was a brainX
-
Out at yon side door she's comingP
With a timid glance right and leftJ
Her look is hopeless yet eagerR
The look of a heart bereftJ
-
Across the lawn she is flittingP
Her thin gown feels the windJ
Are her white feet bending the grassesE
Her hair is lifted behindJ
-
VIM
-
Shall I stay to look on her nearerR
Would she start and vanish awayT
Oh no she will never see meM
Stand I near as I mayT
-
It is not this wind she is feelingP
Not this cool grass belowG
'Tis the wind and the grass of an eveningP
A hundred years agoG
-
She sees no roses darklingG
No stately hollyhocks dimC2
She is only thinking and dreamingG
The garden the night and himC2
-
The unlit windows behind herR
The timeless dial stoneV
The trees and the moon and the shadowsE
A hundred years agoneV
-
'Tis a night for a ghostly loverR
To haunt the best loved spotJ
Is he come in his dreams to this gardenV
I gaze but I see him notJ
-
VIIM
-
I will not look on her nearerR
My heart would be torn in twainV
From my eyes the garden would vanishD2
In the falling of their rainV
-
I will not look on a sorrowG
That darkens into despairR
On the surge of a heart that cannotJ
Yet cannot cease to bearR
-
My soul to hers would be callingG
She would hear no word it saidJ
If I cried aloud in the stillnessE
She would never turn her headJ
-
She is dreaming the sky above herR
She is dreaming the earth belowG
This night she lost her loverR
A hundred years agoG

George Macdonald



Rate:
(1)



Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme

Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation

About The Old Garden

The Old Garden is a poem by George Macdonald. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.



Write your comment about The Old Garden poem by George Macdonald


 

Recent Interactions*

This poem was read 68 times,

This poem was added to the favorite list by 0 members,

This poem was voted by 0 members.

(* Interactions only in the last 7 days)

New Poems

Popular Poets