A Letter From Peking Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCDCEFGHI JKLMNOPQKJHRSRTCLS CCOUVCCWXYCZA2CB2 C2CA2A2ECD2XCCCX CE2CXF2G2YH2CXF2CXI2 Z J2CUA2K2XL2EM2N2LN2O O2ZCP2Q2CCCX N2CR2QS2WCCCXXA2CS2 XCCXT2CEU2V2XW2 X2Y2EXCXCZ2XXCCXA3CT 2C CCECCCB3CK2C3X D3A3EEXXECXX E3XWXHCE

October I thA
My friend dear friend why should I hear your voiceB
Over the Babel of voices suddenlyC
Calling as from the new world to the oldD
Hush are you weary would you follow meC
Would you make dark the house and shut the doorE
Summon steam pacing trains wave racing shipsF
To bear you past the high assembled nationsG
Past the loud cries the plucking hands of the ageH
Even to the East that drowses on her throneI
-
Come then it's good to be alive todayJ
For yesterday is dead and dim tomorrowK
Flits like a ghost before us threateningL
Our peering eyes with mistily flapping wingsM
Grandly the streets loom upward huge skyscrapersN
Catch at the glory of the sunrise wearO
The morning like a mantle bare their headsP
In praise and prayer And with us on the pavementQ
Above us in the air there and belowK
Under our feet by train and tram and subwayJ
The people bear the burden of the ageH
Each to his work each to his love his dreamR
The little secret vision of his soulS
Veiled muffled trampled baffled but agleamR
Our people eager to work eager to laughT
Eager to love if but to love were easyC
Pausing not for the slow and difficult thingL
As they push past their neighbors to the goalS
-
Now to the ship down the long crowded wharvesC
The tangle of souls and voices threading thinlyC
Through the slight gangway Do you see her thereO
Huge black incredible fortress walled in steelU
Hiding her heart of fire She has no fearV
The fierce waves leap at her the arrogant stormsC
Tease at her flying heels the boastful windsC
Front her in vain Superb invincibleW
From world to world over the ravenous oceanX
Grandly she bears the fruitage of the timeY
Rich fields of corn mill yields of goods long train loadsC
Of strong machines man's hope and love and powerZ
Sealed in a million letters and at lastA2
Even us the little human mustard seedsC
Dark earth specks with the kingdom of heaven withinB2
-
Gaily we tread the deck softly we sleepC2
Lightly we chatter away the idle daysC
While strong hands from dark hold to sunny mastA2
Do our enormous tasks And now at lastA2
The world again low chalky cliffs the shoreE
Parked England silvery green her viny casementsC
And dewy lawns her iron towns of toilD2
Smoke bound unfree And London stony LondonX
Gray storehouse of the heaped up centuriesC
Of hidden sins and valors locked in joysC
London the empire hearted grave with caresC
Under her tawny sky that dulls the sunX
-
We linger not swiftly the new age runsC
And he must haste who takes her by the handE2
Over the Channel Come the little housesC
And patchwork fields of France Paris fullblownX
The red red rose of the world whose golden heartF2
Lies bare to the greedy sun whose petals droopG2
Ever so softly to the falling timeY
Most lovely at the signal hour of changeH2
Germany then the little patterned citiesC
Of the old time swept garnished for the newX
The ancient halls hung with the ancient artF2
And musical with high stringed orchestrasC
Playing melodious prophecies gay BerlinX
Garish unmellowed pale but full of hopeI2
And proud desireZ
-
Ah whither do they marchJ2
These nations with the sweat upon their browsC
Huge burden bearers panoplied in steelU
Facing bleak mists of doubt Will they castA2
down Their heavy fears and bathe their brows in lightK2
And freely run across the fields of dawnX
Children of joy blood brothers born in loveL2
Valiant for peace as once for murderous warE
Nearer they draw trimly the sharp rails cutM2
Their boundaries twin scissor blades of fateN2
Swift steamers tie their ports together bringL
Tourist ambassadors from state to stateN2
Bold man birds fly through the unsentineled airO
And cobweb wires invisible more strongO2
Than chains of steel are spun from tower to towerZ
Bridging the oceans linking capitalsC
Binding men's hearts O kings of the peopled earthP2
O men rulers of kings dare you resistQ2
Warriors of science who are blazing trailsC
Your statesmenship must travel to new goalsC
Laggards beware lest the advancing myriadsC
Bound for the promised land trample you downX
-
Dark Russia standing at the Asian gateN2
Questions us with her eastward peering eyesC
Proud Moscow from her hundred towers looks outR2
Moscow bejeweled with domes magnificentQ
Out of her past barbaric gazes farS2
Into the future swings her Kremlin portalW
To show the sad Siberian wildernessC
And bids us follow through the autumnal daysC
Softly we slip along the garnered fieldsC
Past clustered villages low thatched and brownX
Each with a gay church gilded shimmer downX
The shining Urals and salute at lastA2
Great Asia where in solitude she waitsC
Under the northern starS2
-
Her forest thenX
Level and low dark little pines thin birchesC
Their leaves all golden on the silver stemsC
And square faced peasants crowding to the trainX
Slow sleepy eyed thick bearded Onward stillT2
Through the stark plains Baikal blue in its mountainsC
The home of wheeling birds that dive and soarE
And by and by a dragon guarded roofU2
With gay beasts perched along its tips that liftV2
Like the slim corner of a pale new moonX
Poised in the sky at sunsetW2
-
We have comeX2
To the first gate of the world The still PacificY2
Glitters between the hills Dark crowds astareE
Greet us with chatter and laughter beardless menX
With shaven brows and long thin tasseled braidsC
Clad in dim blue under the darkening sunX
The obliterating night curtains our eyesC
And when at last the red dawn draws the veilZ2
A heavy wall looms over us gray and sternX
With towered gates fortress guarded And our engineX
Steaming and shrieking past the caravansC
The shaggy ponies little loaded assesC
The slow process camels pacing downX
Scatters the dust of time pierces the wallA3
And pauses under the shadow of yellow roofsC
Where the Forbidden City wide and stillT2
Lies dreaming in her sunrise slanted woodsC
-
Peking She faces us with marble eyesC
Inscrutable She hearkens to our noiseC
And guards her secret Shall we win her overE
We with our guns our dark machines our mansionsC
High piled over her lowly curving roofsC
We with our loud commands Will she ariseC
Weary of silence wave her yellow flagB3
Summon her myriads for the modern raceC
The huge new tasks the war for love and lightK2
Hush If we wait and listen will she speakC3
Wise woman or child veiled queen of the dragon throneX
-
Softly No steamer elbowing storms asideD3
No engine nosing through the ancient wallA3
No hurrying foot no soul worn or at warE
Shall penetrate the Circle and the SquareE
Set with sweet woods the green wall and the blueX
And touch the three rings of the Temple of HeavenX
The terraced marble seat cloud carved and fairE
Where at the Centre of the Earth in peaceC
The tranquil East contemplative sereneX
Dwells with the sun and moonX
-
Hush bare your headE3
And strip your spirit free When you have wonX
The ultimate Wisdom seek the wing d portalW
Once more Then she the sage may rise to youX
Hold converse with you pilgrim of the ageH
And take you to her heart and bless your giftsC
And be as one with you forevermoreE

Harriet Monroe



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