The Exequy Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: AABCCDDEEFFGGHHIJKK LLMMNNOPQQRRSTUJVW XXYYZZA2A2 DDB2RXXZZRRGGC2C2 D2D2E2E2F2G2H2I2EECB 2DDF2F2J2K2 L2L2 M2M2VVM2M2XXN2N2FFM2 M2CCM2M2N2N2 POM2M2M2M2CM2O2O2XXC C ZZP2Q2M2M2

Accept thou shrine of my dead saintA
Instead of dirges this complaintA
And for sweet flow'rs to crown thy hearseB
From thy griev'd friend whom thou might'st seeC
Quite melted into tears for theeC
Dear loss since thy untimely fateD
My task hath been to meditateD
On thee on thee thou art the bookE
The library whereon I lookE
Though almost blind For thee lov'd clayF
I languish out not live the dayF
Using no other exerciseG
But what I practise with mine eyesG
By which wet glasses I find outH
How lazily time creeps aboutH
To one that mourns this only thisI
My exercise and bus'ness isJ
So I compute the weary hoursK
With sighs dissolved into showersK
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Nor wonder if my time go thusL
Backward and most preposterousL
Thou hast benighted me thy setM
This eve of blackness did begetM
Who wast my day though overcastN
Before thou hadst thy noon tide pastN
And I remember must in tearsO
Thou scarce hadst seen so many yearsP
As day tells hours By thy clear sunQ
My love and fortune first did runQ
But thou wilt never more appearR
Folded within my hemisphereR
Since both thy light and mot i onS
Like a fled star is fall'n and goneT
And 'twixt me and my soul's dear wishU
An earth now interposed isJ
Which such a strange eclipse doth makeV
As ne'er was read in almanacW
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I could allow thee for a timeX
To darken me and my sad climeX
Were it a month a year or tenY
I would thy exile live till thenY
And all that space my mirth adjournZ
So thou wouldst promise to returnZ
And putting off thy ashy shroudA2
At length disperse this sorrow's cloudA2
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But woe is me the longest dateD
Too narrow is to calculateD
These empty hopes never shall IB2
Be so much blest as to descryR
A glimpse of thee till that day comeX
Which shall the earth to cinders doomX
And a fierce fever must calcineZ
The body of this world like thineZ
My little world That fit of fireR
Once off our bodies shall aspireR
To our souls' bliss then we shall riseG
And view ourselves with clearer eyesG
In that calm region where no nightC2
Can hide us from each other's sightC2
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Meantime thou hast her earth much goodD2
May my harm do thee Since it stoodD2
With heaven's will I might not callE2
Her longer mine I give thee allE2
My short liv'd right and interestF2
In her whom living I lov'd bestG2
With a most free and bounteous griefH2
I give thee what I could not keepI2
Be kind to her and prithee lookE
Thou write into thy doomsday bookE
Each parcel of this rarityC
Which in thy casket shrin'd doth lieB2
See that thou make thy reck'ning straightD
And yield her back again by weightD
For thou must audit on thy trustF2
Each grain and atom of this dustF2
As thou wilt answer Him that lentJ2
Not gave thee my dear monumentK2
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So close the ground and 'bout her shadeL2
Black curtains draw my bride is laidL2
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Sleep on my love in thy cold bedM2
Never to be disquietedM2
My last good night Thou wilt not wakeV
Till I thy fate shall overtakeV
Till age or grief or sickness mustM2
Marry my body to that dustM2
It so much loves and fill the roomX
My heart keeps empty in thy tombX
Stay for me there I will not failN2
To meet thee in that hollow valeN2
And think not much of my delayF
I am already on the wayF
And follow thee with all the speedM2
Desire can make or sorrows breedM2
Each minute is a short degreeC
And ev'ry hour a step towards theeC
At night when I betake to restM2
Next morn I rise nearer my westM2
Of life almost by eight hours' sailN2
Than when sleep breath'd his drowsy galeN2
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Thus from the sun my bottom steersP
And my day's compass downward bearsO
Nor labour I to stem the tideM2
Through which to thee I swiftly glideM2
'Tis true with shame and grief I yieldM2
Thou like the van first took'st the fieldM2
And gotten hath the victoryC
In thus adventuring to dieM2
Before me whose more years might craveO2
A just precedence in the graveO2
But hark my pulse like a soft drumX
Beats my approach tells thee I comeX
And slow howe'er my marches beC
I shall at last sit down by theeC
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The thought of this bids me go onZ
And wait my dissolut i onZ
With hope and comfort Dear forgiveP2
The crime I am content to liveQ2
Divided with but half a heartM2
Till we shall meet and never partM2

Henry King



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