The White Bees Poem Rhyme Scheme

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Henry Van Dyke

The White Bees Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

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I	A
	-
LEGEND	B
	-
Long ago Apollo called to Arist us	C
youngest of the shepherds	D
Saying I will make you keeper of my bees	E
Golden were the hives and golden was the honey	F
golden too the music	G
Where the honey makers hummed among the trees	E
	-
Happy Arist us loitered in the garden wandered	H
in the orchard	H
Careless and contented indolent and free	F
Lightly took his labour lightly took his pleasure	I
till the fated moment	J
When across his pathway came Eurydice	E
	-
Then her eyes enkindled burning love within him	K
drove him wild with longing	L
For the perfect sweetness of her flower like face	E
Eagerly he followed while she fled before him	K
over mead and mountain	M
On through field and forest in a breathless race	E
	-
But the nymph in flying trod upon a serpent	J
like a dream she vanished	N
Pluto's chariot bore her down among the dead	O
Lonely Arist us sadly home returning found his	E
garden empty	F
All the hives deserted all the music fled	O
	-
Mournfully bewailing ah my honey makers	E
where have you departed	P
Far and wide he sought them over sea and shore	Q
Foolish is the tale that says he ever found them	R
brought them home in triumph	S
Joys that once escape us fly for evermore	Q
	-
Yet I dream that somewhere clad in downy	F
whiteness dwell the honey makers	E
In aerial gardens that no mortal sees	E
And at times returning lo they flutter round us	E
gathering mystic harvest	T
So I weave the legend of the long lost bees	E
	-
	-
II	A
	-
THE SWARMING OF THE BEES	E
	-
I	A
	-
WHO can tell the hiding of the white bees' nest	U
Who can trace the guiding of their swift home flight	V
Far would be his riding on a life long quest	U
Surely ere it ended would his beard grow white	V
	-
Never in the coming of the rose red Spring	L
Never in the passing of the wine red Fall	W
May you hear the humming of the white bee's wing	L
Murmur o'er the meadow ere the night bells call	W
	-
Wait till winter hardens in the cold grey sky	A
Wait till leaves are fallen and the brooks all freeze	E
Then above the gardens where the dead flowers lie	A
Swarm the merry millions of the wild white bees	E
	-
	-
II	A
	-
Out of the high built airy hive	X
Deep in the clouds that veil the sun	M
Look how the first of the swarm arrive	X
Timidly venturing one by one	M
Down through the tranquil air	Y
Wavering here and there	Y
Large and lazy in flight	V
Caught by a lift of the breeze	E
Tangled among the naked trees	E
Dropping then without a sound	Z
Feather white feather light	V
To their rest on the ground	Z
	-
	-
III	A
	-
Thus the swarming is begun	M
Count the leaders every one	M
Perfect as a perfect star	A2
Till the slow descent is done	M
Look beyond them see how far	A2
Down the vistas dim and grey	B2
Multitudes are on the way	B2
Now a sudden brightness	E
Dawns within the sombre day	B2
Over fields of whiteness	E
And the sky is swiftly alive	X
With the flutter and the flight	V
Of the shimmering bees that pour	Q
From the hidden door of the hive	X
Till you can count no more	Q
	-
	-
IV	X
	-
Now on the branches of hemlock and pine	C2
Thickly they settle and cluster and swing	L
Bending them low and the trellised vine	C2
And the dark elm boughs are traced with a line	C2
Of beauty wherever the white bees cling	L
Now they are hiding the wrecks of the flowers	E
Softly softly covering all	W
Over the grave of the summer hours	E
Spreading a silver pall	D2
Now they are building the broad roof ledge	E2
Into a cornice smooth and fair	Y
Moulding the terrace from edge to edge	E2
Into the sweep of a marble stair	Y
Wonderful workers swift and dumb	F2
Numberless myriads still they come	F2
Thronging ever faster faster faster	I
Where is their queen Who is their master	I
The gardens are faded the fields are frore	I
How will they fare in a world so bleak	G2
Where is the hidden honey they seek	G2
What is the sweetness they toil to store	I
In the desolate day where no blossoms gleam	H2
Forgetfulness and a dream	H2
	-
	-
V	X
	-
But now the fretful wind awakes	E
I hear him girding at the trees	E
He strikes the bending boughs and shakes	E
The quiet clusters of the bees	E
To powdery drift	I2
He tosses them away	B2
He drives them like spray	B2
He makes them veer and shift	I2
Around his blustering path	J2
In clouds blindly whirling	L
In rings madly swirling	L
Full of crazy wrath	J2
So furious and fast they fly	A
They blur the earth and blot the sky	A
In wild white mirk	A
They fill the air with frozen wings	E
And tiny angry icy stings	E
They blind the eyes and choke the breath	K2
They dance a maddening dance of death	K2
Around their work	A
Sweeping the cover from the hill	L2
Heaping the hollows deeper still	L2
Effacing every line and mark	A
And swarming storming in the dark	A
Through the long night	V
Until at dawn the wind lies down	M2
Weary of fight	V
The last torn cloud with trailing gown	M2
Passes the open gates of light	V
And the white bees are lost in flight	V
	-
	-
VI	A
	-
Look how the landscape glitters wide and still	L2
Bright with a pure surprise	E
The day begins with joy and all past ill	L2
Buried in white oblivion lies	E
Beneath the snowdrifts under crystal skies	E
New hope new love new life new cheer	I
Flow in the sunrise beam	H2
The gladness of Apollo when he sees	E
Upon the bosom of the wintry year	I
The honey harvest of his wild white bees	E
Forgetfulness and a dream	H2
	-
	-
	-
III	A
	-
LEGEND	B
	-
LISTEN my beloved while the silver morning	A
like a tranquil vision	M
Fills the world around us and our hearts with peace	E
Quiet is the close of Arist us' legend happy is	E
the ending	A
Listen while I tell you how he found release	E
	-
Many months he wandered far away in sadness	E
desolately thinking	A
Only of the vanished joys he could not find	N2
Till the great Apollo pitying his shepherd loosed	O2
him from the burden	M
Of a dark reluctant backward looking mind	N2
	-
Then he saw around him all the changeful beauty	X
of the changing seasons	E
In the world wide regions where his journey lay	B2
Birds that sang to cheer him flowers that bloomed	P2
beside him stars that shone to guide him	K
Traveller's joy was plenty all along the way	B2
	-
Everywhere he journeyed strangers made him	K
welcome listened while he taught them	R
Secret lore of field and forest he had learned	Q2
How to train the vines and make the olives fruit	R2
ful how to guard the sheepfolds	E
How to stay the fever when the dog star burned	Q2
	-
Friendliness and blessing followed in his foot	S2
steps richer were the harvests	E
Happier the dwellings wheresoe'er he came	T2
Little children loved him and he left behind him	K
in the hour of parting	A
Memories of kindness and a god like name	T2
	-
So he travelled onward desolate no longer	I
patient in his seeking	A
Reaping all the wayside comfort of his quest	U
Till at last in Thracia high upon Mount H mus	E
far from human dwelling	A
Weary Arist us laid him down to rest	U
	-
Then the honey makers clad in downy whiteness	E
fluttered soft around him	K
Wrapt him in a dreamful slumber pure and deep	U2
This is life beloved first a sheltered garden	M
then a troubled journey	X
Joy and pain of seeking and at last we sleep	U2