Blind Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDDEEFG HHIIJJKLDD MMNNAAOOPPIIQQPPNNRR STUU VVOOWXYYMMQQZIA2A2QQ B2B2NNC2C2JJD2D2HHE2 E2B2B2F2F2C2C2QQXXG2 G2H2I2QQCCQQJ2J2K2K2 JJE2E2L2QM2M2N2N2O2O 2QQMMP2P2Q2Q2R2R2DDR 2R2S2T2U2U2V2V2C2C2N NW2W2E2E2X2X2BBJJDDQ QY2Y2R2R2Z2Z2 C2C2XXA3A3IZB3B3C3C3 A2A2D3D3QQDDC2 QQQQQ OOMMQQQQR2R2E2E2QQQQ QQQQ STAAHHC2C2You think it is a sorry thing | A |
That I am blind Your pitying | A |
Is welcome to me yet indeed | B |
I think I have but little need | B |
Of it Though you may marvel much | C |
That we who see by sense of touch | C |
And taste and hearing see things you | D |
May never look upon and true | D |
Is it that even in the scent | E |
Of blossoms we find something meant | E |
No eyes have in their faces read | F |
Or wept to see interpreted | G |
- | |
And you might think it strange if now | H |
I told you you were smiling How | H |
Do I know that I hold your hand | I |
Its language I can understand | I |
Give both to me and I will show | J |
You many other things I know | J |
Listen We never met before | K |
Till now Well you are something lower | L |
Than five feet eight in height and you | D |
Are slender and your eyes are blue | D |
- | |
Your mother's eyes your mother's hair | M |
Your mother's likeness everywhere | M |
Save in your walk and that is quite | N |
Your father's nervous Am I right | N |
I thought so And you used to sing | A |
But have neglected everything | A |
Of vocalism though you may | O |
Still thrum on the guitar and play | O |
A little on the violin | P |
I know that by the callous in | P |
The finger tips of your left hand | I |
And by the bye though nature planned | I |
You as most men you are I see | Q |
' Left handed ' too the mystery | Q |
Is clear though your right arm has been | P |
Broken to 'break' the left one in | P |
And so you see though blind of sight | N |
I still have ways of seeing quite | N |
Too well for you to sympathize | R |
Excessively with your good eyes | R |
Though once perhaps to be sincere | S |
Within the whole asylum here | T |
From cupola to basement hall | U |
I was the blindest of them all | U |
- | |
Let us move further down the walk | V |
The man here waiting hears my talk | V |
And is disturbed besides he may | O |
Not be quite friendly anyway | O |
In fact this will be far enough | W |
Sit down the man just spoken of | X |
Was once a friend of mine He came | Y |
For treatment here from Burlingame | Y |
A rich though brilliant student there | M |
Who read his eyes out of repair | M |
And groped his way up here where we | Q |
Became acquainted and where he | Q |
Met one of our girl teachers and | Z |
If you 'll believe me asked her hand | I |
In marriage though the girl was blind | A2 |
As I am and the girl declined | A2 |
Odd wasn't it Look you can see | Q |
Him waiting there Fine isn't he | Q |
And handsome eloquently wide | B2 |
And high of brow and dignified | B2 |
With every outward grace his sight | N |
Restored to him clear and bright | N |
As day dawn waiting waiting still | C2 |
For the blind girl that never will | C2 |
Be wife of his How do I know | J |
You will recall a while ago | J |
I told you he and I were friends | D2 |
In all that friendship comprehends | D2 |
I was his friend I swear why now | H |
Remembering his love and how | H |
His confidence was all my own | E2 |
I hear in fancy the low tone | E2 |
Of his deep voice so full of pride | B2 |
And passion yet so pacified | B2 |
With his affliction that it seems | F2 |
An utterance sent out of dreams | F2 |
Of saddest melody withal | C2 |
So sorrowfully musical | C2 |
It was and is must ever be | Q |
But I'm digressing pardon me | Q |
I knew not anything of love | X |
In those days but of that above | X |
All worldly passion for my art | G2 |
Music and that with all my heart | G2 |
And soul blent in a love too great | H2 |
For words of mine to estimate | I2 |
And though among my pupils she | Q |
Whose love my friend sought came to me | Q |
I only knew her fingers' touch | C |
Because they loitered overmuch | C |
In simple scales and needs must be | Q |
Untangled almost constantly | Q |
But she was bright in other ways | J2 |
And quick of thought with ready plays | J2 |
Of wit and with a voice as sweet | K2 |
To listen to as one might meet | K2 |
In any oratorio | J |
And once I gravely told her so | J |
And at my words her limpid tone | E2 |
Of laughter faltered to a moan | E2 |
And fell from that into a sigh | L2 |
That quavered all so wearily | Q |
That I without the tear that crept | M2 |
Between the keys had known she wept | M2 |
And yet the hand I reached for then | N2 |
She caught away and laughed again | N2 |
And when that evening I strolled | O2 |
With my old friend I smiling told | O2 |
Him I believed the girl and he | Q |
Were matched and mated perfectly | Q |
He was so noble she so fair | M |
Of speech and womanly of air | M |
He strong ambitious she as mild | P2 |
And artless even as a child | P2 |
And with a nature I was sure | Q2 |
As worshipful as it was pure | Q2 |
And sweet and brimmed with tender things | R2 |
Beyond his rarest fancyings | R2 |
He stopped me solemnly He knew | D |
He said how good and just and true | D |
Was all I said of her but as | R2 |
For his own virtues let them pass | R2 |
Since they were nothing to the one | S2 |
That he had set his heart upon | T2 |
For but that morning she had turned | U2 |
Forever from him Then I learned | U2 |
That for a month he had delayed | V2 |
His going from us with no aid | V2 |
Of hope to hold him meeting still | C2 |
Her ever firm denial till | C2 |
Not even in his new found sight | N |
He found one comfort or delight | N |
And as his voice broke there I felt | W2 |
The brother heart within me melt | W2 |
In warm compassion for his own | E2 |
That throbbed so utterly alone | E2 |
And then a sudden fancy hit | X2 |
Along my brain and coupling it | X2 |
With a belief that I indeed | B |
Might help my friend in his great need | B |
I warmly said that I would go | J |
Myself if he decided so | J |
And see her for him that I knew | D |
My pleadings would be listened to | D |
Most seriously and that she | Q |
Should love him listening to me | Q |
Go bless me And that was the last | Y2 |
The last time his warm hand shut fast | Y2 |
Within my own so empty since | R2 |
That the remembered finger prints | R2 |
I 've kissed a thousand times and wet | Z2 |
Them with the tears of all regret | Z2 |
- | |
I know not how to rightly tell | C2 |
How fared my quest and what befell | C2 |
Me coming in the presence of | X |
That blind girl and her blinder love | X |
I know but little else than that | A3 |
Above the chair in which she sat | A3 |
I leant reached for and found her hand | I |
And held it for a moment and | Z |
Took up the other held them both | B3 |
As might a friend I will take oath | B3 |
Spoke leisurely as might a man | C3 |
Praying for no thing other than | C3 |
He thinks Heaven's justice She was blind | A2 |
I said and yet a noble mind | A2 |
Most truly loved her one whose fond | D3 |
Clear sighted vision looked beyond | D3 |
The bounds of her infirmity | Q |
And saw the woman perfectly | Q |
Modeled and wrought out pure and true | D |
And lovable She quailed and drew | D |
Her hands away but closer still | C2 |
I caught them 'Rack me as you will ' | - |
She cried out sharply 'Call me 'blind' | Q |
Love ever is I am resigned | Q |
Blind is your friend as blind as he | Q |
Am I but blindest of the three | Q |
Yea blind as death you will not see | Q |
My love for you is killing me ' | - |
- | |
There is a memory that may | O |
Not ever wholly fade away | O |
From out my heart so bright and fair | M |
The light of it still glimmers there | M |
Why it did seem as though my sight | Q |
Flamed back upon me dazzling white | Q |
And godlike Not one other word | Q |
Of hers I listened for or heard | Q |
But I saw songs sung in her eyes | R2 |
Till they did swoon up drowning wise | R2 |
As my mad lips did strike her own | E2 |
And we flashed one and one alone | E2 |
Ah was it treachery for me | Q |
To kneel there drinking eagerly | Q |
That torrent flow of words that swept | Q |
Out laughingly the tears she wept | Q |
Sweet words O sweeter far maybe | Q |
Than light of day to those that see | Q |
God knows who did the rapture send | Q |
To me and hold it from my friend | Q |
- | |
And we were married half a year | S |
Ago and he is waiting here | T |
Heedless of that or anything | A |
But just that he is lingering | A |
To say good bye to her and bow | H |
As you may see him doing now | H |
For there's her footstep in the hall | C2 |
God bless her help him save us all | C2 |
James Whitcomb Riley
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