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 STAAHHC2C2

You think it is a sorry thingA
That I am blind Your pityingA
Is welcome to me yet indeedB
I think I have but little needB
Of it Though you may marvel muchC
That we who see by sense of touchC
And taste and hearing see things youD
May never look upon and trueD
Is it that even in the scentE
Of blossoms we find something meantE
No eyes have in their faces readF
Or wept to see interpretedG
-
And you might think it strange if nowH
I told you you were smiling HowH
Do I know that I hold your handI
Its language I can understandI
Give both to me and I will showJ
You many other things I knowJ
Listen We never met beforeK
Till now Well you are something lowerL
Than five feet eight in height and youD
Are slender and your eyes are blueD
-
Your mother's eyes your mother's hairM
Your mother's likeness everywhereM
Save in your walk and that is quiteN
Your father's nervous Am I rightN
I thought so And you used to singA
But have neglected everythingA
Of vocalism though you mayO
Still thrum on the guitar and playO
A little on the violinP
I know that by the callous inP
The finger tips of your left handI
And by the bye though nature plannedI
You as most men you are I seeQ
' Left handed ' too the mysteryQ
Is clear though your right arm has beenP
Broken to 'break' the left one inP
And so you see though blind of sightN
I still have ways of seeing quiteN
Too well for you to sympathizeR
Excessively with your good eyesR
Though once perhaps to be sincereS
Within the whole asylum hereT
From cupola to basement hallU
I was the blindest of them allU
-
Let us move further down the walkV
The man here waiting hears my talkV
And is disturbed besides he mayO
Not be quite friendly anywayO
In fact this will be far enoughW
Sit down the man just spoken ofX
Was once a friend of mine He cameY
For treatment here from BurlingameY
A rich though brilliant student thereM
Who read his eyes out of repairM
And groped his way up here where weQ
Became acquainted and where heQ
Met one of our girl teachers andZ
If you 'll believe me asked her handI
In marriage though the girl was blindA2
As I am and the girl declinedA2
Odd wasn't it Look you can seeQ
Him waiting there Fine isn't heQ
And handsome eloquently wideB2
And high of brow and dignifiedB2
With every outward grace his sightN
Restored to him clear and brightN
As day dawn waiting waiting stillC2
For the blind girl that never willC2
Be wife of his How do I knowJ
You will recall a while agoJ
I told you he and I were friendsD2
In all that friendship comprehendsD2
I was his friend I swear why nowH
Remembering his love and howH
His confidence was all my ownE2
I hear in fancy the low toneE2
Of his deep voice so full of prideB2
And passion yet so pacifiedB2
With his affliction that it seemsF2
An utterance sent out of dreamsF2
Of saddest melody withalC2
So sorrowfully musicalC2
It was and is must ever beQ
But I'm digressing pardon meQ
I knew not anything of loveX
In those days but of that aboveX
All worldly passion for my artG2
Music and that with all my heartG2
And soul blent in a love too greatH2
For words of mine to estimateI2
And though among my pupils sheQ
Whose love my friend sought came to meQ
I only knew her fingers' touchC
Because they loitered overmuchC
In simple scales and needs must beQ
Untangled almost constantlyQ
But she was bright in other waysJ2
And quick of thought with ready playsJ2
Of wit and with a voice as sweetK2
To listen to as one might meetK2
In any oratorioJ
And once I gravely told her soJ
And at my words her limpid toneE2
Of laughter faltered to a moanE2
And fell from that into a sighL2
That quavered all so wearilyQ
That I without the tear that creptM2
Between the keys had known she weptM2
And yet the hand I reached for thenN2
She caught away and laughed againN2
And when that evening I strolledO2
With my old friend I smiling toldO2
Him I believed the girl and heQ
Were matched and mated perfectlyQ
He was so noble she so fairM
Of speech and womanly of airM
He strong ambitious she as mildP2
And artless even as a childP2
And with a nature I was sureQ2
As worshipful as it was pureQ2
And sweet and brimmed with tender thingsR2
Beyond his rarest fancyingsR2
He stopped me solemnly He knewD
He said how good and just and trueD
Was all I said of her but asR2
For his own virtues let them passR2
Since they were nothing to the oneS2
That he had set his heart uponT2
For but that morning she had turnedU2
Forever from him Then I learnedU2
That for a month he had delayedV2
His going from us with no aidV2
Of hope to hold him meeting stillC2
Her ever firm denial tillC2
Not even in his new found sightN
He found one comfort or delightN
And as his voice broke there I feltW2
The brother heart within me meltW2
In warm compassion for his ownE2
That throbbed so utterly aloneE2
And then a sudden fancy hitX2
Along my brain and coupling itX2
With a belief that I indeedB
Might help my friend in his great needB
I warmly said that I would goJ
Myself if he decided soJ
And see her for him that I knewD
My pleadings would be listened toD
Most seriously and that sheQ
Should love him listening to meQ
Go bless me And that was the lastY2
The last time his warm hand shut fastY2
Within my own so empty sinceR2
That the remembered finger printsR2
I 've kissed a thousand times and wetZ2
Them with the tears of all regretZ2
-
I know not how to rightly tellC2
How fared my quest and what befellC2
Me coming in the presence ofX
That blind girl and her blinder loveX
I know but little else than thatA3
Above the chair in which she satA3
I leant reached for and found her handI
And held it for a moment andZ
Took up the other held them bothB3
As might a friend I will take oathB3
Spoke leisurely as might a manC3
Praying for no thing other thanC3
He thinks Heaven's justice She was blindA2
I said and yet a noble mindA2
Most truly loved her one whose fondD3
Clear sighted vision looked beyondD3
The bounds of her infirmityQ
And saw the woman perfectlyQ
Modeled and wrought out pure and trueD
And lovable She quailed and drewD
Her hands away but closer stillC2
I caught them 'Rack me as you will '-
She cried out sharply 'Call me 'blind'Q
Love ever is I am resignedQ
Blind is your friend as blind as heQ
Am I but blindest of the threeQ
Yea blind as death you will not seeQ
My love for you is killing me '-
-
There is a memory that mayO
Not ever wholly fade awayO
From out my heart so bright and fairM
The light of it still glimmers thereM
Why it did seem as though my sightQ
Flamed back upon me dazzling whiteQ
And godlike Not one other wordQ
Of hers I listened for or heardQ
But I saw songs sung in her eyesR2
Till they did swoon up drowning wiseR2
As my mad lips did strike her ownE2
And we flashed one and one aloneE2
Ah was it treachery for meQ
To kneel there drinking eagerlyQ
That torrent flow of words that sweptQ
Out laughingly the tears she weptQ
Sweet words O sweeter far maybeQ
Than light of day to those that seeQ
God knows who did the rapture sendQ
To me and hold it from my friendQ
-
And we were married half a yearS
Ago and he is waiting hereT
Heedless of that or anythingA
But just that he is lingeringA
To say good bye to her and bowH
As you may see him doing nowH
For there's her footstep in the hallC2
God bless her help him save us allC2

James Whitcomb Riley



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