The Four Bridges Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABACDD EFEFGG HIHIJJ KLKLGG IGIGMM NONOPP QRQQQQ SQSQTT QQQQTT GHGHUU VGVGWW QXQXMM YZYZQQ GWGWGG A2DA2DB2B2 QTQTGG C2QC2QD2D2 E2F2E2F2XX QG2QG2GG H2QH2QI2I2 QQQQJ2J2 K2QK2QL2L2 M2N2M2N2O2O2 QP2QP2N2N2 N2N2N2N2Q2R2 QJ2QJ2QQ N2N2N2N2MM GB2GB2N2N2 QS2GS2Q2Q2 UQUQQ2Q2 NGNGJ2J2 T2N2T2N2U2U2 QN2QN2GG Q2GQ2GV2V2 N2B2N2B2N2N2 J2Q2J2Q2N2N2 U2L2U2L2N2N2 A2QA2QGG UN2UN2R2R2 GQGQN2N2 T2A2T2A2N2N2 W2N2W2N2X2X2 QY2QY2X2X2 N2QN2QX2X2 QN2QN2N2N2 N2B2N2B2ZZ QZ2QZ2AA QZ2QZ2QQ QA2QA2Z2Z2 N2L2N2A3QQ X2QX2QB3B3 N2QN2QN2N2 UN2UN2X2X2 N2N2X2N2B2B2 Z2N2Z2N2I2I2 X2N2X2N2N2N2 QQQQN2N2 X2QX2QN2N2 N2I2N2I2TT N2N2N2N2GG Y2X2Y2X2N2N2 I2N2I2N2N2N2 GN2GN2N2N2 QC3QC3TT N2QN2QN2N2 TQTQN2N2 N2N2N2N2N2N2 GA3GA3QQ X2X2X2X2QQ N2N2N2N2QQ N2UN2UN2N2 N2QN2QN2N2 I2Z2N2Z2X2X2 N2QN2QX2X2 N2GN2GX2X2 N2QN2QN2N2 QN2QN2QQ N2N2N2N2N2N2 A2FA2FZ2Z2 N2GN2GGG N2QN2QQQ ZN2ZN2X2X2 GN2GN2N2N2 N2GN2GQQ A2N2A2N2N2N2 N2QN2QN2N2 QN2QN2N2N2 N2QN2QQQ GN2GN2X2X2 Z2Y2Z2Y2N2N2 N2QN2QQQ Y2N2Y2N2A2A2 N2A3N2A3N2N2 N2A2N2A2X2X2 GY2GD3X2X2 QQQQN2N2 QN2QN2UU N2E3N2E3F3F3 N2X2N2X2N2N2 QN2QN2N2N2 QI2QI2BB G3N2G3N2Y2D3 N2X2N2X2N2N2 D3N2Y2N2N2N2 X2Z2X2Z2Z2Z2 QH3QH3N2N2 N2QN2GI2I2 QI3QI3QQ ZX2ZX2N2N2 Z2B2Z2B2X2X2 N2X2N2X2QQ N2J3N2J3X2X2 X2GX2GA2A2 X2QX2QX2X2 N2GN2GGG QGQGN2N2 N2GN2GB2B2 GN2GN2N2N2 N2Y2N2B2B2B2 QN2QN2N2N2 GB2GB2X2X2

I love this gray old church the low long nave	A
The ivied chancel and the slender spire	B
No less its shadow on each heaving grave	A
With growing osier bound or living brier	C
I love those yew tree trunks where stand arrayed	D
So many deep cut names of youth and maid	D
	-
A simple custom this I love it well	E
A carved betrothal and a pledge of truth	F
How many an eve their link d names to spell	E
Beneath the yew trees sat our village youth	F
When work was over and the new cut hay	G
Sent wafts of balm from meadows where it lay	G
	-
Ah many an eve while I was yet a boy	H
Some village hind has beckoned me aside	I
And sought mine aid with shy and awkward joy	H
To carve the letters of his rustic bride	I
And make them clear to read as graven stone	J
Deep in the yew tree's trunk beside his own	J
	-
For none could carve like me and here they stand	K
Fathers and mothers of this present race	L
And underscored by some less practised hand	K
That fain the story of its line would trace	L
With children's names and number and the day	G
When any called to God have passed away	G
	-
I look upon them and I turn aside	I
As oft when carving them I did erewhile	G
And there I see those wooden bridges wide	I
That cross the marshy hollow there the stile	G
In reeds embedded and the swelling down	M
And the white road towards the distant town	M
	-
But those old bridges claim another look	N
Our brattling river tumbles through the one	O
The second spans a shallow weedy brook	N
Beneath the others and beneath the sun	O
Lie two long stilly pools and on their breasts	P
Picture their wooden piles encased in swallows' nests	P
	-
And round about them grows a fringe of reeds	Q
And then a floating crown of lily flowers	R
And yet within small silver budded weeds	Q
But each clear centre evermore embowers	Q
A deeper sky where stooping you may see	Q
The little minnows darting restlessly	Q
	-
My heart is bitter lilies at your sweet	S
Why did the dewdrop fringe your chalices	Q
Why in your beauty are you thus complete	S
You silver ships you floating palaces	Q
O if need be you must allure man's eye	T
Yet wherefore blossom here O why O why	T
	-
O O the world is wide you lily flowers	Q
It hath warm forests cleft by stilly pools	Q
Where every night bathe crowds of stars and bowers	Q
Of spicery hang over Sweet air cools	Q
And shakes the lilies among those stars that lie	T
Why are not ye content to reign there Why	T
	-
That chain of bridges it were hard to tell	G
How it is linked with all my early joy	H
There was a little foot that I loved well	G
It danced across them when I was a boy	H
There was a careless voice that used to sing	U
There was a child a sweet and happy thing	U
	-
Oft through that matted wood of oak and birch	V
She came from yonder house upon the hill	G
She crossed the wooden bridges to the church	V
And watched with village girls my boasted skill	G
But loved to watch the floating lilies best	W
Or linger peering in a swallow's nest	W
	-
Linger and linger with her wistful eyes	Q
Drawn to the lily buds that lay so white	X
And soft on crimson water for the skies	Q
Would crimson and the little cloudlets bright	X
Would all be flung among the flowers sheer down	M
To flush the spaces of their clustering crown	M
	-
Till the green rushes O so glossy green	Y
The rushes they would whisper rustle shake	Z
And forth on floating gauze no jewelled queen	Y
So rich the green eyed dragon flies would break	Z
And hover on the flowers a rial things	Q
With little rainbows flickering on their wings	Q
	-
Ah my heart dear the polished pools lie still	G
Like lanes of water reddened by the west	W
Till swooping down from yon o'erhanging hill	G
The bold marsh harrier wets her tawny breast	W
We scared her oft in childhood from her prey	G
And the old eager thoughts rise fresh as yesterday	G
	-
To yonder copse by moonlight I did go	A2
In luxury of mischief half afraid	D
To steal the great owl's brood her downy snow	A2
Her screaming imps to seize the while she preyed	D
With yellow cruel eyes whose radiant glare	B2
Fell with their mother rage I might not dare	B2
	-
Panting I lay till her great fanning wings	Q
Troubled the dreams of rock doves slumbering nigh	T
And she and her fierce mate like evil things	Q
Skimmed the dusk fields then rising with a cry	T
Of fear joy triumph darted on my prey	G
And tore it from the nest and fled away	G
	-
But afterward belated in the wood	C2
I saw her moping on the rifled tree	Q
And my heart smote me for her while I stood	C2
Awakened from my careless reverie	Q
So white she looked with moonlight round her shed	D2
So motherlike she drooped and hung her head	D2
	-
O that mine eyes would cheat me I behold	E2
The godwits running by the water edge	F2
Tim mossy bridges mirrored as of old	E2
The little curlews creeping from the sedge	F2
But not the little foot so gayly light	X
O that mine eyes would cheat me that I might	X
	-
Would cheat me I behold the gable ends	Q
Those purple pigeons clustering on the cote	G2
The lane with maples overhung that bends	Q
Toward her dwelling the dry grassy moat	G2
Thick mullions diamond latticed mossed and gray	G
And walls bunked up with laurel and with bay	G
	-
And up behind them yellow fields of corn	H2
And still ascending countless firry spires	Q
Dry slopes of hills uncultured bare forlorn	H2
And green in rocky clefts with whins and briers	Q
Then rich cloud masses dyed the violet's hue	I2
With orange sunbeams dropping swiftly through	I2
	-
Ay I behold all this full easily	Q
My soul is jealous of my happier eyes	Q
And manhood envies youth Ah strange to see	Q
By looking merely orange flooded skies	Q
Nay any dew drop that may near me shine	J2
But never more the face of Eglantine	J2
	-
She was my one companion being herself	K2
The jewel and adornment of my days	Q
My life's completeness O a smiling elf	K2
That I do but disparage with my praise	Q
My playmate and I loved her dearly and long	L2
And she loved me as the tender love the strong	L2
	-
Ay but she grew till on a time there came	M2
A sudden restless yearning to my heart	N2
And as we went a nesting all for shame	M2
And shyness I did hold my peace and start	N2
Content departed comfort shut me out	O2
And there was nothing left to talk about	O2
	-
She had but sixteen years and as for me	Q
Four added made my life This pretty bird	P2
This fairy bird that I had cherished she	Q
Content had sung while I contented heard	P2
The song had ceased the bird with nature's art	N2
Had brought a thorn and set it in my heart	N2
	-
The restless birth of love my soul opprest	N2
I longed and wrestled for a tranquil day	N2
And warred with that disquiet in my breast	N2
As one who knows there is a better way	N2
But turned against myself I still in vain	Q2
Looked for the ancient calm to come again	R2
	-
My tired soul could to itself confess	Q
That she deserved a wiser love than mine	J2
To love more truly were to love her less	Q
And for this truth I still awoke to pine	J2
I had a dim belief that it would be	Q
A better thing for her a blessed thing for me	Q
	-
Good hast Thou made them comforters right sweet	N2
Good hast Thou made the world to mankind lent	N2
Good are Thy dropping clouds that feed the wheat	N2
Good are Thy stars above the firmament	N2
Take to Thee take Thy worship Thy renown	M
The good which Thou hast made doth wear Thy crown	M
	-
For O my God Thy creatures are so frail	G
Thy bountiful creation is so fair	B2
That drawn before us like the temple veil	G
It hides the Holy Place from thought and care	B2
Giving man's eyes instead its sweeping fold	N2
Rich as with cherub wings and apples wrought of gold	N2
	-
Purple and blue and scarlet shimmering bells	Q
And rare pomegranates on its broidered rim	S2
Glorious with chain and fretwork that the swell	G
Of incense shakes to music dreamy and dim	S2
Till on a day comes loss that God makes gain	Q2
And death and darkness rend the veil in twain	Q2
	-
	-
	-
Ah sweetest my beloved each outward thing	U
Recalls my youth and is instinct with thee	Q
Brown wood owls in the dusk with noiseless wing	U
Float from yon hanger to their haunted tree	Q
And hoot full softly Listening I regain	Q2
A flashing thought of thee with their remembered strain	Q2
	-
I will not pine it is the careless brook	N
These amber sunbeams slanting down the vale	G
It is the long tree shadows with their look	N
Of natural peace that make my heart to fail	G
The peace of nature No I will not pine	J2
But O the contrast 'twixt her face and mine	J2
	-
And still I changed I was a boy no more	T2
My heart was large enough to hold my kind	N2
And all the world As hath been oft before	T2
With youth I sought but I could never find	N2
Work hard enough to quiet my self strife	U2
And use the strength of action craving life	U2
	-
She too was changed her bountiful sweet eyes	Q
Looked out full lovingly on all the world	N2
O tender as the deeps in yonder skies	Q
Their beaming but her rosebud lips were curled	N2
With the soft dimple of a musing smile	G
Which kept my gaze but held me mute the while	G
	-
A cast of bees a slowly moving wain	Q2
The scent of bean flowers wafted up a dell	G
Blue pigeons wheeling over fields of grain	Q2
Or bleat of folded lamb would please her well	G
Or cooing of the early coted dove	V2
She sauntering mused of these I following mused of love	V2
	-
With her two lips that one the other pressed	N2
So poutingly with such a tranquil air	B2
With her two eyes that on my own would rest	N2
So dream like she denied my silent prayer	B2
Fronted unuttered words and said them nay	N2
And smiled down love till it had nought to say	N2
	-
The words that through mine eyes would clearly shine	J2
Hovered and hovered on my lips in vain	Q2
If after pause I said but Eglantine	J2
She raised to me her quiet eyelids twain	Q2
And looked me this reply look calm yet bland	N2
I shall not know I will not understand	N2
	-
Yet she did know my story knew my life	U2
Was wrought to hers with bindings many and strong	L2
That I like Israel served for a wife	U2
And for the love I bare her thought not long	L2
But only a few days full quickly told	N2
My seven years' service strict as his of old	N2
	-
I must be brief the twilight shadows grow	A2
And steal the rose bloom genial summer sheds	Q
And scented wafts of wind that come and go	A2
Have lifted dew from honeyed clover heads	Q
The seven stars shine out above the mill	G
The dark delightsome woods lie veiled and still	G
	-
Hush hush the nightingale begins to sing	U
And stops as ill contented with her note	N2
Then breaks from out the bush with hurried wing	U
Restless and passionate She tunes her throat	N2
Laments awhile in wavering trills and then	R2
Floods with a stream of sweetness all the glen	R2
	-
The seven stars upon the nearest pool	G
Lie trembling down betwixt the lily leaves	Q
And move like glowworms wafting breezes cool	G
Come down along the water and it heaves	Q
And bubbles in the sedge while deep and wide	N2
The dim night settles on the country side	N2
	-
I know this scene by heart O once before	T2
I saw the seven stars float to and fro	A2
And stayed my hurried footsteps by the shore	T2
To mark the starry picture spread below	A2
Its silence made the tumult in my breast	N2
More audible its peace revealed my own unrest	N2
	-
I paused then hurried on my heart beat quick	W2
I crossed the bridges reached the steep ascent	N2
And climbed through matted fern and hazels thick	W2
Then darkling through the close green maples went	N2
And saw there felt love's keenest pangs begin	X2
An oriel window lighted from within	X2
	-
I saw and felt that they were scarcely cares	Q
Which I had known before I drew more near	Y2
And O methought how sore it frets and wears	Q
The soul to part with that it holds so dear	Y2
Tis hard two woven tendrils to untwine	X2
And I was come to part with Eglantine	X2
	-
For life was bitter through those words repressed	N2
And youth was burdened with unspoken vows	Q
Love unrequited brooded in my breast	N2
And shrank at glance from the beloved brows	Q
And three long months heart sick my foot withdrawn	X2
I had not sought her side by rivulet copse or lawn	X2
	-
Not sought her side yet busy thought no less	Q
Still followed in her wake though far behind	N2
And I being parted from her loveliness	Q
Looked at the picture of her in my mind	N2
I lived alone I walked with soul oppressed	N2
And ever sighed for her and sighed for rest	N2
	-
Then I had risen to struggle with my heart	N2
And said O heart the world is fresh and fair	B2
And I am young but this thy restless smart	N2
Changes to bitterness the morning air	B2
I will I must these weary fetters break	Z
I will be free if only for her sake	Z
	-
O let me trouble her no more with sighs	Q
Heart healing comes by distance and with time	Z2
Then let me wander and enrich mine eyes	Q
With the green forests of a softer clime	Z2
Or list by night at sea the wind's low stave	A
And long monotonous rockings of the wave	A
	-
Through open solitudes unbounded meads	Q
Where wading on breast high in yellow bloom	Z2
Untamed of man the shy white lama feeds	Q
There would I journey and forget my doom	Z2
Or far O far as sunrise I would see	Q
The level prairie stretch away from me	Q
	-
Or I would sail upon the tropic seas	Q
Where fathom long the blood red dulses grow	A2
Droop from the rock and waver in the breeze	Q
Lashing the tide to foam while calm below	A2
The muddy mandrakes throng those waters warm	Z2
And purple gold and green the living blossoms swarm	Z2
	-
So of my father I did win consent	N2
With importunities repeated long	L2
To make that duty which had been my bent	N2
To dig with strangers alien tombs among	A3
And bound to them through desert leagues to pace	Q
Or track up rivers to their starting place	Q
	-
For this I had done battle and had won	X2
But not alone to tread Arabian sands	Q
Measure the shadows of a southern sun	X2
Or dig out gods in the old Egyptian lands	Q
But for the dream wherewith I thought to cope	B3
The grief of love unmated with love's hope	B3
	-
And now I would set reason in array	N2
Methought and fight for freedom manfully	Q
Till by long absence there would come a day	N2
When this my love would not be pain to me	Q
But if I knew my rosebud fair and blest	N2
I should not pine to wear it on my breast	N2
	-
The days fled on another week should fling	U
A foreign shadow on my lengthening way	N2
Another week yet nearness did not bring	U
A braver heart that hard farewell to say	N2
I let the last day wane the dusk begin	X2
Ere I had sought that window lighted from within	X2
	-
Sinking and sinking O my heart my heart	N2
Will absence heal thee whom its shade doth rend	N2
I reached the little gate and soft within	X2
The oriel fell her shadow She did lend	N2
Her loveliness to me and let me share	B2
The listless sweetness of those features fair	B2
	-
Among thick laurels in the gathering gloom	Z2
Heavy for this our parting I did stand	N2
Beside her mother in the lighted room	Z2
She sitting leaned her cheek upon her hand	N2
And as she read her sweet voice floating through	I2
The open casement seemed to mourn me an adieu	I2
	-
Youth youth how buoyant are thy hopes they turn	X2
Like marigolds toward the sunny side	N2
My hopes were buried in a funeral urn	X2
And they sprung up like plants and spread them wide	N2
Though I had schooled and reasoned them away	N2
They gathered smiling near and prayed a holiday	N2
	-
Ah sweetest voice how pensive were its tones	Q
And how regretful its unconscious pause	Q
Is it for me her heart this sadness owns	Q
And is our parting of to night the cause	Q
Ah would it might be so I thought and stood	N2
Listening entranced among the underwood	N2
	-
I thought it would be something worth the pain	X2
Of parting to look once in those deep eyes	Q
And take from them an answering look again	X2
When eastern palms I thought about me rise	Q
If I might carve our names upon the rind	N2
Betrothed I would not mourn though leaving thee behind	N2
	-
I can be patient faithful and most fond	N2
To unacknowledged love I can be true	I2
To this sweet thraldom this unequal bond	N2
This yoke of mine that reaches not to you	I2
O how much more could costly parting buy	T
If not a pledge one kiss or failing that a sigh	T
	-
I listened and she ceased to read she turned	N2
Her face towards the laurels where I stood	N2
Her mother spoke O wonder hardly learned	N2
She said There is a rustling in the wood	N2
Ah child if one draw near to bid farewell	G
Let not thine eyes an unsought secret tell	G
	-
My daughter there is nothing held so dear	Y2
As love if only it be hard to win	X2
The roses that in yonder hedge appear	Y2
Outdo our garden buds which bloom within	X2
But since the hand may pluck them every day	N2
Unmarked they bud bloom drop and drift away	N2
	-
My daughter my beloved be not you	I2
Like those same roses O bewildering word	N2
My heart stood still a mist obscured my view	I2
It cleared still silence No denial stirred	N2
The lips beloved but straight as one opprest	N2
She kneeling dropped her face upon her mother's breast	N2
	-
This said My daughter sorrow comes to all	G
Our life is checked with shadows manifold	N2
But woman has this more she may not call	G
Her sorrow by its name Yet love not told	N2
And only born of absence and by thought	N2
With thought and absence may return to nought	N2
	-
And my belov d lifted up her face	Q
And moved her lips as if about to speak	C3
She dropped her lashes with a girlish grace	Q
And the rich damask mantled in her cheek	C3
I stood awaiting till she should deny	T
Her love or with sweet laughter put it by	T
	-
But closer nestling to her mother's heart	N2
She blushing said no word to break my trance	Q
For I was breathless and with lips apart	N2
Felt my breast pant and all my pulses dance	Q
And strove to move but could not for the weight	N2
Of unbelieving joy so sudden and so great	N2
	-
Because she loved me With a mighty sigh	T
Breaking away I left her on her knees	Q
And blest the laurel bower the darkened sky	T
The sultry night of August Through the trees	Q
Giddy with gladness to the porch I went	N2
And hardly found the way for joyful wonderment	N2
	-
Yet when I entered saw her mother sit	N2
With both hands cherishing the graceful head	N2
Smoothing the clustered hair and parting it	N2
From the fair brow she rising only said	N2
In the accustomed tone the accustomed word	N2
The careless greeting that I always heard	N2
	-
And she resumed her merry mocking smile	G
Though tear drops on the glistening lashes hung	A3
O woman thou wert fashioned to beguile	G
So have all sages said all poets sung	A3
She spoke of favoring winds and waiting ships	Q
With smiles of gratulation on her lips	Q
	-
And then she looked and faltered I had grown	X2
So suddenly in life and soul a man	X2
She moved her lips but could not find a tone	X2
To set her mocking music to began	X2
One struggle for dominion raised her eyes	Q
And straight withdrew them bashful through surprise	Q
	-
The color over cheek and bosom flushed	N2
I might have heard the beating of her heart	N2
But that mine own beat louder when she blushed	N2
The hand within mine own I felt to start	N2
But would not change my pitiless decree	Q
To strive with her for might and mastery	Q
	-
She looked again as one that half afraid	N2
Would fain be certain of a doubtful thing	U
Or one beseeching Do not me upbraid	N2
And then she trembled like the fluttering	U
Of timid little birds and silent stood	N2
No smile wherewith to mock my hardihood	N2
	-
She turned and to an open casement moved	N2
With girlish shyness mute beneath my gaze	Q
And I on downcast lashes unreproved	N2
Could look as long as pleased me while the rays	Q
Of moonlight round her she her fair head bent	N2
In modest silence to my words attent	N2
	-
How fast the giddy whirling moments flew	I2
The moon had set I heard the midnight chime	Z2
Hope is more brave than fear and joy than dread	N2
And I could wait unmoved the parting time	Z2
It came for by a sudden impulse drawn	X2
She risen stepped out upon the dusky lawn	X2
	-
A little waxen taper in her hand	N2
Her feet upon the dry and dewless grass	Q
She looked like one of the celestial band	N2
Only that on her cheeks did dawn and pass	Q
Most human blushes while the soft light thrown	X2
On vesture pure and white she seemed yet fairer grown	X2
	-
Her mother looking out toward her sighed	N2
Then gave her hand in token of farewell	G
And with her warning eyes that seemed to chide	N2
Scarce suffered that I sought her child to tell	G
The story of my life whose every line	X2
No other burden bore than Eglantine	X2
	-
Black thunder clouds were rising up behind	N2
The waxen taper burned full steadily	Q
It seemed as if dark midnight had a mind	N2
To hear what lovers say and her decree	Q
Had passed for silence while she dropped to ground	N2
With raiment floating wide drank in the sound	N2
	-
O happiness thou dost not leave a trace	Q
So well defined as sorrow Amber light	N2
Shed like a glory on her angel face	Q
I can remember fully and the sight	N2
Of her fair forehead and her shining eyes	Q
And lips that smiled in sweet and girlish wise	Q
	-
I can remember how the taper played	N2
Over her small hands and her vesture white	N2
How it struck up into the trees and laid	N2
Upon their under leaves unwonted light	N2
And when she held it low how far it spread	N2
O'er velvet pansies slumbering on their bed	N2
	-
I can remember that we spoke full low	A2
That neither doubted of the other's truth	F
And that with footsteps slower and more slow	A2
Hands folded close for love eyes wet for ruth	F
Beneath the trees by that clear taper's flame	Z2
We wandered till the gate of parting came	Z2
	-
But I forget the parting words she said	N2
So much they thrilled the all attentive soul	G
For one short moment human heart and head	N2
May bear such bliss its present is the whole	G
I had that present till in whispers fell	G
With parting gesture her subdued farewell	G
	-
Farewell she said in act to turn away	N2
But stood a moment yet to dry her tears	Q
And suffered my enfolding arm to stay	N2
The time of her departure O ye years	Q
That intervene betwixt that day and this	Q
You all received your hue from that keen pain and bliss	Q
	-
O mingled pain and bliss O pain to break	Z
At once from happiness so lately found	N2
And four long years to feel for her sweet sake	Z
The incompleteness of all sight and sound	N2
But bliss to cross once more the foaming brine	X2
O bliss to come again and make her mine	X2
	-
I cannot O I cannot more recall	G
But I will soothe my troubled thoughts to rest	N2
With musing over journeyings wide and all	G
Observance of this active humored west	N2
And swarming cities steeped in eastern day	N2
With swarthy tribes in gold and striped array	N2
	-
I turn away from these and straight there will succeed	N2
Shifting and changing at the restless will	G
Imbedded in some deep Circassian mead	N2
White wagon tilts and flocks that eat their fill	G
Unseen above while comely shepherds pass	Q
And scarcely show their heads above the grass	Q
	-
The red Sahara in an angry glow	A2
With amber fogs across its hollows trailed	N2
Long strings of camels gloomy eyed and slow	A2
And women on their necks from gazers veiled	N2
And sun swart guides who toil across the sand	N2
To groves of date trees on the watered land	N2
	-
Again the brown sails of an Arab boat	N2
Flapping by night upon a glassy sea	Q
Whereon the moon and planets seem to float	N2
More bright of hue than they were wont to be	Q
While shooting stars rain down with crackling sound	N2
And thick as swarming locusts drop to ground	N2
	-
Or far into the heat among the sands	Q
The gembok nations snuffing up the wind	N2
Drawn by the scent of water and the bands	Q
Of tawny bearded lions pacing blind	N2
With the sun dazzle in their midst opprest	N2
With prey and spiritless for lack of rest	N2
	-
What more Old Lebanon the frosty browed	N2
Setting his feet among oil olive trees	Q
Heaving his bare brown shoulder through a cloud	N2
And after grassy Carmel purple seas	Q
Flattering his dreams and echoing in his rocks	Q
Soft as the bleating of his thousand flocks	Q
	-
Enough how vain this thinking to beguile	G
With recollected scenes an aching breast	N2
Did not I journeying muse on her the while	G
Ah yes for every landscape comes impressed	N2
Ay written on as by an iron pen	X2
With the same thought I nursed about her then	X2
	-
Therefore let memory turn again to home	Z2
Feel as of old the joy of drawing near	Y2
Watch the green breakers and the wind tossed foam	Z2
And see the land fog break dissolve and clear	Y2
Then think a skylark's voice far sweeter sound	N2
Than ever thrilled but over English ground	N2
	-
And walk glad even to tears among the wheat	N2
Not doubting this to be the first of lands	Q
And while in foreign words this murmuring meet	N2
Some little village school girls with their hands	Q
Full of forget me nots who greeting me	Q
I count their English talk delightsome melody	Q
	-
And seat me on a bank and draw them near	Y2
That I may feast myself with hearing it	N2
Till shortly they forget their bashful fear	Y2
Push back their flaxen curls and round me sit	N2
Tell me their names their daily tasks and show	A2
Where wild wood strawberries in the copses grow	A2
	-
So passed the day in this delightful land	N2
My heart was thankful for the English tongue	A3
For English sky with feathery cloudlets spanned	N2
For English hedge with glistening dewdrops hung	A3
I journeyed and at glowing eventide	N2
Stopped at a rustic inn by the wayside	N2
	-
That night I slumbered sweetly being right glad	N2
To miss the flapping of the shrouds but lo	A2
A quiet dream of beings twain I had	N2
Behind the curtain talking soft and low	A2
Methought I did not heed their utterance fine	X2
Till one of them said softly Eglantine	X2
	-
I started up awake 'twas silence all	G
My own fond heart had shaped that utterance clear	Y2
And Ah methought how sweetly did it fall	G
Though but in dream upon the listening ear	D3
How sweet from other lips the name well known	X2
That name so many a year heard only from mine own	X2
	-
I thought awhile then slumber came to me	Q
And tangled all my fancy in her maze	Q
And I was drifting on a raft at sea	Q
The near all ocean and the far all haze	Q
Through the while polished water sharks did glide	N2
And up in heaven I saw no stars to guide	N2
	-
Have mercy God but lo my raft uprose	Q
Drip drip I heard the water splash from it	N2
My raft had wings and as the petrel goes	Q
It skimmed the sea then brooding seemed to sit	N2
The milk white mirror till with sudden spring	U
She flew straight upward like a living thing	U
	-
But strange I went not also in that flight	N2
For I was entering at a cavern's mouth	E3
Trees grew within and screaming birds of night	N2
Sat on them hiding from the torrid south	E3
On on I went while gleaming in the dark	F3
Those trees with blanched leaves stood pale and stark	F3
	-
The trees had flower buds nourished in deep night	N2
And suddenly as I went farther in	X2
They opened and they shot out lambent light	N2
Then all at once arose a railing din	X2
That frighted me It is the ghosts I said	N2
And they are railing for their darkness fled	N2
	-
I hope they will not look me in the face	Q
It frighteth me to hear their laughter loud	N2
I saw them troop before with jaunty pace	Q
And one would shake off dust that soiled her shroud	N2
But now O joy unhoped to calm my dread	N2
Some moonlight filtered through a cleft o'erhead	N2
	-
I climbed the lofty trees the blanch d trees	Q
The cleft was wide enough to let me through	I2
I clambered out and felt the balmy breeze	Q
And stepped on churchyard grasses wet with dew	I2
O happy chance O fortune to admire	B
I stood beside my own loved village spire	B
	-
And as I gazed upon the yew tree's trunk	G3
Lo far off music music in the night	N2
So sweet and tender as it swelled and sunk	G3
It charmed me till I wept with keen delight	N2
And in my dream methought as it drew near	Y2
The very clouds in heaven stooped low to hear	D3
	-
Beat high beat low wild heart so deeply stirred	N2
For high as heaven runs up the piercing strain	X2
The restless music fluttering like a bird	N2
Bemoaned herself and dropped to earth again	X2
Heaping up sweetness till I was afraid	N2
That I should die of grief when it did fade	N2
	-
And it DID fade but while with eager ear	D3
I drank its last long echo dying away	N2
I was aware of footsteps that drew near	Y2
And round the ivied chancel seemed to stray	N2
O soft above the hallowed place they trod	N2
Soft as the fall of foot that is not shod	N2
	-
I turned 'twas even so yes Eglantine	X2
For at the first I had divined the same	Z2
I saw the moon on her shut eyelids shine	X2
And said She is asleep still on she came	Z2
Then on her dimpled feet I saw it gleam	Z2
And thought I know that this is but a dream	Z2
	-
My darling O my darling not the less	Q
My dream went on because I knew it such	H3
She came towards me in her loveliness	Q
A thing too pure methought for mortal touch	H3
The rippling gold did on her bosom meet	N2
The long white robe descended to her feet	N2
	-
The fring d lids dropped low as sleep oppressed	N2
Her dreamy smile was very fair to see	Q
And her two hands were folded to her breast	N2
With somewhat held between them heedfully	G
O fast asleep and yet methought she knew	I2
And felt my nearness those shut eyelids through	I2
	-
She sighed my tears ran down for tenderness	Q
And have I drawn thee to me in my sleep	I3
Is it for me thou wanderest shelterless	Q
Wetting thy steps in dewy grasses deep	I3
O if this be I said yet speak to me	Q
I blame my very dream for cruelty	Q
	-
Then from her stainless bosom she did take	Z
Two beauteous lily flowers that lay therein	X2
And with slow moving lips a gesture make	Z
As one that some forgotten words doth win	X2
They floated on the pool methought she said	N2
And water trickled from each lily's head	N2
	-
It dropped upon her feet I saw it gleam	Z2
Along the ripples of her yellow hair	B2
And stood apart for only in a dream	Z2
She would have come methought to meet me there	B2
She spoke again Ah fair ah fresh they shine	X2
And there are many left and these are mine	X2
	-
I answered her with flattering accents meet	N2
Love they are whitest lilies e'er were blown	X2
And sayest thou so she sighed in murmurs sweet	N2
I have nought else to give thee now mine own	X2
For it is night Then take them love said she	Q
They have been costly flowers to thee and me	Q
	-
While thus she said I took them from her hand	N2
And overcome with love and nearness woke	J3
And overcome with ruth that she should stand	N2
Barefooted in the grass that when she spoke	J3
Her mystic words should take so sweet a tone	X2
And of all names her lips should choose My own	X2
	-
I rose I journeyed neared my home and soon	X2
Beheld the spire peer out above the hill	G
It was a sunny harvest afternoon	X2
When by the churchyard wicket standing still	G
I cast my eager eyes abroad to know	A2
If change had touched the scenes of long ago	A2
	-
I looked across the hollow sunbeams shone	X2
Upon the old house with the gable ends	Q
Save that the laurel trees are taller grown	X2
No change methought to its gray wall extends	Q
What clear bright beams on yonder lattice shine	X2
There did I sometime talk with Eglantine	X2
	-
There standing with my very goal in sight	N2
Over my haste did sudden quiet steal	G
I thought to dally with my own delight	N2
Nor rush on headlong to my garnered weal	G
But taste the sweetness of a short delay	G
And for a little moment hold the bliss at bay	G
	-
The church was open it perchance might be	Q
That there to offer thanks I might essay	G
Or rather as I think that I might see	Q
The place where Eglantine was wont to pray	G
But so it was I crossed that portal wide	N2
And felt my riot joy to calm subside	N2
	-
The low depending curtains gently swayed	N2
Cast over arch and roof a crimson glow	G
But ne'ertheless all silence and all shade	N2
It seemed save only for the rippling flow	G
Of their long foldings when the sunset air	B2
Sighed through the casements of the house of prayer	B2
	-
I found her place the ancient oaken stall	G
Where in her childhood I had seen her sit	N2
Most saint like and most tranquil there of all	G
Folding her hands as if a dreaming fit	N2
A heavenly vision had before her strayed	N2
Of the Eternal Child in lowly manger laid	N2
	-
I saw her prayer book laid upon the seat	N2
And took it in my hand and felt more near	Y2
in fancy to her finding it most sweet	N2
To think how very oft low kneeling there	B2
In her devout thoughts she had let me share	B2
And set my graceless name in her pure prayer	B2
	-
My eyes were dazzled with delightful tears	Q
In sooth they were the last I ever shed	N2
For with them fell the cherished dreams of years	Q
I looked and on the wall above my head	N2
Over her seat there was a tablet placed	N2
With one word only on the marble traced	N2
	-
	-
Ah well I would not overstate that woe	G
For I have had some blessings little care	B2
But since the falling of that heavy blow	G
God's earth has never seemed to me so fair	B2
Nor any of his creatures so divine	X2
Nor sleep so sweet the word was EGLANTINE	X2

Jean Ingelow

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