Prometheus - Christ Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AB ACD EFG HIJK LMN OPQRMN STUVWXW YMGZ A2 B2C2D2E2F2G2H2I2 J2K2L2M2N2O2ME2P2 Q2R2S2W T2MWU2V2M2W2S2X2Y2Z2 A3B3FTX2MMC3GI2D3E3M ZF3F3W2S2W2 G3AH3WS2I3ZJ3K3SL3M2 OW2M3N3O3 P3Q3XR3R3S3G2LASHED to the planet glaring at the sky | A |
An eagle at his heart the Pagan Christ | B |
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Why is it Mystery O dumb Darkness why | A |
Have always men with loving hearts themselves | C |
Made devils of their gods | D |
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The whirling globe | E |
Bears round man's sweating agony of blood | F |
That Might may gloat above impotent Pain | G |
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Man's soul is dual he is half a fiend | H |
And from himself he typifies Almighty | I |
O poison doubt the answer holds no peace | J |
Man did not make himself a fiend but God | K |
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Between them what Prometheus stares | L |
Through ether to the lurid eyes of Jove | M |
Between them Darkness | N |
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But the gods are dead | O |
Ay Zeus is dead and all the gods but Doubt | P |
And Doubt is brother devil to Despair | Q |
What then for us Better Prometheus' fate | R |
Who dared the gods than insect unbelief | M |
Better Doubt's fitful flame than abject nothingness | N |
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O world around us glory of the spheres | S |
God speaks in ordered harmony behold | T |
Between us and the Darkness clad in light | U |
Between us and the curtain of the Vast two Forms | V |
And each is crowned eternally and One | W |
Is crowned with flowers and tender leaves and grass | X |
And smiles benignly and the other One | W |
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With sadly pitying eyes is crowned with thorns | Y |
O Nature and O Christ for men to love | M |
And seek and live by Thine the dual reign | G |
The health and hope and happiness of men | Z |
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Behold our faith and fruit | A2 |
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What demon laughs | B2 |
Behold our books our schools our states | C2 |
Where Christ and Nature are the daily word | D2 |
Behold our dealings between man and man | E2 |
Our laws for home our treaties for abroad | F2 |
Behold our honor honesty and freedom | G2 |
And last our brotherhood For we are born | H2 |
In Christian times and ruled by Christian rules | I2 |
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Bah God is mild or he would strike the world | J2 |
As men should smite a liar on the mouth | K2 |
Shame on the falsehood Let us tell the truth | L2 |
Nor Christ nor Nature rules but Greed and Creed | M2 |
And Caste and Cant and Craft and Ignorance | N2 |
Down to the dust with every decent face | O2 |
And whisper there the lies we daily live | M |
O God forgive us Nature never can | E2 |
For one is merciful the other just | P2 |
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Let us confess by Nations first our lines | Q2 |
Are writ in blood and rapine and revenge | R2 |
Conquest and pride have motive been and law | S2 |
Christ walks with us to hourly crucifixion | W |
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As Men Would God the better tale were here | T2 |
Atom as whole corruption shrewdness self | M |
Freedom A juggle hundreds slave for one | W |
That one is free and boasts and lo the shame | U2 |
The hundreds at the wheel go boasting too | V2 |
Justice The selfish only can succeed | M2 |
Success means power did Christ mean it so | W2 |
And power must be guarded by the law | S2 |
And preachers preach that law must be obeyed | X2 |
Ay even when Right is ironed in the dock | Y2 |
And Rapine sits in ermine on the bench | Z2 |
Mercy Behold it in the reeking slums | A3 |
That grow like cancers from the palace wall | B3 |
Go hear it from the conquered how their blood | F |
Is weighed in drops and purchased blood for gold | T |
Go ask the toiling tenant why he paid | X2 |
The landlord's rent and let his children starve | M |
Go find the thief whose father was a thief | M |
And ask what Christian leech has cured his sin | C3 |
Honesty Our law of life is Gain | G |
We must get gold or be accounted fools | I2 |
The lovable the generous must be crushed | D3 |
And substituted by the hard and shrewd | E3 |
What is it Christ this thing called Christian life | M |
Where Christ is not where ninety slave for ten | Z |
And never own a flower save when they steal it | F3 |
And never hear a bird save when they cage it | F3 |
Is this the freedom of Thy truth Ah woe | W2 |
For those who see a higher nobler law | S2 |
Than his the Crucified if this be so | W2 |
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O man's blind hope Prometheus thine the gift | G3 |
That bids him live when reason bids him die | A |
We cling to this as sailors to a spar | H3 |
We see that this is Truth that men are one | W |
Nor king nor slave among them save by law | S2 |
We see that law is crime save God's sweet code | I3 |
That laps the world in freedom trees and men | Z |
And every life around us days and seasons | J3 |
All for their natural order on the planet | K3 |
To live their lives an hour a hundred years | S |
Equal content and free nor curse their souls | L3 |
With trade's malign unrest with books that breed | M2 |
Disparity contempt for those who cannot read | O |
With cities full of toil and sin and sorrow | W2 |
Climbing the devil builded hill called Progress | M3 |
Prometheus we reject thy gifts for Christ's | N3 |
Selfish and hard were thine but His are sweet | O3 |
'Sell what thou hast and give it to the poor ' | - |
Him we must follow to the great Commune | P3 |
Reading his book of Nature growing wise | Q3 |
As planet men who own the earth and pass | X |
Him we must follow till foul Cant and Caste | R3 |
Die like disease and Mankind freed at last | R3 |
Tramples the complex life and laws and limits | S3 |
That stand between all living things and Freedom | G2 |
John Boyle O'reilly
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