The Exile Of The Gael Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGHF IJKLM M NHMOP NQRQ MOSJTFU VWOFX YYZZZZA2A2B2 FF FFC2C2D2 YYFFF Y E2E2YYRRB2 UUF2F2 G2H2Z

IT is sweet to rejoice for a dayA
For a day that is reached at lastB
It is well for wanderers in new landsC
Slow climbers toward a lofty mountain passD
Yearning with hearts and eyes strained ever upwardE
To pause and rest on the summitF
To stand between two limitless outlooksG
Behind them a winding path through familiar pains and venturesH
Before them the streams unbridged and the vales untraveledF
-
What shall they do nobler than mark their passageI
With kindly hearts mayhap for kindred to followJ
What shall they do wiser than pile a cairnK
With stones from the wayside that their tracks and namesL
Be not blown from the hills like sand and their story be lost foreverM
-
'Hither ' the cairn shall tell 'Hither they came and rested '-
'Whither ' the searcher shall ask with questioning eyes on their futureM
-
Hither and Whither O Maker of Nations Hither and Whither the sea speaksN
Heaving the forest speaks dying the Summer whispersH
Like a sentry giving up the watchword to the muffled WinterM
Hither and Whither the Earth calls wheeling to the SunO
And like ships on the deep at night the stars interflash the signalP
-
Hither and Whither the exiles' cairn on the hill speaksN
Yea as loudly as the sea and the earth and the starsQ
The heart is earth's exile the soul is heaven'sR
And God has made no higher mystery for starsQ
-
Hither from home sobs the torn flower on the riverM
Wails the river itself as it enters the bitter oceanO
Moans the iron in the furnace at the premonition of meltingS
Cries the scattered grain in Spring at the passage of the harrowJ
In the iceberg is frozen the rain's dream of exile from the fieldsT
The shower falls sighing for the opaline hills of cloudF
And the clouds on the bare mountains weep their daughter love for the seaU
-
Exile is God's alchemy Nations he forms like metalsV
Mixing their strength and their tendernessW
Tempering pride with shame and victory with afflictionO
Meting their courage their faith and their fortitudeF
Timing their genesis to the world's needsX
-
'What have ye brought to our Nation building Sous of the GaelY
What is your burden or guerdon from old InnisfailY
Here build we higher and deeper than men ever built beforeZ
And we raise no Shinar tower but a temple forevermoreZ
What have ye brought from Erin your hapless land could spareZ
Her tears defeats and miseries Are these indeed your shareZ
Are the mother's caoine and the banshee's cry your music for our songA2
Have ye joined our feast with a withered wreath and a memory of wrongA2
With a broken sword and treason flag from your Banba of the SeasB2
O where in our House of Triumph shall hang such gifts as these '-
-
O Soul wing forth what answer across the main is heardF
From burdened ships and exiled lips write down write down the wordF
-
'No treason we bring from Erin nor bring we shame nor guiltF
The sword we hold may be broken but we have not dropped the hiltF
The wreath we bear to Columbia is twisted of thorns not baysC2
And the songs we sing are saddened by thoughts of desolate daysC2
But the hearts we bring for Freedom are washed in the surge of tearsD2
And we claim our right by a People's fight outliving a thousand years '-
-
'What bring ye else to the Building '-
'O willing hands to toilY
Strong natures tuned to the harvest song and bound to the kindly soilY
Bold pioneers for the wilderness defenders in the fieldF
The sons of a race of soldiers who never learned to yieldF
Young hearts with duty brimming as faith makes sweet the dueF
Their truth to me their witness they cannot be false to you '-
-
'What send ye else old Mother to raise our mighty wallY
For we must build against Kings and Wrongs a fortress never to fall '-
-
'I send you in cradle and bosom wise brain and eloquent tongueE2
Whose crowns should engild my crowning whose songs for me should be sungE2
O flowers unblown from lonely fields my daughters with hearts aglowY
With pulses warm with sympathies with bosoms pure as snowY
I smile through tears as the' clouds unroll my widening river that runsR
My lost ones grown in radiant growth proud mothers of free born sonsR
My seed of sacrifice ripens apace The Tyrant's cure is diseaseB2
My strength that was dead like a forest is spread beyond the distant seas '-
-
'It is well aye well old Erin The sons you give to meU
Are symbolled long in flag and song your Sunburst on the SeaU
All mine by the chrism of Freedom still yours by their love's beliefF2
And truest to me shall the tenderest be in a suffering mother's griefF2
-
Their loss is the change of the wave to the cloud of the dew to the river and mainG2
Their hope shall persist through the sea and the mist and thy streams shall be filled againH2
As the smolt of the salmon go down to the sea and as surely come back to the riverZ
Their love shall be yours while your sorrow endures for God guardeth His right forever '-

John Boyle O'reilly



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