The Fires Of God Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCDCBDEF GHIJGIKKBBLL A MNNMOPOPOPQPQRSRS TUTUVVQQW A XYYYYXZNA2ZNYYA2B2B2 C2YD2C2E2B2MRMF2F2RY YG2WG2SWSY YYYYYLYY LYH2A2A2H2 C2 BYI2YYBJ2YC2WWC2C2YC 2YRNRYK2ZMMZH2L2H2L2 PPL2BYYBYYP PPH2MMH2 N H2H2M2MM2YMYMYYYMYYY N2H2H2N2H2H2MH2H2Y YH2O2P2P2O2 C2 YYYQ2YH2YH2YH2Q2YH2Y H2YH2YYH2NN YOYOOYMM NMNMMNYY MZMZZMH2 H2H2H2H2H2H2H2H2 R2YR2YYR2YY OYOYYOY C2 H2H2H2ZH2NYNZYH2YYYH 2YI | A |
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Time gathers to my name | B |
Along the ways wheredown my feet have passed | C |
I see the years with little triumph crowned | D |
Exulting not for perils dared downcast | C |
And weary eyed and desolate for shame | B |
Of having been unstirred of all the sound | D |
Of the deep music of the men that move | E |
Through the world's days in suffering and love | F |
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Poor barren years that brooded over much | G |
On your own burden pale and stricken years | H |
Go down to your oblivion we part | I |
With no reproach or ceremonial tears | J |
Henceforth my hands are lifted to the touch | G |
Of hands that labour with me and my heart | I |
Hereafter to the world's heart shall be set | K |
And its own pain forget | K |
Time gathers to my name | B |
Days dead are dark the days to be a flame | B |
Of wonder and of promise and great cries | L |
Of travelling people reach me I must rise | L |
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II | A |
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Was I not man Could I not rise alone | M |
Above the shifting of the things that be | N |
Rise to the crest of all the stars and see | N |
The ways of all the world as from a throne | M |
Was I not man with proud imperial will | O |
To cancel all the secrets of high heaven | P |
Should not my sole unbridled purpose fill | O |
All hidden paths with light when once was riven | P |
God's veil by my indomitable will | O |
So dreamt I little man of little vision | P |
Great only in unconsecrated pride | Q |
Man's pity grew from pity to derision | P |
And still I thought 'Albeit they deride | Q |
Yet is it mine uncharted ways to dare | R |
Unknown to these | S |
And they shall stumble darkly unaware | R |
Of solemn mysteries | S |
Whereof the key is mine alone to bear ' | - |
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So I forgot my God and I forgot | T |
The holy sweet communion of men | U |
And moved in desolate places where are not | T |
Meek hands held out with patient healing when | U |
The hours are heavy with uncharitable pain | V |
No company but vain | V |
And arrogant thoughts were with me at my side | Q |
And ever to myself I lied | Q |
Saying 'Apart from all men thus I go | W |
To know the things that they may never know ' | - |
- | |
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III | A |
- | |
Then a great change befell | X |
Long time I stood | Y |
In witless hardihood | Y |
With eyes on one sole changeless vision set | Y |
The deep disturbed fret | Y |
Of men who made brief tarrying in hell | X |
On their earth travelling | Z |
It was as though the lives of men should be | N |
Set circle wise whereof one little span | A2 |
Through which all passed was blackened with the wing | Z |
Of perilous evil bateless misery | N |
But all beyond making the whole complete | Y |
O'er which the travelling feet | Y |
Of every man | A2 |
Made way or ever he might come to death | B2 |
Was odorous with the breath | B2 |
Of honey laden flowers and alive | C2 |
With sacrificial ministrations sweet | Y |
Of man to man and swift and holy loves | D2 |
And large heroic hopes whereby should thrive | C2 |
Man's spirit as he moves | E2 |
From dawn of life to the great dawn of death | B2 |
It was as though mine eyes were set alone | M |
Upon that woeful passage of despair | R |
Until I held that life had never known | M |
Dominion but in this most troubled place | F2 |
Where many a ruined grace | F2 |
And many a friendless care | R |
Ran to and fro in sorrowful unrest | Y |
Still in my hand I pressed | Y |
Hope's fragile chalice whence I drew deep draughts | G2 |
Shaping belief that even yet should grow | W |
Out of this dread confusion as of broken crafts | G2 |
Driven along ungovernable seas | S |
Some threads of order and that I should know | W |
After long vigil all the mysteries | S |
Of human wonder and of human fate | Y |
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O fool O only great | Y |
In pride unhallowed O most blind of heart | Y |
Confusion but more dark confusion bred | Y |
Grief nurtured grief I cried aloud and said | Y |
'Through trackless ways the soul of man is hurled | Y |
No sign upon the forehead of the skies | L |
No beacon and no chart | Y |
Are given to him and the inscrutable world | Y |
But mocks his scars and fills his mouth with dust ' | - |
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'And lies bore lies | L |
And lust bore lust | Y |
And the world was heavy with flowerless rods | H2 |
And pride outran | A2 |
The strength of a man | A2 |
Who had set himself in the place of gods' | H2 |
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IV | C2 |
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Soon was I then to gather bitter shame | B |
Of spirit I had been most wildly proud | Y |
Yet in my pride had been | I2 |
Some little courage formless as a cloud | Y |
Unpiloted save by the vagrant wind | Y |
But still an earnest of the bonds that tame | B |
The legionary hates of sacred loves that lean | J2 |
From the high soul of man towards his kind | Y |
And all my grief | C2 |
Had been for those I watched go to and fro | W |
In uncompassioned woe | W |
Along that little span my unbelief | C2 |
Had fashioned in my vision as all life | C2 |
Now even this so little virtue waned | Y |
For I became caught up into the strife | C2 |
That I had pitied and my soul was stained | Y |
At last by that most venomous despair | R |
Self pity | N |
I no longer was aware | R |
Of any will to heal the world's unrest | Y |
I suffered as it suffered and I grew | K2 |
Troubled in all my daily trafficking | Z |
Not with the large heroic trouble known | M |
By proud adventurous men who would atone | M |
With their own passionate pity for the sting | Z |
And anguish of a world of peril and snares | H2 |
It was the trouble of a soul in thrall | L2 |
To mean despairs | H2 |
Driven about a waste where neither fall | L2 |
Of words from lips of love nor consolation | P |
Of grave eyes comforting nor ministration | P |
Of hand or heart could pierce the deadly wall | L2 |
Of self of self I was a living shame | B |
A broken purpose I had stood apart | Y |
With pride rebellious and defiant heart | Y |
And now my pride had perished in the flame | B |
I cried for succour as a little child | Y |
Might supplicate whose days are undefiled | Y |
For tutored pride and innocence are one | P |
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'To the gloom has won | P |
A gleam of the sun | P |
And into the barren desolate ways | H2 |
A scent is blown | M |
As of meadows mown | M |
By cooling rivers in clover days' | H2 |
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V | N |
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I turned me from that place in humble wise | H2 |
And fingers soft were laid upon mine eyes | H2 |
And I beheld the fruitful earth with store | M2 |
Of odorous treasure full and golden grain | M |
Ripe orchard bounty slender stalks that bore | M2 |
Their flowered beauty with a meek content | Y |
The prosperous leaves that loved the sun and rain | M |
Shy creatures unreproved that came and went | Y |
In garrulous joy among the fostering green | M |
And over all the changes of the day | Y |
And ordered year their mutable glory laid | Y |
Expectant winter soberly arrayed | Y |
The prudent diligent spring whose eyes have seen | M |
The beauty of the roses uncreate | Y |
Imperial June magnificent elate | Y |
Beholding all the ripening loves that stray | Y |
Among her blossoms and the golden time | N2 |
Of the full ear and bounty of the boughs | H2 |
And the great hills and solemn chanting seas | H2 |
And prodigal meadows answering to the chime | N2 |
Of God's good year and bearing on their brows | H2 |
The glory of processional mysteries | H2 |
From dawn to dawn the woven shadow and shine | M |
Of the high moon the twilight secrecies | H2 |
And the inscrutable wonder of the stars | H2 |
Flung out along the reaches of the night | Y |
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'And the ancient might | Y |
Of the binding bars | H2 |
Waned as I woke to a new desire | O2 |
For the choric song | P2 |
Of exultant strong | P2 |
Earth passionate men with souls of fire' | O2 |
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VI | C2 |
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'Twas given me to hear As I beheld | Y |
With a new wisdom tranquil asking not | Y |
For mystic revelation this glory long forgot | Y |
This re discovered triumph of the earth | Q2 |
In high creative will and beauty's pride | Y |
Established beyond the assaulting years | H2 |
It came to me a music that compelled | Y |
Surrender of all tributary fears | H2 |
Full throated fierce and rhythmic with the wide | Y |
Beat of the pilgrim winds and labouring seas | H2 |
Sent up from all the harbouring ways of earth | Q2 |
Wherein the travelling feet of men have trod | Y |
Mounting the firmamental silences | H2 |
And challenging the golden gates of God | Y |
'We bear the burden of the years | H2 |
Clean limbed clear hearted open browed | Y |
Albeit sacramental tears | H2 |
Have dimmed our eyes we know the proud | Y |
Content of men who sweep unbowed | Y |
Before the legionary fears | H2 |
In sorrow we have grown to be | N |
The masters of adversity | N |
- | |
Long ere from immanent silence leapt | Y |
Obedient hands and fashioning will | O |
The giant god within us slept | Y |
And dreamt of seasons to fulfil | O |
The shaping of our souls that still | O |
Expectant earthward vigil kept | Y |
Our wisdom grew from secrets drawn | M |
From that far off dim memoried dawn | M |
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Wise of the storied ages we | N |
Of perils dared and crosses borne | M |
Of heroes bound by no decree | N |
Of laws defiled or faiths outworn | M |
Of poets who have held in scorn | M |
All mean and tyrannous things that be | N |
We prophesy with lips that sped | Y |
The songs of the prophetic dead | Y |
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Wise of the brief beloved span | M |
Of this our glad earth travelling | Z |
Of beauty's bloom and ordered plan | M |
Of love and love's compassioning | Z |
Of all the dear delights that spring | Z |
From man's communion with man | M |
We cherish every hour that strays | H2 |
Adown the cataract of the days ' | - |
'We see the dear untroubled skies | H2 |
We see the glory of the rose | H2 |
And laugh nor grieve that clouds will rise | H2 |
And wax with every wind that blows | H2 |
Nor that the blossoming time will close | H2 |
For beauty seen of humble eyes | H2 |
Immortal habitation has | H2 |
Though beauty's form may pale and pass | H2 |
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Wise of the great unshapen age | R2 |
To which we move with measured tread | Y |
All girt with passionate truth to wage | R2 |
High battle for the word unsaid | Y |
The song unsung the cause unled | Y |
The freedom that no hope can gauge | R2 |
Strong armed sure footed iron willed | Y |
We sift and weave we break and build | Y |
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Into one hour we gather all | O |
The years gone down the years unwrought | Y |
Upon our ears brave measures fall | O |
Across uncharted spaces brought | Y |
Upon our lips the words are caught | Y |
Wherewith the dead the unborn call | O |
From love to love from height to height | Y |
We press and none may curb our might ' | - |
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VII | C2 |
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O blessed voices O compassionate hands | H2 |
Calling and healing O great hearted brothers | H2 |
I come to you Ring out across the lands | H2 |
Your benediction and I too will sing | Z |
With you and haply kindle in another's | H2 |
Dark desolate hour the flame you stirred in me | N |
O bountiful earth in adoration meet | Y |
I bow to you O glory of years to be | N |
I too will labour to your fashioning | Z |
Go down go down unweariable feet | Y |
Together we will march towards the ways | H2 |
Wherein the marshalled hosts of morning wait | Y |
In sleepless watch with banners wide unfurled | Y |
Across the skies in ceremonial state | Y |
To greet the men who lived triumphant days | H2 |
And stormed the secret beauty of the world | Y |
John Drinkwater
(1)
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