Astræa At The Capitol Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABBA CDDE FGGF HIIH JKKJ LAAM NOON PQQP RJJR KSSK BTTB QUUQ VWWV RXXR YZZY A2B2B2A2 C2D2D2C2| WHEN first I saw our banner wave | A |
| Above the nation's council hall | B |
| I heard beneath its marble wall | B |
| The clanking fetters of the slave | A |
| - | |
| In the foul market place I stood | C |
| And saw the Christian mother sold | D |
| And childhood with its locks of gold | D |
| Blue eyed and fair with Saxon blood | E |
| - | |
| I shut my eyes I held my breath | F |
| And smothering down the wrath and shame | G |
| That set my Northern blood aflame | G |
| Stood silent where to speak was death | F |
| - | |
| Beside me gloomed the prison cell | H |
| Where wasted one in slow decline | I |
| For uttering simple words of mine | I |
| And loving freedom all too well | H |
| - | |
| The flag that floated from the dome | J |
| Flapped menace in the morning air | K |
| I stood a perilled stranger where | K |
| The human broker made his home | J |
| - | |
| For crime was virtue Gown and Sword | L |
| And Law their threefold sanction gave | A |
| And to the quarry of the slave | A |
| Went hawking with our symbol bird | M |
| - | |
| On the oppressor's side was power | N |
| And yet I knew that every wrong | O |
| However old however strong | O |
| But waited God's avenging hour | N |
| - | |
| I knew that truth would crush the lie | P |
| Somehow some time the end would be | Q |
| Yet scarcely dared I hope to see | Q |
| The triumph with my mortal eye | P |
| - | |
| But now I see it In the sun | R |
| A free flag floats from yonder dome | J |
| And at the nation's hearth and home | J |
| The justice long delayed is done | R |
| - | |
| Not as we hoped in calm of prayer | K |
| The message of deliverance comes | S |
| But heralded by roll of drums | S |
| On waves of battle troubled air | K |
| - | |
| Midst sounds that madden and appall | B |
| The song that Bethlehem's shepherds knew | T |
| The harp of David melting through | T |
| The demon agonies of Saul | B |
| - | |
| Not as we hoped but what are we | Q |
| Above our broken dreams and plans | U |
| God lays with wiser hand than man's | U |
| The corner stones of liberty | Q |
| - | |
| I cavil not with Him the voice | V |
| That freedom's blessed gospel tells | W |
| Is sweet to me as silver bells | W |
| Rejoicing yea I will rejoice | V |
| - | |
| Dear friends still toiling in the sun | R |
| Ye dearer ones who gone before | X |
| Are watching from the eternal shore | X |
| The slow work by your hands begun | R |
| - | |
| Rejoice with me The chastening rod | Y |
| Blossoms with love the furnace heat | Z |
| Grows cool beneath His blessed feet | Z |
| Whose form is as the Son of God | Y |
| - | |
| Rejoice Our Marah's bitter springs | A2 |
| Are sweetened on our ground of grief | B2 |
| Rise day by day in strong relief | B2 |
| The prophecies of better things | A2 |
| - | |
| Rejoice in hope The day and night | C2 |
| Are one with God and one with them | D2 |
| Who see by faith the cloudy hem | D2 |
| Of Judgement fringed with Mercy's light | C2 |
John Greenleaf Whittier
(1)
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