Astræa At The Capitol Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCCB DEEF GHHG IJJI KLLK MBBN OPPO QRRQ SKKS LTTL CUUC RVVR WXXW SYYS ZA2A2Z B2C2C2B2 D2E2E2D2| ABOLITION OF SLAVERY IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA | A |
| - | |
| - | |
| When first I saw our banner wave | B |
| Above the nation's council hall | C |
| I heard beneath its marble wall | C |
| The clanking fetters of the slave | B |
| - | |
| In the foul market place I stood | D |
| And saw the Christian mother sold | E |
| And childhood with its locks of gold | E |
| Blue eyed and fair with Saxon blood | F |
| - | |
| I shut my eyes I held my breath | G |
| And smothering down the wrath and shame | H |
| That set my Northern blood aflame | H |
| Stood silent where to speak was death | G |
| - | |
| Beside me gloomed the prison cell | I |
| Where wasted one in slow decline | J |
| For uttering simple words of mine | J |
| And loving freedom all too well | I |
| - | |
| The flag that floated from the dome | K |
| Flapped menace in the morning air | L |
| I stood a perilled stranger where | L |
| The human broker made his home | K |
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| For crime was virtue Gown and Sword | M |
| And Law their threefold sanction gave | B |
| And to the quarry of the slave | B |
| Went hawking with our symbol bird | N |
| - | |
| On the oppressor's side was power | O |
| And yet I knew that every wrong | P |
| However old however strong | P |
| But waited God's avenging hour | O |
| - | |
| I knew that truth would crush the lie | Q |
| Somehow some time the end would be | R |
| Yet scarcely dared I hope to see | R |
| The triumph with my mortal eye | Q |
| - | |
| But now I see it In the sun | S |
| A free flag floats from yonder dome | K |
| And at the nation's hearth and home | K |
| The justice long delayed is done | S |
| - | |
| Not as we hoped in calm of prayer | L |
| The message of deliverance comes | T |
| But heralded by roll of drums | T |
| On waves of battle troubled air | L |
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| Midst sounds that madden and appall | C |
| The song that Bethlehem's shepherds knew | U |
| The harp of David melting through | U |
| The demon agonies of Saul | C |
| - | |
| Not as we hoped but what are we | R |
| Above our broken dreams and plans | V |
| God lays with wiser hand than man's | V |
| The corner stones of liberty | R |
| - | |
| I cavil not with Him the voice | W |
| That freedom's blessed gospel tells | X |
| Is sweet to me as silver bells | X |
| Rejoicing yea I will rejoice | W |
| - | |
| Dear friends still toiling in the sun | S |
| Ye dearer ones who gone before | Y |
| Are watching from the eternal shore | Y |
| The slow work by your hands begun | S |
| - | |
| Rejoice with me The chastening rod | Z |
| Blossoms with love the furnace heat | A2 |
| Grows cool beneath His blessed feet | A2 |
| Whose form is as the Son of God | Z |
| - | |
| Rejoice Our Marah's bitter springs | B2 |
| Are sweetened on our ground of grief | C2 |
| Rise day by day in strong relief | C2 |
| The prophecies of better things | B2 |
| - | |
| Rejoice in hope The day and night | D2 |
| Are one with God and one with them | E2 |
| Who see by faith the cloudy hem | E2 |
| Of Judgment fringed with Mercy's light | D2 |
John Greenleaf Whittier
(1)
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