Miriam Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJKK LLMMNNOOPPQQRRSSBB TTUVWWXXYZA2A2BBB2B2 C2C2C2C2D2D2C2C2WWC2 C2C2C2E2E2F2F2G2G2H2 I2J2J2K2K2L2L2M2M2 EEBBN2N2I2M2O2B2P2Q2 C2C2R2R2 C2C2C2C2S2T2U2V2W2W2 X2X2C2C2C2C2C2C2C2C2 C2C2 Y2Z2C2C2C2C2A3A3B3B3 C2C2C3C3C2C2U2U2U2D3 D3E3E3U2U2U2U2BBF3F3 C2C2G3G3 U2U2MMU2U2C2C2U2U2H3 H3U2U2U2U2U2U2K2K2I3 I3U2U2J3J3W C2C2E3E3BBZZC2C2K3L3 II M3C2U2U2C2C2C2C2BBC2 C2C2C2 A3A3IIBBC2C2C2C2E3E3 X

One Sabbath day my friend and IA
After the meeting quietlyB
Passed from the crowded village lanesC
White with dry dust for lack of rainsC
And climbed the neighboring slope with feetD
Slackened and heavy from the heatD
Although the day was wellnigh doneE
And the low angle of the sunE
Along the naked hillside castF
Our shadows as of giants vastF
We reached at length the topmost swellG
Whence either way the green turf fellG
In terraces of nature downH
To fruit hung orchards and the townH
With white pretenceless houses tallI
Church steeples and o'ershadowing allI
Huge mills whose windows had the lookJ
Of eager eyes that ill could brookJ
The Sabbath rest We traced the trackK
Of the sea seeking river backK
Glistening for miles above its mouthL
Through the long valley to the southL
And looking eastward cool to viewM
Stretched the illimitable blueM
Of ocean from its curved coast lineN
Sombred and still the warm sunshineN
Filled with pale gold dust all the reachO
Of slumberous woods from hill to beachO
Slanted on walls of thronged retreatsP
From city toil and dusty streetsP
On grassy bluff and dune of sandQ
And rocky islands miles from landQ
Touched the far glancing sails and showedR
White lines of foam where long waves flowedR
Dumb in the distance In the northS
Dim through their misty hair looked forthS
The space dwarfed mountains to the seaB
From mystery to mysteryB
-
So sitting on that green hill slopeT
We talked of human life its hopeT
And fear and unsolved doubts and whatU
It might have been and yet was notV
And when at last the evening airW
Grew sweeter for the bells of prayerW
Ringing in steeples far belowX
We watched the people churchward goX
Each to his place as if thereonY
The true shekinah only shoneZ
And my friend queried how it cameA2
To pass that they who owned the sameA2
Great Master still could not agreeB
To worship Him in companyB
Then broadening in his thought he ranB2
Over the whole vast field of manB2
The varying forms of faith and creedC2
That somehow served the holders' needC2
In which unquestioned undeniedC2
Uncounted millions lived and diedC2
The bibles of the ancient folkD2
Through which the heart of nations spokeD2
The old moralities which lentC2
To home its sweetness and contentC2
And rendered possible to bearW
The life of peoples everywhereW
And asked if we who boast of lightC2
Claim not a too exclusive rightC2
To truths which must for all be meantC2
Like rain and sunshine freely sentC2
In bondage to the letter stillE2
We give it power to cramp and killE2
To tax God's fulness with a schemeF2
Narrower than Peter's house top dreamF2
His wisdom and his love with plansG2
Poor and inadequate as man'sG2
It must be that He witnessesH2
Somehow to all men that He isI2
That something of His saving graceJ2
Reaches the lowest of the raceJ2
Who through strange creed and rite may drawK2
The hints of a diviner lawK2
We walk in clearer light but thenL2
Is He not God are they not menL2
Are His responsibilitiesM2
For us alone and not for theseM2
-
And I made answer 'Truth is oneE
And in all lands beneath the sunE
Whoso hath eyes to see may seeB
The tokens of its unityB
No scroll of creed its fulness wrapsN2
We trace it not by school boy mapsN2
Free as the sun and air it isI2
Of latitudes and boundariesM2
In Vedic verse in dull KoranO2
Are messages of good to manB2
The angels to our Aryan siresP2
Talked by the earliest household firesQ2
The prophets of the elder dayC2
The slant eyed sages of CathayC2
Read not the riddle all amissR2
Of higher life evolved from thisR2
-
'Nor doth it lessen what He taughtC2
Or make the gospel Jesus broughtC2
Less precious that His lips retoldC2
Some portion of that truth of oldC2
Denying not the proven seersS2
The tested wisdom of the yearsT2
Confirming with his own impressU2
The common law of righteousnessV2
We search the world for truth we cullW2
The good the pure the beautifulW2
From graven stone and written scrollX2
From all old flower fields of the soulX2
And weary seekers of the bestC2
We come back laden from our questC2
To find that all the sages saidC2
Is in the Book our mothers readC2
And all our treasure of old thoughtC2
In His harmonious fulness wroughtC2
Who gathers in one sheaf completeC2
The scattered blades of God's sown wheatC2
The common growth that maketh goodC2
His all embracing FatherhoodC2
-
'Wherever through the ages riseY2
The altars of self sacrificeZ2
Where love its arms has opened wideC2
Or man for man has calmly diedC2
I see the same white wings outspreadC2
That hovered o'er the Master's headC2
Up from undated time they comeA3
The martyr souls of heathendomA3
And to His cross and passion bringB3
Their fellowship of sufferingB3
I trace His presence in the blindC2
Pathetic gropings of my kindC2
In prayers from sin and sorrow wrungC3
In cradle hymns of life they sungC3
Each in its measure but a partC2
Of the unmeasured Over HeartC2
And with a stronger faith confessU2
The greater that it owns the lessU2
Good cause it is for thankfulnessU2
That the world blessing of His lifeD3
With the long past is not at strifeD3
That the great marvel of His deathE3
To the one order witnessethE3
No doubt of changeless goodness wakesU2
No link of cause and sequence breaksU2
But one with nature rooted isU2
In the eternal veritiesU2
Whereby while differing in degreeB
As finite from infinityB
The pain and loss for others borneF3
Love's crown of suffering meekly wornF3
The life man giveth for his friendC2
Become vicarious in the endC2
Their healing place in nature takeG3
And make life sweeter for their sakeG3
-
'So welcome I from every sourceU2
The tokens of that primal ForceU2
Older than heaven itself yet newM
As the young heart it reaches toM
Beneath whose steady impulse rollsU2
The tidal wave of human soulsU2
Guide comforter and inward wordC2
The eternal spirit of the LordC2
Nor fear I aught that science bringsU2
From searching through material thingsU2
Content to let its glasses proveH3
Not by the letter's oldness moveH3
The myriad worlds on worlds that courseU2
The spaces of the universeU2
Since everywhere the Spirit walksU2
The garden of the heart and talksU2
With man as under Eden's treesU2
In all his varied languagesU2
Why mourn above some hopeless flawK2
In the stone tables of the lawK2
When scripture every day afreshI3
Is traced on tablets of the fleshI3
By inward sense by outward signsU2
God's presence still the heart divinesU2
Through deepest joy of Him we learnJ3
In sorest grief to Him we turnJ3
And reason stoops its pride to shareW
The child like instinct of a prayer '-
-
And then as is my wont I toldC2
A story of the days of oldC2
Not found in printed books in soothE3
A fancy with slight hint of truthE3
Showing how differing faiths agreeB
In one sweet law of charityB
Meanwhile the sky had golden grownZ
Our faces in its glory shoneZ
But shadows down the valley sweptC2
And gray below the ocean sleptC2
As time and space I wandered o'erK3
To tread the Mogul's marble floorL3
And see a fairer sunset fallI
On Jumna's wave and Agra's wallI
-
The good Shah Akbar peace be his alwayM3
Came forth from the Divan at close of dayC2
Bowed with the burden of his many caresU2
Worn with the hearing of unnumbered prayersU2
Wild cries for justice the importunateC2
Appeals of greed and jealousy and hateC2
And all the strife of sect and creed and riteC2
Santon and Gouroo waging holy fightC2
For the wise monarch claiming not to beB
Allah's avenger left his people freeB
With a faint hope his Book scarce justifiedC2
That all the paths of faith though severed wideC2
O'er which the feet of prayerful reverence passedC2
Met at the gate of Paradise at lastC2
-
He sought an alcove of his cool hareemA3
Where far beneath he heard the Jumna's streamA3
Lapse soft and low along his palace wallI
And all about the cool sound of the fallI
Of fountains and of water circling freeB
Through marble ducts along the balconyB
The voice of women in the distance sweetC2
And sweeter still of one who at his feetC2
Soothed his tired ear with songs of a far landC2
Where Tagus shatters on the salt sea sandC2
The mirror of its cork grown hills of drouthE3
And vales of vine at Lisbon's harbor mouthE3
-
The date palms rustled noX

John Greenleaf Whittier



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