Tauler Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFG HIJKL MNOP QRS TU VWXCSYSZA2CB2C2D2F E2SF2G2D H2H2KI2J2H2K2 DJ2L2M2N2BQM2O2 P2Q2R2S2T2Q2U2T2N2V2 W2Q2T2X2Y2Z2J2A3B3| Tauler the preacher walked one autumn day | A |
| Without the walls of Strasburg by the Rhine | B |
| Pondering the solemn Miracle of Life | C |
| As one who wandering in a starless night | D |
| Feels momently the jar of unseen waves | E |
| And hears the thunder of an unknown sea | F |
| Breaking along an unimagined shore | G |
| - | |
| And as he walked he prayed Even the same | H |
| Old prayer with which for half a score of years | I |
| Morning and noon and evening lip and heart | J |
| Had groaned 'Have pity upon me Lord | K |
| Thou seest while teaching others I am blind | L |
| Send me a man who can direct my steps ' | - |
| - | |
| Then as he mused he heard along his path | M |
| A sound as of an old man's staff among | N |
| The dry dead linden leaves and looking up | O |
| He saw a stranger weak and poor and old | P |
| - | |
| 'Peace be unto thee father ' Tauler said | Q |
| 'God give thee a good day ' The old man raised | R |
| Slowly his calm blue eyes 'I thank thee son | S |
| But all my days are good and none are ill ' | - |
| - | |
| Wondering thereat the preacher spake again | T |
| 'God give thee happy life ' The old man smiled | U |
| 'I never am unhappy ' | - |
| - | |
| Tauler laid | V |
| His hand upon the stranger's coarse gray sleeve | W |
| 'Tell me O father what thy strange words mean | X |
| Surely man's days are evil and his life | C |
| Sad as the grave it leads to ' 'Nay my son | S |
| Our times are in God's hands and all our days | Y |
| Are as our needs for shadow as for sun | S |
| For cold as heat for want as wealth alike | Z |
| Our thanks are due since that is best which is | A2 |
| And that which is not sharing not His life | C |
| Is evil only as devoid of good | B2 |
| And for the happiness of which I spake | C2 |
| I find it in submission to his will | D2 |
| And calm trust in the holy Trinity | F |
| Of Knowledge Goodness and Almighty Power ' | - |
| - | |
| Silently wondering for a little space | E2 |
| Stood the great preacher then he spake as one | S |
| Who suddenly grappling with a haunting thought | F2 |
| Which long has followed whispering through the dark | G2 |
| Strange terrors drags it shrieking into light | D |
| 'What if God's will consign thee hence to Hell ' | - |
| - | |
| 'Then ' said the stranger cheerily 'be it so | H2 |
| What Hell may be I know not this I know | H2 |
| I cannot lose the presence of the Lord | K |
| One arm Humility takes hold upon | I2 |
| His dear Humanity the other Love | J2 |
| Clasps his Divinity So where I go | H2 |
| He goes and better fire walled Hell with Him | K2 |
| Than golden gated Paradise without ' | - |
| - | |
| Tears sprang in Tauler's eyes A sudden light | D |
| Like the first ray which fell on chaos clove | J2 |
| Apart the shadow wherein he had walked | L2 |
| Darkly at noon And as the strange old man | M2 |
| Went his slow way until his silver hair | N2 |
| Set like the white moon where the hills of vine | B |
| Slope to the Rhine he bowed his head and said | Q |
| 'My prayer is answered God hath sent the man | M2 |
| Long sought to teach me by his simple trust | O2 |
| Wisdom the weary schoolmen never knew ' | - |
| - | |
| So entering with a changed and cheerful step | P2 |
| The city gates he saw far down the street | Q2 |
| A mighty shadow break the light of noon | R2 |
| Which tracing backward till its airy lines | S2 |
| Hardened to stony plinths he raised his eyes | T2 |
| O'er broad facade and lofty pediment | Q2 |
| O'er architrave and frieze and sainted niche | U2 |
| Up the stone lace work chiselled by the wise | T2 |
| Erwin of Steinbach dizzily up to where | N2 |
| In the noon brightness the great Minster's tower | V2 |
| Jewelled with sunbeams on its mural crown | W2 |
| Rose like a visible prayer 'Behold ' he said | Q2 |
| 'The stranger's faith made plain before mine eyes | T2 |
| As yonder tower outstretches to the earth | X2 |
| The dark triangle of its shade alone | Y2 |
| When the clear day is shining on its top | Z2 |
| So darkness in the pathway of Man's life | J2 |
| Is but the shadow of God's providence | A3 |
| By the great Sun of Wisdom cast thereon | B3 |
| And what is dark below is light in Heaven ' | - |
John Greenleaf Whittier
(1)
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