The Prayer Of Agassiz Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDDEEFF GGHHIJCCKKLLCCMMNOPP QRR SSTTCCUVWWXXCCYZA2A2 B2C2D2E2F2F2G2H2F2F2 I2I2QQJ2K2I2I2 AACCL2L2L2F2F2M2M2F2 F2N2N2SSO2O2I2I2I2F2 I2I2I2F2CI2CI2On the isle of Penikese | A |
Ringed about by sapphire seas | A |
Fanned by breezes salt and cool | B |
Stood the Master with his school | B |
Over sails that not in vain | C |
Wooed the west wind's steady strain | C |
Line of coast that low and far | D |
Stretched its undulating bar | D |
Wings aslant along the rim | E |
Of the waves they stooped to skim | E |
Rock and isle and glistening bay | F |
Fell the beautiful white day | F |
- | |
Said the Master to the youth | G |
'We have come in search of truth | G |
Trying with uncertain key | H |
Door by door of mystery | H |
We are reaching through His laws | I |
To the garment hem of Cause | J |
Him the endless unbegun | C |
The Unnamable the One | C |
Light of all our light the Source | K |
Life of life and Force of force | K |
As with fingers of the blind | L |
We are groping here to find | L |
What the hieroglyphics mean | C |
Of the Unseen in the seen | C |
What the Thought which underlies | M |
Nature's masking and disguise | M |
What it is that hides beneath | N |
Blight and bloom and birth and death | O |
By past efforts unavailing | P |
Doubt and error loss and failing | P |
Of our weakness made aware | Q |
On the threshold of our task | R |
Let us light and guidance ask | R |
Let us pause in silent prayer ' | - |
- | |
Then the Master in his place | S |
Bowed his head a little space | S |
And the leaves by soft airs stirred | T |
Lapse of wave and cry of bird | T |
Left the solemn hush unbroken | C |
Of that wordless prayer unspoken | C |
While its wish on earth unsaid | U |
Rose to heaven interpreted | V |
As in life's best hours we hear | W |
By the spirit's finer ear | W |
His low voice within us thus | X |
The All Father heareth us | X |
And His holy ear we pain | C |
With our noisy words and vain | C |
Not for Him our violence | Y |
Storming at the gates of sense | Z |
His the primal language His | A2 |
The eternal silences | A2 |
- | |
Even the careless heart was moved | B2 |
And the doubting gave assent | C2 |
With a gesture reverent | D2 |
To the Master well beloved | E2 |
As thin mists are glorified | F2 |
By the light they cannot hide | F2 |
All who gazed upon him saw | G2 |
Through its veil of tender awe | H2 |
How his face was still uplit | F2 |
By the old sweet look of it | F2 |
Hopeful trustful full of cheer | I2 |
And the love that casts out fear | I2 |
Who the secret may declare | Q |
Of that brief unuttered prayer | Q |
Did the shade before him come | J2 |
Of th' inevitable doom | K2 |
Of the end of earth so near | I2 |
And Eternity's new year | I2 |
- | |
In the lap of sheltering seas | A |
Rests the isle of Penikese | A |
But the lord of the domain | C |
Comes not to his own again | C |
Where the eyes that follow fail | L2 |
On a vaster sea his sail | L2 |
Drifts beyond our beck and hail | L2 |
Other lips within its bound | F2 |
Shall the laws of life expound | F2 |
Other eyes from rock and shell | M2 |
Read the world's old riddles well | M2 |
But when breezes light and bland | F2 |
Blow from Summer's blossomed land | F2 |
When the air is glad with wings | N2 |
And the blithe song sparrow sings | N2 |
Many an eye with his still face | S |
Shall the living ones displace | S |
Many an ear the word shall seek | O2 |
He alone could fitly speak | O2 |
And one name forevermore | I2 |
Shall be uttered o'er and o'er | I2 |
By the waves that kiss the shore | I2 |
By the curlew's whistle sent | F2 |
Down the cool sea scented air | I2 |
In all voices known to her | I2 |
Nature owns her worshipper | I2 |
Half in triumph half lament | F2 |
Thither Love shall tearful turn | C |
Friendship pause uncovered there | I2 |
And the wisest reverence learn | C |
From the Master's silent prayer | I2 |
John Greenleaf Whittier
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