Israel Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCBBDEDEFGFHIG JKKJLMDDM JJNOPONJPJDMDMDJDDJG OOG QRJJJSJSTTUVUU UJUJOWOWWhen by Jabbok the patriarch waited | A |
To learn on the morrow his doom | B |
And his dubious spirit debated | C |
In darkness and silence and gloom | B |
There descended a Being with whom | B |
He wrestled in agony sore | D |
With striving of heart and of brawn | E |
And not for an instant forbore | D |
Till the east gave a threat of the dawn | E |
And then as the Awful One blessed him | F |
To his lips and his spirit there came | G |
Compelled by the doubts that oppressed him | F |
The cry that through questioning ages | H |
Has been wrung from the hinds and the sages | I |
Tell me I pray Thee Thy name | G |
- | |
Most fatal most futile of questions | J |
Wherever the heart of man beats | K |
In the spirit's most sacred retreats | K |
It comes with its sombre suggestions | J |
Unanswered forever and aye | L |
The blessing may come and may stay | M |
For the wrestler's heroic endeavor | D |
But the question unheeded forever | D |
Dies out in the broadening day | M |
- | |
In the ages before our traditions | J |
By the altars of dark superstitions | J |
The imperious question has come | N |
When the death stricken victim lay sobbing | O |
At the feet of his slayer and priest | P |
And his heart was laid smoking and throbbing | O |
To the sound of the cymbal and drum | N |
On the steps of the high Teocallis | J |
When the delicate Greek at his feast | P |
Poured forth the red wine from his chalice | J |
With mocking and cynical prayer | D |
When by Nile Egypt worshiping lay | M |
And afar through the rosy flushed air | D |
The Memnon called out to the day | M |
Where the Muezzin's cry floats from his spire | D |
In the vaulted Cathedral's dim shades | J |
Where the crushed hearts of thousands aspire | D |
Through art's highest miracles higher | D |
This question of questions invades | J |
Each heart bowed in worship or shame | G |
In the air where the censers are swinging | O |
A voice going up with the singing | O |
Cries Tell me I pray Thee Thy name | G |
- | |
No answer came back not a word | Q |
To the patriarch there by the ford | R |
No answer has come through the ages | J |
To the poets the seers and the sages | J |
Who have sought in the secrets of science | J |
The name and the nature of God | S |
Whether cursing in desperate defiance | J |
Or kissing his absolute rod | S |
But the answer which was and shall be | T |
My name Nay what is it to thee | T |
The search and the question are vain | U |
By use of the strength that is in you | V |
By wrestling of soul and of sinew | U |
The blessing of God you may gain | U |
- | |
There are lights in the far gleaming Heaven | U |
That never will shine on our eyes | J |
To mortals it may not be given | U |
To range those inviolate skies | J |
The mind whether praying or scorning | O |
That tempts those dread secrets shall fail | W |
But strive through the night till the morning | O |
And mightily shalt thou prevail | W |
John Hay
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
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