Israel Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCBBDEDEFGFHIG JKKJLMDDM JJNOPONJPJDMDMDJDDJG OOG QRJJJSJSTTUVUU UJUJOWOW

When by Jabbok the patriarch waitedA
To learn on the morrow his doomB
And his dubious spirit debatedC
In darkness and silence and gloomB
There descended a Being with whomB
He wrestled in agony soreD
With striving of heart and of brawnE
And not for an instant forboreD
Till the east gave a threat of the dawnE
And then as the Awful One blessed himF
To his lips and his spirit there cameG
Compelled by the doubts that oppressed himF
The cry that through questioning agesH
Has been wrung from the hinds and the sagesI
Tell me I pray Thee Thy nameG
-
Most fatal most futile of questionsJ
Wherever the heart of man beatsK
In the spirit's most sacred retreatsK
It comes with its sombre suggestionsJ
Unanswered forever and ayeL
The blessing may come and may stayM
For the wrestler's heroic endeavorD
But the question unheeded foreverD
Dies out in the broadening dayM
-
In the ages before our traditionsJ
By the altars of dark superstitionsJ
The imperious question has comeN
When the death stricken victim lay sobbingO
At the feet of his slayer and priestP
And his heart was laid smoking and throbbingO
To the sound of the cymbal and drumN
On the steps of the high TeocallisJ
When the delicate Greek at his feastP
Poured forth the red wine from his chaliceJ
With mocking and cynical prayerD
When by Nile Egypt worshiping layM
And afar through the rosy flushed airD
The Memnon called out to the dayM
Where the Muezzin's cry floats from his spireD
In the vaulted Cathedral's dim shadesJ
Where the crushed hearts of thousands aspireD
Through art's highest miracles higherD
This question of questions invadesJ
Each heart bowed in worship or shameG
In the air where the censers are swingingO
A voice going up with the singingO
Cries Tell me I pray Thee Thy nameG
-
No answer came back not a wordQ
To the patriarch there by the fordR
No answer has come through the agesJ
To the poets the seers and the sagesJ
Who have sought in the secrets of scienceJ
The name and the nature of GodS
Whether cursing in desperate defianceJ
Or kissing his absolute rodS
But the answer which was and shall beT
My name Nay what is it to theeT
The search and the question are vainU
By use of the strength that is in youV
By wrestling of soul and of sinewU
The blessing of God you may gainU
-
There are lights in the far gleaming HeavenU
That never will shine on our eyesJ
To mortals it may not be givenU
To range those inviolate skiesJ
The mind whether praying or scorningO
That tempts those dread secrets shall failW
But strive through the night till the morningO
And mightily shalt thou prevailW

John Hay



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