The Pot Of Basil; Or, Isabella Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: A BABCBADD A EFEFEFGG A HIHIJIEE K LMLMLMNN K OPOPOPQQ K RSRSRSTT K UKVKVKWW K KEKEKEKK Q XGXGXGQQ Q EYEYEYFF Q ZA2ZA2ZA2QQ Q QVQVQVQQ Q KQKQKQQQ K B2QB2QB2QB2B2 K C2D2C2D2E2D2F2F2 K QQQQQQB2B2 K B2QB2QB2QRR K KB2KB2KB2EE Q QMQMQMGG Q A2B2A2B2A2B2G2G2 Q QB2QB2QB2QQ Q RH2RH2RH2GG Q B2B2B2B2B2B2QQ K B2I2B2J2B2J2QQ K K2B2K2B2G2B2B2B2 K PQPQPQQQ K L2GL2GM2GEE K N2QN2QN2QEE Q B2QB2QB2QQQ Q QM2QH2QH2EE Q K2B2G2B2K2B2B2B2 Q QRQQQRQQ Q QQQQQQB2B2 K QQQQQQO2P K GB2GB2GB2QQ K P2G2P2G2P2P2P2P2 K B2KB2KB2KQQ K B2B2B2B2B2B2GG Q QP2QP2QP2QQ Q QB2QB2QB2QQ Q B2QB2QB2QP2P2 Q KQKB2KQQQ Q B2Q2B2B2B2B2QQ K B2GB2GB2GB2B2 K B2QB2QB2QB2B2 K QQQQQQL2L2 K L2QL2QL2QEE K P2EP2EP2EKK Q QP2QP2QP2QQ Q B2B2B2B2B2B2B2B2 Q GQGQGQB2B2 Q QB2QQQB2B2B2 Q L2QL2QL2QEE K QEQEQEB2B2 E QQQEQQQQ E QL2QQQQGG E EEEEEEB2B2 E R2L2R2L2R2L2P2P2 Q B2L2B2L2B2L2EE Q B2QB2QB2QB2B2 Q P2P2P2EP2EB2B2 Q QP2QEQEQQ Q L2B2L2B2L2B2QQ

I	A
	-
Fair Isabel poor simple Isabel	B
Lorenzo a young palmer in Love's eye	A
They could not in the self same mansion dwell	B
Without some stir of heart some malady	C
They could not sit at meals but feel how well	B
It soothed each to be the other by	A
They could not sure beneath the same roof sleep	D
But to each other dream and nightly weep	D
	-
II	A
	-
With every morn their love grew tenderer	E
With every eve deeper and tenderer still	F
He might not in house field or garden stir	E
But her full shape would all his seeing fill	F
And his continual voice was pleasanter	E
To her than noise of trees or hidden rill	F
Her lute string gave an echo of his name	G
She spoilt her half done broidery with the same	G
	-
III	A
	-
He knew whose gentle hand was at the latch	H
Before the door had given her to his eyes	I
And from her chamber window he would catch	H
Her beauty farther than the falcon spies	I
And constant as her vespers would he watch	J
Because her face was turn'd to the same skies	I
And with sick longing all the night outwear	E
To hear her morning step upon the stair	E
	-
IV	K
	-
A whole long month of May in this sad plight	L
Made their cheeks paler by the break of June	M
To morrow will I bow to my delight	L
To morrow will I ask my lady's boon	M
O may I never see another night	L
Lorenzo if thy lips breathe not love's tune	M
So spake they to their pillows but alas	N
Honeyless days and days did he let pass	N
	-
V	K
	-
Until sweet Isabella's untouch'd cheek	O
Fell sick within the rose's just domain	P
Fell thin as a young mother's who doth seek	O
By every lull to cool her infant's pain	P
How ill she is said he I may not speak	O
And yet I will and tell my love all plain	P
If looks speak love laws I will drink her tears	Q
And at the least 'twill startle off her cares	Q
	-
VI	K
	-
So said he one fair morning and all day	R
His heart beat awfully against his side	S
And to his heart he inwardly did pray	R
For power to speak but still the ruddy tide	S
Stifled his voice and puls'd resolve away	R
Fever'd his high conceit of such a bride	S
Yet brought him to the meekness of a child	T
Alas when passion is both meek and wild	T
	-
VII	K
	-
So once more he had wak'd and anguished	U
A dreary night of love and misery	K
If Isabel's quick eye had not been wed	V
To every symbol on his forehead high	K
She saw it waxing very pale and dead	V
And straight all flush'd so lisped tenderly	K
Lorenzo here she ceas'd her timid quest	W
But in her tone and look he read the rest	W
	-
VIII	K
	-
O Isabella I can half perceive	K
That I may speak my grief into thine ear	E
If thou didst ever any thing believe	K
Believe how I love thee believe how near	E
My soul is to its doom I would not grieve	K
Thy hand by unwelcome pressing would not fear	E
Thine eyes by gazing but I cannot live	K
Another night and not my passion shrive	K
	-
IX	Q
	-
Love thou art leading me from wintry cold	X
Lady thou leadest me to summer clime	G
And I must taste the blossoms that unfold	X
In its ripe warmth this gracious morning time	G
So said his erewhile timid lips grew bold	X
And poesied with hers in dewy rhyme	G
Great bliss was with them and great happiness	Q
Grew like a lusty flower in June's caress	Q
	-
X	Q
	-
Parting they seem'd to tread upon the air	E
Twin roses by the zephyr blown apart	Y
Only to meet again more close and share	E
The inward fragrance of each other's heart	Y
She to her chamber gone a ditty fair	E
Sang of delicious love and honey'd dart	Y
He with light steps went up a western hill	F
And bade the sun farewell and joy'd his fill	F
	-
XI	Q
	-
All close they met again before the dusk	Z
Had taken from the stars its pleasant veil	A2
All close they met all eves before the dusk	Z
Had taken from the stars its pleasant veil	A2
Close in a bower of hyacinth and musk	Z
Unknown of any free from whispering tale	A2
Ah better had it been for ever so	Q
Than idle ears should pleasure in their woe	Q
	-
XII	Q
	-
Were they unhappy then It cannot be	Q
Too many tears for lovers have been shed	V
Too many sighs give we to them in fee	Q
Too much of pity after they are dead	V
Too many doleful stories do we see	Q
Whose matter in bright gold were best be read	V
Except in such a page where Theseus' spouse	Q
Over the pathless waves towards him bows	Q
	-
XIII	Q
	-
But for the general award of love	K
The little sweet doth kill much bitterness	Q
Though Dido silent is in under grove	K
And Isabella's was a great distress	Q
Though young Lorenzo in warm Indian clove	K
Was not embalm'd this truth is not the less	Q
Even bees the little almsmen of spring bowers	Q
Know there is richest juice in poison flowers	Q
	-
XIV	K
	-
With her two brothers this fair lady dwelt	B2
Enriched from ancestral merchandize	Q
And for them many a weary hand did swelt	B2
In torched mines and noisy factories	Q
And many once proud quiver'd loins did melt	B2
In blood from stinging whip with hollow eyes	Q
Many all day in dazzling river stood	B2
To take the rich ored driftings of the flood	B2
	-
XV	K
	-
For them the Ceylon diver held his breath	C2
And went all naked to the hungry shark	D2
For them his ears gush'd blood for them in death	C2
The seal on the cold ice with piteous bark	D2
Lay full of darts for them alone did seethe	E2
A thousand men in troubles wide and dark	D2
Half ignorant they turn'd an easy wheel	F2
That set sharp racks at work to pinch and peel	F2
	-
XVI	K
	-
Why were they proud Because their marble founts	Q
Gush'd with more pride than do a wretch's tears	Q
Why were they proud Because fair orange mounts	Q
Were of more soft ascent than lazar stairs	Q
Why were they proud Because red lin'd accounts	Q
Were richer than the songs of Grecian years	Q
Why were they proud again we ask aloud	B2
Why in the name of Glory were they proud	B2
	-
XVII	K
	-
Yet were these Florentines as self retired	B2
In hungry pride and gainful cowardice	Q
As two close Hebrews in that land inspired	B2
Paled in and vineyarded from beggar spies	Q
The hawks of ship mast forests the untired	B2
And pannier'd mules for ducats and old lies	Q
Quick cat's paws on the generous stray away	R
Great wits in Spanish Tuscan and Malay	R
	-
XVIII	K
	-
How was it these same ledger men could spy	K
Fair Isabella in her downy nest	B2
How could they find out in Lorenzo's eye	K
A straying from his toil Hot Egypt's pest	B2
Into their vision covetous and sly	K
How could these money bags see east and west	B2
Yet so they did and every dealer fair	E
Must see behind as doth the hunted hare	E
	-
XIX	Q
	-
O eloquent and famed Boccaccio	Q
Of thee we now should ask forgiving boon	M
And of thy spicy myrtles as they blow	Q
And of thy roses amorous of the moon	M
And of thy lilies that do paler grow	Q
Now they can no more hear thy ghittern's tune	M
For venturing syllables that ill beseem	G
The quiet glooms of such a piteous theme	G
	-
XX	Q
	-
Grant thou a pardon here and then the tale	A2
Shall move on soberly as it is meet	B2
There is no other crime no mad assail	A2
To make old prose in modern rhyme more sweet	B2
But it is done succeed the verse or fail	A2
To honour thee and thy gone spirit greet	B2
To stead thee as a verse in English tongue	G2
An echo of thee in the north wind sung	G2
	-
XXI	Q
	-
These brethren having found by many signs	Q
What love Lorenzo for their sister had	B2
And how she lov'd him too each unconfines	Q
His bitter thoughts to other well nigh mad	B2
That he the servant of their trade designs	Q
Should in their sister's love be blithe and glad	B2
When 'twas their plan to coax her by degrees	Q
To some high noble and his olive trees	Q
	-
XXII	Q
	-
And many a jealous conference had they	R
And many times they bit their lips alone	H2
Before they fix'd upon a surest way	R
To make the youngster for his crime atone	H2
And at the last these men of cruel clay	R
Cut Mercy with a sharp knife to the bone	H2
For they resolved in some forest dim	G
To kill Lorenzo and there bury him	G
	-
XXIII	Q
	-
So on a pleasant morning as he leant	B2
Into the sun rise o'er the balustrade	B2
Of the garden terrace towards him they bent	B2
Their footing through the dews and to him said	B2
You seem there in the quiet of content	B2
Lorenzo and we are most loth to invade	B2
Calm speculation but if you are wise	Q
Bestride your steed while cold is in the skies	Q
	-
XXIV	K
	-
To day we purpose ay this hour we mount	B2
To spur three leagues towards the Apennine	I2
Come down we pray thee ere the hot sun count	B2
His dewy rosary on the eglantine	J2
Lorenzo courteously as he was wont	B2
Bow'd a fair greeting to these serpents' whine	J2
And went in haste to get in readiness	Q
With belt and spur and bracing huntsman's dress	Q
	-
XXV	K
	-
And as he to the court yard pass'd along	K2
Each third step did he pause and listen'd oft	B2
If he could hear his lady's matin song	K2
Or the light whisper of her footstep soft	B2
And as he thus over his passion hung	G2
He heard a laugh full musical aloft	B2
When looking up he saw her features bright	B2
Smile through an in door lattice all delight	B2
	-
XXVI	K
	-
Love Isabel said he I was in pain	P
Lest I should miss to bid thee a good morrow	Q
Ah what if I should lose thee when so fain	P
I am to stifle all the heavy sorrow	Q
Of a poor three hours' absence but we'll gain	P
Out of the amorous dark what day doth borrow	Q
Good bye I'll soon be back Good bye said she	Q
And as he went she chanted merrily	Q
	-
XXVII	K
	-
So the two brothers and their murder'd man	L2
Rode past fair Florence to where Arno's stream	G
Gurgles through straiten'd banks and still doth fan	L2
Itself with dancing bulrush and the bream	G
Keeps head against the freshets Sick and wan	M2
The brothers' faces in the ford did seem	G
Lorenzo's flush with love They pass'd the water	E
Into a forest quiet for the slaughter	E
	-
XXVIII	K
	-
There was Lorenzo slain and buried in	N2
There in that forest did his great love cease	Q
Ah when a soul doth thus its freedom win	N2
It aches in loneliness is ill at peace	Q
As the break covert blood hounds of such sin	N2
They dipp'd their swords in the water and did tease	Q
Their horses homeward with convulsed spur	E
Each richer by his being a murderer	E
	-
XXIX	Q
	-
They told their sister how with sudden speed	B2
Lorenzo had ta'en ship for foreign lands	Q
Because of some great urgency and need	B2
In their affairs requiring trusty hands	Q
Poor Girl put on thy stifling widow's weed	B2
And 'scape at once from Hope's accursed bands	Q
To day thou wilt not see him nor to morrow	Q
And the next day will be a day of sorrow	Q
	-
XXX	Q
	-
She weeps alone for pleasures not to be	Q
Sorely she wept until the night came on	M2
And then instead of love O misery	Q
She brooded o'er the luxury alone	H2
His image in the dusk she seem'd to see	Q
And to the silence made a gentle moan	H2
Spreading her perfect arms upon the air	E
And on her couch low murmuring Where O where	E
	-
XXXI	Q
	-
But Selfishness Love's cousin held not long	K2
Its fiery vigil in her single breast	B2
She fretted for the golden hour and hung	G2
Upon the time with feverish unrest	B2
Not long for soon into her heart a throng	K2
Of higher occupants a richer zest	B2
Came tragic passion not to be subdued	B2
And sorrow for her love in travels rude	B2
	-
XXXII	Q
	-
In the mid days of autumn on their eves	Q
The breath of Winter comes from far away	R
And the sick west continually bereaves	Q
Of some gold tinge and plays a roundelay	Q
Of death among the bushes and the leaves	Q
To make all bare before he dares to stray	R
From his north cavern So sweet Isabel	Q
By gradual decay from beauty fell	Q
	-
XXXIII	Q
	-
Because Lorenzo came not Oftentimes	Q
She ask'd her brothers with an eye all pale	Q
Striving to be itself what dungeon climes	Q
Could keep him off so long They spake a tale	Q
Time after time to quiet her Their crimes	Q
Came on them like a smoke from Hinnom's vale	Q
And every night in dreams they groan'd aloud	B2
To see their sister in her snowy shroud	B2
	-
XXXIV	K
	-
And she had died in drowsy ignorance	Q
But for a thing more deadly dark than all	Q
It came like a fierce potion drunk by chance	Q
Which saves a sick man from the feather'd pall	Q
For some few gasping moments like a lance	Q
Waking an Indian from his cloudy hall	Q
With cruel pierce and bringing him again	O2
Sense of the gnawing fire at heart and brain	P
	-
XXXV	K
	-
It was a vision In the drowsy gloom	G
The dull of midnight at her couch's foot	B2
Lorenzo stood and wept the forest tomb	G
Had marr'd his glossy hair which once could shoot	B2
Lustre into the sun and put cold doom	G
Upon his lips and taken the soft lute	B2
From his lorn voice and past his loamed ears	Q
Had made a miry channel for his tears	Q
	-
XXXVI	K
	-
Strange sound it was when the pale shadow spake	P2
For there was striving in its piteous tongue	G2
To speak as when on earth it was awake	P2
And Isabella on its music hung	G2
Languor there was in it and tremulous shake	P2
As in a palsied Druid's harp unstrung	P2
And through it moan'd a ghostly under song	P2
Like hoarse night gusts sepulchral briars among	P2
	-
XXXVII	K
	-
Its eyes though wild were still all dewy bright	B2
With love and kept all phantom fear aloof	K
From the poor girl by magic of their light	B2
The while it did unthread the horrid woof	K
Of the late darken'd time the murderous spite	B2
Of pride and avarice the dark pine roof	K
In the forest and the sodden turfed dell	Q
Where without any word from stabs he fell	Q
	-
XXXVIII	K
	-
Saying moreover Isabel my sweet	B2
Red whortle berries droop above my head	B2
And a large flint stone weighs upon my feet	B2
Around me beeches and high chestnuts shed	B2
Their leaves and prickly nuts a sheep fold bleat	B2
Comes from beyond the river to my bed	B2
Go shed one tear upon my heather bloom	G
And it shall comfort me within the tomb	G
	-
XXXIX	Q
	-
I am a shadow now alas alas	Q
Upon the skirts of human nature dwelling	P2
Alone I chant alone the holy mass	Q
While little sounds of life are round me knelling	P2
And glossy bees at noon do fieldward pass	Q
And many a chapel bell the hour is telling	P2
Paining me through those sounds grow strange to me	Q
And thou art distant in Humanity	Q
	-
XL	Q
	-
I know what was I feel full well what is	Q
And I should rage if spirits could go mad	B2
Though I forget the taste of earthly bliss	Q
That paleness warms my grave as though I had	B2
A Seraph chosen from the bright abyss	Q
To be my spouse thy paleness makes me glad	B2
Thy beauty grows upon me and I feel	Q
A greater love through all my essence steal	Q
	-
XLI	Q
	-
The Spirit mourn'd Adieu dissolv'd and left	B2
The atom darkness in a slow turmoil	Q
As when of healthful midnight sleep bereft	B2
Thinking on rugged hours and fruitless toil	Q
We put our eyes into a pillowy cleft	B2
And see the spangly gloom froth up and boil	Q
It made sad Isabella's eyelids ache	P2
And in the dawn she started up awake	P2
	-
XLII	Q
	-
Ha ha said she I knew not this hard life	K
I thought the worst was simple misery	Q
I thought some Fate with pleasure or with strife	K
Portion'd us happy days or else to die	B2
But there is crime a brother's bloody knife	K
Sweet Spirit thou hast school'd my infancy	Q
I'll visit thee for this and kiss thine eyes	Q
And greet thee morn and even in the skies	Q
	-
XLIII	Q
	-
When the full morning came she had devised	B2
How she might secret to the forest hie	Q2
How she might find the clay so dearly prized	B2
And sing to it one latest lullaby	B2
How her short absence might be unsurmised	B2
While she the inmost of the dream would try	B2
Resolv'd she took with her an aged nurse	Q
And went into that dismal forest hearse	Q
	-
XLIV	K
	-
See as they creep along the river side	B2
How she doth whisper to that aged Dame	G
And after looking round the champaign wide	B2
Shows her a knife What feverous hectic flame	G
Burns in thee child What good can thee betide	B2
That thou should'st smile again The evening came	G
And they had found Lorenzo's earthy bed	B2
The flint was there the berries at his head	B2
	-
XLV	K
	-
Who hath not loiter'd in a green church yard	B2
And let his spirit like a demon mole	Q
Work through the clayey soil and gravel hard	B2
To see skull coffin'd bones and funeral stole	Q
Pitying each form that hungry Death hath marr'd	B2
And filling it once more with human soul	Q
Ah this is holiday to what was felt	B2
When Isabella by Lorenzo knelt	B2
	-
XLVI	K
	-
She gaz'd into the fresh thrown mould as though	Q
One glance did fully all its secrets tell	Q
Clearly she saw as other eyes would know	Q
Pale limbs at bottom of a crystal well	Q
Upon the murderous spot she seem'd to grow	Q
Like to a native lily of the dell	Q
Then with her knife all sudden she began	L2
To dig more fervently than misers can	L2
	-
XLVII	K
	-
Soon she turn'd up a soiled glove whereon	L2
Her silk had play'd in purple phantasies	Q
She kiss'd it with a lip more chill than stone	L2
And put it in her bosom where it dries	Q
And freezes utterly unto the bone	L2
Those dainties made to still an infant's cries	Q
Then 'gan she work again nor stay'd her care	E
But to throw back at times her veiling hair	E
	-
XLVIII	K
	-
That old nurse stood beside her wondering	P2
Until her heart felt pity to the core	E
At sight of such a dismal labouring	P2
And so she kneeled with her locks all hoar	E
And put her lean hands to the horrid thing	P2
Three hours they labour'd at this travail sore	E
At last they felt the kernel of the grave	K
And Isabella did not stamp and rave	K
	-
XLIX	Q
	-
Ah wherefore all this wormy circumstance	Q
Why linger at the yawning tomb so long	P2
O for the gentleness of old Romance	Q
The simple plaining of a minstrel's song	P2
Fair reader at the old tale take a glance	Q
For here in truth it doth not well belong	P2
To speak O turn thee to the very tale	Q
And taste the music of that vision pale	Q
	-
L	Q
	-
With duller steel than the Pers an sword	B2
They cut away no formless monster's head	B2
But one whose gentleness did well accord	B2
With death as life The ancient harps have said	B2
Love never dies but lives immortal Lord	B2
If Love impersonate was ever dead	B2
Pale Isabella kiss'd it and low moan'd	B2
'Twas love cold dead indeed but not dethroned	B2
	-
LI	Q
	-
In anxious secrecy they took it home	G
And then the prize was all for Isabel	Q
She calm'd its wild hair with a golden comb	G
And all around each eye's sepulchral cell	Q
Pointed each fringed lash the smeared loam	G
With tears as chilly as a dripping well	Q
She drench'd away and still she comb'd and kept	B2
Sighing all day and still she kiss'd and wept	B2
	-
LII	Q
	-
Then in a silken scarf sweet with the dews	Q
Of precious flowers pluck'd in Araby	B2
And divine liquids come with odorous ooze	Q
Through the cold serpent pipe refreshfully	Q
She wrapp'd it up and for its tomb did choose	Q
A garden pot wherein she laid it by	B2
And cover'd it with mould and o'er it set	B2
Sweet Basil which her tears kept ever wet	B2
	-
LIII	Q
	-
And she forgot the stars the moon and sun	L2
And she forgot the blue above the trees	Q
And she forgot the dells where waters run	L2
And she forgot the chilly autumn breeze	Q
She had no knowledge when the day was done	L2
And the new morn she saw not but in peace	Q
Hung over her sweet Basil evermore	E
And moisten'd it with tears unto the core	E
	-
LIV	K
	-
And so she ever fed it with thin tears	Q
Whence thick and green and beautiful it grew	E
So that it smelt more balmy than its peers	Q
Of Basil tufts in Florence for it drew	E
Nurture besides and life from human fears	Q
From the fast mouldering head there shut from view	E
So that the jewel safely casketed	B2
Came forth and in perfumed leafits spread	B2
	-
LV	E
	-
O Melancholy linger here awhile	Q
O Music Music breathe despondingly	Q
O Echo Echo from some sombre isle	Q
Unknown Lethean sigh to us O sigh	E
Spirits in grief lift up your heads and smile	Q
Lift up your heads sweet Spirits heavily	Q
And make a pale light in your cypress glooms	Q
Tinting with silver wan your marble tombs	Q
	-
LVI	E
	-
Moan hither all ye syllables of woe	Q
From the deep throat of sad Melpomene	L2
Through bronzed lyre in tragic order go	Q
And touch the strings into a mystery	Q
Sound mournfully upon the winds and low	Q
For simple Isabel is soon to be	Q
Among the dead She withers like a palm	G
Cut by an Indian for its juicy balm	G
	-
LVII	E
	-
O leave the palm to wither by itself	E
Let not quick Winter chill its dying hour	E
It may not be those Baalites of pelf	E
Her brethren noted the continual shower	E
From her dead eyes and many a curious elf	E
Among her kindred wonder'd that such dower	E
Of youth and beauty should be thrown aside	B2
By one mark'd out to be a Noble's bride	B2
	-
LVIII	E
	-
And furthermore her brethren wonder'd much	R2
Why she sat drooping by the Basil green	L2
And why it flourish'd as by magic touch	R2
Greatly they wonder'd what the thing might mean	L2
They could not surely give belief that such	R2
A very nothing would have power to wean	L2
Her from her own fair youth and pleasures gay	P2
And even remembrance of her love's delay	P2
	-
LIX	Q
	-
Therefore they watch'd a time when they might sift	B2
This hidden whim and long they watch'd in vain	L2
For seldom did she go to chapel shrift	B2
And seldom felt she any hunger pain	L2
And when she left she hurried back as swift	B2
As bird on wing to breast its eggs again	L2
And patient as a hen bird sat her there	E
Beside her Basil weeping through her hair	E
	-
LX	Q
	-
Yet they contriv'd to steal the Basil pot	B2
And to examine it in secret place	Q
The thing was vile with green and livid spot	B2
And yet they knew it was Lorenzo's face	Q
The guerdon of their murder they had got	B2
And so left Florence in a moment's space	Q
Never to turn again Away they went	B2
With blood upon their heads to banishment	B2
	-
LXI	Q
	-
O Melancholy turn thine eyes away	P2
O Music Music breathe despondingly	P2
O Echo Echo on some other day	P2
From isles Lethean sigh to us O sigh	E
Spirits of grief sing not your Well a way	P2
For Isabel sweet Isabel will die	E
Will die a death too lone and incomplete	B2
Now they have ta'en away her Basil sweet	B2
	-
LXII	Q
	-
Piteous she look'd on dead and senseless things	Q
Asking for her lost Basil amorously	P2
And with melodious chuckle in the strings	Q
Of her lorn voice she oftentimes would cry	E
After the Pilgrim in his wanderings	Q
To ask him where her Basil was and why	E
'Twas hid from her For cruel 'tis said she	Q
To steal my Basil pot away from me	Q
	-
LXIII	Q
	-
And so she pined and so she died forlorn	L2
Imploring for her Basil to the last	B2
No heart was there in Florence but did mourn	L2
In pity of her love so overcast	B2
And a sad ditty of this story born	L2
From mouth to mouth through all the country pass'd	B2
Still is the burthen sung O cruelty	Q
To steal my Basil pot away from me	Q

John Keats

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The Pot Of Basil; Or, Isabella is a poem by John Keats. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.

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