The Holy Innocents Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AB CCAADDAA EEAABBAA FFGGHHII JJAAAAKK LLMMNOAA PQGRSSTT EEUUAFVV| These were redeemed from among men being the firstfruits | A |
| unto God and to the Lamb Rev xiv | B |
| - | |
| - | |
| Say ye celestial guards who wait | C |
| In Bethlehem round the Saviour's palace gate | C |
| Say who are these on golden wings | A |
| That hover o'er the new born King of kings | A |
| Their palms and garlands telling plain | D |
| That they are of the glorious martyr train | D |
| Next to yourselves ordained to praise | A |
| His Name and brighten as on Him they gaze | A |
| - | |
| But where their spoils and trophies where | E |
| The glorious dint a martyr's shield should bear | E |
| How chance no cheek among them wears | A |
| The deep worn trace of penitential tears | A |
| But all is bright and smiling love | B |
| As if fresh borne from Eden's happy grove | B |
| They had flown here their King to see | A |
| Nor ever had been heirs of dark mortality | A |
| - | |
| Ask and some angel will reply | F |
| These like yourselves were born to sin and die | F |
| But ere the poison root was grown | G |
| God set His seal and marked them for His own | G |
| Baptised its blood for Jesus' sake | H |
| Now underneath the Cross their bed they make | H |
| Not to be scared from that sure rest | I |
| By frightened mother's shriek or warrior's waving crest | I |
| - | |
| Mindful of these the firstfruits sweet | J |
| Borne by this suffering Church her Lord to greet | J |
| Blessed Jesus ever loved to trace | A |
| The innocent brightness of an infant's face | A |
| He raised them in His holy arms | A |
| He blessed them from the world and all its harms | A |
| Heirs though they were of sin and shame | K |
| He blessed them in his own and in his Father's Name | K |
| - | |
| Then as each fond unconscious child | L |
| On the everlasting Parent sweetly smiled | L |
| Like infants sporting on the shore | M |
| That tremble not at Ocean's boundless roar | M |
| Were they not present to Thy thought | N |
| All souls that in their cradles Thou hast bought | O |
| But chiefly these who died for Thee | A |
| That Thou might'st live for them a sadder death to see | A |
| - | |
| And next to these Thy gracious word | P |
| Was as a pledge of benediction stored | Q |
| For Christian mothers while they moan | G |
| Their treasured hopes just born baptised and gone | R |
| Oh joy for Rachel's broken heart | S |
| She and her babes shall meet no more to part | S |
| So dear to Christ her pious haste | T |
| To trust them in His arms for ever safe embraced | T |
| - | |
| She dares not grudge to leave them there | E |
| Where to behold them was her heart's first prayer | E |
| She dares not grieve but she must weep | U |
| As her pale placid martyr sinks to sleep | U |
| Teaching so well and silently | A |
| How at the shepherd's call the lamb should die | F |
| How happier far than life the end | V |
| Of souls that infant like beneath their burthen bend | V |
John Keble
(1)
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About The Holy Innocents
The Holy Innocents is a poem by John Keble. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
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