Before A Statue Of Buddha Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCB DEFE GHIH JKLM GNGN OPQP RSTS JUGU GLVL WGXG QYGY ZA2BB2 C2AZA C2D2E2D2 YF2ZF2 GG2GG2 GH2YH2 TI2GI2 YYJ2Y YYGY K2GGG GPGPO Buddha of the mystic smile | A |
And downcast dreamful eyes | B |
To whom unnumbered sacred shrines | C |
And gilded statues rise | B |
- | |
Whose fanes are filled with worshippers | D |
Whose hallowed name is sung | E |
By myriads of the human race | F |
In every Eastern tongue | E |
- | |
What means thy sweet serenity | G |
Our planet as it rolls | H |
Sweeps through the starry universe | I |
A mass of burdened souls | H |
- | |
Still agonized and pitiful | J |
Despite the countless years | K |
That man has spent in wandering | L |
Through paths of blood and tears | M |
- | |
O Lord of love and sympathy | G |
For all created life | N |
How canst thou view thus placidly | G |
The world's incessant strife | N |
- | |
The misery and massacre | O |
Of war's destructive train | P |
The martyrdom of animals | Q |
The tragedy of pain | P |
- | |
The infamous brutalities | R |
To helpless children shown | S |
The pathos of whose joyless lives | T |
Might melt a heart of stone | S |
- | |
Preeminently merciful | J |
Does not thy spirit long | U |
To guard from inhumanity | G |
The weak against the strong | U |
- | |
Thou biddest us deal tenderly | G |
With every breathing thing | L |
The horse that drags the heavy load | V |
The bird upon the wing | L |
- | |
The flocks along the riverside | W |
The cattle on the lea | G |
And every living denizen | X |
Of earth and air and sea | G |
- | |
Yet daily in the shambles | Q |
A sea of blood is spilled | Y |
And man is nourished chiefly | G |
From beasts that he has killed | Y |
- | |
And hunters still find happiness | Z |
In seeing red with wounds | A2 |
A sobbing deer with liquid eyes | B |
Dragged down by yelping hounds | B2 |
- | |
What is the real significance | C2 |
Of thine unchanging smile | A |
Hast thou the secret consciousness | Z |
That grief is not worth while | A |
- | |
That sorrow is the consequence | C2 |
Of former lives of sin | D2 |
The spur that goads us on and up | E2 |
A nobler life to win | D2 |
- | |
That pain is as impermanent | Y |
As shadows on the hills | F2 |
And that Nirvana's blessedness | Z |
Will cure all mortal ills | F2 |
- | |
But agony is agony | G |
And small is the relief | G2 |
If measured with eternity | G |
Life's anguish be but brief | G2 |
- | |
To hearts that break with misery | G |
To every tortured frame | H2 |
The present pain is paramount | Y |
Nirvana but a name | H2 |
- | |
Moreover why should former lives | T |
Bequeath their weight of woe | I2 |
If with it comes no memory | G |
To guide us as we go | I2 |
- | |
If o'er the dark prenatal void | Y |
No mental bridge be cast | Y |
No thread however frail to link | J2 |
The present to the past | Y |
- | |
Still silent and dispassionate | Y |
Ah would that I might find | Y |
The key to the serenity | G |
That fills thy lofty mind | Y |
- | |
Thou hast a joy we do not feel | K2 |
A light we cannot see | G |
Injustice sin and wretchedness | G |
No longer sadden thee | G |
- | |
No doubt to thy sublimer gaze | G |
Life's mystery grows plain | P |
As finally full recompense | G |
Atones for earthly pain | P |
John L. Stoddard
(1)
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