Mors Leonis Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABABCCC DEDEFFF GHGHIII JKJKLLL MNMNOOO PCPCMMM QOQORRR STSTUUU| When o'er the aged lion steals | A |
| The instinct of approaching death | B |
| Whose numbing grasp he vaguely feels | A |
| In trembling limbs and labored breath | B |
| He shuns the garish light of day | C |
| And leaving mate and whelps at play | C |
| In mournful silence creeps away | C |
| - | |
| From bush to bush by devious trails | D |
| He drags himself from hill to hill | E |
| And as his old strength slowly fails | D |
| Drinks long at many a mountain rill | E |
| Until he gains with stifled moan | F |
| A height to hated man unknown | F |
| Where he may die at least alone | F |
| - | |
| Relaxing now his mighty claws | G |
| He lies half shrouded by his mane | H |
| His grand head resting on his paws | G |
| And heeding little save his pain | H |
| As o'er his eyes so sad and deep | I |
| The film of death begins to creep | I |
| The prelude to eternal sleep | I |
| - | |
| As Caesar reeling 'neath the stroke | J |
| And dagger thrust of many a friend | K |
| Drew o'er his face his Roman cloak | J |
| To meet unseen his tragic end | K |
| So hath this desert monarch tried | L |
| With noble dignity to hide | L |
| From others how and where he died | L |
| - | |
| And now his spirit is serene | M |
| For here no stranger can intrude | N |
| To view this last pathetic scene | M |
| Or mar its sombre solitude | N |
| Prone on the lonely mountain crest | O |
| Confronting the resplendent west | O |
| The dying lion sinks to rest | O |
| - | |
| Proud king of beasts thy death should teach | P |
| Mankind the cheapness of display | C |
| More eloquent than human speech | P |
| Thy grand example shows the way | C |
| To pass from life unheard unseen | M |
| And with composed majestic mien | M |
| Death's awful sacredness to screen | M |
| - | |
| Nay more thou didst select a place | Q |
| Where unobserved thy form could rest | O |
| Till Mother Earth with fond embrace | Q |
| Should hide it in her ample breast | O |
| Like Moses in lone Nebo's land | R |
| Thou hast been sepulchred in sand | R |
| Unseen by eye untouched by hand | R |
| - | |
| No pompous tomb shall ever rise | S |
| Above thy lonely sun bleached frame | T |
| No epitaph of well turned lies | S |
| Shall be inscribed beneath thy name | T |
| No bells for thee a dirge shall ring | U |
| No choir beside thy grave shall sing | U |
| Yet hast thou perished like a king | U |
John L. Stoddard
(1)
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