Rich Man, Poor Man Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: A BBCDBE B FFDGEDGEHIGEEEE JJJ KKLL MMBBKKBEENNKKOOPNPN JJJ KKQQQBB ENNE KKMMBEELLBBBBKKLL BBB BKLKKKRK NNKNQNN NKBK

'Rich man Poor man Beggar man Thief Doctor Lawyer Merchant Chief 'A
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-
I-
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Highway stretched along the sunB
Highway thronged till day is doneB
Where the drifting Face replacesC
Wave on wave on wave of facesD
And you count them one by oneB
'Rich man Poor man Beggar man ThiefE
Doctor Lawyer Merchant Chief '-
Is it soothsay Is it funB
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Young ones like as wave and waveF
Old ones like as grave and graveF
Tide on tide of human facesD
With what human undertowG
Rich man poor man beggar man thiefE
Tell me of the eddying spacesD
Show me where the lost ones goG
Like and lost as leaf and leafE
What's your secret grim refrainH
Back and forth and back againI
Once and now and always soG
Three days since and who was ThiefE
Three days more and who'll be ChiefE
Oh is that beyond beliefE
Doctor Lawyer Merchant ChiefE
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Down like grass before the mowingJ
On like wind in its mad goingJ
Wind and dust forever blowingJ
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Highway shrill with murderous prideK
Highway of the swarming tideK
Why should my way lead me deeperL
I am not my Brother's keeperL
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II-
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Byway ambushed with the darkM
Byway where the ears may harkM
Live and fierce when day is doneB
You that do without the SunB
What's this game you bring to noughtK
Muttering like a thing distraughtK
Reckoning like a simpletonB
Since the hearing must be briefE
Living or a dying thiefE
Cobbled with the anguished stonesN
That the thoroughfare disownsN
Stones they gave you for your breadK
Of the disinheritedK
Where the Towers of Hunger loomO
Crowding in the dregs of doomO
Where the lost sky peering throughP
Sees no more the grudging grassN
Only this mud mirrored blueP
Like some shattered looking glassN
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Under with the sorry reapingJ
Underneath the stones of weepingJ
For the Dark to have in keepingJ
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Byway you so foully marredK
You whose sodden walls and scarredK
See no light but only whereQ
Fevered lamps are set to stareQ
In the eyes of such despairQ
Tell me as a Byway canB
Was this Beggar once a ManB
'Rich man Poor man Beggar man Thief '-
Like and lost as leaf and leafE
Stammering out your wrongs and shamesN
Must you cry their very namesN
Must you sob your shame your griefE
'Poor man Poor man Beggar Thief '-
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III-
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Highway where the Sun is wideK
Byway where the lost ones hideK
Byway where the Soul must harkM
Byway dreadful with the DarkM
Can you nothing do with ManB
Doctor Lawyer Merchant ChiefE
Learns he nothing even of griefE
Must it still be all his wonderL
Some men soar while some go underL
He has heard and he has seenB
Make him know the thing you meanB
He has prayed since time beganB
He's so curious of the PlanB
He will pray you till he dieK
For the Whence and for the WhyK
Mad for wisdom when 'tis cheaperL
'Why should my way lead me deeperL
Am I then my Brother's keeper '-
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Show him Byway if you canB
Lest he end as he beganB
Rich and poor this beggar ManB
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But we did walk in EdenB
Eden the garden of GodK
There where no beckoning wonderL
Of all the paths we trodK
No choiring sun filled vineyardK
No voice of stream or birdK
But was some radiant oracleR
And flaming with the WordK
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Mine ears are dim with voicesN
Mine eyes yet strive to seeN
The black things here to wonder atK
The mirth the miseryN
Beloved who wert with me thereQ
How came these shames to beN
On what lost star are weN
-
Men say The paths of gladnessN
By men were never trodK
But we have walked in EdenB
Eden the garden of GodK

Josephine Preston Peabody



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