Marco Polo Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABACDDEDFGFGHHIHJKJL MMBMNNNNNNONJPJQRRJR NJNJPSTQ| READING how Marco Polo came | A |
| By bridle path to Kanbalu | B |
| Forgotten fibres wake to flame | A |
| And smoke old memories anew | C |
| For in a bygone life of mine | D |
| I watched the carven rampart shine | D |
| Where Kublai's five clawed dragons glowed | E |
| Like painted wyverns line on line | D |
| And past those plaster dragon heads | F |
| Those frescoes cut with curious flowers | G |
| In verdigris and lilac reds | F |
| Old tiles gleamed on the crusted towers | G |
| While bridges cleft of serpent stone | H |
| Bowed by their side like branches blown | H |
| From some high granite Tree of Life | I |
| Whose roots were coiled round Kublai's throne | H |
| O myrtles on the Jasper Mount | J |
| O forest towered elephants | K |
| And fire fish in the topaz fount | J |
| With red fins blown like water plants | L |
| And green cornelian tortoise rows | M |
| Below the aqueduct and those | M |
| Gold feathered cranes I saw them all | B |
| How many ages gone who knows | M |
| I saw tall gilded Tartars pass | N |
| Behind their marble balustrades | N |
| With maces made of beaten brass | N |
| And turquoise hafted sabre blades | N |
| I heard the little golden bells | N |
| Blow faintly down the citadels | N |
| And spied those ivory courts within | O |
| Through windows of transparent shells | N |
| But past the fountain pools I peered | J |
| Beyond the birds to that divan | P |
| Where fingering his tawny beard | J |
| In silence dreamed the splendid Khan | Q |
| Green china bowls of wine were there | R |
| And oranges and milk of mare | R |
| While stamping on his jewelled wrist | J |
| A falcon climbed with eyes aflare | R |
| He's gone and with him flowers and birds | N |
| And old Venetians too have died | J |
| Yet burnt in Marco Polo's words | N |
| Those unforgotten splendours hide | J |
| And tired of life's new fashioned plan | P |
| I long to be barbarian | S |
| I'm sick of modern men I wish | T |
| You were still living Kublai Khan | Q |
Kenneth Slessor
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
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