Mirage Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCCBB DDEEFG HHIIJJ BBKLBB MMNNBO PPBDQQ RRSSQQ QQTTUU VVQQWW XXQQQX XYYYXX XXYYYX XYYYX YYXXQQ QQQQZZ XXDDQQ TTA2A2QQ

He closed his eyes yet still could seeA
The leprous hills loom thirstilyB
The mesquit glimmering and the dustC
Of alkali and rimmed with rustC
Of emerald a mineral poolB
From which his horse had drunk him fullB
-
Now he would drink how good to dieD
After the torture days gone byD
And so he rose and through the sageE
And sand groped blind with thirst and rageE
At God whose hand in hate had wroughtF
This trap of hell where he was caughtG
-
Now what was this that held him fastH
Had he then reached relief at lastH
After long years of heat and hateI
Surely there rose a marble gateI
A towered castle and the sandJ
And sage had vanished from the landJ
-
He entered where a fountain fellB
On foaming crystal Like a spellB
He caught its freshness Then his earK
Heard lute like music drawing nearL
And through a rainbowed mist a girlB
Beckoned her beauty like a pearlB
-
And there two slave girls on a matM
Two naked Nubians drowsing satM
Fingering dim gemmed and nacreous lutesN
He knew at once that they were mutesN
And this the same SeraglioB
Where love had met him lives agoO
-
The entrance doors he knew were nineP
Three were of agate red as wineP
And three of lapis lazuliB
Cerulean blue as is the skyD
And three of feldspar veined with goldQ
Each leading to her bower of oldQ
-
Behind a lattice or a screenR
He knew she smiled and watched unseenR
He felt her presence in the gloomS
As one may sense a strange perfumeS
And musk of myrrh and sandalwoodQ
Were guides to lead him where she stoodQ
-
Once more he'd see her hold her fastQ
Come back again from out the pastQ
And locked in her divine embraceT
Watch in the heaven of her faceT
The ardor of her heart's desireU
Change her dark eyes to starry fireU
-
And then far off he heard a hornV
And turning saw that it was mornV
And there she rode in dawn and dewQ
And with her Chevaliers he knewQ
The horn led on he heard its songW
The air he had forgot so longW
-
'How good ' it sang 'How good at dawnX
To ride with her of RoussillonX
To ride with her through dawn and dewQ
Beneath a heaven gentian blueQ
With hawk on wrist a madcap crewQ
That wild the horn leads onX
-
With her of RoussillonX
To hear the falcons' jesses ringingY
Bells that set the pulses singingY
To see the heron wildly wingingY
O'er mountained RoussillonX
Far towered RoussillonX
-
'How good to hear by wood and lawnX
Our Lady laugh of RoussillonX
Where wild the torrent leaps the cragY
Through mists that on the mountain lagY
As in the forest leaps the stagY
While clear the horn leads onX
-
With her of RoussillonX
How good to hear the falcon cryingY
To see it strike the quarry flyingY
And watch the stricken lapwing dyingY
By towered RoussillonX
Old mountained Roussillon '-
-
The music died His hot head swungY
Upon his neck as wire hungY
And he awoke to see againX
The thirsty peaks the fevered plainX
Shutting him in with all their hateQ
Malignantly content to waitQ
-
Was it a dream of some old pastQ
Or would he see her there at lastQ
He sat and thought no thing occurredQ
The desert watched him never stirredQ
Like some gaunt beast with burning eyesZ
It stared at him with all its skiesZ
-
Around he gazed and searched againX
The peaks like blisters on the plainX
No creature moved The pool nearbyD
With its green glitter caught his eyeD
Yes he would drink and know at lastQ
That secret of the long gone pastQ
-
They found him in that poisoned placeT
With blackened lips and twisted faceT
Dead with seared eyes on something farA2
Some unknown thing perhaps a starA2
Or was 't the gold for which he 'd soughtQ
The far mirage that turned to naughtQ

Madison Julius Cawein



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