The Unattainable Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABBABA CDCDD EFEFF CGCGCG HCHCC IJIJJ KCKCKC LAMAA NOPOO QAQAQA| Mark thou a shadow crowned with fire of hell | A |
| Man holds her in his heart as night doth hold | B |
| The moonlight memories of day's dead gold | B |
| Or as a winter withered asphodel | A |
| In its dead loveliness holds scents of old | B |
| And looking on her lo he thinks 'tis well | A |
| - | |
| Who would not follow her whose glory sits | C |
| Imperishably lovely on the air | D |
| Who from the arms of Earth's desire flits | C |
| With eyes defiant and rebellions hair | D |
| Hers is the beauty that no man shall share | D |
| - | |
| He who hath seen what shall it profit him | E |
| He who doth love what shall his passion gain | F |
| When disappointment at her cup's bright brim | E |
| Poisons the pleasure with the hemlock pain | F |
| Hers is the passion that no man shall drain | F |
| - | |
| How long how long since Life hath touched her eyes | C |
| Making their night clairvoyant And how long | G |
| Since Love hath kissed her lips and made them wise | C |
| Binding her brow with prophecy and song | G |
| Hope clad her nakedness in lovely lies | C |
| Giving into her hands the right of wrong | G |
| - | |
| Lo in her world she sets pale tents of thought | H |
| Unearthly bannered and her dreams' wild bands | C |
| Besiege the heavens like a twilight fraught | H |
| With recollections of lost stars She stands | C |
| Radiant as Lilith given from God's hands | C |
| - | |
| The golden rose of patience at her throat | I |
| Drops fragrant petals as a pensive tune | J |
| Drops its surrendered sweetness note by note | I |
| And from her hands the buds of hope are strewn | J |
| Moon flowers mothered of the barren moon | J |
| - | |
| So in her flowers man seats him at her feet | K |
| In star faced worship knowing all of this | C |
| And now to him to die seems very sweet | K |
| Fed with the fire of her look and kiss | C |
| While in his heart the blood's tumultuous beat | K |
| Drowns in her own the drowsing serpent's hiss | C |
| - | |
| He who hath dreamed but of her world shall give | L |
| All of his soul unto her restlessly | A |
| He who hath seen but her far face shall live | M |
| No more for things we name reality | A |
| Such is the power of her tyranny | A |
| - | |
| He whom she wins hath nothing 'neath the sun | N |
| Forgetting all that she may not forget | O |
| He loves her who still feeds his soul upon | P |
| Dreams and desires and doubt and vain regret | O |
| Life's bitter bread his heart's fierce tears make wet | O |
| - | |
| What word of wisdom hast thou Life to wake | Q |
| Him now or song of magic now to dull | A |
| The dreams he lives in or what charm to break | Q |
| The spell that makes her evil beautiful | A |
| What charm to show her beauty hides a snake | Q |
| Whose basilisk eyes burn dark behind a skull | A |
Madison Julius Cawein
(1)
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