In The Secular Night Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCBDEFGHIJABKL MIINBJIOPJJ IIIKIKQRQSIJT| In the secular night you wander around | A |
| alone in your house It's two thirty | B |
| Everyone has deserted you | C |
| or this is your story | B |
| you remember it from being sixteen | D |
| when the others were out somewhere having a good time | E |
| or so you suspected | F |
| and you had to baby sit | G |
| You took a large scoop of vanilla ice cream | H |
| and filled up the glass with grapejuice | I |
| and ginger ale and put on Glenn Miller | J |
| with his big band sound | A |
| and lit a cigarette and blew the smoke up the chimney | B |
| and cried for a while because you were not dancing | K |
| and then danced by yourself your mouth circled with purple | L |
| - | |
| Now forty years later things have changed | M |
| and it's baby lima beans | I |
| It's necessary to reserve a secret vice | I |
| This is what comes from forgetting to eat | N |
| at the stated mealtimes You simmer them carefully | B |
| drain add cream and pepper | J |
| and amble up and down the stairs | I |
| scooping them up with your fingers right out of the bowl | O |
| talking to yourself out loud | P |
| You'd be surprised if you got an answer | J |
| but that part will come later | J |
| - | |
| There is so much silence between the words | I |
| you say You say The sensed absence | I |
| of God and the sensed presence | I |
| amount to much the same thing | K |
| only in reverse | I |
| You say I have too much white clothing | K |
| You start to hum | Q |
| Several hundred years ago | R |
| this could have been mysticism | Q |
| or heresy It isn't now | S |
| Outside there are sirens | I |
| Someone's been run over | J |
| The century grinds on | T |
Margaret Atwood
(2)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
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