The Circle Game Poem Rhyme Scheme

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Margaret Atwood

The Circle Game Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

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The children on the lawn	A
joined hand to hand	B
go round and round	C
	-
each arm going into	D
the next arm around	C
full circle	E
until it comes	F
back into each of the single	E
bodies again	G
	-
They are singing but	H
not to each other	I
their feet move	J
almost in time to the singing	K
	-
We can see	L
the concentration on	M
their faces their eyes	N
fixed on the empty	L
moving spaces just in	O
front of them	P
	-
We might mistake this	Q
tranced moving for joy	R
but there is no joy in it	S
	-
We can see arm in arm	T
as we watch them go	U
round and round	C
intent almost	V
studious the grass	W
underfoot ignored the trees	X
circling the lawn	A
ignored the lake ignored	Y
that the whole point	Z
for them	P
of going round and round	C
is faster	I
slower	I
going round and round	C
	-
	-
ii	-
	-
Being with you	D
here in this room	A2
	-
is like groping through a mirror	I
whose glass has melted	B2
to the consistency	L
of gelatin	C2
	-
You refuse to be	L
and I	-
an exact reflection yet	D2
will not walk from the glass	W
be separate	E2
	-
Anyway it is right	F2
that they have put	G2
so many mirrors here	H2
chipped hung crooked	B2
in this room with its high transom	I2
and empty wardrobe even	O
the back of the door	J2
has one	C2
	-
There are people in the next room	A2
arguing opening and closing drawers	K2
the walls are thin	O
	-
You look past me listening	K
to them perhaps or	J2
watching	K
your own reflection somewhere	L2
behind my head	M2
over my shoulder	I
	-
You shift and the bed	M2
sags under us losing its focus	N2
	-
there is someone in the next room	A2
	-
there is always	O2
	-
your face	P2
remote listening	K
	-
someone in the next room	A2
	-
	-
iii	-
	-
However	I
in all their games	Q2
there seems	R2
to be some reason	C2
	-
however	I
abstract they	S2
at first appear	T2
	-
When we read them legends	U2
in the evening	K
of monstrous battles and secret	H
betrayals in the forest	V2
and brutal deaths	W2
	-
they scarcely listened	X2
one yawned and fidgeted another	I
chewed the wooden handle	E
of a hammer	I
the youngest one examined	X2
a slight cut on his toe	U
	-
and we wondered how	Y2
they could remain	Z2
completely without fear	T2
or even interest	V2
as the final sword slid through	D
the dying hero	U
	-
The next night	F2
walking along the beach	A3
	-
we found the trenches	B3
they had been making	K
fortified with pointed sticks	C3
driven into the sides	D3
of their sand moats	E3
	-
and a lake enclosed island	X2
with no bridges	F3
	-
a last attempt	G3
however	I
eroded by the water	I
in an hour	I
to make	H3
maybe a refuge human	C2
and secure from the reach	A3
	-
of whatever walks along	I3
sword hearted	B2
these night beaches	F3
	-
	-
iv	J
	-
Returning to the room	A2
I notice how	Y2
all your word	J3
plays calculated ploys	K3
of the body the witticisms	K3
of touch are now	Y2
attempts to keep me	L
at a certain distance	K3
and at length avoid	L3
admitting I am here	H2
	-
I watch you	D
watching my face	K3
indifferently	E
yet with the same taut curiosity	L
with which you might regard	M3
a suddenly discovered part	N3
of your own body	L
a wart perhaps	K3
	-
and I remember that	O3
you said	M2
in childhood you were	I
a tracer of maps	K3
not making but moving	K
a pen or a forefinger	I
over the courses of the rivers	K3
the different colours	K3
that mark the rise of mountains	K3
a memorizer	I
of names to hold	P3
these places	K3
in their proper places	K3
	-
So now you trace me	L
like a country's boundary	L
or a strange new wrinkle in	O
your own wellknown skin	O
and I am fixed stuck	Q3
down on the outspread map	R3
of this room of your mind's continent	S3
here and yet not here like	T3
the wardrobe and the mirrors	K3
the voices through the wall	E
your body ignored on the bed	M2
	-
transfixed	U3
by your eyes'	K3
cold blue thumbtacks	K3
	-
	-
v	L
	-
The children like the block	V3
of grey stone that was once a fort	W3
but now is a museum	I2
	-
especially	L
they like the guns	K3
and the armour brought from	I2
other times and countries	K3
and when they go home	X3
their drawings will be full	E
for some days of swords	K3
archaic sunburst maces	K3
broken spears	K3
and vivid red explosions	K3
	-
While they explore	I
the cannons	K3
they aren't our children	C2
	-
we walk outside along	I3
the earthworks noting	K
how they are crumbling	K
under the unceasing	K
attacks of feet and flower roots	K3
	-
The weapons	K3
that were once outside	Y3
sharpening themselves on war	I
are now indoors	K3
there in the fortress	K3
fragile	E
in glass cases	K3
	-
Why is it	S
I'm thinking	K
of the careful moulding	K
round the stonework archways	K3
that in this time such	Z3
elaborate defences keep	A4
things that are no longer	I
much	Z3
worth defending	K
	-
	-
vi	J
	-
And you play the safe game	B4
the orphan game	B4
	-
the ragged winter game	B4
that says I am alone	C4
	-
hungry I know you want me	L
to play it also	K3
	-
the game of the waif who stands	K3
at every picture window	K3
	-
shivering pinched nose pressed	D4
against the glass the snow	K3
collecting on his neck	E4
watching the happy families	K3
	-
a game of envy	L
	-
Yet he despises them they are so	K3
Victorian Christmas card	M3
the cheap paper shows	K3
under the pigments of	J
their cheerful fire	I
places and satin	C2
ribboned suburban laughter	I
and they have their own forms	K3
of parlour	I
games father and mother	I
playing father and mother	I
	-
He's glad	F4
to be left	G4
out by himself	J
in the cold	P3
	-
hugging himself	J
	-
When I tell you this	K3
you say with a smile fake	H3
as a tinsel icicle	E
	-
You do it too	D
	-
Which in some ways	K3
is a lie but also I suppose	K3
is right as usual	E
	-
although I tend to pose	K3
in other seasons	K3
outside other windows	K3
	-
	-
vii	J
	-
Summer again	G
in the mirrors of this room	A2
the children wheel singing	K
the same song	I3
	-
This casual bed	M2
scruffy as dry turf	J
the counterpane	G
rumpled with small burrows is	K3
their grassy lawn	G
and these scuffed walls	K3
contain their circling trees	K3
that low clogged sink	H4
their lake	H3
	-
a wasp comes	K3
drawn by the piece of sandwich	I4
left on the nearby beach	A3
how carefully you do	D
such details	K3
one of the children flinches	K3
but won't let go	K3
	-
You make them	P
turn and turn according to	D
the closed rules of your games	K3
but there is no joy in it	S
	-
and as we lie	J
arm in arm neither	I
joined nor separate	E2
your observations change me	L
to a spineless woman in	G
a cage of bones obsolete fort	W3
pulled inside out	J4
our lips moving	K
almost in time to their singing	K
	-
listening to the opening	K
and closing of the drawers	K3
in the next room	A2
	-
of course there is always	K3
danger but where	I
would you locate it	S
	-
the children spin	G
a round cage of glass	K3
from the warm air	I
with their thread thin	G
insect voices	K3
	-
and as we lie	J
here caught	K4
in the monotony of wandering	K
from room to room shifting	K
the place of our defences	K3
	-
I want to break	H3
these bones your prisoning rhythms	K3
winter	I
summer	I
all the glass cases	K3
	-
erase all maps	K3
crack the protecting	K
eggshell of your turning	K
singing children	G
	-
I want the circle	E
broken	G