The Lascar Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCBCDDEEFFGH DBDBIIJJKKHH BLBLMMNNOOPN QIQIGGFFRRBB STSUVVGGAASS LBLBDDWWHHGG FHFHNNXXBBHH YZYZRRGGKKA2B2 AKAKBBKKC2C2KK GD2GDZZE2E2F2F2VV KG2KDKKHHAHKK BKBKHHAAKKKK GKGKKKKKKKH2H2 KKKKKKAAKKBB A I2NJ2NKKKKK2K2KK K2KK2KSSKKKKKK KKKKPPHHKKKK I2SJ2L2KKDDKKM2M2 FGFN2I | A |
- | |
Another day Ah me a day | B |
Of dreary Sorrow is begun | C |
And still I loath the temper'd ray | B |
And still I hate the sickly Sun | C |
Far from my Native Indian shore | D |
I hear our wretched race deplore | D |
I mark the smile of taunting Scorn | E |
And curse the hour when I was born | E |
I weep but no one gently tries | F |
To stop my tear or check my sighs | F |
For while my heart beats mournfully | G |
Dear Indian home I sigh for Thee | H |
- | |
Since gaudy Sun I see no more | D |
Thy hottest glory gild the day | B |
Since sever'd from my burning shore | D |
I waste the vapid hours away | B |
O darkness come come deepest gloom | I |
Shroud the young Summer's op'ning bloom | I |
Burn temper'd Orb with fiercer beams | J |
This northern world and drink the streams | J |
That thro' the fertile vallies glide | K |
To bathe the feasted Fiends of Pride | K |
Or hence broad Sun extinguish'd be | H |
For endless night encircles Me | H |
- | |
What is to me the City gay | B |
And what the board profusely spread | L |
I have no home no rich array | B |
No spicy feast no downy bed | L |
I with the dogs am doom'd to eat | M |
To perish in the peopled street | M |
To drink the tear of deep despair | N |
The scoff and scorn of fools to bear | N |
I sleep upon a bed of stone | O |
I pace the meadows wild alone | O |
And if I curse my fate severe | P |
Some Christian Savage mocks my tear | N |
- | |
Shut out the Sun O pitying Night | Q |
Make the wide world my silent tomb | I |
O'ershade this northern sickly light | Q |
And shroud me in eternal gloom | I |
My Indian plains now smiling glow | G |
There stands my Parent's hovel low | G |
And there the tow'ring aloes rise | F |
And fling their perfumes to the skies | F |
There the broad palm Trees covert lend | R |
There Sun and Shade delicious blend | R |
But here amid the blunted ray | B |
Cold shadows hourly cross my way | B |
- | |
Was it for this that on the main | S |
I met the tempest fierce and strong | T |
And steering o'er the liquid plain | S |
Still onward press'd the waves among | U |
Was it for this the LASCAR brave | V |
Toil'd like a wretched Indian Slave | V |
Preserv'd your treasures by his toil | G |
And sigh'd to greet this fertile soil | G |
Was it for this to beg to die | A |
Where plenty smiles and where the Sky | A |
Sheds cooling airs while fev'rish pain | S |
Maddens the famish'd LASCAR'S brain | S |
- | |
Oft I the stately Camel led | L |
And sung the short hour'd night away | B |
And oft upon the top mast's head | L |
Hail'd the red Eye of coming day | B |
The Tanyan's back my mother bore | D |
And oft the wavy Ganges' roar | D |
Lull'd her to rest as on she past | W |
'Mid the hot sands and burning blast | W |
And oft beneath the Banyan tree | H |
She sate and fondly nourish'd me | H |
And while the noontide hour past slow | G |
I felt her breast with kindness glow | G |
- | |
Where'er I turn my sleepless eyes | F |
No cheek so dark as mine I see | H |
For Europe's Suns with softer dyes | F |
Mark Europe's favour'd progeny | H |
Low is my stature black my hair | N |
The emblem of my Soul's despair | N |
My voice no dulcet cadence flings | X |
To touch soft pity's throbbing strings | X |
Then wherefore cruel Briton say | B |
Compel my aching heart to stay | B |
To morrow's Sun may rise to see | H |
The famish'd LASCAR blest as thee | H |
- | |
The morn had scarcely shed its rays | Y |
When from the City's din he ran | Z |
For he had fasted four long days | Y |
And faint his Pilgrimage began | Z |
The LASCAR now without a friend | R |
Up the steep hill did slow ascend | R |
Now o'er the flow'ry meadows stole | G |
While pain and hunger pinch'd his Soul | G |
And now his fev'rish lip was dried | K |
And burning tears his thirst supply'd | K |
And ere he saw the Ev'ning close | A2 |
Far off the City dimly rose | B2 |
- | |
Again the Summer Sun flam'd high | A |
The plains were golden far and wide | K |
And fervid was the cloudless sky | A |
And slow the breezes seem'd to glide | K |
The gossamer on briar and spray | B |
Shone silv'ry in the solar ray | B |
And sparkling dew drops falling round | K |
Spangled the hot and thirsty ground | K |
The insect myriads humm'd their tune | C2 |
To greet the coming hour of noon | C2 |
While the poor LASCAR Boy in haste | K |
Flew frantic o'er the sultry waste | K |
- | |
And whither could the wand'rer go | G |
Who would receive a stranger poor | D2 |
Who when the blasts of night should blow | G |
Would ope to him the friendly door | D |
Alone amid the race of man | Z |
The sad the fearful alien ran | Z |
None would an Indian wand'rer bless | E2 |
None greet him with the fond caress | E2 |
None feed him though with hunger keen | F2 |
He at the Lordly gate were seen | F2 |
Prostrate and humbly forc'd to crave | V |
A shelter for an Indian Slave | V |
- | |
The noon tide Sun now flaming wide | K |
No cloud its fierce beam shadow'd o'er | G2 |
But what could worse to him betide | K |
Than begging at the proud man's door | D |
For clos'd and lofty was the gate | K |
And there in all the pride of State | K |
A surly Porter turn'd the key | H |
A man of sullen soul was he | H |
His brow was fair but in his eye | A |
Sat pamper'd scorn and tyranny | H |
And near him a fierce mastiff stood | K |
Eager to bathe his fangs in blood | K |
- | |
The weary LASCAR turn'd away | B |
For trembling fear his heart subdued | K |
And down his cheek the tear would stray | B |
Though burning anguish drank his blood | K |
The angry Mastiff snarl'd as he | H |
Turn'd from the house of luxury | H |
The sultry hour was long and high | A |
The broad sun flamed athwart the sky | A |
But still a throbbing hope possess'd | K |
The Indian wand'rer's fev'rish breast | K |
When from the distant dell a sound | K |
Of swelling music echo'd round | K |
- | |
It was the church bell's merry peal | G |
And now a pleasant house he view'd | K |
And now his heart began to feel | G |
As though it were not quite subdu'd | K |
No lofty dome shew'd loftier state | K |
No pamper'd Porter watch'd the gate | K |
No Mastiff like a tyrant stood | K |
Eager to scatter human blood | K |
Yet the poor Indian wand'rer found | K |
E'en where Religion smil'd around | K |
That tears had little pow'r to speak | H2 |
When trembling on a sable cheek | H2 |
- | |
With keen reproach and menace rude | K |
The LASCAR Boy away was sent | K |
And now again he seem'd subdu'd | K |
And his soul sicken'd as he went | K |
Now on the river's bank he stood | K |
Now drank the cool refreshing flood | K |
Again his fainting heart beat high | A |
Again he rais'd his languid eye | A |
Then from the upland's sultry side | K |
Look'd back forgave the wretch and sigh'd | K |
While the proud PASTOR bent his way | B |
To preach of CHARITY and PRAY | B |
- | |
- | |
II | A |
- | |
The LASCAR Boy still journey'd on | I2 |
For the hot Sun HE well could bear | N |
And now the burning hour was gone | J2 |
And Evening came with softer air | N |
The breezes kiss'd his sable breast | K |
While his scorch'd feet the cold dew prest | K |
The waving flow'rs soft tears display'd | K |
And songs of rapture fill'd the glade | K |
The South wind quiver'd o'er the stream | K2 |
Reflecting back the rosy beam | K2 |
While as the purpling twilight clos'd | K |
On a turf bed the Boy repos'd | K |
- | |
And now in fancy's airy dream | K2 |
The LASCAR Boy his Mother spied | K |
And from her breast a crimson stream | K2 |
Slow trickled down her beating side | K |
And now he heard her wild complain | S |
As loud she shriek'd but shriek'd in vain | S |
And now she sunk upon the ground | K |
The red stream trickling from her wound | K |
And near her feet a murd'rer stood | K |
His glitt'ring poniard tipp'd with blood | K |
And now farewell my son she cried | K |
Then clos'd her fainting eyes and died | K |
- | |
The Indian Wand'rer waking gaz'd | K |
With grief and pain and horror wild | K |
And tho' his fev'rish brain was craz'd | K |
He rais'd his eyes to Heav'n and smil'd | K |
And now the stars were twinkling clear | P |
And the blind Bat was whirling near | P |
And the lone Owlet shriek'd while He | H |
Still sate beneath a shelt'ring tree | H |
And now the fierce ton'd midnight blast | K |
Across the wide heath howling past | K |
When a long cavalcade he spied | K |
By torch light near the river's side | K |
- | |
He rose and hast'ning swiftly on | I2 |
Call'd loudly to the Sumptuous train | S |
But soon the cavalcade was gone | J2 |
And darkness wrapp'd the scene again | L2 |
He follow'd still the distant sound | K |
He saw the lightning flashing round | K |
He heard the crashing thunder roar | D |
He felt the whelming torrents pour | D |
And now beneath a shelt'ring wood | K |
He listen'd to the tumbling flood | K |
And now with falt'ring feeble breath | M2 |
The famish'd LASCAR pray'd for Death | M2 |
- | |
And now the flood began to rise | F |
And foaming rush'd along the vale | G |
The LASCAR watch'd with stedfast eyes | F |
The flash descending quick | N2 |
Mary Darby Robinson
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
Write your comment about The Lascar poem by Mary Darby Robinson
Best Poems of Mary Darby Robinson