The Prophecy Of St. Oran: Part I Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCBCDD E F GG HIHIJK IIIIILL IMBMBNN IOPOQRR ISBSBII IQKQKTT NUIUIN NTVTVWW NRTXTNN NNTNTII NOTOTYY ININIZ INA2NA2TT ITNTNI ITHTHNN IRNRNKK NB2TNTC2C2 NTD2TD2I NE2TE2TIN NC2TC2TF2F2 NRNRNN INC2IC2CC ITITII IHG2HHR ITNTNH2 II2NJ2NNN NNH2| 'Earth earth on the mouth of Oran that he may blab no more ' Gaelic Proverb | A |
| - | |
| - | |
| I | - |
| THE storm had ceased to rave subsiding slow | B |
| Lashed ocean heaved and then lay calm and still | C |
| From the clear North a little breeze did blow | B |
| Severing the clouds high o'er a wooded hill | C |
| The slant sun hung intolerably bright | D |
| And spanned the sea with a broad bridge of light | D |
| - | |
| - | |
| II | - |
| Now St Columba rose from where he sat | E |
| Among his monkish crew and lifting high | - |
| His pale worn hands his eagle glances met | F |
| The awful glory which suffused the sky | - |
| As soars the lark sweet singing from the sod | G |
| So prayer is wafted from his soul to God | G |
| - | |
| - | |
| III | - |
| For they in their rude coracle that day | H |
| Shuddered had climbed the crests of mountainous wave | I |
| To plunge down glassy walls of shifting spray | H |
| From which death roared as from an open grave | I |
| Till the grim fury of the tempest o'er | J |
| Bursts on their ravished sight an azure shore | K |
| - | |
| - | |
| IV | I |
| Ah is this solid earth which meets their view | I |
| Or some still cloud land islanded on high | I |
| Those crags are too a rially blue | I |
| Too soft those mountains mingling with the sky | I |
| And too ineffable their dewy gleam | L |
| For aught but fabric of a fleeting dream | L |
| - | |
| - | |
| V | I |
| Entranced they gaze and o'er the glimmering track | M |
| Of seething gold and foaming silver row | B |
| Now to their left tower headlands bare and black | M |
| And blasted with grey centuries of snow | B |
| Deep in whose echoing caves with hollow sighs | N |
| Monotonous seas for ever ebb and rise | N |
| - | |
| - | |
| VI | I |
| Rounding these rocks they glide into a deep | O |
| And tranquil bay in whose translucent flood | P |
| The shadows of the azure mountains sleep | O |
| High on a hill amid green foliage stood | Q |
| A square and rough hewn tower whose time bleached stone | R |
| Like some red beacon with the sunset shone | R |
| - | |
| - | |
| VII | I |
| A few more vigorous strokes and the sharp keel | S |
| Grates on the beach on which inclining low | B |
| Their tonsured heads the monks adoring kneel | S |
| While St Columba his pale face aglow | B |
| With outward light and inward lifts on high | I |
| The Cross swart outlined on the burning sky | I |
| - | |
| - | |
| VIII | I |
| Impassive though in silent wonder stood | Q |
| The islesmen while these worshipped on their shore | K |
| A thorn crowned figure nailed upon the wood | Q |
| From whose pierced side the dark blood seemed to pour | K |
| While on the Father Son and Holy Ghost | T |
| They loudly called as brow and breast they crost | T |
| - | |
| - | |
| IX | N |
| Spoke now their Master in a voice whose ring | U |
| Was like the west wind's in a twilight grove | I |
| 'Glad tidings to this sea girt isle we bring | U |
| Good tidings of our heavenly Father's love | I |
| Who sent His only Son oh marvellous | N |
| Deep love to die that He might ransom us ' | - |
| - | |
| - | |
| X | N |
| 'Come listen to the story of our Lord | T |
| Sweet Jesus Christ a child of lowly birth | V |
| Whom in the manger the wise kings adored | T |
| For well they knew Him Lord of Heaven and Earth | V |
| With myrrh and spice they journeyed from the far | W |
| Prophetic East led by the Pilgrim Star | W |
| - | |
| - | |
| XI | N |
| 'And when the star stood still and mildly shone | R |
| Above a shed where lay the new born child | T |
| They hailed Him God's only begotten Son | X |
| Saviour of sinners and Redeemer mild | T |
| Eve's promised seed when she with streaming eyes | N |
| Saw the bright sword wave her from Paradise | N |
| - | |
| - | |
| XII | N |
| 'For we are children of a fallen race | N |
| Our sins are grievous in the Father's sight | T |
| Death was our doom but that by heavenly grace | N |
| God sent His Son to be a steadfast light | T |
| Which calmly shining o'er life's troubled wave | I |
| The storm tossed souls of erring men might save | I |
| - | |
| - | |
| XIII | N |
| 'Go unto Him all ye that toil and weep | O |
| Ye that are weary with the long day's load | T |
| He is the Shepherd watching o'er His sheep | O |
| He leads His flock along the narrow road | T |
| And when He hears the bleating lamb's alarm | Y |
| He folds the weak one in His sheltering arm | Y |
| - | |
| - | |
| XIV | I |
| 'Ah tender Shepherd who didst love us so | N |
| Choosing to die that we Thy flock might live | I |
| What bitter anguish ah what heavy woe | N |
| To think O Lord that mortal hands should give | I |
| This wound that cleaves Thy side that mortal scorn | Z |
| In mockery crowned Thee with the barren thorn ' | - |
| - | |
| - | |
| XV | I |
| Sad was Columba's face his words were slow | N |
| As though reluctant to the piteous tale | A2 |
| But now his eyes with sacred rapture glow | N |
| And his wan features kindle like a pale | A2 |
| Dissolving cloud through which the moon is shed | T |
| He speaks of Christ re risen from the dead | T |
| - | |
| - | |
| XVI | I |
| He ceased then cried 'Glory unto the Lord | T |
| Whose mercy is as boundless as the sea | N |
| Fruitful to day makes He my feeble word | T |
| For with faith's eye an ancient chief I see | N |
| Whose bark o'er the blue deep is drawing nigh | I |
| He comes to be baptised before he die ' | - |
| - | |
| - | |
| XVII | I |
| Scarce had he ended when towards the land | T |
| A wicker boat sped swiftly o'er the bay | H |
| There by the Pictish chieftain hand in hand | T |
| Her golden locks entangled with his grey | H |
| His grandchild sat lit by the level rays | N |
| The loveliest and the last of all her race | N |
| - | |
| - | |
| XVIII | I |
| They hailed the Chief as to a sea worn stone | R |
| Two fishers bore him and his muffled sense | N |
| Struggled with feeble eld to seize the tone | R |
| Of the Saint's voice as he in words intense | N |
| Proclaimed the saving truth of gospel lore | K |
| Then with his hands baptised the Chieftain hoar | K |
| - | |
| - | |
| XIX | N |
| And when the holy dew had wet his brow | B2 |
| And his wan lips tasted the sacrament | T |
| His head against Columba's breast sank low | N |
| And o'er his face a smile of rapt content | T |
| Played softly smoothing out the lines of care | C2 |
| Which joy and grief and toil had planted there | C2 |
| - | |
| - | |
| XX | N |
| Then on the spot where he has breathed his last | T |
| They lay him letting dust to dust return | D2 |
| Then one by one as solemnly they cast | T |
| A little earth upon his grave they turn | D2 |
| To the benighted heathen look above | I |
| And chaunt 'His soul is God's and God is love ' | - |
| - | |
| - | |
| XXI | N |
| A piteous cry and terrible then rung | E2 |
| Even like a very echo to the word | T |
| Upon the startled hearers whom it wrung | E2 |
| With answering grief as when along the chord | T |
| Of palpitating harp the breezes sigh | I |
| Each string responsive wails in sympathy | N |
| - | |
| - | |
| XXII | N |
| A maiden with wild eyes and streaming hair | C2 |
| And features white with horror rose aghast | T |
| Unconscious of the pitying people's stare | C2 |
| And on the new made grave herself she cast | T |
| In utter desolation till her frame | F2 |
| Convulsed by sobs shook like a wind blown flame | F2 |
| - | |
| - | |
| XXIII | N |
| 'Oh father father ' she at last made moan | R |
| 'My father's father last of all our race | N |
| Hast thou gone too and left me here alone | R |
| So helpless as I am so weak to face | N |
| The dreadful shifts of war with all its woes | N |
| Cold hunger shame fear of insulting foes ' | - |
| - | |
| - | |
| XXIV | I |
| 'Nay child blaspheme not in thine agony | N |
| Art thou not in our heavenly Father's care | C2 |
| He who upholds the everlasting sky | I |
| Throughout the ages suffers not a hair | C2 |
| Of thine to fall but that it is His will | C |
| Bless Him for joy for sorrow bless Him still | C |
| - | |
| - | |
| XXV | I |
| 'Yea clasp thine unused hands in prayer and lift | T |
| Thy still down drooping eyes to Him above | I |
| Is not the giver greater than His gift | T |
| Must not His love contain all lesser love | I |
| Of father mother brother husband wife | I |
| The Alpha He and Omega of life ' | - |
| - | |
| - | |
| XXVI | I |
| Thus spake Columba burning to allay | H |
| The pains of earthly love with saving truth | G2 |
| But she who deemed confusedly that they | H |
| With their sad rites had slain her sire forsooth | H |
| Was deaf to him and ever made her moan | R |
| 'Hast thou gone too and left me here alone ' | - |
| - | |
| - | |
| XXVII | I |
| At last when all his words and prayers had failed | T |
| To comfort or assuage the orphan's woe | N |
| Who prostrate on the grave still wept and wailed | T |
| Columba muttered as he turned to go | N |
| 'Nay sooner parley with the roaring main | H2 |
| Than with a woman maddening in her pain ' | - |
| - | |
| - | |
| XXVIII | I |
| So thus they left her as she would not come | I2 |
| Left her to night and a few firstling stars | N |
| That here and there from the celestial dome | J2 |
| Peered brightly through the narrow cloudy bars | N |
| As though some great white seraph's lidless eyes | N |
| Were looking down on her from Paradise | N |
| - | |
| - | |
| XXIX | N |
| But one there was who could not rest in peace | N |
| For pity of that maiden' | H2 |
Mathilde Blind
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
About The Prophecy Of St. Oran: Part I
The Prophecy Of St. Oran: Part I is a poem by Mathilde Blind. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
Write your comment about The Prophecy Of St. Oran: Part I poem by Mathilde Blind
Best Poems of Mathilde Blind