The Shunamite.[a] Poem Rhyme Scheme

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It was a sultry day of summer time	A
The sun pour'd down upon the ripen'd grain	B
With quivering heat and the suspended leaves	C
Hung motionless The cattle on the hills	D
Stood still and the divided flock were all	E
Laying their nostrils to the cooling roots	F
And the sky look'd like silver and it seem'd	G
As if the air had fainted and the pulse	H
Of nature had run down and ceas'd to beat	I
	-
'Haste thee my child ' the Syrian mother said	J
'Thy father is athirst' and from the depths	K
Of the cool well under the leaning tree	L
She drew refreshing water and with thoughts	M
Of God's sweet goodness stirring at her heart	N
She bless'd her beautiful boy and to his way	O
Committed him And he went lightly on	P
With his soft hands press'd closely to the cool	Q
Stone vessel and his little naked feet	I
Lifted with watchful care and o'er the hills	D
And thro' the light green hollows where the lambs	R
Go for the tender grass he kept his way	O
Wiling its distance with his simple thoughts	M
Till in the wilderness of sheaves with brows	S
Throbbing with heat he set his burden down	T
	-
Childhood is restless ever and the boy	U
Stay'd not within the shadow of the tree	L
But with a joyous industry went forth	V
Into the reapers' places and bound up	W
His tiny sheaves and plaited cunningly	Q
The pliant withs out of the shining straw	X
Cheering their labor on till they forgot	Y
The very weariness of their stooping toil	Q
In the beguiling of his earnest mirth	Z
Presently he was silent and his eye	A2
Closed as with dizzy pain and with his hand	B2
Press'd hard upon his forehead and his breast	C2
Heaving with the suppression of a cry	A2
He uttered a faint murmur and fell back	D2
Upon the loosen'd sheaf insensible	Q
	-
They bore him to his mother and he lay	Q
Upon her knees till noon and then he died	E2
She had watch'd every breath and kept her hand	B2
Soft on his forehead and gaz'd in upon	P
The dreamy languor of his listless eye	A2
And she had laid back all his sunny curls	F2
And kiss'd his delicate lip and lifted him	G2
Into her bosom till her heart grew strong	H2
His beauty was so unlike death She leaned	I2
Over him now that she might catch the low	Q
Sweet music of his breath that she had learn'd	J2
To love when he was slumbering at her side	E2
In his unconscious infancy	L
So still	Q
'Tis a soft sleep How beautiful he lies	K2
With his fair forehead and the rosy veins	L2
Playing so freshly in his sunny cheek	M2
How could they say that he would die Oh God	N2
I could not lose him I have treasured all	Q
His childhood in my heart and even now	O2
As he has slept my memory has been there	P2
Counting like ingots all his winning ways	Q2
His unforgotten sweetness	R2
Yet so still	Q
How like this breathless slumber is to death	S2
I could believe that in that bosom now	O2
There were no pulse it beats so languidly	Q
I cannot see it stir but his red lip	T2
Death would not be so very beautiful	Q
And that half smile would death have left that there	P2
And should I not have felt that he would die	A2
And have I not wept over him and prayed	U2
Morning and night for him and could he die	A2
No God will keep him He will be my pride	E2
Many long years to come and this fair hair	P2
Will darken like his father's and his eye	A2
Be of a deeper blue when he is grown	V2
And he will be so tall and I shall look	W2
With such a pride upon him He to die	A2
And the fond mother lifted his soft curls	F2
And smiled as if 'twere mockery to think	X2
That such fair things could perish	Y2
Suddenly	Q
Her hand shrunk from him and the color fled	J
From her fix'd lip and her supporting knees	Z2
Were shook beneath her child Her hand had touch'd	A3
His forehead as she dallied with his hair	P2
And it was cold like clay slow very slow	Q
Came the misgiving that her child was dead	J
She sat a moment and her eyes were clos'd	B3
In a still prayer for strength and then she took	W2
His little hand and press'd it earnestly	Q
And put her lip to his and look'd again	C3
Fearfully on him and then bending low	Q
She whisper'd in his ear My son My son	D3
And as the echo died and not a sound	E3
Broke on the stillness and he lay there still	Q
Motionless on her knee the truth would come	F3
And with a sharp quick cry as if her heart	N
Were crush'd she lifted him and held him close	G3
Into her bosom with a mother's thought	H3
As if death had no power to touch him there	P2
	-
	-
	-
The man of God came forth and led the child	I3
Unto his mother and went on his way	Q
And he was there her beautiful her own	V2
Living and smiling on her with his arms	J3
Folded about her neck and his warm breath	S2
Breathing upon her lips and in her ear	K3
The music of his gentle voice once more	L3
	-
Oh for a burning word that would express	M3
The measure of a mother's holy joy	U
When God has given back to her her child	I3
From death's dark portal It surpasseth words	N3
	-
Footnote A KINGS iv	O3

Nathaniel Parker Willis

The Shunamite.[a] Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

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