Avis Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH IJIJ FKFK LMLM NINI OPOP QRQR STST UVUV WXWX RARA YKYK TZTZ| I MAY not rightly call thy name | A |
| Alas thy forehead never knew | B |
| The kiss that happier children claim | A |
| Nor glistened with baptismal dew | B |
| - | |
| Daughter of want and wrong and woe | C |
| I saw thee with thy sister band | D |
| Snatched from the whirlpool s narrowing flow | C |
| By Mercy s strong yet trembling hand | D |
| - | |
| Avis With Saxon eye and cheek | E |
| At once a woman and a child | F |
| The saint uncrowned I came to seek | E |
| Drew near to greet us spoke and smiled | F |
| - | |
| God gave that sweet sad smile she wore | G |
| All wrong to shame all souls to win | H |
| A heavenly sunbeam sent before | G |
| Her footsteps through a world of sin | H |
| - | |
| And who is Avis Hear the tale | I |
| The calm voiced matrons gravely tell | J |
| The story known through all the vale | I |
| Where Avis and her sisters dwell | J |
| - | |
| With the lost children running wild | F |
| Strayed from the hand of human care | K |
| They find one little refuse child | F |
| Left helpless in its poisoned lair | K |
| - | |
| The primal mark is on her face | L |
| The chattel stamp the pariah stain | M |
| That follows still her hunted race | L |
| The curse without the crime of Cain | M |
| - | |
| How shall our smooth turned phrase relate | N |
| The little suffering outcast s ail | I |
| Not Lazarus at the rich man s gate | N |
| So turned the rose wreathed revellers pale | I |
| - | |
| Ah veil the living death from sight | O |
| That wounds our beauty loving eye | P |
| The children turn in selfish fright | O |
| The white lipped nurses hurry by | P |
| - | |
| Take her dread Angel Break in love | Q |
| This bruised reed and make it thine | R |
| No voice descended from above | Q |
| But Avis answered She is mine | R |
| - | |
| The task that dainty menials spurn | S |
| The fair young girl has made her own | T |
| Her heart shall teach her hand shall learn | S |
| The toils the duties yet unknown | T |
| - | |
| So Love and Death in lingering strife | U |
| Stand face to face from day to day | V |
| Still battling for the spoil of Life | U |
| While the slow seasons creep away | V |
| - | |
| Love conquers Death the prize is won | W |
| See to her joyous bosom pressed | X |
| The dusky daughter of the sun | W |
| The bronze against the marble breast | X |
| - | |
| Her task is done no voice divine | R |
| Has crowned her deeds with saintly fame | A |
| No eye can see the aureole shine | R |
| That rings her brow with heavenly flame | A |
| - | |
| Yet what has holy page more sweet | Y |
| Or what had woman s love more fair | K |
| When Mary clasped her Saviour s feet | Y |
| With flowing eyes and streaming hair | K |
| - | |
| Meek child of sorrow walk unknown | T |
| The Angel of that earthly throng | Z |
| And let thine image live alone | T |
| To hallow this unstudied song | Z |
Oliver Wendell Holmes
(1)
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