Even-song Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDDEEFFGGHI JJKKAALLMMNNBBJJ OOPPQQRRSSTTUUH VVWWXXYYBBZZQQDD A2A2B2B2EELLB2B2C2C2 D2D2 E2E2F2F2G2G2ZZVVCCLL Q H2H2I2I2PPH2H2JJJ2J2 K2K2L2L2 OOM2M2N2N2G2G2JJO2O2 P2Q2GGIT may be yes it must be Time that brings | A |
An end to mortal things | A |
That sends the beggar Winter in the train | B |
Of Autumn's burdened wain | B |
Time that is heir of all our earthly state | C |
And knoweth well to wait | C |
Till sea hath turned to shore and shore to sea | D |
If so it need must be | D |
Ere he make good his claim and call his own | E |
Old empires overthrown | E |
Time who can find no heavenly orb too large | F |
To hold its fee in charge | F |
Nor any motes that fill its beam so small | G |
But he shall care for all | G |
It may be must be yes he soon shall tire | H |
This hand that holds the lyre | I |
- | |
Then ye who listened in that earlier day | J |
When to my careless lay | J |
I matched its chords and stole their first born thrill | K |
With untaught rudest skill | K |
Vexing a treble from the slender strings | A |
Thin as the locust sings | A |
When the shrill crying child of summer's heat | L |
Pipes from its leafy seat | L |
The dim pavilion of embowering green | M |
Beneath whose shadowy screen | M |
The small sopranist tries his single note | N |
Against the song bird's throat | N |
And all the echoes listen but in vain | B |
They hear no answering strain | B |
Then ye who listened in that earlier day | J |
Shall sadly turn away | J |
- | |
Saying 'The fire burns low the hearth is cold | O |
That warmed our blood of old | O |
Cover its embers and its half burnt brands | P |
And let us stretch our hands | P |
Over a brighter and fresh kindled flame | Q |
Lo this is not the same | Q |
The joyous singer of our morning time | R |
Flushed high with lusty rhyme | R |
Speak kindly for he bears a human heart | S |
But whisper him apart | S |
Tell him the woods their autumn robes have shed | T |
And all their birds have fled | T |
And shouting winds unbuild the naked nests | U |
They warmed with patient breasts | U |
Tell him the sky is dark the summer o'er | H |
And bid him sing no more ' | - |
- | |
Ah welladay if words so cruel kind | V |
A listening ear might find | V |
But who that hears the music in his soul | W |
Of rhythmic waves that roll | W |
Crested with gleams of fire and as they flow | X |
Stir all the deeps below | X |
Till the great pearls no calm might ever reach | Y |
Leap glistening on the beach | Y |
Who that has known the passion and the pain | B |
The rush through heart and brain | B |
The joy so like a pang his hand is pressed | Z |
Hard on his throbbing breast | Z |
When thou whose smile is life and bliss and fame | Q |
Hast set his pulse aflame | Q |
Muse of the lyre can say farewell to thee | D |
Alas and must it be | D |
- | |
In many a clime in many a stately tongue | A2 |
The mighty bards have sung | A2 |
To these the immemorial thrones belong | B2 |
And purple robes of song | B2 |
Yet the slight minstrel loves the slender tone | E |
His lips may call his own | E |
And finds the measure of the verse more sweet | L |
Timed by his pulse's beat | L |
Than all the hymnings of the laurelled throng | B2 |
Say not I do him wrong | B2 |
For Nature spoils her warblers them she feeds | C2 |
In lotus growing meads | C2 |
And pours them subtle draughts from haunted streams | D2 |
That fill their souls with dreams | D2 |
- | |
Full well I know the gracious mother's wiles | E2 |
And dear delusive smiles | E2 |
No callow fledgling of her singing brood | F2 |
But tastes that witching food | F2 |
And hearing overhead the eagle's wing | G2 |
And how the thrushes sing | G2 |
Vents his exiguous chirp and from his nest | Z |
Flaps forth we know the rest | Z |
I own the weakness of the tuneful kind | V |
Are not all harpers blind | V |
I sang too early must I sing too late | C |
The lengthening shadows wait | C |
The first pale stars of twilight yet how sweet | L |
The flattering whisper's cheat | L |
'Thou hast the fire no evening chill can tame | Q |
Whose coals outlast its flame ' | - |
- | |
Farewell ye carols of the laughing morn | H2 |
Of earliest sunshine born | H2 |
The sower flings the seed and looks not back | I2 |
Along his furrowed track | I2 |
The reaper leaves the stalks for other hands | P |
To gird with circling bands | P |
The wind earth's careless servant truant born | H2 |
Blows clean the beaten corn | H2 |
And quits the thresher's floor and goes his way | J |
To sport with ocean's spray | J |
The headlong stumbling rivulet scrambling down | J2 |
To wash the sea girt town | J2 |
Still babbling of the green and billowy waste | K2 |
Whose salt he longs to taste | K2 |
Ere his warm wave its chilling clasp may feel | L2 |
Has twirled the miller's wheel | L2 |
- | |
The song has done its task that makes us bold | O |
With secrets else untold | O |
And mine has run its errand through the dews | M2 |
I tracked the flying Muse | M2 |
The daughter of the morning touched my lips | N2 |
With roseate finger tips | N2 |
Whether I would or would not I must sing | G2 |
With the new choirs of spring | G2 |
Now as I watch the fading autumn day | J |
And trill my softened lay | J |
I think of all that listened and of one | O2 |
For whom a brighter sun | O2 |
Dawned at high summer's noon Ah comrades dear | P2 |
Are not all gathered here | Q2 |
Our hearts have answered Yes they hear our call | G |
All gathered here all all | G |
Oliver Wendell Holmes
(1)
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