In The Twilight Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: AABAAAC DDEFFFE AAGHHHG IIJDDKJ LLMII M NNDOOOD PPQRRRQ SSTU UT LLVIIIV WWNXXXN YYZA2A2A2Z IIEOOOE YYGB2B2B2G C2C2D2E2E2E2D2 XXF2XXXF2 G2G2OH2H2I2O

NOT bed time yet The night winds blowA
The stars are out full well we knowA
The nurse is on the stairB
With hand of ice and cheek of snowA
And frozen lips that whisper lowA
'Come children it is time to goA
My peaceful couch to share 'C
-
No years a wakeful heart can tireD
Not bed time yet Come stir the fireD
And warm your dear old handsE
Kind Mother Earth we love so wellF
Has pleasant stories yet to tellF
Before we hear the curfew bellF
Still glow the burning brandsE
-
Not bed time yet We long to knowA
What wonders time has yet to showA
What unborn years shall bringG
What ship the Arctic pole shall reachH
What lessons Science waits to teachH
What sermons there are left to preachH
What poems yet to singG
-
What next we ask and is it trueI
The sunshine falls on nothing newI
As Israel's king declaredJ
Was ocean ploughed with harnessed fireD
Were nations coupled with a wireD
Did Tarshish telegraph to TyreK
How Hiram would have staredJ
-
And what if Sheba's curious queenL
Who came to see and to be seenL
Or something new to seekM
And swooned as ladies sometimes doI
At sights that thrilled her through and throughI
Had heard as she was 'coming to '-
A locomotive's shriekM
-
And seen a rushing railway trainN
As she looked out along the plainN
From David's lofty towerD
A mile of smoke that blots the skyO
And blinds the eagles as they flyO
Behind the cars that thunder byO
A score of leagues an hourD
-
See to my fiat lux respondP
This little slumbering fire tipped wandP
One touch it bursts in flameQ
Steal me a portrait from the sunR
One look and to the picture doneR
Are these old tricks King SolomonR
We lying moderns claimQ
-
Could you have spectroscoped a starS
If both those mothers at your barS
The cruel and the mildT
The young and tender old and toughU
Had said 'Divide you're right though rough '-
Did old Judea know enoughU
To etherize the childT
-
These births of time our eyes have seenL
With but a few brief years betweenL
What wonder if the textV
For other ages doubtless trueI
For coming years will never doI
Whereof we all should like a fewI
If but to see what nextV
-
If such things have been such may beW
Who would not like to live and seeW
If Heaven may so ordainN
What waifs undreamed of yet in storeX
The waves that roll forevermoreX
On life's long beach may east ashoreX
From out the mist clad mainN
-
Will Earth to pagan dreams returnY
To find from misery's painted urnY
That all save hope has flownZ
Of Book and Church and Priest bereftA2
The Rock of Ages vainly cleftA2
Life's compass gone its anchor leftA2
Left lost in depths unknownZ
-
Shall Faith the trodden path pursueI
The crux ansata wearers knewI
Who sleep with folded handsE
Where like a naked lidless eyeO
The staring Nile rolls wandering byO
Those mountain slopes that climb the skyO
Above the drifting sandsE
-
Or shall a nobler Faith returnY
Its fanes a purer gospel learnY
With holier anthems ringG
And teach us that our transient creedsB2
Were but the perishable seedsB2
Of harvests sown for larger needsB2
That ripening years shall bringG
-
Well let the present do its bestC2
We trust our Maker for the restC2
As on our way we plodD2
Our souls full dressed in fleshly suitsE2
Love air and sunshine flowers and fruitsE2
The daisies better than their rootsE2
Beneath the grassy sodD2
-
Not bed time yet The full blown flowerX
Of all the year this evening hourX
With friendship's flame is brightF2
Life still is sweet the heavens are fairX
Though fields are brown and woods are bareX
And many a joy is left to shareX
Before we say Good nightF2
-
And when our cheerful evening pastG2
The nurse long waiting comes at lastG2
Ere on her lap we lieO
In wearied nature's sweet reposeH2
At peace with all her waking foesH2
Our lips shall murmur ere they closeI2
Good night and not Good byO

Oliver Wendell Holmes



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