King-s Chapel Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCB DC EFEGGF HIJKKI LMLNNM OIOJJI PQPRRQ STSCCT UPUAAP VSVSSS WIWSSI SVSXXV| READ AT THE TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY | A |
| - | |
| Is it a weanling's weakness for the past | B |
| That in the stormy rebel breeding town | C |
| Swept clean of relics by the levelling blast | B |
| - | |
| Still keeps our gray old chapel's name of 'King's ' | - |
| Still to its outworn symbols fondly clings | D |
| Its unchurched mitres and its empty crown | C |
| - | |
| Poor harmless emblems All has shrunk away | E |
| That made them gorgons in the patriot's eyes | F |
| The priestly plaything harms us not to day | E |
| The gilded crown is but a pleasing show | G |
| An old world heirloom left from long ago | G |
| Wreck of the past that memory bids us prize | F |
| - | |
| Lightly we glance the fresh cut marbles o'er | H |
| Those two of earlier date our eyes enthrall | I |
| The proud old Briton's by the western door | J |
| And hers the Lady of Colonial days | K |
| Whose virtues live in long drawn classic phrase | K |
| The fair Francesca of the southern wall | I |
| - | |
| Ay those were goodly men that Reynolds drew | L |
| And stately dames our Copley's canvas holds | M |
| To their old Church their Royal Master true | L |
| Proud of the claim their valiant sires had earned | N |
| That 'gentle blood ' not lightly to be spurned | N |
| Save by the churl ungenerous Nature moulds | M |
| - | |
| All vanished It were idle to complain | O |
| That ere the fruits shall come the flowers must fall | I |
| Yet somewhat we have lost amidst our gain | O |
| Some rare ideals time may not restore | J |
| The charm of courtly breeding seen no more | J |
| And reverence dearest ornament of all | I |
| - | |
| Thus musing to the western wall I came | P |
| Departing lo a tablet fresh and fair | Q |
| Where glistened many a youth's remembered name | P |
| In golden letters on the snow white stone | R |
| Young lives these aisles and arches once have known | R |
| Their country's bleeding altar might not spare | Q |
| - | |
| These died that we might claim a soil unstained | S |
| Save by the blood of heroes their bequests | T |
| A realm unsevered and a race unchained | S |
| Has purer blood through Norman veins come down | C |
| From the rough knights that clutched the Saxon's crown | C |
| Than warmed the pulses in these faithful breasts | T |
| - | |
| These too shall live in history's deathless page | U |
| High on the slow wrought pedestals of fame | P |
| Ranged with the heroes of remoter age | U |
| They could not die who left their nation free | A |
| Firm as the rock unfettered as the sea | A |
| Its heaven unshadowed by the cloud of shame | P |
| - | |
| While on the storied past our memory dwells | V |
| Our grateful tribute shall not be denied | S |
| The wreath the cross of rustling immortelles | V |
| And willing hands shall clear each darkening bust | S |
| As year by year sifts down the clinging dust | S |
| On Shirley's beauty and on Vassall's pride | S |
| - | |
| But for our own our loved and lost we bring | W |
| With throbbing hearts and tears that still must flow | I |
| In full heaped hands the opening flowers of spring | W |
| Lilies half blown and budding roses red | S |
| As their young cheeks before the blood was shed | S |
| That lent their morning bloom its generous glow | I |
| - | |
| Ah who shall count a rescued nation's debt | S |
| Or sum in words our martyrs' silent claims | V |
| Who shall our heroes' dread exchange forget | S |
| All life youth hope could promise to allure | X |
| For all that soul could brave or flesh endure | X |
| They shaped our future we but carve their names | V |
Oliver Wendell Holmes
(1)
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