The Cambridge Churchyard Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABAACDCD EFEFGHGH IFIFJKJK LMLMFNFN FOFOPQPQ RFRFSASA TUTUVWVW XMXMYFYF FYFYZA2ZA2 TB2TB2LC2LC2 FD2FD2WYWY E2F2E2F2HG2HG2 MFMFQH2QH2 SI2J2I2K2FK2FOur ancient church its lowly tower | A |
Beneath the loftier spire | B |
Is shadowed when the sunset hour | A |
Clothes the tall shaft in fire | A |
It sinks beyond the distant eye | C |
Long ere the glittering vane | D |
High wheeling in the western sky | C |
Has faded o er the plain | D |
- | |
Like Sentinel and Nun they keep | E |
Their vigil on the green | F |
One seems to guard and one to weep | E |
The dead that lie between | F |
And both roll out so full and near | G |
Their music s mingling waves | H |
They shake the grass whose pennoned spear | G |
Leans on the narrow graves | H |
- | |
The stranger parts the flaunting weeds | I |
Whose seeds the winds have strown | F |
So thick beneath the line he reads | I |
They shade the sculptured stone | F |
The child unveils his clustered brow | J |
And ponders for a while | K |
The graven willow s pendent bough | J |
Or rudest cherub s smile | K |
- | |
But what to them the dirge the knell | L |
These were the mourner s share | M |
The sullen clang whose heavy swell | L |
Throbbed through the beating air | M |
The rattling cord the rolling stone | F |
The shelving sand that slid | N |
And far beneath with hollow tone | F |
Rung on the coffin s lid | N |
- | |
The slumberer s mound grows fresh and green | F |
Then slowly disappears | O |
The mosses creep the gray stones lean | F |
Earth hides his date and years | O |
But long before the once loved name | P |
Is sunk or worn away | Q |
No lip the silent dust may claim | P |
That pressed the breathing clay | Q |
- | |
Go where the ancient pathway guides | R |
See where our sires laid down | F |
Their smiling babes their cherished brides | R |
The patriarchs of the town | F |
Hast thou a tear for buried love | S |
A sigh for transient power | A |
All that a century left above | S |
Go read it in an hour | A |
- | |
The Indian s shaft the Briton s ball | T |
The sabre s thirsting edge | U |
The hot shell shattering in its fall | T |
The bayonet s rending wedge | U |
Here scattered death yet seek the spot | V |
No trace thine eye can see | W |
No altar and they need it not | V |
Who leave their children free | W |
- | |
Look where the turbid rain drops stand | X |
In many a chiselled square | M |
The knightly crest the shield the brand | X |
Of honored names were there | M |
Alas for every tear is dried | Y |
Those blazoned tablets knew | F |
Save when the icy marble s side | Y |
Drips with the evening dew | F |
- | |
Or gaze upon yon pillared stone | F |
The empty urn of pride | Y |
There stand the Goblet and the Sun | F |
What need of more beside | Y |
Where lives the memory of the dead | Z |
Who made their tomb a toy | A2 |
Whose ashes press that nameless bed | Z |
Go ask the village boy | A2 |
- | |
Lean o er the slender western wall | T |
Ye ever roaming girls | B2 |
The breath that bids the blossom fall | T |
May lift your floating curls | B2 |
To sweep the simple lines that tell | L |
An exile s date and doom | C2 |
And sigh for where his daughters dwell | L |
They wreathe the stranger s tomb | C2 |
- | |
And one amid these shades was born | F |
Beneath this turf who lies | D2 |
Once beaming as the summer s morn | F |
That closed her gentle eyes | D2 |
If sinless angels love as we | W |
Who stood thy grave beside | Y |
Three seraph welcomes waited thee | W |
The daughter sister bride | Y |
- | |
I wandered to thy buried mound | E2 |
When earth was hid below | F2 |
The level of the glaring ground | E2 |
Choked to its gates with snow | F2 |
And when with summer s flowery waves | H |
The lake of verdure rolled | G2 |
As if a Sultan s white robed slaves | H |
Had scattered pearls and gold | G2 |
- | |
Nay the soft pinions of the air | M |
That lift this trembling tone | F |
Its breath of love may almost bear | M |
To kiss thy funeral stone | F |
And now thy smiles have passed away | Q |
For all the joy they gave | H2 |
May sweetest dews and warmest ray | Q |
Lie on thine early grave | H2 |
- | |
When damps beneath and storms above | S |
Have bowed these fragile towers | I2 |
Still o er the graves yon locust grove | J2 |
Shall swing its Orient flowers | I2 |
And I would ask no mouldering bust | K2 |
If e er this humble line | F |
Which breathed a sigh o er other s dust | K2 |
Might call a tear on mine | F |
Oliver Wendell Holmes
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
Write your comment about The Cambridge Churchyard poem by Oliver Wendell Holmes
Best Poems of Oliver Wendell Holmes