The Cambridge Churchyard Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABAACDCD EFEFGHGH IFIFJKJK LMLMFNFN FOFOPQPQ RFRFSASA TUTUVWVW XMXMYFYF FYFYZA2ZA2 TB2TB2LC2LC2 FD2FD2WYWY E2F2E2F2HG2HG2 MFMFQH2QH2 SI2J2I2K2FK2F

Our ancient church its lowly towerA
Beneath the loftier spireB
Is shadowed when the sunset hourA
Clothes the tall shaft in fireA
It sinks beyond the distant eyeC
Long ere the glittering vaneD
High wheeling in the western skyC
Has faded o er the plainD
-
Like Sentinel and Nun they keepE
Their vigil on the greenF
One seems to guard and one to weepE
The dead that lie betweenF
And both roll out so full and nearG
Their music s mingling wavesH
They shake the grass whose pennoned spearG
Leans on the narrow gravesH
-
The stranger parts the flaunting weedsI
Whose seeds the winds have strownF
So thick beneath the line he readsI
They shade the sculptured stoneF
The child unveils his clustered browJ
And ponders for a whileK
The graven willow s pendent boughJ
Or rudest cherub s smileK
-
But what to them the dirge the knellL
These were the mourner s shareM
The sullen clang whose heavy swellL
Throbbed through the beating airM
The rattling cord the rolling stoneF
The shelving sand that slidN
And far beneath with hollow toneF
Rung on the coffin s lidN
-
The slumberer s mound grows fresh and greenF
Then slowly disappearsO
The mosses creep the gray stones leanF
Earth hides his date and yearsO
But long before the once loved nameP
Is sunk or worn awayQ
No lip the silent dust may claimP
That pressed the breathing clayQ
-
Go where the ancient pathway guidesR
See where our sires laid downF
Their smiling babes their cherished bridesR
The patriarchs of the townF
Hast thou a tear for buried loveS
A sigh for transient powerA
All that a century left aboveS
Go read it in an hourA
-
The Indian s shaft the Briton s ballT
The sabre s thirsting edgeU
The hot shell shattering in its fallT
The bayonet s rending wedgeU
Here scattered death yet seek the spotV
No trace thine eye can seeW
No altar and they need it notV
Who leave their children freeW
-
Look where the turbid rain drops standX
In many a chiselled squareM
The knightly crest the shield the brandX
Of honored names were thereM
Alas for every tear is driedY
Those blazoned tablets knewF
Save when the icy marble s sideY
Drips with the evening dewF
-
Or gaze upon yon pillared stoneF
The empty urn of prideY
There stand the Goblet and the SunF
What need of more besideY
Where lives the memory of the deadZ
Who made their tomb a toyA2
Whose ashes press that nameless bedZ
Go ask the village boyA2
-
Lean o er the slender western wallT
Ye ever roaming girlsB2
The breath that bids the blossom fallT
May lift your floating curlsB2
To sweep the simple lines that tellL
An exile s date and doomC2
And sigh for where his daughters dwellL
They wreathe the stranger s tombC2
-
And one amid these shades was bornF
Beneath this turf who liesD2
Once beaming as the summer s mornF
That closed her gentle eyesD2
If sinless angels love as weW
Who stood thy grave besideY
Three seraph welcomes waited theeW
The daughter sister brideY
-
I wandered to thy buried moundE2
When earth was hid belowF2
The level of the glaring groundE2
Choked to its gates with snowF2
And when with summer s flowery wavesH
The lake of verdure rolledG2
As if a Sultan s white robed slavesH
Had scattered pearls and goldG2
-
Nay the soft pinions of the airM
That lift this trembling toneF
Its breath of love may almost bearM
To kiss thy funeral stoneF
And now thy smiles have passed awayQ
For all the joy they gaveH2
May sweetest dews and warmest rayQ
Lie on thine early graveH2
-
When damps beneath and storms aboveS
Have bowed these fragile towersI2
Still o er the graves yon locust groveJ2
Shall swing its Orient flowersI2
And I would ask no mouldering bustK2
If e er this humble lineF
Which breathed a sigh o er other s dustK2
Might call a tear on mineF

Oliver Wendell Holmes



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