The Iron Gate Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABAB ACAC DEFE GHGH IJIJ KLKM NONO PQPQ IRIR STST UVUV SWSW AMAX USUS SYSY UZUZ A2BA2B SSSS UB2UI GC2GC2WHERE is this patriarch you are kindly greeting | A |
Not unfamiliar to my ear his name | B |
Nor yet unknown to many a joyous meeting | A |
In days long vanished is he still the same | B |
- | |
Or changed by years forgotten and forgetting | A |
Dull eared dim sighted slow of speech and thought | C |
Still o'er the sad degenerate present fretting | A |
Where all goes wrong and nothing as it ought | C |
- | |
Old age the graybeard Well indeed I know him | D |
Shrunk tottering bent of aches and ills the prey | E |
In sermon story fable picture poem | F |
Oft have I met him from my earliest day | E |
- | |
In my old Aesop toiling with his bundle | G |
His load of sticks politely asking Death | H |
Who comes when called for would he lug or trundle | G |
His fagot for him he was scant of breath | H |
- | |
And sad Ecclesiastes or the Preacher | I |
Has he not stamped tbe image on my soul | J |
In that last chapter where the worn out Teacher | I |
Sighs o'er the loosened cord the broken bowl | J |
- | |
Yes long indeed I 've known him at a distance | K |
And now my lifted door latch shows him here | L |
I take his shrivelled hand without resistance | K |
And find him smiling as his step draws near | M |
- | |
What though of gilded baubles he bereaves us | N |
Dear to the heart of youth to manhood's prime | O |
Think of the calm he brings the wealth he leaves us | N |
The hoarded spoils the legacies of time | O |
- | |
Altars once flaming still with incense fragrant | P |
Passion's uneasy nurslings rocked asleep | Q |
Hope's anchor faster wild desire less vagrant | P |
Life's flow less noisy but the stream how deep | Q |
- | |
Still as the silver cord gets worn and slender | I |
Its lightened task work tugs with lessening strain | R |
Hands get more helpful voices grown more tender | I |
Soothe with their softened tones the slumberous brain | R |
- | |
Youth longs and manhood strives but age remembers | S |
Sits by the raked up ashes of the past | T |
Spreads its thin hands above the whitening embers | S |
That warm its creeping life blood till the last | T |
- | |
Dear to its heart is every loving token | U |
That comes unbidden era its pulse grows cold | V |
Ere the last lingering ties of life are broken | U |
Its labors ended and its story told | V |
- | |
Ah while around us rosy youth rejoices | S |
For us the sorrow laden breezes sigh | W |
And through the chorus of its jocund voices | S |
Throbs the sharp note of misery's hopeless cry | W |
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As on the gauzy wings of fancy flying | A |
From some far orb I track our watery sphere | M |
Home of the struggling suffering doubting dying | A |
The silvered globule seems a glistening tear | X |
- | |
But Nature lends her mirror of illusion | U |
To win from saddening scenes our age dimmed eyes | S |
And misty day dreams blend in sweet confusion | U |
The wintry landscape and the summer skies | S |
- | |
So when the iron portal shuts behind us | S |
And life forgets us in its noise and whirl | Y |
Visions that shunned the glaring noonday find us | S |
And glimmering starlight shows the gates of pearl | Y |
- | |
I come not here your morning hour to sadden | U |
A limping pilgrim leaning on his staff | Z |
I who have never deemed it sin to gladden | U |
This vale of sorrows with a wholesome laugh | Z |
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If word of mine another's gloom has brightened | A2 |
Through my dumb lips the heaven sent message came | B |
If hand of mine another's task has lightened | A2 |
It felt the guidance that it dares not claim | B |
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But O my gentle sisters O my brothers | S |
These thick sown snow flakes hint of toil's release | S |
These feebler pulses bid me leave to others | S |
The tasks once welcome evening asks for peace | S |
- | |
Time claims his tribute silence now golden | U |
Let me not vex the too long suffering lyre | B2 |
Though to your love untiring still beholden | U |
The curfew tells me cover up the fire | I |
- | |
And now with grateful smile and accents cheerful | G |
And warmer heart than look or word can tell | C2 |
In simplest phrase these traitorous eyes are tearful | G |
Thanks Brothers Sisters Children and farewell | C2 |
Oliver Wendell Holmes
(1)
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