The Mother's Secret - From Readings Over The Teacups - Five Stories And A Sequel Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDDEEFGHHIIJJKK AA AAAALLAAHHMMAAAAAA NNOOJJLLPP QRRAASSAAAATTUUVVAAA AWWBBAAAAXXAAYYGGZZA 2B2C2C2CCJJSSOOZZAAW WD2D2 AALL NN AAVVAAAA E2E2F2F2G2 AAH2H2How sweet the sacred legend if unblamed | A |
In my slight verse such holy things are named | A |
Of Mary's secret hours of hidden joy | B |
Silent but pondering on her wondrous boy | B |
Ave Maria Pardon if I wrong | C |
Those heavenly words that shame my earthly song | C |
The choral host had closed the Angel's strain | D |
Sung to the listening watch on Bethlehem's plain | D |
And now the shepherds hastening on their way | E |
Sought the still hamlet where the Infant lay | E |
They passed the fields that gleaning Ruth toiled o'er | F |
They saw afar the ruined threshing floor | G |
Where Moab's daughter homeless and forlorn | H |
Found Boaz slumbering by his heaps of corn | H |
And some remembered how the holy scribe | I |
Skilled in the lore of every jealous tribe | I |
Traced the warm blood of Jesse's royal son | J |
To that fair alien bravely wooed and won | J |
So fared they on to seek the promised sign | K |
That marked the anointed heir of David's line | K |
At last by forms of earthly semblance led | A |
They found the crowded inn the oxen's shed | A |
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No pomp was there no glory shone around | A |
On the coarse straw that strewed the reeking ground | A |
One dim retreat a flickering torch betrayed | A |
In that poor cell the Lord of Life was laid | A |
The wondering shepherds told their breathless tale | L |
Of the bright choir that woke the sleeping vale | L |
Told how the skies with sudden glory flamed | A |
Told how the shining multitude proclaimed | A |
Joy joy to earth Behold the hallowed morn | H |
In David's city Christ the Lord is born | H |
'Glory to God ' let angels shout on high | M |
'Good will to men ' the listening earth reply | M |
They spoke with hurried words and accents wild | A |
Calm in his cradle slept the heavenly child | A |
No trembling word the mother's joy revealed | A |
One sigh of rapture and her lips were sealed | A |
Unmoved she saw the rustic train depart | A |
But kept their words to ponder in her heart | A |
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Twelve years had passed the boy was fair and tall | N |
Growing in wisdom finding grace with all | N |
The maids of Nazareth as they trooped to fill | O |
Their balanced urns beside the mountain rill | O |
The gathered matrons as they sat and spun | J |
Spoke in soft words of Joseph's quiet son | J |
No voice had reached the Galilean vale | L |
Of star led kings or awe struck shepherd's tale | L |
In the meek studious child they only saw | P |
The future Rabbi learned in Israel's law | P |
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Beyond the hills that girt the village green | Q |
Save when at midnight o'er the starlit sands | R |
Snatched from the steel of Herod's murdering bands | R |
A babe close folded to his mother's breast | A |
Through Edom's wilds he sought the sheltering West | A |
Then Joseph spake Thy boy hath largely grown | S |
Weave him fine raiment fitting to be shown | S |
Fair robes beseem the pilgrim as the priest | A |
Goes he not with us to the holy feast | A |
And Mary culled the flaxen fibres white | A |
Till eve she spun she spun till morning light | A |
The thread was twined its parting meshes through | T |
From hand to hand her restless shuttle flew | T |
Till the full web was wound upon the beam | U |
Love's curious toil a vest without a seam | U |
They reach the Holy Place fulfil the days | V |
To solemn feasting given and grateful praise | V |
At last they turn and far Moriah's height | A |
Melts in the southern sky and fades from sight | A |
All day the dusky caravan has flowed | A |
In devious trails along the winding road | A |
For many a step their homeward path attends | W |
And all the sons of Abraham are as friends | W |
Evening has come the hour of rest and joy | B |
Hush Hush That whisper Where is Mary's boy | B |
Oh weary hour Oh aching days that passed | A |
Filled with strange fears each wilder than the last | A |
The soldier's lance the fierce centurion's sword | A |
The crushing wheels that whirl some Roman lord | A |
The midnight crypt that sucks the captive's breath | X |
The blistering sun on Hinnom's vale of death | X |
Thrice on his cheek had rained the morning light | A |
Thrice on his lips the mildewed kiss of night | A |
Crouched by a sheltering column's shining plinth | Y |
Or stretched beneath the odorous terebinth | Y |
At last in desperate mood they sought once more | G |
The Temple's porches searched in vain before | G |
They found him seated with the ancient men | Z |
The grim old rufflers of the tongue and pen | Z |
Their bald heads glistening as they clustered near | A2 |
Their gray beards slanting as they turned to hear | B2 |
Lost in half envious wonder and surprise | C2 |
That lips so fresh should utter words so wise | C2 |
And Mary said as one who tried too long | C |
Tells all her grief and half her sense of wrong | C |
What is this thoughtless thing which thou hast done | J |
Lo we have sought thee sorrowing O my son | J |
Few words he spake and scarce of filial tone | S |
Strange words their sense a mystery yet unknown | S |
Then turned with them and left the holy hill | O |
To all their mild commands obedient still | O |
The tale was told to Nazareth's sober men | Z |
And Nazareth's matrons told it oft again | Z |
The maids retold it at the fountain's side | A |
The youthful shepherds doubted or denied | A |
It passed around among the listening friends | W |
With all that fancy adds and fiction lends | W |
Till newer marvels dimmed the young renown | D2 |
Of Joseph's son who talked the Rabbis down | D2 |
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But Mary faithful to its lightest word | A |
Kept in her heart the sayings she had heard | A |
Till the dread morning rent the Temple's veil | L |
And shuddering earth confirmed the wondrous tale | L |
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Youth fades love droops the leaves of friendship fall | N |
A mother's secret hope outlives them all | N |
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Hushed was the voice but still its accents thrilled | A |
The throbbing hearts its lingering sweetness filled | A |
The simple story which a tear repays | V |
Asks not to share the noisy breath of praise | V |
A trance like stillness scarce a whisper heard | A |
No tinkling teaspoon in its saucer stirred | A |
A deep drawn sigh that would not be suppressed | A |
A sob a lifted kerchief told the rest | A |
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Come now Dictator so the lady spoke | E2 |
You too must fit your shoulder to the yoke | E2 |
You'll find there's something doubtless if you look | F2 |
To serve your purpose so now take the book | F2 |
Ah my dear lady you must know full well | G2 |
'Story God bless you I have none to tell ' | - |
To those five stories which these pages hold | A |
You all have listened every one is told | A |
There's nothing left to make you smile or weep | H2 |
A few grave thoughts may work you off to sleep | H2 |
Oliver Wendell Holmes
(1)
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