The Lover And The Moon Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABBACCDD DEEDFFGG HIIHJKDD LMMLNNOO PQQPRCKK LKKLDDSS JTTJUUVV| A lover whom duty called over the wave | A |
| With himself communed Will my love be true | B |
| If left to herself Had I better not sue | B |
| Some friend to watch over her good and grave | A |
| But my friend might fail in my need he said | C |
| And I return to find love dead | C |
| Since friendships fade like the flow'rs of June | D |
| I will leave her in charge of the stable moon | D |
| - | |
| Then he said to the moon O dear old moon | D |
| Who for years and years from thy thrown above | E |
| Hast nurtured and guarded young lovers and love | E |
| My heart has but come to its waiting June | D |
| And the promise time of the budding vine | F |
| Oh guard thee well this love of mine | F |
| And he harked him then while all was still | G |
| And the pale moon answered and said I will | G |
| - | |
| And he sailed in his ship o'er many seas | H |
| And he wandered wide o'er strange far strands | I |
| In isles of the south and in Orient lands | I |
| Where pestilence lurks in the breath of the breeze | H |
| But his star was high so he braved the main | J |
| And sailed him blithely home again | K |
| And with joy he bended his footsteps soon | D |
| To learn of his love from the matron moon | D |
| - | |
| She sat as of yore in her olden place | L |
| Serene as death in her silver chair | M |
| A white rose gleamed in her whiter hair | M |
| And the tint of a blush was on her face | L |
| At sight of the youth she sadly bowed | N |
| And hid her face 'neath a gracious cloud | N |
| She faltered faint on the night's dim marge | O |
| But How spoke the youth have you kept your charge | O |
| - | |
| The moon was sad at a trust ill kept | P |
| The blush went out in her blanching cheek | Q |
| And her voice was timid and low and weak | Q |
| As she made her plea and sighed and wept | P |
| Oh another prayed and another plead | R |
| And I could n't resist she answering said | C |
| But love still grows in the hearts of men | K |
| Go forth dear youth and love again | K |
| - | |
| But he turned him away from her proffered grace | L |
| Thou art false O moon as the hearts of men | K |
| I will not will not love again | K |
| And he turned sheer 'round with a soul sick face | L |
| To the sea and cried Sea curse the moon | D |
| Who makes her vows and forgets so soon | D |
| And the awful sea with anger stirred | S |
| And his breast heaved hard as he lay and heard | S |
| - | |
| And ever the moon wept down in rain | J |
| And ever her sighs rose high in wind | T |
| But the earth and sea were deaf and blind | T |
| And she wept and sighed her griefs in vain | J |
| And ever at night when the storm is fierce | U |
| The cries of a wraith through the thunder pierce | U |
| And the waves strain their awful hands on high | V |
| To tear the false moon from the sky | V |
Paul Laurence Dunbar
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