Abishag Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDE FGGE HIJK CLDM ADNBOPQR STUDVW| I | A |
| She lay and serving men her lithe arms took | B |
| And bound them round the withering old man | C |
| And on him through the long sweet hours she lay | D |
| And little fearful of his many years | E |
| - | |
| And many times she turned amidst his beard | F |
| Her face as often as the night owl screeched | G |
| And all that was the night around them reached | G |
| Its feelers manifold of longing fears | E |
| - | |
| As they had been the sisters of the child | H |
| The stars trembled and fragrance searched the room | I |
| The curtain stirring sounded with a sign | J |
| Which drew her gentle glances after it | K |
| - | |
| But she clung close upon the dim old man | C |
| And by the night of nights not over taken | L |
| Upon the cooling of the King she lay | D |
| Maidenly and lightly as a soul | M |
| - | |
| II | A |
| The King sate thinking out the empty day | D |
| Of deeds accomplished and untasted joys | N |
| And of his favorite bitch that he had bredC | B |
| But with the evening Abishag was arched | O |
| Above him His disheveled life lay bare | P |
| Abandoned as diffamed coasts beneath | Q |
| The quiet constellation of her breasts | R |
| - | |
| But many times as one in women skilled | S |
| he through his eyebrows recognized the mouth | T |
| Unmoved unkissed and saw the comet green | U |
| Of her desired reached not to where he lay | D |
| He shivered And he listened like a hound | V |
| And sought himself in his remaining blood | W |
Rainer Maria Rilke
(1)
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