Holy-cross Day Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABC DBEAFGHIJKLMNOPQPFLR QS PT R UUKKVV R AAWXYY R RAKKZZ K A2B2C2C2EE K YYD2D2E2E2 K EEKKF2F2 K G2G2EEH2H2 K F2F2EEI2I2 I2 KKJ2J2K2K2 I2 I2I2L2L2M2M2 K N2N2VVO2O2 K P2P2Q2Q2R2R2 K S2S2T2MKK K KKU2U2V2W2 K X2X2Y2Z2S2S2 K U2U2YYEE K KKEEL2L2 K EEA3A3KK K B3C3KKD3D3 K AAE3E3F3 G3K| ON WHICH THE JEWS WERE FORCED TO | A |
| ATTEND AN ANNUAL CHRISTIAN SERMON | B |
| IN ROME | C |
| - | |
| Now was come about Holy Cross Day | D |
| and now must my lord preach his first sermon | B |
| to the Jews as it was of old cared for in tine | E |
| merciful bowels of the Church that so to | A |
| speak a crumb at least from her conspicuous | F |
| table here in Rome should be though but | G |
| once yearly cast to the famishing dogs under trampled | H |
| and bespitten upon beneath the feet | I |
| of the guests And a moving sight in truth | J |
| this of so many of the besotted blind restif | K |
| and ready to perish Hebrews now maternally | L |
| brought nay for He saith Compel them | M |
| to come in' haled as it were by the head and | N |
| hair and against their obstinate hearts to partake | O |
| of the heavenly grace What awakening | P |
| what striving with tears what working of a | Q |
| yeasty conscience Nor was my lord wanting | P |
| to himself on so apt an occasion witness | F |
| the abundance of conversions which did incontinently | L |
| reward him though not to my | R |
| lord be altogether the glory '' Diary by the | Q |
| Bishop's Secretary | S |
| - | |
| What the Jews really said on thus being | P |
| driven to church was rather to this effect | T |
| - | |
| I | R |
| - | |
| Fee faw fum bubble and squeak | U |
| Blessedest Thursday's the fat of the week | U |
| Rumble and tumble sleek and rough | K |
| Stinking and savoury simug and gruff | K |
| Take the church road for the bell's due chime | V |
| Gives us the summons 'tis sermon time | V |
| - | |
| II | R |
| - | |
| Bob here's Barnabas Job that's you | A |
| Up stumps Solomon bustling too | A |
| Shame man greedy beyond your years | W |
| To handsel the bishop's shaving shears | X |
| Fair play's a jewel Leave friends in the lurch | Y |
| Stand on a line ere you start for the church | Y |
| - | |
| III | R |
| - | |
| Higgledy piggledy packed we lie | R |
| Rats in a hamper swine in a stye | A |
| Wasps in a bottle frogs in a sieve | K |
| Worms in a carcase fleas in a sleeve | K |
| Hist square shoulders settle your thumbs | Z |
| And buzz for the bishop here he comes | Z |
| - | |
| IV | K |
| - | |
| Bow wow wow a bone for the dog | A2 |
| I liken his Grace to an acorned hog | B2 |
| What a boy at his side with the bloom of a lass | C2 |
| To help and handle my lord's hour glass | C2 |
| Didst ever behold so lithe a chine | E |
| His cheek hath laps like a fresh singed swine | E |
| - | |
| V | K |
| - | |
| Aaron's asleep shove hip to haunch | Y |
| Or somebody deal him a dig in the paunch | Y |
| Look at the purse with the tassel and knob | D2 |
| And the gown with the angel and thingumbob | D2 |
| What's he at quotha reading his text | E2 |
| Now you've his curtsey and what comes next | E2 |
| - | |
| VI | K |
| - | |
| See to our converts you doomed black dozen | E |
| No stealing away nor cog nor cozen | E |
| You five that were thieves deserve it fairly | K |
| You seven that were beggars will live less sparely | K |
| You took your turn and dipped in the hat | F2 |
| Got fortune and fortune gets you mind that | F2 |
| - | |
| VII | K |
| - | |
| Give your first groan compunction's at work | G2 |
| And soft from a Jew you mount to a Turk | G2 |
| Lo Micah the selfsame beard on chin | E |
| He was four times already converted in | E |
| Here's a knife clip quick it's a sign of grace | H2 |
| Or he ruins us all with his hanging face | H2 |
| - | |
| VIII | K |
| - | |
| Whom now is the bishop a leering at | F2 |
| I know a point where his text falls pat | F2 |
| I'll tell him to morrow a word just now | E |
| Went to my heart and made me vow | E |
| I meddle no more with the worst of trades | I2 |
| Let somebody else pay his serenades | I2 |
| - | |
| IX | I2 |
| - | |
| Groan all together now whee hee hee | K |
| It's a work it's a work ah woe is me | K |
| It began when a herd of us picked and placed | J2 |
| Were spurred through the Corso stripped to the waist | J2 |
| Jew brutes with sweat and blood well spent | K2 |
| To usher in worthily Christian Lent | K2 |
| - | |
| X | I2 |
| - | |
| It grew when the hangman entered our bounds | I2 |
| Yelled pricked us out to his church like hounds | I2 |
| It got to a pitch when the hand indeed | L2 |
| Which gutted my purse would throttle my creed | L2 |
| And it overflows when to even the odd | M2 |
| Men I helped to their sins help me to their God | M2 |
| - | |
| XI | K |
| - | |
| But now while the scapegoats leave our flock | N2 |
| And the rest sit silent and count the clock | N2 |
| Since forced to muse the appointed time | V |
| On these precious facts and truths sublime | V |
| Let us fitly ennploy it under our breath | O2 |
| In saying Ben Ezra's Song of Death | O2 |
| - | |
| XII | K |
| - | |
| For Rabbi Ben Ezra the night he died | P2 |
| Called sons and sons' sons to his side | P2 |
| And spoke This world has been harsh and strange | Q2 |
| Something is wrong there needeth a change | Q2 |
| But what or where at the last or first | R2 |
| In one point only we sinned at worst | R2 |
| - | |
| XIII | K |
| - | |
| The Lord will have mercy on Jacob yet | S2 |
| And again in his border see Israel set | S2 |
| When Judah beholds Jerusalem | T2 |
| The stranger seed shall be joined to them | M |
| To Jacob's House shall the Gentiles cleave | K |
| So the Prophet saith and his sons believe | K |
| - | |
| XIV | K |
| - | |
| Ay the children of the chosen race | K |
| Shall carry and bring them to their place | K |
| In the land of the Lord shall lead the same | U2 |
| Bondsmen and handmaids Who shall blame | U2 |
| When the slaves enslave the oppressed ones o'er | V2 |
| The oppressor triumph for evermore | W2 |
| - | |
| XV | K |
| - | |
| God spoke and gave us the word to keep | X2 |
| Bade never fold the hands nor sleep | X2 |
| 'Mid a faithless world at watch and ward | Y2 |
| Till Christ at the end relieve our guard | Z2 |
| By His servant Moses the watch was set | S2 |
| Though near upon cock crow we keep it yet | S2 |
| - | |
| XVI | K |
| - | |
| Thou if thou wast He who at mid watch came | U2 |
| By the starlight naming a dubious name | U2 |
| And if too heavy with sleep too rash | Y |
| With fear O Thou if that martyr gash | Y |
| Fell on Thee coming to take thine own | E |
| And we gave the Cross when we owed the Throne | E |
| - | |
| XVII | K |
| - | |
| Thou art the Judge We are bruised thus | K |
| But the Judgment over join sides with us | K |
| Thine too is the cause and not more thine | E |
| Than ours is the work of these dogs and swine | E |
| Whose life laughs through and spits at their creed | L2 |
| Who maintain Thee in word and defy Thee in deed | L2 |
| - | |
| XVIII | K |
| - | |
| We withstood Christ then Be mindful how | E |
| At least we withstand Barabbas now | E |
| Was our outrage sore But the worst we spared | A3 |
| To have called these Christians had we dared | A3 |
| Let defiance to them pay mistrust of Thee | K |
| And Rome make amends for Calvary | K |
| - | |
| XIX | K |
| - | |
| By the torture prolonged from age to age | B3 |
| By the infamy Israel's heritage | C3 |
| By the Ghetto's plague by the garb's disgrace | K |
| By the badge of shame by the felon's place | K |
| By the branding tool the bloody whip | D3 |
| And the summons to Christian fellowship | D3 |
| - | |
| XX | K |
| - | |
| We boast our proof that at least the Jew | A |
| Would wrest Christ's name from the Devil's crew | A |
| Thy face took never so deep a shade | E3 |
| But we fought them in it God our aid | E3 |
| A trophy to bear as we marchs thy band | F3 |
| South East and on to the Pleasant Land '' | - |
| - | |
| Pope Gregory XVI abolished this bad | G3 |
| business of the Sermon R B | K |
Robert Browning
(1)
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About Holy-cross Day
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