Three Songs From Paracelsus Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: A BCBCDDEFGGHHIIJJ KLMNMOPQQPQQRRSSTTUV UVUVQQIIKWXWXKKQQYJJ JZ A A2B2A2B2C2D2D2D2 QQQQQE2E2E2 A QZZQMF2G2G2H2H2MF2QC I2CI2I2QQQRJ2RMRMK2J 2K2F2QQF2QQQ L2AA QQAQQAM2M2M2 N2O2YYO2YP2VP2VQAQAQ QQQQQQQQ

IA
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I hear a voice perchance I heardB
Long ago but all too lowC
So that scarce a care it stirredB
If the voice was real or noC
I heard it in my youth when firstD
The waters of my life outburstD
But now their stream ebbs faint I hearE
That voice still low but fatal clearF
As if all Poets God ever meantG
Should save the world and therefore lentG
Great gifts to but who proud refusedH
To do His work or lightly usedH
Those gifts or failed through weak endeavourI
So mourn cast off by Him for everI
As if these leaned in airy ringJ
To take me this the song they singJ
-
'Lost lost yet comeK
With our wan troop make thy homeL
Come come for weM
Will not breathe so much as breatheN
Reproach to theeM
Knowing what thou sink'st beneathO
So sank we in those old yearsP
We who bid thee come thou lastQ
Who living yet hast life o'erpastQ
And altogether we thy peersP
Will pardon ask for thee the lastQ
Whose trial is done whose lot is castQ
With those who watch but work no moreR
Who gaze on life but live no moreR
Yet we trusted thou shouldst speakS
The message which our lips too weakS
Refused to utter shouldst redeemT
Our fault such trust and all a dreamT
Yet we chose thee a birthplaceU
Where the richness ran to flowersV
Couldst not sing one song for graceU
Not make one blossom man's and oursV
Must one more recreant to his raceU
Die with unexerted powersV
And join us leaving as he foundQ
The world he was to loosen boundQ
Anguish ever and for everI
Still beginning ending neverI
Yet lost and last one comeK
How couldst understand alasW
What our pale ghosts strove to sayX
As their shades did glance and passW
Before thee night and dayX
Thou wast blind as we were dumbK
Once more therefore come O comeK
How shall we clothe how arm the spiritQ
Who next shall thy post of life inheritQ
How guard him from thy speedy ruinY
Tell us of thy sad undoingJ
Here where we sit ever pursuingJ
Our weary task ever renewingJ
Sharp sorrow far from God who gaveZ
Our powers and man they could not save '-
-
IIA
-
Heap cassia sandal buds and stripesA2
Of labdanum and aloe ballsB2
Smeared with dull nard an Indian wipesA2
From out her hair such balsam fallsB2
Down seaside mountain pedestalsC2
From tree tops where tired winds are fainD2
Spent with the vast and howling mainD2
To treasure half their island gainD2
-
And strew faint sweetness from some oldQ
Egyptian's fine worm eaten shroudQ
Which breaks to dust when once unrolledQ
Or shredded perfume like a cloudQ
From closet long to quiet vowedQ
With mothed and dropping arras hungE2
Mouldering her lute and books amongE2
As when a queen long dead was youngE2
-
IIIA
-
Over the sea our galleys wentQ
With cleaving prows in order braveZ
To a speeding wind and a bounding waveZ
A gallant armamentQ
Each bark built out of a forest treeM
Left leafy and rough as first it grewF2
And nailed all over the gaping sidesG2
Within and without with black bull hidesG2
Seethed in fat and suppled in flameH2
To bear the playful billows' gameH2
So each good ship was rude to seeM
Rude and bare to the outward viewF2
But each upbore a stately tentQ
Where cedar pales in scented rowC
Kept out the flakes of the dancing brineI2
And an awning drooped the mast belowC
In fold on fold of the purple fineI2
That neither noontide nor star shineI2
Nor moonlight cold which maketh madQ
Might pierce the regal tenementQ
When the sun dawned oh gay and gladQ
We set the sail and plied the oarR
But when the night wind blew like breathJ2
For joy of one day's voyage moreR
We sang together on the wide seaM
Like men at peace on a peaceful shoreR
Each sail was loosed to the wind so freeM
Each helm made sure by the twilight starK2
And in a sleep as calm as deathJ2
We the voyagers from afarK2
Lay stretched along each weary crewF2
In a circle round its wondrous tentQ
Whence gleamed soft light and curled rich scentQ
And with light and perfume music tooF2
So the stars wheeled round and the darkness pastQ
And at morn we started beside the mastQ
And still each ship was sailing fastQ
-
Now one morn land appeared a speckL2
Dim trembling betwixt sea and skyA
'Avoid it ' cried our pilot 'checkA
The shout restrain the eager eye '-
But the heaving sea was black behindQ
For many a night and many a dayQ
And land though but a rock drew nighA
So we broke the cedar pales awayQ
Let the purple awning flap in the windQ
And a statue bright was on every deckA
We shouted every man of usM2
And steered right into the harbour thusM2
With pomp and paean gloriousM2
-
A hundred shapes of lucid stoneN2
All day we built its shrine for eachO2
A shrine of rock for every oneY
Nor paused we till in the westering sunY
We sat together on the beachO2
To sing because our task was doneY
When lo what shouts and merry songsP2
What laughter all the distance stirsV
A loaded raft with happy throngsP2
Of gentle islandersV
'Our isles are just at hand ' they criedQ
'Like cloudlets faint in even sleepingA
Our temple gates are opened wideQ
Our olive groves thick shade are keepingA
For these majestic forms' they criedQ
Oh then we awoke with sudden startQ
From our deep dream and knew too lateQ
How bare the rock how desolateQ
Which had received our precious freightQ
Yet we called out 'DepartQ
Our gifts once given must here abideQ
Our work is done we have no heartQ
To mar our work ' we criedQ

Robert Browning



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