Amais Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCCCDCEEFFCFFCGHFGH FIHI AF JFFFCCHHKFFKCCCCCCHC ACHHFCFFFFFJLLJFCFHC HFC FJJCFCMMJJNCCNFFFF FO F FFPCPFFQQRSSRJTCJTCF F RHHCUCFFCHFLLFFCFQCQ FCFI | A |
O King Amasis hail | B |
News from thy friend the King Polycrates | C |
My oars have never rested on the seas | C |
From Samos nor on land my horse's hoofs | C |
Till I might tell my tale '' | D |
Sais the sacred city basked her roofs | C |
And gardens whispering in the western light | E |
Men thronged abroad to taste the coming cool of night | E |
Only the palace closed | F |
Unechoing courts where by the lake reposed | F |
Wide eyed the enthron d shapes of Memphian deities | C |
And King Amasis in the cloistered shade | F |
That guards them of a giant colonnade | F |
Paced musing there he pondered mysteries | C |
That are the veils of truth | G |
For mid those gods of grave ignoring smile | H |
Large auguries he spelled | F |
Forgot the spears the tumults of his youth | G |
And strangled Apries and the reddened Nile | H |
Now turning he beheld | F |
Half in a golden shadow and half touched with flame | I |
The white robed stranger from the Grecian isle | H |
And heard pronounced his name | I |
- | |
- | |
II | A |
Welcome from Samos friend | F |
Good news I think thou bearest in thy mien '' | - |
The king spoke welcoming with voice serene | J |
How is it with Polycrates thy lord | F |
Peace on his name attend | F |
Would he were here in Egypt and his sword | F |
Could sheathe and we at god like ease discourse | C |
Of counsel no ignoble needs enforce | C |
And take august regale | H |
Of wisdom from the Powers whose purpose cannot fail | H |
I too O man of Samos bred to war | K |
Passed youth passed manhood in a life of blood | F |
But many victories bring the heart no certain good | F |
Would that he too might tease his fate no more | K |
And I might see his face | C |
In presence of my land's ancestral Powers | C |
See from their countenance what a grandeur beams | C |
Thou know'st I love thy race | C |
Bright wits ye have skill in adventurous schemes | C |
But deeper life is ours | C |
Fed by these springs your strength might bless the world But lo | H |
The light begins to fade from the high towers | C |
Thy errand let me know '' | - |
- | |
- | |
III | A |
Thus saith Polycrates | C |
The counsel which thou wrotest me is well | H |
For seeing how full crops my granaries swell | H |
How all winds waft me to prosperity | F |
How I gain all with ease | C |
And my raised banner pledges victory | F |
Thou didst advise me cast away what most | F |
Brought pleasure to my eyes and seemed of rarest cost | F |
And after heavy thought | F |
I chose the ring which Theodorus wrought | F |
My famous emerald where young Phaethon | J |
Shoots headlong with pale limbs through glowing air | L |
While green waves from beneath toss white drops to his hair | L |
A long time very loth I gazed thereon | J |
For this cause thought I men most envy me | F |
I took a ship and fifty beating oars | C |
Bore me far out to sea | F |
I stood upon the poop but wherefore tell | H |
What now is rumoured round all Asian shores | C |
Say only I did well | H |
Who the world's envy treasured yet in deep waves drowned | F |
Homeward I came and mourned within my doors | C |
Three days nor solace found '' | - |
- | |
- | |
IV | - |
Amasis without word | F |
Listens dark browed the Samian speaks anew | J |
Let not the king this thing so deeply rue | J |
Truly the gem was of imperial price | C |
Nay even men averred | F |
Coveted more than wealthy satrapies | C |
Nor twenty talents could its loss redeem | M |
Yet hear the Gods are more benignant than men dream | M |
Thus saith my lord The moon | J |
Not once had waned when as I sat at noon | J |
Within my palace court above the Lydian bay | N |
They led before me with much wondering noise | C |
A fisherman between two staggering boys | C |
Slung heavily a fish he brought that day | N |
Caught in his bursting net | F |
A royal fish for royal destiny | F |
I marvelled but amaze broke deeper yet | F |
To recognize Heaven's hand | F |
When from its cloven belly surely high | - |
In that large grace I stand | F |
Dazzled my eyes with light my heart with joy the ring | O |
Restored Why rendest thou thy robe and why | - |
Lamentest thou O king '' | - |
- | |
- | |
V | F |
O lamentable news '' | - |
Amasis cried now have the Gods indeed | F |
Doom on thy head Polycrates decreed | F |
I feared already when I heard thy joy | P |
Must need stoop down to choose | C |
For sacrifice loss of a shining toy | P |
Searching the suburbs only of content | F |
Not thy heart's home what God this blindness on thee sent | F |
Gone was thy ring yet how | Q |
Was thy soul cleared or thou more greatly thou | Q |
Were vain things vainer or the dear more dear | R |
Hast thou bent gazing o'er thy child asleep | S |
Thoughts springing tender as new leaves Deep deep | S |
Deep as thy inmost hope as thy most sacred fear | R |
Thou shouldst have sought the pain | J |
That changes earth's wide aspect in an hour | T |
Heaved by abysmal throes | C |
Ah then our pleasant refuges are vain | J |
Yet thrilled the soul assembles all her power | T |
And cleared by peril glows | C |
Seeing immortal hosts arrayed upon her side | F |
Blind man the scornful Gods thy offering slight | F |
My fears are certified '' | - |
- | |
- | |
VI | - |
Swift are the thoughts of fear | R |
But Fate at will rides swifter far and lo | H |
Even as Amasis bows to boded woe | H |
Even as his robe with a sad cry he rends | C |
The accomplishment is here | U |
The sun that from the Egyptian plain descends | C |
Blessing with holier shade | F |
Those strange gods dreaming throned by the vast colonnade | F |
Burns o'er the northern sea | C |
Firing the peak of Asian Mycale | H |
Firing a cross raised on the mountain side | F |
Polycrates the Fortunate hangs there | L |
The false Oroetes hath him in a snare | L |
Now with his quivering limbs his soul is crucified | F |
And in his last hour first | F |
He tastes the extremity of loss he burns | C |
With ecstasy of thirst | F |
Nought recks he even of his dearest now | Q |
Moaning for breath no pity he discerns | C |
On the dark Persian's brow | Q |
Grave on his milk white horse in silks of Sidon shawled | F |
The Satrap smiles and on his finger turns | C |
The all envied emerald | F |
Robert Laurence Binyon
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
Write your comment about Amais poem by Robert Laurence Binyon
Best Poems of Robert Laurence Binyon