Asoka Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCBDEBEEBBBB EEEEFBFFBBBB BGBGBHBBEHEHE ABIBIJBKBBJBB LBLBMIMINMNI EOEOBPBQBBBQBQ ARSRSBBBHBHEEB BBBBBBBEBEBBB TUTUBABBBBBIIV BBBWBWBBW

IA
Gentle as fine rain falling from the nightB
The first beams from the Indian moon at fullC
Steal through the boughs and brighter and more brightB
Glide like a breath a fragrance visibleD
Asoka round him seesE
The gloom ebb into glories half espiedB
Of glimmering bowers through wavering traceriesE
Pale as a rose by magical degreesE
Opening the air breaks into beauty wideB
And yields a mystic sweetB
And shapes of leaves shadow the pathway sideB
Around Asoka's feetB
-
O happy prince From his own court he stealsE
Weary of words is he weary of throngsE
How this wide ecstasy of stillness healsE
His heart of flatteries and the tale of wrongsE
Unseen he climbs the hillF
Unheard he brushes with his cloak the dewB
While the young moonbeams every hollow fillF
With hovering flowers so gradual and so stillF
As if a joy brimmed where that radiance grewB
Discovering pale goldB
Of spikenard balls and champak buds that newB
Upon the air unfoldB
-
He gains the ridge Wide open rolls the nightB
Airs from an infinite horizon blowG
Down holy Ganges floating vast and brightB
Through old Magadha's forests Far belowG
He hears the cool wave fretB
On rocky islands soft as moths asleepH
Come moonlit sails there on a parapetB
Of ruined marble where the moss gleams wetB
And from black cedars a lone peacock criesE
Uncloaking rests Asoka bathing deepH
In silence and his eyesE
Of his own realm the wondrous prospect reapH
At last aloud he sighsE
-
-
IIA
How ennobling it is to tasteB
Of the breath of a living powerI
The shepherd boy on the wasteB
Whose converse hour by hourI
Is alone with the stars and the sunJ
His days are glorifiedB
And the steersman floating onK
Down this great Ganges tideB
He is blest to be companion of the mightB
Of waters and unwearied winds that runJ
With him by day by nightB
He knows not whence they come but they his path provideB
-
But O more noble farL
From the heart of power to proceedB
As the beam flows forth from the starL
As the flower unfolds on the reedB
It is not we that are strongM
But the cause the divine desireI
The longing wherewith we longM
O flame far springing from the eternal fireI
Feed feed upon my heart till thou consumeN
These bonds that do me wrongM
Of time and chance and doomN
And I into thy radiance grow and glow entireI
-
For he who his own strength trustsE
And by violence hungers to tameO
Men and the earth to his lustsE
Though mighty he falls in shameO
As a great fell tiger whose soundB
The small beasts quake to hearP
When he stretches his throat to the shuddering groundB
And roars for blood yet a trembling deerQ
Brings him at last to his endB
In a winter torrent falls his murderous boundB
His raging claws the unheeding waters rendB
Down crags they toss him sheerQ
With sheep ignobly drownedB
And his fierce heart is burst with fury of its fearQ
-
-
IIIA
Not so ye dealR
Immortal Powers with himS
Who in his weak hour hath made haste to kneelR
Where your divine springs out of mystery brimS
And carries thence through the world's uproar rudeB
A clear eyed fortitudeB
As the poor diver on the Arabian strandB
From the scorched rocky ledges plunging deepH
Glides down the rough dark brine with questing handB
Until he feels upleapH
Founts of fresh water and his goatskin swellsE
And bears him upward on those buoyant wellsE
Back with a cool boon for his thirsting landB
-
I also thirstB
O living springs for youB
Would that I might drink now as when at firstB
Life shone about me glorious and all trueB
And I abounded in your strength indeedB
Which now I sorely needB
You have not failed 'tis I Yet this abhorredB
Necessity to hate and to despiseE
'Twas not for this my youthful longing soaredB
Not thus would I grow wiseE
Keep my heart tender still that still is setB
To love without foreboding or regretB
Even as this tender moonlight is outpouredB
-
Now now even nowT
Sleep doth the sad world takeU
To peace it knows not Radiant Sleep wilt thouT
Unveil thy wonder for me too who wakeU
O my soul melts into immensityB
And yet 'tis I 'tis IA
A wave upon a silent ocean thrilledB
Up from its deepest deeps without a soundB
Without a shore to break on or a boundB
Until the world be filledB
O mystery of peace O more profoundB
Than pain or joy upbuoy me on thy powerI
Stay stay ador d hourI
I am lost I am found againV
My soul is as a fountain springing in the rain ''-
-
Long long upon that cedarn shadowed heightB
Musing Asoka mingled with the nightB
At last the moon sank o'er the forest wideB
Within his soul those fountains welled no moreW
Yet breathed a balm still fresh as fallen dewB
The mist coiled upward over Ganges shoreW
And he arose and sighedB
And gathered his cloak round him and anewB
Threaded the deep woods to his palace doorW

Robert Laurence Binyon



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