Ruan's Voyage Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCDBECDCFFGHHIJJJJ KKLLMNMNOO PPP QRQ Q QQQ Q R CCST MM QUQUVVQQWWQQQQXQQXQQ XOOOOFFYYZQA2QQQQQB2 C2QB2QC2 AQQQQOD2OD2KKKQKQQQQ QQQQQ E2KE2KF2QF2F2JQQJQOO QOOQQQG2G2H2H2I2I2O ROJ2J2NJ2 QQQQOQOQQQQC2C2QOK2O K2J2ONQOKAAK JJK2 QQQQ AL2L2OOQQKKNM2N2O2N2 O2QQKKKKQQP2P2GOOGK2 K2OO AKKQ2Q2QQR2R2S2JJS2Q S2JJQQKKT2T2U2JJAAAA JJQQQQ2Q2Q2NQNQQQKKQ QOQOOQQJNNJNNN QQMMQ2QOQJJ OOOOQQR QQKKQQA AQQ NNRRRKKQQOO RJI2JI2QQKKNNQ2Q2CCQ QI2I2JJAARV2V2QQQQXX NNNNR ARQQ NNNNQ2Q2I2 OOQQQQQQ2 QQJJE2E2OOOKKKJJKNNQ NQQQQ

I	A
The mist has fallen over the isles	B
And Ruan turns his boat for home	C
The wind is down with an oar he steers	D
The narrow races where at whiles	B
To left or right through fog he hears	E
The low roar and short hiss of foam	C
As either rock sharp shore he nears	D
Full glad at heart he guides for home	C
Full gladly looks ere night to reach	F
The little haven twilit beach	F
And pleasant smell of the green earth	G
That he has left three days ago	H
To warm both hands before the glow	H
Of peats upon the cottage hearth	I
Where his gray father will be mending	J
The old nets and his mother bending	J
Over the fire at his step uplook	J
From the pot that smokes in the ingle nook	J
	-
Is it a sea mew's cry that calls	K
Loud through the mist and wailing falls	K
Suddenly the white veil lifted	L
And in smoking coils was drifted	L
Ruan felt a cry ring through him	M
There on a jutting rock alone	N
Stood a woman crying to him	M
White her hair was heedless blown	N
'Mid gleaming surf the rock rose bare	O
Her withered arms were stretched in prayer	O
	-
Fisherman fisherman help '' she cried	P
Ruan turned his boat aside	P
Swiftly in the eddying tide	P
	-
Fisherman take me in thy boat	Q
And to my own home carry me	R
To the isle of Melilot	Q
That lies upon the western sea ''	-
	-
How camest thou on this stormy strand	Q
A barren rock that men avoid ''	-
	-
Robbers came upon our land	Q
Burnt and pillaged and destroyed	Q
Half our women folk they reft	Q
And me upon this rock they left ''	-
	-
Where is this isle of Melilot	Q
For of all the isles I know it not ''	-
	-
Come hither and take me in with thee	R
And I will guide thee across the sea ''	-
	-
Heavily Ruan thought on his home	C
In Westerness across the foam	C
But he turned his oar and glided near	S
As it were his mother he lifted her	T
	-
She sat in the stern cloaked and dim	M
And through the chill mist guided him	M
	-
It seemed that day had never an end	Q
It seemed that sea had never a shore	U
Such weary hours he seemed to bend	Q
Upon his never resting oar	U
And felt the cold salt on his lip	V
And from his hair the vapour drip	V
But still the blank fog brooded round	Q
Over an ocean without sound	Q
At last along the glassy seas	W
Crept faint upon his face a breeze	W
And like a shadow soft and light	Q
Stole up a little wave that knocked	Q
Upon the stern the boat was rocked	Q
He looked and O heart stilling sight	Q
She who sat there was not the same	X
Before his eyes the winter old	Q
Fell from her the full hair outrolled	Q
In splendour soft as springing flame	X
Breathing out a perfume sweet	Q
Over her shoulders to her feet	Q
Now like a bloom her face became	X
Her arms and bosom rounded fair	O
And even then was Ruan 'ware	O
Of blueness breaking the white air	O
And his own shadow trembling there	O
And ere his tongue strove into speech	F
The keel was grating on a beach	F
When mortals gaze on goddesses	Y
So high the hope of our dreaming is	Y
The wonder loses fear the charm	Z
Drinks up the wonder Ruan leapt	Q
Upon a shore in sunshine warm	A2
And forth with him the Lady stept	Q
And each to the other lightly talked	Q
As 'twere their wont so hand in hand	Q
To wander through a lovely land	Q
By solitary slopes they walked	Q
The mist was scattered but still before them	B2
Was blown in fleecy tuft and trail	C2
And tremulous mid the melting cloud	Q
Upon the bushes low that bore them	B2
Were crimson flowers that danced and bowed	Q
And green leaves fluttered their edges pale	C2
	-
	-
II	A
In a moment's space behold	Q
The blue noon fell to evening gold	Q
Suddenly before them stood	Q
A palace silent in a wood	Q
A dream of the eyes when music fills the ear	O
By night and through the lulled brain ebbs and flows	D2
Might build and colour so unearthly clear	O
So fair and strange a house as rose	D2
On Ruan's eyes such gleaming walls	K
Delicate towers and airy porticoes	K
Pillars of clear jade whose pale capitals	K
Like tiger's claws were ivory smooth and bright	Q
Upheld a lintel fair like fretted snows	K
The carved work by its shadow glowed distinct	Q
No crevice but was brimmed with brooding light	Q
Upon the roof a bird of Atlas blinked	Q
Sun drowned in splendour from the gorgeous West	Q
And preened his plumes with languid crest	Q
Open beneath a shadowy doorway stood	Q
And fragrant smoke from fires of citron wood	Q
Beckoned to happy senses and the guest	Q
Bade cross the threshold enter and be blest	Q
	-
By now they paused within a spacious room	E2
Curtained about with glimmering tapestries	K
That in the hush and richness of the gloom	E2
Hung like a forest gemmed with fancied eyes	K
Pale tendrils twined about the clustered pipe	F2
Of reeds and black trunks branched above remote	Q
To heavy fruit that hovered over ripe	F2
Of fiery gold and dull vermilion stripe	F2
A waste of boughs for wild birds' pillaging	J
And over dimness large leaves seemed to float	Q
That here were spotted like a serpent's throat	Q
And there were greener than a finch's wing	J
It seemed to live though all was whist	Q
And Ruan gazing seemed to hear	O
With heart throb quickened into fear	O
The drooping briars writhe and twist	Q
The branches wave with stealthy stir	O
Of dappled leaves or dappled fur	O
A sound as if the tangle hissed	Q
He trembled as the room he scanned	Q
The Lady clasped him by the hand	Q
He looked into her face she stole	G2
In that moment all his soul	G2
Fear not fear not all is thine	H2
Ruan so thou wilt be mine	H2
I am Morgaine whom mortals call Le Fay	I2
And I have brought thee to my house this day	I2
Because I love thee and will give thee more	O
Than thou hast dreamed in all thy life before ''	-
With that she kissed him on the mouth and he	R
Was like warm wax before her witchery	O
And as she spoke the arras changed to view	J2
Tender and tremulous and clear in hue	J2
As April woods of white anemone	N
And in his heart fear died to joy anew	J2
	-
She led him on with willing feet	Q
Through many a perfumed hall they glided	Q
His brain grew giddy with that incense sweet	Q
But still the smile of Morgaine guided	Q
Betwixt slim pillars on a floor	O
Of brindled coromandel wood	Q
Where now 'twas scented dusk no more	O
But airy peace calmed all his blood	Q
For in the wall a window wide	Q
Looked out on magic eventide	Q
Far far beneath them a blue lake was cupped	Q
Hollow amid the twilight of a vale	C2
And over wan mist floating frail	C2
A rosy mountain soared abrupt	Q
Black pines and gold green mosses there	O
On rocks whose distance none could tell	K2
Were pictured in the soundless air	O
And rivulets that faintly fell	K2
As in some gorge of Saianfu	J2
Where from her porcelain palace tower	O
Lone on a crag's mist cradled throne	N
A princess leans amid the dew	Q
Of such a marvellous evening hour	O
O'er balustrade and precipice	K
Her lute and woven silk laid by	A
Dreaming with a sudden sigh	A
Of the world enchanting kiss	K
	-
With such a sigh was Ruan's bosom heaving	J
With such a sting of beauty past believing	J
When soft beside him spoke Morgaine Come tell	K2
O Ruan doth my Kingdom please thee well ''	-
Princess princess '' he answered I am blest	Q
Beyond all mortals tell me thy behest	Q
And I will be thy servant '' But that word	Q
She smiled away his arms leapt round her pressed	Q
With mad joy as she whispered Be my lord ''	-
	-
	-
III	A
Morgaine that lurest the souls of men that are greedy of joy	L2
What soughtest thou out Morgaine in the face of a fisher boy	L2
Were the souls of the great ones of earth so easy a prey to thy snare	O
Lightly bound to thy hand by a single shining hair	O
That the simple heart of a youth untempted in hard ways bred	Q
To thy siren hunger is sweeter than kings or captains dread	Q
Thou sang'st him songs that lapped him in utter forgetfulness	K
Of the green hills and the rocks and the waters of Westerness	K
Till Time like a wandering light that is stayed on an opal shone	N
Kindled and many coloured the charmed days moved not on	M2
His thoughts were borne as idly as clouds on the slow South	N2
Or a willow leaf that glides on a wandering summer stream	O2
And the light that bathed his body and breathed so sweet to his mouth	N2
Was such as mortals know but in splendid rents of dream	O2
Piercing the cloud of sleep from the dull day world beguiled	Q
Together they sailed the calm of evening waters isled	Q
With knolls of gemmy grass and thickets of nightingales	K
They gathered flowers and listened and moved with drooping sails	K
And anon they rose from a feast from close embowered delights	K
To hunt the timid gazelles on passionate moonlit nights	K
Blue nights of milky stars where fluttering petals snowed	Q
From windswept boughs and scented delicious dusk and rode	Q
Home by shadowy glades upon soft invisible lawn	P2
Hand in hand through the dews of a shy dove coloured dawn	P2
They drank of a fairy wine till their hearts were weary of earth	G
And them embraced the mighty wings of Phoenix bore	O
Up through the light exulting to soar and still to soar	O
And the world dropped down beneath them they clapped their hands in mirth	G
Mocking the baffled eagle but how should mortal tell	K2
What wonders Morgaine wove for Ruan in her spell	K2
To charm the nights and days with hopes that never tire	O
Morgaine of blissful body and eyes of far desire	O
	-
	-
IV	A
Count the hours that bind and freeze	K
That break the breast and shake the knees	K
What need of Time's all patient dial	Q2
To him that drinks of this deep phial	Q2
These perfumed hours of white and red	Q
Flowered and were never shed	Q
It might have been a morning's span	R2
Or twice and thrice the years of man	R2
For Ruan was not Then nor Now	S2
He was as young as his desire as young	J
As on sweet lips an old song newly sung	J
O idle thought to number how	S2
The days onrushed the morrow flushed	Q
Thicker than blossoms on an apple bough	S2
But on a morn at early dawn awaking	J
He saw the cold light through the lattice breaking	J
A spider there her web had made	Q
Softly in the air it swayed	Q
Memory in a drowsy muse	K
Lost and sought such filmy clues	K
Till upon a sudden plain	T2
In Ruan's vision sharp like pain	T2
Pictured was his home again	U2
And the long nets loosely hung	J
From the white wall stirred and swung	J
He rose and broke into a mournful cry	A
Which Morgaine heard with half shut eye	A
And caught him with both hands and strove	A
To turn him with soft words of love	A
But he would not so sharp a pang	J
Of desolation in him sprang	J
For all the dearness long forgot	Q
In his own kind's deserted lot	Q
A tear fell from his eyelids hot	Q
Upon the marble floor below	Q2
He wept and in an instant lo	Q2
Beheld the floor transparent glow	Q2
Yawning a spectral region shone	N
Where cold abysses plunged betwixt	Q
Sheer mountain column peaks whereon	N
That very palace floor was fixt	Q
Ruan shuddered as he gazed	Q
For toward his eyes were eyes upraised	Q
From human faces forms that froze	K
Within the rock walls as they rose	K
A thousand forms a prisoned host	Q
Imbedded in the mountain frost	Q
But swift a storm of wind and fire	O
Up those abysses roared and rushed	Q
The shapes were stirred a vain desire	O
As they would struggle nearer higher	O
Their eyes awoke their bodies flushed	Q
And then the blast as sudden passed	Q
The limbs of torment slowly sank	J
To ice green languor fleshless bone	N
And starving ruggedness of stone	N
The life within them swooned and shrank	J
To dungeoned attitudes again	N
Their half closed upturned eyes alone	N
Were gazing in the gaze of pain	N
	-
With eyes of horror opened wide	Q
Save me save me '' Ruan cried	Q
But Morgaine in her arms hath wound him	M
Her panting fierce embrace hath bound him	M
Her eyes exulting change and glow	Q2
Like lights upon a shaken sword	Q
She pants as in unearthly throe	O
Her arms cling tighter than a cord	Q
How shall Ruan dare to brook	J
The demon challenge of her look	J
	-
Listen Ruan canst thou hear	O
How the whole world cries in fear	O
Lights not splendour in the air	O
To dance above the world's despair	O
They toil in hunger grief and night	Q
For our desire for our delight	Q
They the twisting roots and we	R
The topmost red flower on the tree ''	-
	-
But Ruan with both hands that pressed	Q
Against the burning of her breast	Q
Trembled and groaned in that embrace	K
And strove from that exultant face	K
When soft she melted sank before him kneeled	Q
And clung beseeching him that would not yield	Q
They are my flesh my blood and I	A
Must go to seek them or I die ''	-
When Morgaine heard that lamentable cry	A
She knew the heart of joy in him was dead	Q
Looked in his soul and saw her hour had fled	Q
	-
Go then '' she wept but come again	N
To thy delight to thy Morgaine	N
Yet if thou go this casket take with thee	R
Hid in thy breast 'twill guide thee safe to me	R
Without a rudder o'er the wandering sea	R
But O beware thou never open this	K
Else art thou lost and all thy hope of bliss	K
Farewell '' she kissed him Farewell '' Ruan said	Q
And took the casket with averted head	Q
Nor turned him back but swiftly passed the door	O
Of the charmed house and came to the seashore	O
	-
	-
V	R
O what a calm as of old days come back	J
With their old wont and clear untroubled way	I2
Lifted the heart of Ruan on the track	J
Of ocean steering for his native bay	I2
Over blue waves the morning air sang sweet	Q
Full on his sail he was all fire to greet	Q
The hearth of home his father's joyful face	K
His mother's tears and tremulous embrace	K
He sailed beneath the summer's early noon	N
With the warm favouring wind and strangely soon	N
Rose up the coast till nearing on the swell	Q2
He saw the dark waves glitter as they fell	Q2
Against the cliff's worn bases drained of foam	C
Now he is past the headland There is home	C
The boats drawn up the sands and the green mound	Q
Beyond them peaceful sunned familiar ground	Q
It seemed he had not been three days away	I2
With a light heart he beached amid the spray	I2
His boat and moored it as of old and sprang	J
Ashore a young girl to a baby sang	J
Sitting on fishing nets spread forth to dry	A
She looked up and her song stopped and her eye	A
Was filled with wonder but impatiently	R
Ruan ran up the beach where he might catch	V2
The first glimpse of his father's cottage thatch	V2
He came he looked and the heart in him failed	Q
The house was not What lonely strangeness ailed	Q
The world He thrust his hand within his vest	Q
And felt the casket cold upon his breast	Q
Helpless he gazed but lo there slowly came	X
An old man with a stick coughing and lame	X
Bowed by his years then towards him Ruan ran	N
With a swift thought of pity almost scorn	N
In his young strength for such old age forlorn	N
And cried upon the way Old man old man	N
Where is my father Surely thou know'st me	R
I am Ruan Ruan I am home from sea ''	-
The old man lifted up his faint blue eye	A
And peered upon him slow and curiously	R
As on some strange thing from the sea upcast	Q
Nay Ruan's name I know not '' came at last	Q
The answer Ruan cried Dwell'st thou not here ''	-
Ay all my life three score and fifteen year ''	-
And yet thou know'st not Ruan '' The old man	N
Puzzled his withered brow as he began	N
Seeking some far sunk memory in his brain	N
Ay so it is '' he slowly spoke again	N
They told a tale of Ruan ay 'tis so	Q2
How he was lost but that was long ago	Q2
Hundreds of years I think he sailed away	I2
And his old parents died of grief they say ''	-
He still spoke on but Ruan heard no more	O
For he was wandering fast along the shore	O
In the lone sunshine aimlessly he strayed	Q
Dazzled and indescribably afraid	Q
On a sudden flamed a thought	Q
Through his body straight he sought	Q
Within his breast the casket hid	Q
Crying Morgaine thou shalt tell	Q2
Though the answer come from Hell ''	-
With trembling fingers he undid	Q
The silken cord the golden lid	Q
Lo from the opened casket broke	J
A stealing skein of purple smoke	J
A wandering faint cloud of perfume	E2
That rippled up in filmy plume	E2
And lingered faltering like a prayer	O
Then melted into sunlit air	O
Three hundred years had melted there	O
Three hundred years of faery bliss	K
Perished sooner than a single kiss	K
As Ruan stares upon the empty box	K
His outstretched fingers stiffen stark	J
His cheek is shrivelled his eyes grow dark	J
Either knee together knocks	K
Ere he can pray ere he can groan	N
Swift as grass in a furnace thrown	N
Or a crumpled clod in a heedless hand	Q
He withers into whitened bone	N
Where his breathing body stood	Q
Flushed with life and warm with blood	Q
Is a heap of ashes a drift of sand	Q
And the wind blowing and the silent strand	Q

Robert Laurence Binyon

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