The Mirror Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCDCEFDC GHHGIHHHIHHJJH KLMLNNOOPQHHK HMHMHRHRH SSTHTHHUHV WWHWHXKCCYYZZHA2HA2Y B2HASB2HS FHHC2BHC2C2D2D2HHHHM MHMH YHYHE2F2F2G2G2F2F2HH HHHHNNH2H2DDI2I2YY AHJ2HHJ2HHJ2 HF2HF2F2F2HMMF2 K2C2K2C2K2L2L2HHL2HH YYYM2HHN2HHN2HO2O2DH DHHO2HN2 P2HP2HSSHHHQ2HQ2Q2YH R2YHR2HS2F2T2T2T2F2T 2T2HHT2S HHHHT2T2HT2HT2U2HHU2 HT2HHT2HT2T2HKQV2V2L LJ2J2V2T2T2T2SSST2T2 T2T2 YYW2U2DW2DU2DX2X2T2T 2T2T2LLHHHHS

IA
Where is all the beauty that hath beenB
Where the bloomC
Dust on boundless wind Grass dropt into fireD
Shall Earth boast at last of all her teeming wombC
All that suffered all that triumphed to inspireE
Life in perfect mould and speech the proud mind's lamp sereneF
Nothing Space be starry in tremendous choirD
For whomC
-
In this deserted chamber as the evening fallsG
Silent curtains move no foldH
Long has ebbed the floor's pale goldH
Shadows deepen down the silent wallsG
The air is mute as dreams beneath a sleeper's faceI
Distant undivinedH
But every hovering shadow seems to holdH
Want untoldH
The look of things forsaken each in its own placeI
Memories without home in any mindH
Idle rich neglect and perfume oldH
Over these the glimmer of the twilight fadesJ
Infinite human solitude invadesJ
Forms relinquished hues resignedH
-
O little mirror round and clearK
In solemn coloured shadow lyingL
Cold as the moon pale as a tearM
With spiritual silver beam replyingL
Indifferently to all things as to oneN
Beauty's relic and oblivionN
But void void void Desolate as a caveO
Abandoned even of the breaking waveO
A home of youth and mirth when all its guests are goneP
As I touch thee in the silence hereQ
Where thou liest alone apartH
Through the silence of my heartH
Thou flashest elfin flames of fearK
-
Like a thought of lost delightH
Like love sweetness like despairM
Come faint spices of the nightH
Floating on the darkened airM
The air is tender with the sense of dewH
Is tranced is dim is heavy as if there hungR
Within the tinges of its shadowy hueH
Ghosts of lost flowers with all their petals youngR
And the young beauty they made incense toH
-
O forlorn mirror is there nothing thineS
The cup is emptied of its fragrant wineS
The dress is vacant of the breathing formT
And thou that gleam'stH
All absence of what once moved gracious white and warmT
In thy clear wells or luminously musedH
O little mirror long disusedH
Laid in this empty bower's recessU
Thou thyself seem'stH
The soul and mystery of emptinessV
-
Yet if I should raise thee nowW
As once and oft thou knowest howW
Hand and slim wrist smooth as a flower stem raisedH
Thy silent radiance and with intent browW
Eyes within thee gazedH
Seeking thine oracleX
Shall not from these pellucid secrecies appearK
Not I nor any shape of this dim roomC
But all that in thy cave of lambent gloomC
Hath dwelt and still may dwellY
Ambushed like visions bound in sleeping memory's cellY
All that thy brightness buries as the seaZ
Tossed bones and crusted gold had I the keyZ
Might'st thou not open depths might'st thou not yieldH
Wonder of wonders what since time beganA2
Was never yet revealedH
The unmapped unmeasured secret heart of manA2
Half shut eyes voluptuouslyY
Lightening as the bosom swells and glowsB2
Smile to smile flowering from an ardent thoughtH
O what moments didst thou deifyA
With the promise of life crushed to wineS
Redder than the cheek's triumphant roseB2
But from deeper places hast thou broughtH
Nothing Are not other answers thineS
-
Hast thou not heard hast thou not seenF
Hast thou not shown hast thou not foundH
Shames unwhispered terrors boundH
Earthquake pangs of aghast surmiseC2
When with itself the heart has beenB
Face to face in an hour profoundH
Out of thee what ghosts shall riseC2
Shapes and gestures and accusing eyesC2
World flattered faces in midnights of painD2
Faces defaced by tiger lusts insaneD2
Faces appalled before a self unguessedH
Ashaming dawns on faces fallen and dispossessedH
O what glimpses hast thou flashed in dreadH
With what hauntings wast thou visitedH
Apparitions of a soul made bareM
Shuddering at the thing it looked on thereM
But thou art stainless though the heart has bledH
Thou art silent as the airM
Or the wave that closes smooth above the drowner's headH
-
No man hath seen his soulY
Save for a glimpse in the nightH
Brief as an ember of coalY
Blown for an instant brightH
To see his own soul as it isE2
Eternity must enter himF2
With the torches of SeraphimF2
That have shone to the last abyssG2
Mirror couldst thou show the spirit thisG2
Then within this narrow roomF2
Were the Judgment and the DoomF2
For by so much as its own self it knewH
Searched by that burning vision through and throughH
To the innermost of where it crouched and hidH
Amid the husks of the mean deeds it didH
Amid the shadow of all it shunned the questH
It turned from and in palterings acquiescedH
To the uttermost of what its eager passionN
Caught of the glory springing to re fashionN
Hope and the world and great with pity sawH2
Life darkly wrestling with the angel LawH2
By such a measure molten in that fireD
Should the soul mete itself on God's desireD
Suffer at last all wisdom and endureI2
The beam and vision of a thought all pureI2
O were not this to taste Heaven's dawn or dwellY
Because of knowledge in the pains of HellY
-
-
IIA
Where is all the wailing all the wantH
That sorrow toreJ2
From Love's bleeding breast Extinguished quiteH
Shall the wide winged glory of hope extravagantH
Shall the laughter shall the song that sprang to soarJ2
Fall and no ear hearken and their falling flightH
Echoless waste walls of adamantH
IgnoreJ2
-
Draw wide the curtain Fabulous remoteH
Night is comeF2
Over Earth's lost bosom fragrant breathings floatH
Into glimmering heights of gloomF2
But upon the solitary verge extremeF2
Steals a beamF2
Hushed and sudden ere the eye could noteH
Lo the moon is thereM
Innocence of splendour gazing bareM
Drenches leaves in quiet thought in dreamF2
-
Is it Earth's pale mirror lifted loneK2
For an answer to her million sighsC2
Can that far Tranquillity atoneK2
In the gaze of those unnumbered eyesC2
For the pang and for the moanK2
For the heart's dim burial and long dirgeL2
Luring as she lures the mutinous sea surgeL2
To her will of peace this human tideH
From a charmed shadow on the shorn hill sideH
Hand in hand lovers through the trees emergeL2
And pause their very souls are glorifiedH
Their feet tread airy on immaterial groundH
With marvelling gaze they feelY
That well of spiritual light o'erflowY
The listening hush and stealY
Fear and trouble as thoughM2
The world were one vast music of ethereal soundH
And they a stillness in the midst of itH
Peace peace and pity pardon pity peaceN2
Passing all mortal witH
O truth long sought and magically foundH
O wonder and releaseN2
O secret of the world long hidden in day's dustH
They bathe their hearts in that sweet dew their handsO2
Thrill clasping in a touch that understandsO2
Nothing magnificent but a divine surrenderD
Absolving and augustH
To distances immersed and tenderD
Unfolds this vale of struggle hard and pentH
Region of unwon ravishmentH
In unadventured landsO2
A place of leaves and lonely light and leafy scentH
Storied like that old forest of the perilous FleeceN2
-
Sorceress of million nightsP2
Hast thou charmed indeed the brewH
When the stealth of perverse ritesP2
Mouths that mutter hands that strewH
Love tormented and malignS
Flushed with terror like a maddening wineS
Sought another's rueH
Hecate of the cross roads hast thou hearkenedH
To the sailing witch's mewH
And the felon raven's croakQ2
When the shuddering winds were darkenedH
And the leaves rushed from the withered oakQ2
Ah not these foul toys would I invokeQ2
O for some supreme enchanting spellY
Voice of a God crying aloudH
Felt and feared on Earth's heart stringsR2
To conjure and to compelY
Like a spectre from the shroudH
Or like incense dust that springsR2
Into fire and fragrant cloudH
Out of thy blind caves and cold recessesS2
Out of that blank mirror's desert beamF2
All the unnumbered longings and wild prayersT2
Infinite heart broken tendernessesT2
Indignations and despairsT2
That from man's long wound of passion streamF2
Sucked like vapour like a mist of tearsT2
Into that imagined peace that ecstasyT2
O surely surely thou hast wrought thy partH
In every secret and tempestuous heartH
Thou that hast gleamed on thousand battle crimsoned spearsT2
Thou that wast radiant on GethsemaneS
-
She has seen not she has heard notH
Hearts have leapt for her but she has stirred notH
Pity she has made but none has hadH
Though her magic mingles with Earth's wantH
And the trouble of Earth's tender sonsT2
Thunder of the builded BabylonsT2
Music of the dreaming poet's chantH
Venture of the steering argosiesT2
With a light as of divine fulfilment cladH
Breathing in for ever syllables of peaceT2
Peace is it peace Yet Earth dark EarthU2
Mother O Mother thou that nourishestH
In the blind patience of thy teeming breastH
Hope without end who drivest life to birthU2
Yet numberest not our dear and sacred deadH
Unheeding of our anguish and lost criesT2
So thou mayst build beyond us in our steadH
A race enriched with all for which we bledH
Of haughtier stature and of kinglier eyesT2
Thou of whose vast desire strong realms of oldH
The dynasty of empires were but wavesT2
That towered and crashed into their splendid gravesT2
For thine unresting hunger to remouldH
Yet mightier O insatiable Doth fearK
Not shake thee Mother seest thou not ev'n hereQ
In that cold mirror's answer what shall steepV2
Thee also in oblivion Thou shalt keepV2
Of all the fruit of thy most fiery springL
Stored riches of thy sleepless traffickingL
And proud perfection thou hast travailed forJ2
Nothing The beauty that thy body boreJ2
Fresh and exulting Mother dost not weepV2
Laughter of streams young flowers and starry seasT2
Pillar and palace heaven faced imagesT2
That man has wrought his tossing heart to easeT2
Nothing To cloud shall vanish the deed doneS
The bannered victory the wrong borne aloneS
Nothing and thou be desolate and noneS
To feel thy desolation emptinessT2
Night within night immense and issuelessT2
Till as a breath upon the mirror diesT2
Fades the last smoke of thy long sacrificeT2
-
Out of the deeps trembling the soulY
Cries through night to the silent poleY
I that am want I that am griefW2
I that am love I that am mirthU2
I that am fear I that am fireD
Though thou clothe me in beauty briefW2
Though I have worn thy sweet attireD
I thy endless sorrow EarthU2
Dwell in the glory of God's desireD
That kneads for ever in the fleshX2
Of man to make his spirit afreshX2
A marvel more than all thy wandering seasT2
And mightier than thy caverned mysteriesT2
Nor stays nor sleeps but world on world transfusesT2
Melted ever to diviner usesT2
Through infinite swift changes burningL
Itself the end no end discerningL
Till all the universe be wroughtH
Into its far perfecting thoughtH
Then this mind of cloud and rueH
Shall in eternal mind be newH
Mirror of God pure and aloneS
See and be seen know and be known ''-

Robert Laurence Binyon



Rate:
(1)



Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme

Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation


Write your comment about The Mirror poem by Robert Laurence Binyon


 
Best Poems of Robert Laurence Binyon

Recent Interactions*

This poem was read 1 times,

This poem was added to the favorite list by 0 members,

This poem was voted by 0 members.

(* Interactions only in the last 7 days)

New Poems

Popular Poets