The Sleepers Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AA BB CD EE FF GG HH II JJ KK LL MM NN OO PP QQ RR NN ST NN NN TT UU VV WW XX RR YI ZZ A2A2 RR JB2 VV KK| As a swallow that sits on the roof | A |
| I gaze on the world aloof | A |
| - | |
| In the silence when men lie sleeping | B |
| I hear the noise of weeping | B |
| - | |
| The tears by Day derided | C |
| To tender Night confided | D |
| - | |
| Ah now I listen I cannot delay | E |
| In thoughts apart I must not stay | E |
| - | |
| The doors are closed and fast unseen | F |
| With stealthy feet I glide between | F |
| - | |
| I see the sleepers asleep in their beds | G |
| Negligent arms motionless heads | G |
| - | |
| Beautiful in the bloom of slumber | H |
| Peaceful armies without number | H |
| - | |
| Not here I linger the sigh of those | I |
| That sleep not draws me with answered throes | I |
| - | |
| A mother mapping her day of cares | J |
| On her sleeping baby softly stares | J |
| - | |
| A youth by shameful sorrow torn | K |
| Thinks on the unendurable morn | K |
| - | |
| By her husband a wife unhappy lies | L |
| With bitter heart and open eyes | L |
| - | |
| An old man hears the voice of the wave | M |
| His dear son's cold unquiet grave | M |
| - | |
| Alone in the lonely listening night | N |
| A child lies still in dumb affright | N |
| - | |
| The burden of all dark things unknown | O |
| Weighs on his trembling heart like stone | O |
| - | |
| A man remembers his dead love's smile | P |
| And his tranquil courage is quelled awhile | P |
| - | |
| My heart is heavy with love and pain | Q |
| The tears within me oppress my brain | Q |
| - | |
| What shall I tell you you that ache | R |
| And number the laggard hours awake | R |
| - | |
| O stabbed and stricken what soothing art | N |
| Shall I use to assuage the wounds that smart | N |
| - | |
| The consolation that ere I know | S |
| Love and sorrow I fancied true | T |
| - | |
| Is faint and helpless now I find | N |
| As beauty told in the ears of the blind | N |
| - | |
| And I cannot utter in words the thought | N |
| That strengthens me most when my heart is wrought | N |
| - | |
| O brother that cannot the days undo | T |
| Could I but the reckoning pay for you | T |
| - | |
| O mother sink your head in peace | U |
| And I will your knot of care release | U |
| - | |
| Dear child give me your dread to bear | V |
| I hold your hand I stroke your hair | V |
| - | |
| It is I who love you that watch and keep | W |
| Darkness from you the while you sleep | W |
| - | |
| I have no counsel I know not why | X |
| In your breasts the arrows burning lie | X |
| - | |
| I cannot heal your hurts nor take | R |
| The sharp iron out of souls that ache | R |
| - | |
| O yet as I watch the lashes close | Y |
| A little the eyes their lids dispose | I |
| - | |
| The hand that fondly lies in mine | Z |
| Relaxes the wearied heads decline | Z |
| - | |
| And now on wings the sorrows flee | A2 |
| From the happy sleepers hither to me | A2 |
| - | |
| O noiseless sorrows darkly thronging | R |
| My heart is prepared my tender longing | R |
| - | |
| You alone can appease with tears | J |
| With pangs with passion with shame with fears | B2 |
| - | |
| Feed on my heart that is open and bare | V |
| Feed your fill sorrow and care | V |
| - | |
| Take me pains of all souls forlorn | K |
| For O too swiftly arrives the morn | K |
Robert Laurence Binyon
(1)
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About The Sleepers
The Sleepers is a poem by Robert Laurence Binyon. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
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