The Flower Of Flame Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCBDBEC FGFFFFH IJIKIKJ LMNLLLML AIOIO PQRQ STUT AVWVW XYXY ZA2ZA2 B2C2B2C2 D2E2D2E2 F2G2F2G2 H2F2H2F2F2 ZI2ZI2I2 J2ZJ2ZZ K2 K2 L2 ZZZZ ZZZZ M2ZM2Z N2ZN2Z ZZZZ A2D2BD2BD2 Y Y Y ZBVA2 O2 O2 VP2 P2 E E Z Z ZIE2IE2 VB2VB2 IFIF Q2IQ2I R2VS2V T2ZT2 IB2IB2 ZZJ2ZJ2P2ZZZZP2 EU2EU2P2VV2VV2P2 W2J2W2J2P2X2G2X2Y2G2 P2I | A |
AS round the cliff I came alone | B |
The whole bay bared its blaze to me | C |
Loud sang the wind the wild sun shone | B |
The tumbled clouds fled scattering on | D |
Light shattered on wave and winking stone | B |
And in the glassy midst stood one | E |
Brighter than sun or cloud or sea | C |
- | |
She with flame vehement hair untied | F |
Virginal in her fluttering dress | G |
Watched deafened and all dazzle eyed | F |
Each opulent breaker's crash and glide | F |
And now flung arms up high and wide | F |
As if possessing all she cried | F |
Her beauty youth and happiness | H |
- | |
Loud rang the waves and higher higher | I |
The surge in chains of light was flung | J |
The wind as in a wild desire | I |
Licked round her form she seemed a spire | K |
Of sunny drift a fount of fire | I |
The hymn of some triumphant lyre | K |
Which sounded when the world was young | J |
- | |
Purified by the scalding glare | L |
Swept clear by the salty sea wind's flow | M |
My eyes knew you for what you are | N |
The daemon thing for which we dare | L |
Which breaks us which we bid not spare | L |
The life the light the heavenly snare | L |
The turretted city's overthrow | M |
Helen I knew you standing there | L |
- | |
- | |
II | A |
The long low wavelets of summer | I |
Glide in and glitter along the sand | O |
The fitful breezes of summer | I |
Blow fragrantly from the land | O |
- | |
Side by side we lie silent | P |
Between sunned cliffs and blown seas | Q |
Our eyes more bright than sea ripples | R |
Our breaths more light than the breeze | Q |
- | |
When a gust meets a wave that advances | S |
The wave leaps flames falls with a hiss | T |
So lightly so brightly each heart leaps | U |
When our dumb lips touch in a kiss | T |
- | |
- | |
III | A |
Foamless the gradual waters well | V |
From the sheer deep where darkness lies | W |
Till to the shoulder rock they swell | V |
With a slow cumulance of sighs | W |
- | |
O waters gather up your strength | X |
From the blind caves of your unrest | Y |
Loose your load utterly at length | X |
Over the moonlight marbled breast | Y |
- | |
There sleep diffused the long dim hours | Z |
Nor let your love locks be withdrawn | A2 |
Till round the world horizon glowers | Z |
The wrath and chaos of the dawn | A2 |
- | |
- | |
IV | - |
She picked a whorled shell from the beach | B2 |
And laid it close beside her ear | C2 |
Then held it frightened at full reach | B2 |
Toward my face that I might hear | C2 |
- | |
And while she leaned and while I heard | D2 |
Our dumb eyes dared not meet for shame | E2 |
Our hearts within us sickly stirred | D2 |
Our limbs ran wax before the flame | E2 |
- | |
For in the despairing voice and meek | F2 |
An echo to our hearts we found | G2 |
Who through love striving vainly seek | F2 |
To coop the infinite in bound | G2 |
- | |
- | |
V | - |
All is estranged to day | H2 |
Chastened and meek | F2 |
Side by side taking our way | H2 |
With what anguish we seek | F2 |
To dare each to face the other or even to speak | F2 |
- | |
The sun like an opal drifts | Z |
Through a vapourous shine | I2 |
Or overwhelms itself in dark rifts | Z |
On the sea's far line | I2 |
Sheer light falls in a single sword like a sign | I2 |
- | |
The sea striving in its bed | J2 |
Like a corpse that awakes | Z |
Slowly heaves up its lustreless head | J2 |
Crowned with weeds and snakes | Z |
To strike at the shore bareing fangs as it breaks | Z |
- | |
Something threatening earth | K2 |
Aims at our love | - |
Gone is our ignorant mirth | K2 |
Love like speech of the dove | - |
The Sword and the Snake have seen and proclaim now | L2 |
'Enough ' | - |
- | |
- | |
VI | - |
The narrow pathway winds its course | Z |
Through dwarfish oaks and junipers | Z |
Till suddenly beyond the gorse | Z |
We glimpse the copse of stunted firs | Z |
- | |
That tops the headland round whose base | Z |
The cold tide flings a drowned man's bones | Z |
All day against the cliff's sheer face | Z |
All night prolongs his lasting groans | Z |
- | |
The Drowned who in the copse once stood | M2 |
Waiting the Dead to end both vows | Z |
Heard as we hear the split of wood | M2 |
And shrieking of the writhen boughs | Z |
- | |
Grow shrill and shriller Pass the spot | N2 |
The strained boughs arch toward collapse | Z |
A whistle and CRACK there's the shot | N2 |
Or is it but a bough which snaps | Z |
- | |
Ever when we have left the gorse | Z |
And through the copse each hastening hies | Z |
We lovers on the self same course | Z |
Dare not look in each other's eyes | Z |
- | |
- | |
VII | - |
Before I woke I knew her gone | A2 |
Though nothing nigh had stirred | D2 |
Now by the curtain inward blown | B |
She stood not seen but heard | D2 |
Where the faint moonlight dimmed or shone | B |
And neither spoke a word | D2 |
- | |
One hand against her mouth she pressed | Y |
But could not staunch its cry | - |
The other knocked upon her breast | Y |
Impotently while I | - |
Glared rigid labouring possessed | Y |
And dared not ask her why | - |
- | |
- | |
VIII | - |
Noon and now rocks the summer sea | Z |
All idleness one gust alone | B |
Skates afar off and soundlessly | V |
Is gone from me as you are gone | A2 |
- | |
No hull creeps on th' horizon's rim | O2 |
No pond of smoke wreathes the far sky | - |
Only the dazzling sinuous swim | O2 |
Of the fierce tide maze scalds the eye | - |
- | |
Alone aloft unendingly | V |
A peering gull on moveless wing | P2 |
Floats silent by and again by | - |
In search for some indefinite thing | P2 |
- | |
Each wave line glittering through its run | E |
Gives in its plash where still pools lie | - |
Upstaring at the downstaring sun | E |
A single harsh and sudden sigh | - |
- | |
And Oh more lonely blows the breeze | Z |
More empty shines the perfect sky | - |
More solitary sound the seas | Z |
Where two watched where now watch but I | - |
- | |
- | |
IX | Z |
I love a flower which has no lover | I |
The yellow sea poppy is its name | E2 |
Spined leaves its glaucous green stem cover | I |
Its flower is a yellow fitful flame | E2 |
- | |
Stung by the spray which leaps the shingle | V |
Torn by the winds that scour the beach | B2 |
Its roots with the salt sea wrack mingle | V |
Its leaves upon the bleached stones bleach | B2 |
- | |
Its desperate growth but few remember | I |
None misses it when it has died | F |
Scorched by the sun to a scant ember | I |
Or wholly ravaged by the tide | F |
- | |
Yet I elect this weed to cherish | Q2 |
Nor any other would desire | I |
Than this which must so shortly perish | Q2 |
Tortured by sea foam or sky fire | I |
- | |
Above this flower we too once bended | R2 |
Drawn to it by a subtle spell | V |
On whom the fire of heaven descended | S2 |
Over whom the wave arose from hell | V |
- | |
Frantic she snatched the ragged blossom | T2 |
Kissed it then with a wild fierce kiss | Z |
Pressed spine and flame into her bosom | T2 |
Crying 'The flower our love is this ' | - |
- | |
The grey waves crash The wind whirls over | I |
The flower is withered from the beach | B2 |
Whose waves divide the loved and lover | I |
Whose wind blows louder than their speech | B2 |
- | |
- | |
X | Z |
The moon behind high tranquil leaves | Z |
Hides her sad head | J2 |
The dwindled water tinkles and grieves | Z |
In the stream's black bed | J2 |
And where now where are you sleeping | P2 |
The shadowy nightjar hawking gnats | Z |
Flickers or floats | Z |
High in still air the flurrying bats | Z |
Repeat their wee notes | Z |
And where now where are you sleeping | P2 |
- | |
Silent lightning flutters in heaven | E |
Where quiet crowd | U2 |
By the toil of an upper whirlwind driven | E |
Dark legions of cloud | U2 |
In whose arms now are you sleeping | P2 |
The cloud makes lidding the sky's wan hole | V |
The world a tomb | V2 |
Far out at sea long thunders roll | V |
From gloom to dim gloom | V2 |
In whose arms now are you sleeping | P2 |
- | |
Rent clouds like boughs in darkness hang | W2 |
Close overhead | J2 |
The foreland's bell buoy begins to clang | W2 |
As if for the dead | J2 |
Awake they where you are sleeping | P2 |
The chasms crack the heavens revolt | X2 |
With tearing sound | G2 |
Bright bolt volleys on flaring bolt | X2 |
Wave and cloud clash through deep through vault | Y2 |
Huge thunders rebound | G2 |
But they wake not where you are sleeping | P2 |
Robert Nichols
(1)
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