Going To The Horse Flats Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGHAIJKLMBNBOPQ RSTUVWBXYCZA2B2C2CD2 LE2DF2G2H2L I2JJ2K2GL2 B2YLJM2N2YDLO2OO AP2Q2M2ODNR2A S2T2U2B2D| Amazingly active a toothless old man | A |
| Hobbled beside me up the canyon going to Horse Flats he said | B |
| To see to some hives of bees It was clear that he lived alone and | C |
| craved companionship yet he talked little | D |
| Until we came to a place where the gorge widened and deer hunters | E |
| had camped on a slip of sand | F |
| Beside the stream They had left the usual rectangle of fired | G |
| stones and ashes also some crumpled | H |
| Sheets of a recent newspaper with loud headlines The old man | A |
| rushed at them | I |
| And spread them flat held them his arm's length squinting | J |
| through narrowed eyelids poor trick old eyes learn to make | K |
| Lids act for lens He read 'Spain Battle Rebels kill captives City | L |
| bombed Reds kill hostages Prepare | M |
| For war Stalin warns troops ' He trembled and said 'Please read | B |
| me the little printing I hardly ever | N |
| Get to hear news ' He wrung his withered hands while I read | B |
| it was strange in that nearly inhuman wilderness | O |
| To see an old hollow cheeked hermit dancing to the world's | P |
| echoes After I had read he said 'That's enough | Q |
| They were proud and oppressed the poor and are punished for | R |
| it but those that punish them are full of envy and hatred | S |
| And are punished for it and again the others and again the | T |
| others It is so forever there is no way out | U |
| Only the crimes and cruelties grow worse perhaps ' I said 'You | V |
| are too hopeless There are ways out ' | W |
| He licked his empty gums with his tongue wiped his mouth and said | B |
| 'What ways ' I said 'The Christian way forgiveness to forgive | X |
| your enemies | Y |
| Give good for evil ' The old man threw down the paper and | C |
| said 'How long ago did Christ live Ah | Z |
| Have the people in Spain never heard about him Or have the Russians | A2 |
| Or Germans Do you think I'm a fool ' 'Well ' I said to try | B2 |
| him 'there's another way extermination | C2 |
| If the winning side will totally destroy its enemies lives and | C |
| thoughts liquidate them firing squads | D2 |
| For the people and fire for the books and records the feud will then be | L |
| Finished forever ' He said justly 'Yoiire the fool ' picked up | E2 |
| his bundle and hurried through the shadow dapple | D |
| Of noon in the narrow canyon his ragged coat tails flapping like | F2 |
| mad over the coonskin patch | G2 |
| In the seat of his trousers I waited awhile thinking he wished | H2 |
| to be quit of company | L |
| - | |
| Sweet was the clear | I2 |
| Chatter of the stream now that our talk was hushed the flitting | J |
| water ouzel returned to her stone | J2 |
| A lovely snake two delicate scarlet lines down the dark back | K2 |
| swam through the pool The flood battered | G |
| Trees by the stream are more noble than cathedral columns | L2 |
| - | |
| Why | B2 |
| do we invite the world's rancors and agonies | Y |
| Into our minds though walking in a wilderness Why did he | L |
| want the news of the world He could do nothing | J |
| To help nor hinder Nor you nor I can for the world It | M2 |
| is certain the world cannot be stopped nor saved | N2 |
| It has changes to accomplish and must creep through agonies | Y |
| toward new discovery It must and it ought the awful | D |
| necessity | L |
| Is also the sacrificial duty Man's world is a tragic music and is not | O2 |
| played for man's happiness | O |
| Its discords are not resolved but by other discords | O |
| - | |
| But for each man | A |
| There is real solution let him turn from himself and man to love | P2 |
| God He is out of the trap then He will remain | Q2 |
| Part of the music but will hear it as the player hears it | M2 |
| He will be superior to death and fortune unmoved by success | O |
| or failure Pity can make him weep still | D |
| Or pain convulse him but not to the center and he can conquer | N |
| them But how could I impart this knowledge | R2 |
| To that old man | A |
| - | |
| Or indeed to anyone I know that all men | S2 |
| instinctively rebel against it But yet | T2 |
| They will come to it at last | U2 |
| Then man will have come of age he will still suffer and still die | B2 |
| but like a God not a tortured animal | D |
Robinson Jeffers
(1)
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