The Deer Lay Down Their Bones Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGHDIJKLMNO PQRSTUVWLXYESHALZA2A B2C2D2B2| I followed the narrow cliffside trail half way up the mountain | A |
| Above the deep river canyon There was a little cataract crossed the path | B |
| flinging itself | C |
| Over tree roots and rocks shaking the jeweled fern fronds bright bubbling | D |
| water | E |
| Pure from the mountain but a bad smell came up Wondering at it I clam | F |
| bered down the steep stream | G |
| Some forty feet and found in the midst of bush oak and laurel | H |
| Hung like a bird's nest on the precipice brink a small hidden clearing | D |
| Grass and a shallow pool But all about there were bones Iying in the grass | I |
| clean bones and stinking bones | J |
| Antlers and bones I understood that the place was a refuge for wounded | K |
| deer there are so many | L |
| Hurt ones escape the hunters and limp away to lie hidden here they have | M |
| water for the awful thirst | N |
| And peace to die in dense green laurel and grim cliff | O |
| - | |
| Make sanctuary and a sweet wind blows upward from the deep gorge I | P |
| wish my bones were with theirs | Q |
| But that's a foolish thing to confess and a little cowardly We know that life | R |
| Is on the whole quite equally good and bad mostly gray neutral and can | S |
| be endured | T |
| To the dim end no matter what magic of grass water and precipice and | U |
| pain of wounds | V |
| Makes death look dear We have been given life and have used it not a | W |
| great gift perhaps but in honesty | L |
| Should use it all Mine's empty since my love died Empty The flame | X |
| haired grandchild with great blue eyes | Y |
| That look like hers What can I do for the child I gaze at her and wonder | E |
| what sort of man | S |
| In the fall of the world I am growing old that is the trouble My chil | H |
| dren and little grandchildren | A |
| Will find their way and why should I wait ten years yet having lived sixty | L |
| seven ten years more or less | Z |
| Before I crawl out on a ledge of rock and die snapping like a wolf | A2 |
| Who has lost his mate I am bound by my own thirty year old decision | A |
| who drinks the wine | B2 |
| Should take the dregs even in the bitter lees and sediment | C2 |
| New discovery may lie The deer in that beautiful place lay down their | D2 |
| bones I must wear mine | B2 |
Robinson Jeffers
(1)
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