The Legend Of Mirth Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDDEEFFGG HHIIJIIIKILI IIIIMNIIIAAII OOPPQQQQIIIIQQIIIIOO II IIBBRRRIIIIII IISSTTIIIIKKII LLIMIIUUEEIIThe Four Archangels so the legends tell | A |
Raphael Gabriel Michael Azrael | A |
Being first of those to whom the Power was shown | B |
Stood first of all the Host before The Throne | B |
And when the Charges were allotted burst | C |
Tumultuous winged from out the assembly first | C |
Zeal was their spur that bade them strictly heed | D |
Their own high judgment on their lightest deed | D |
Zeal was their spur that when relief was given | E |
Urged them unwearied to new toils in Heaven | E |
For Honour's sake perfecting every task | F |
Beyond what e 'en Perfection's self could ask | F |
And Allah Who created Zeal and Pride | G |
Knows how the twain are perilous near allied | G |
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It chanced on one of Heaven's long lighted days | H |
The Four and all the Host being gone their ways | H |
Each to his Charge the shining Courts were void | I |
Save for one Seraph whom no charge employed | I |
With folden wings and slumber threatened brow | J |
To whom The Word quot Beloved what dost thou quot | I |
quot By the Permission quot came the answer soft | I |
Little I do nor do that little oft | I |
As is The Will in Heaven so on Earth | K |
Where by The Will I strive to make men mirth quot | I |
He ceased and sped hearing The Word once more | L |
quot Beloved go thy way and greet the Four quot | I |
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Systems and Universes overpast | I |
The Seraph came upon the Four at last | I |
Guiding and guarding with devoted mind | I |
The tedious generations of mankind | I |
Who lent at most unwilling ear and eye | M |
When they could not escape the ministry | N |
Yet patient faithful firm persistent just | I |
Toward all that gross indifferent facile dust | I |
The Archangels laboured to discharge their trust | I |
By precept and example prayer and law | A |
Advice reproof and rule but labouring saw | A |
Each in his fellows' countenance confessed | I |
The Doubt that sickens quot Have I done my best quot | I |
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Even as they sighed and turned to toil anew | O |
The Seraph hailed them with observance due | O |
And after some fit talk of higher things | P |
Touched tentative on mundane happenings | P |
This they permitting he emboldened thus | Q |
Prolused of humankind promiscuous | Q |
And since the large contention less avails | Q |
Than instances observed he told them tales | Q |
Tales of the shop the bed the court the street | I |
Intimate elemental indiscreet | I |
Occasions where Confusion smiting swift | I |
Piles jest on jest as snow slides pile the drift | I |
Whence one by one beneath derisive skies | Q |
The victims' bare bewildered heads arise | Q |
Tales of the passing of the spirit graced | I |
With humour blinding as the doom it faced | I |
Stark tales of ribaldy that broke aside | I |
To tears by laughter swallowed ere they dried | I |
Tales to which neither grace nor gain accrue | O |
But Only Allah be exalted true | O |
And only as the Seraph showed that night | I |
Delighting to the limits of delight | I |
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These he rehearsed with artful pause and halt | I |
And such pretence of memory at fault | I |
That soon the Four so well the bait was thrown | B |
Came to his aid with memories of their own | B |
Matters dismissed long since as small or vain | R |
Whereof the high significance had lain | R |
Hid till the ungirt glosses made it plain | R |
Then as enlightenment came broad and fast | I |
Each marvelled at his own oblivious past | I |
Until the Gates of Laughter opened wide | I |
The Four with that bland Seraph at their side | I |
While they recalled compared and amplified | I |
In utter mirth forgot both Zeal and Pride | I |
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High over Heaven the lamps of midnight burned | I |
Ere weak with merriment the Four returned | I |
Not in that order they were wont to keep | S |
Pinion to pinion answering sweep for sweep | S |
In awful diapason heard afar | T |
But shoutingly adrift 'twixt star and star | T |
Reeling a planet's orbit left or right | I |
As laughter took them in the abysmal Night | I |
Or by the point of some remembered jest | I |
Winged and brought helpless down through gulfs unguessed | I |
Where the blank worlds that gather to the birth | K |
Leaped in the Womb of Darkness at their mirth | K |
And e'en Gehenna's bondsmen understood | I |
They were not damned from human brotherhood | I |
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Not first nor last of Heaven's high Host the Four | L |
That night took place beneath The Throne once more | L |
lovelier than their morning majesty | I |
The understanding light behind the eye | M |
more compelling than their old command | I |
The new learned friendly gesture of the hand | I |
sweeter than their zealous fellowship | U |
The wise half smile that passed from lip to lip | U |
well and roundly when Command was given | E |
They told their tale against themselves to Heaven | E |
And in the silence waiting on The Word | I |
Received the Peace and Pardon of The Lord | I |
Rudyard Kipling
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