The Sacrifice Of Er-heb Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABC DEFGDDH IJKGKL KJDMNKMOPM LQM DRMRSRMOMT DUDDMVWXODD YDT ZEMT DA2DB2D YDTZDZ DC2MD2OMVMT E2DDF2KALG2ADC2ADM D2DDOKPEAEH2DDADLI2 DMDDDDJ2K2L2 M2N2O2JDP2NQ2ND ODR2S2NMMT2DDDT DA2MU2KD V2W2DD UDDDP2 X2Y2DMDDP MZ2M EA3MADO2P2ETEMMB3 C3MY2Er Heb beyond the Hills of Ao Safai | A |
Bears witness to the truth and Ao Safai | A |
Hath told the men of Gorukh Thence the tale | B |
Comes westward o'er the peaks to India | C |
- | |
The story of Bisesa Armod's child | D |
A maiden plighted to the Chief in War | E |
The Man of Sixty Spears who held the Pass | F |
That leads to Thibet but to day is gone | G |
To seek his comfort of the God called Budh | D |
The Silent showing how the Sickness ceased | D |
Because of her who died to save the tribe | H |
- | |
Taman is One and greater than us all | I |
Taman is One and greater than all Gods | J |
Taman is Two in One and rides the sky | K |
Curved like a stallion's croup from dusk to dawn | G |
And drums upon it with his heels whereby | K |
Is bred the neighing thunder in the hills | L |
- | |
This is Taman the God of all Er Heb | K |
Who was before all Gods and made all Gods | J |
And presently will break the Gods he made | D |
And step upon the Earth to govern men | M |
Who give him milk dry ewes and cheat his Priests | N |
Or leave his shrine unlighted as Er Heb | K |
Left it unlighted and forgot Taman | M |
When all the Valley followed after Kysh | O |
And Yabosh little Gods but very wise | P |
And from the sky Taman beheld their sin | M |
- | |
He sent the Sickness out upon the hills | L |
The Red Horse Sickness with the iron hooves | Q |
To turn the Valley to Taman again | M |
- | |
And the Red Horse snuffed thrice into the wind | D |
The naked wind that had no fear of him | R |
And the Red Horse stamped thrice upon the snow | M |
The naked snow that had no fear of him | R |
And the Red Horse went out across the rocks | S |
The ringing rocks that had no fear of him | R |
And downward where the lean birch meets the snow | M |
And downward where the gray pine meets the birch | O |
And downward where the dwarf oak meets the pine | M |
Till at his feet our cup like pastures lay | T |
- | |
That night the slow mists of the evening dropped | D |
Dropped as a cloth upon a dead man's face | U |
And weltered in the Valley bluish white | D |
Like water very silent spread abroad | D |
Like water very silent from the Shrine | M |
Unlighted of Taman to where the stream | V |
Is dammed to fill our cattle troughs sent up | W |
White waves that rocked and heaved and then were still | X |
Till all the Valley glittered like a marsh | O |
Beneath the moonlight filled with sluggish mist | D |
Knee deep so that men waded as they walked | D |
- | |
That night the Red Horse grazed above the Dam | Y |
Beyond the cattle troughs Men heard him feed | D |
And those that heard him sickened where they lay | T |
- | |
Thus came the Sickness to Er Heb and slew | Z |
Ten men strong men and of the women four | E |
And the Red Horse went hillward with the dawn | M |
But near the cattle troughs his hoof prints lay | T |
- | |
That night the slow mists of the evening dropped | D |
Dropped as a cloth upon the dead but rose | A2 |
A little higher to a young girl's height | D |
Till all the Valley glittered like a lake | B2 |
Beneath the moonlight filled with sluggish mist | D |
- | |
That night the Red Horse grazed beyond the Dam | Y |
A stone's throw from the troughs Men heard him feed | D |
And those that heard him sickened where they lay | T |
Thus came the Sickness to Er Heb and slew | Z |
Of men a score and of the women eight | D |
And of the children two | Z |
- | |
Because the road | D |
To Gorukh was a road of enemies | C2 |
And Ao Safai was blocked with early snow | M |
We could not flee from out the Valley Death | D2 |
Smote at us in a slaughter pen and Kysh | O |
Was mute as Yabosh though the goats were slain | M |
And the Red Horse grazed nightly by the stream | V |
And later outward towards the Unlighted Shrine | M |
And those that heard him sickened where they lay | T |
- | |
Then said Bisesa to the Priests at dusk | E2 |
When the white mist rose up breast high and choked | D |
The voices in the houses of the dead | D |
quot Yabosh and Kysh avail not If the Horse | F2 |
Reach the Unlighted Shrine we surely die | K |
Ye have forgotten of all Gods the Chief | A |
Taman quot Here rolled the thunder through the Hills | L |
And Yabosh shook upon his pedestal | G2 |
quot Ye have forgotten of all Gods the Chief | A |
Too long quot And all were dumb save one who cried | D |
On Yabosh with the Sapphire 'twixt His knees | C2 |
But found no answer in the smoky roof | A |
And being smitten of the Sickness died | D |
Before the altar of the Sapphire Shrine | M |
- | |
Then said Bisesa quot I am near to Death | D2 |
And have the Wisdom of the Grave for gift | D |
To bear me on the path my feet must tread | D |
If there be wealth on earth then I am rich | O |
For Armod is the first of all Er Heb | K |
If there be beauty on the earth quot her eyes | P |
Dropped for a moment to the temple floor | E |
quot Ye know that I am fair If there be love | A |
Ye know that love is mine quot The Chief in War | E |
The Man of Sixty Spears broke from the press | H2 |
And would have clasped her but the Priests withstood | D |
Saying quot She has a message from Taman quot | D |
Then said Bisesa quot By my wealth and love | A |
And beauty I am chosen of the God | D |
Taman quot Here rolled the thunder through the Hills | L |
And Kysh fell forward on the Mound of Skulls | I2 |
- | |
In darkness and before our Priests the maid | D |
Between the altars cast her bracelets down | M |
Therewith the heavy earrings Armod made | D |
When he was young out of the water gold | D |
Of Gorukh threw the breast plate thick with jade | D |
Upon the turquoise anklets put aside | D |
The bands of silver on her brow and neck | J2 |
And as the trinkets tinkled on the stones | K2 |
The thunder of Taman lowed like a bull | L2 |
- | |
Then said Bisesa stretching out her hands | M2 |
As one in darkness fearing Devils quot Help | N2 |
O Priests I am a woman very weak | O2 |
And who am I to know the will of Gods | J |
Taman hath called me whither shall I go quot | D |
The Chief in War the Man of Sixty Spears | P2 |
Howled in his torment fettered by the Priests | N |
But dared not come to her to drag her forth | Q2 |
And dared not lift his spear against the Priests | N |
Then all men wept | D |
- | |
There was a Priest of Kysh | O |
Bent with a hundred winters hairless blind | D |
And taloned as the great Snow Eagle is | R2 |
His seat was nearest to the altar fires | S2 |
And he was counted dumb among the Priests | N |
But whether Kysh decreed or from Taman | M |
The impotent tongue found utterance we know | M |
As little as the bats beneath the eaves | T2 |
He cried so that they heard who stood without | D |
quot To the Unlighted Shrine quot and crept aside | D |
Into the shadow of his fallen God | D |
And whimpered and Bisesa went her way | T |
- | |
That night the slow mists of the evening dropped | D |
Dropped as a cloth upon the dead and rose | A2 |
Above the roofs and by the Unlighted Shrine | M |
Lay as the slimy water of the troughs | U2 |
When murrain thins the cattle of Er Heb | K |
And through the mist men heard the Red Horse feed | D |
- | |
In Armod's house they burned Bisesa's dower | V2 |
And killed her black bull Tor and broke her wheel | W2 |
And loosed her hair as for the marriage feast | D |
With cries more loud than mourning for the dead | D |
- | |
Across the fields from Armod's dwelling place | U |
We heard Bisesa weeping where she passed | D |
To seek the Unlighted Shrine the Red Horse neighed | D |
And followed her and on the river mint | D |
His hooves struck dead and heavy in our ears | P2 |
- | |
Out of the mists of evening as the star | X2 |
Of Ao Safai climbs through the black snow blur | Y2 |
To show the Pass is clear Bisesa stepped | D |
Upon the great gray slope of mortised stone | M |
The Causeway of Taman The Red Horse neighed | D |
Behind her to the Unlighted Shrine then fled | D |
North to the Mountain where his stable lies | P |
- | |
They know who dared the anger of Taman | M |
And watched that night above the clinging mists | Z2 |
Far up the hill Bisesa's passing in | M |
- | |
She set her hand upon the carven door | E |
Fouled by a myriad bats and black with time | A3 |
Whereon is graved the Glory of Taman | M |
In letters older than the Ao Safai | A |
And twice she turned aside and twice she wept | D |
Cast down upon the threshold clamouring | O2 |
For him she loved the Man of Sixty Spears | P2 |
And for her father and the black bull Tor | E |
Hers and her pride Yea twice she turned away | T |
Before the awful darkness of the door | E |
And the great horror of the Wall of Man | M |
Where Man is made the plaything of Taman | M |
An Eyeless Face that waits above and laughs | B3 |
- | |
But the third time she cried and put her palms | C3 |
Against the hewn stone leaves and prayed Taman | M |
To spare Er Heb and take her | Y2 |
Rudyard Kipling
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