Marianna Alcoforando Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCDEFGHIJKLMNODPQRST UNVWXYWZWNWLXA2B2L C2WLWD2E2F2G2PH2SWD2 I2J2LDB2K2I2L2DNWLM2 N2D2O2P2VAWWQWGMA2 F2Q2W| The Portuguese Nun | A |
| - | |
| The sparrows wake beneath the convent eaves | B |
| I think I have not slept the whole night through | C |
| But I am old the aged scarcely know | D |
| The times they wake and sleep for life burns down | E |
| They breathe the calm of death before they die | F |
| The long night ends the day comes creeping in | G |
| Showing the sorrows that the darkness hid | H |
| The bended head of Christ the blood the thorns | I |
| The wall's gray stains of damp the pallet bed | J |
| Where little Sister Marta dreams of saints | K |
| Waking with arms outstretched imploringly | L |
| That seek to stay a vision's vanishing | M |
| I never had a vision yet for me | N |
| Our Lady smiled while all the convent slept | O |
| One winter midnight hushed around with snow | D |
| I thought she might be kinder than the rest | P |
| And so I came to kneel before her feet | Q |
| Sick with love's sorrow and love's bitterness | R |
| But when I would have made the blessed sign | S |
| I found the water frozen in the font | T |
| And touched but ice within the carved stone | U |
| The saints had hid themselves away from me | N |
| Leaving the windows black against the night | V |
| And when I sank upon the altar steps | W |
| Before the Virgin Mother and her Child | X |
| The last pale low burnt taper flickered out | Y |
| But in the darkness smooth and fathomless | W |
| Still twinkled like a star the holy lamp | Z |
| That cast a dusky glow upon her face | W |
| Then through the numbing cold peace fell on me | N |
| Submission and the gracious gift of tears | W |
| For when I looked Oh blessed miracle | L |
| Her lips had parted and Our Lady smiled | X |
| And then I knew that Love is worth its pain | A2 |
| And that my heart was richer for his sake | B2 |
| Since lack of love is bitterest of all | L |
| - | |
| The day is broad awake the first long beam | C2 |
| Of level sun finds Sister Marta's face | W |
| And trembling there it lights a timid smile | L |
| Upon the lips that say so many prayers | W |
| And have no words for hate and none for love | D2 |
| But when she passes where her prayers have gone | E2 |
| Will God not smile a little sadly then | F2 |
| And send her back with gentle words to earth | G2 |
| That she may hold a child against her breast | P |
| And feel its little hands upon her hair | H2 |
| We weep before the Blessed Mother's shrine | S |
| To think upon her sorrows but her joys | W |
| What nun could ever know a tithing of | D2 |
| The precious hours she watched above His sleep | I2 |
| Were worth the fearful anguish of the end | J2 |
| Yea lack of love is bitterest of all | L |
| Yet I have felt what thing it is to know | D |
| One thought forever sleeping or awake | B2 |
| To say one name whose sweetness grows so strange | K2 |
| That it might work a spell on those who weep | I2 |
| To feel the weight of love upon my heart | L2 |
| So heavy that the blood can scarcely flow | D |
| Love comes to some unlooked for quietly | N |
| As when at twilight with a soft surprise | W |
| We see the new born crescent in the blue | L |
| And unto others love is planet like | M2 |
| A cold and placid gleam that wavers not | N2 |
| And there are those who wait the call of love | D2 |
| Expectant of his coming as we watch | O2 |
| To see the east grow pallid ere the moon | P2 |
| Lifts up her flower like head against the night | V |
| Love came to me as comes a cruel sun | A |
| That on some rain drenched morning when the leaves | W |
| Are bowed beneath their clinging weight of drops | W |
| Tears through the mist and burns with fervent heat | Q |
| The tender grasses and the meadow flowers | W |
| Then suddenly the heavy clouds close in | G |
| And through the dark the thunder's muttering | M |
| Is drowned amid the dashing of the rain | A2 |
| - | |
| But I have seen my day grow calm again | F2 |
| The sun sets slowly on a peaceful world | Q2 |
| And sheds a quiet light across the fields | W |
Sara Teasdale
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