Sappho I Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNGONPQB RS TPUVWXYZA2HB2BCC2D2P E2F2G2A2PH2I2J2K2L2M 2N2O2QCHM2YP2M2NQ2R2 PS2CT2U2V2M2W2M2X2G2 CY2Z2W2B2HA3I2GB3M2A HS2L2C3D3Q2CG2ACT2E3 GE3GS2C M2PC| Midnight and in the darkness not a sound | A |
| So with hushed breathing sleeps the autumn night | B |
| Only the white immortal stars shall know | C |
| Here in the house with the low lintelled door | D |
| How for the last time I have lit the lamp | E |
| I think you are not wholly careless now | F |
| Walls that have sheltered me so many an hour | G |
| Bed that has brought me ecstasy and sleep | H |
| Floors that have borne me when a gale of joy | I |
| Lifted my soul and made me half a god | J |
| Farewell Across the threshold many feet | K |
| Shall pass but never Sappho's feet again | L |
| Girls shall come in whom love has made aware | M |
| Of all their swaying beauty they shall sing | N |
| But never Sappho's voice like golden fire | G |
| Shall seek for heaven thru your echoing rafters | O |
| There shall be swallows bringing back the spring | N |
| Over the long blue meadows of the sea | P |
| And south wind playing on the reeds of rain | Q |
| But never Sappho's whisper in the night | B |
| Never her love cry when the lover comes | R |
| Farewell I close the door and make it fast | S |
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| The little street lies meek beneath the moon | T |
| Running as rivers run to meet the sea | P |
| I too go seaward and shall not return | U |
| Oh garlands on the doorposts that I pass | V |
| Woven of asters and of autumn leaves | W |
| I make a prayer for you Cypris be kind | X |
| That every lover may be given love | Y |
| I shall not hasten lest the paving stones | Z |
| Should echo with my sandals and awake | A2 |
| Those who are warm beneath the cloak of sleep | H |
| Lest they should rise and see me and should say | B2 |
| Whither goes Sappho lonely in the night | B |
| Whither goes Sappho Whither all men go | C |
| But they go driven straining back with fear | C2 |
| And Sappho goes as lightly as a leaf | D2 |
| Blown from brown autumn forests to the sea | P |
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| Here on the rock Zeus lifted from the waves | E2 |
| I shall await the waking of the dawn | F2 |
| Lying beneath the weight of dark as one | G2 |
| Lies breathless till the lover shall awake | A2 |
| And with the sun the sea shall cover me | P |
| I shall be less than the dissolving foam | H2 |
| Murmuring and melting on the ebbing tide | I2 |
| I shall be less than spindrift less than shells | J2 |
| And yet I shall be greater than the gods | K2 |
| For destiny no more can bow my soul | L2 |
| As rain bows down the watch fires on the hills | M2 |
| Yea if my soul escape it shall aspire | N2 |
| To the white heaven as flame that has its will | O2 |
| I go not bitterly not dumb with pain | Q |
| Not broken by the ache of love I go | C |
| As one grown tired lies down and hopes to sleep | H |
| Yet they shall say It was for Cercolas | M2 |
| She died because she could not bear her love | Y |
| They shall remember how we used to walk | P2 |
| Here on the cliff beneath the oleanders | M2 |
| In the long limpid twilight of the spring | N |
| Looking toward Lemnos where the amber sky | Q2 |
| Was pierced with the faint arrow of a star | R2 |
| How should they know the wind of a new beauty | P |
| Sweeping my soul had winnowed it with song | S2 |
| I have been glad tho' love should come or go | C |
| Happy as trees that find a wind to sway them | T2 |
| Happy again when it has left them rest | U2 |
| Others shall say Grave Dica wrought her death | V2 |
| She would not lift her lips to take a kiss | M2 |
| Or ever lift her eyes to take a smile | W2 |
| She was a pool the winter paves with ice | M2 |
| That the wild hunter in the hills must leave | X2 |
| With thirst unslaked in the brief southward sun | G2 |
| Ah Dica it is not for thee I go | C |
| And not for Phaon tho' his ship lifts sail | Y2 |
| Here in the windless harbor for the south | Z2 |
| Oh darkling deities that guard the Nile | W2 |
| Watch over one whose gods are far away | B2 |
| Egypt be kind to him his eyes are deep | H |
| Yet they are wrong who say it was for him | A3 |
| How should they know that Sappho lived and died | I2 |
| Faithful to love not faithful to the lover | G |
| Never transfused and lost in what she loved | B3 |
| Never so wholly loving nor at peace | M2 |
| I asked for something greater than I found | A |
| And every time that love has made me weep | H |
| I have rejoiced that love could be so strong | S2 |
| For I have stood apart and watched my soul | L2 |
| Caught in the gust of passion as a bird | C3 |
| With baffled wings against the dusty whirlwind | D3 |
| Struggles and frees itself to find the sky | Q2 |
| It is not for a single god I go | C |
| I have grown weary of the winds of heaven | G2 |
| I will not be a reed to hold the sound | A |
| Of whatsoever breath the gods may blow | C |
| Turning my torment into music for them | T2 |
| They gave me life the gift was bountiful | E3 |
| I lived with the swift singing strength of fire | G |
| Seeking for beauty as a flame for fuel | E3 |
| Beauty in all things and in every hour | G |
| The gods have given life I gave them song | S2 |
| The debt is paid and now I turn to go | C |
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| The breath of dawn blows the stars out like lamps | M2 |
| There is a rim of silver on the sea | P |
| As one grown tired who hopes to sleep I go | C |
Sara Teasdale
(1)
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