A Birthday Song. To S. G. Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AAA BBB CDC EEF GGG BBB HHH BBB HHH IJI BBB| For ever wave for ever float and shine | A |
| Before my yearning eyes oh dream of mine | A |
| Wherein I dreamed that time was like a vine | A |
| - | |
| A creeping rose that clomb a height of dread | B |
| Out of the sea of Birth all filled with dead | B |
| Up to the brilliant cloud of Death o'erhead | B |
| - | |
| This vine bore many blossoms which were years | C |
| Their petals red with joy or bleached by tears | D |
| Waved to and fro i' the winds of hopes and fears | C |
| - | |
| Here all men clung each hanging by his spray | E |
| Anon one dropped his neighbor 'gan to pray | E |
| And so they clung and dropped and prayed alway | F |
| - | |
| But I did mark one lately opened bloom | G |
| Wherefrom arose a visible perfume | G |
| That wrapped me in a cloud of dainty gloom | G |
| - | |
| And rose an odor by a spirit haunted | B |
| And drew me upward with a speed enchanted | B |
| Swift floating by wild sea or sky undaunted | B |
| - | |
| Straight through the cloud of death where men are free | H |
| I gained a height and stayed and bent my knee | H |
| Then glowed my cloud and broke and unveiled thee | H |
| - | |
| O flower born and flower souled I said | B |
| Be the year bloom that breathed thee ever red | B |
| Nor wither yellow down among the dead | B |
| - | |
| May all that cling to sprays of time like me | H |
| Be sweetly wafted over sky and sea | H |
| By rose breaths shrining maidens like to thee | H |
| - | |
| Then while we sat upon the height afar | I |
| Came twilight like a lover late from war | J |
| With soft winds fluting to his evening star | I |
| - | |
| And the shy stars grew bold and scattered gold | B |
| And chanting voices ancient secrets told | B |
| And an acclaim of angels earthward rolled | B |
Sidney Lanier
(1)
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