The Jacquerie. A Fragment Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: A BBCCDEFGDHIJKLDDMNND ODDPQRDDSDTDUVWDDXDY ZA2B2C2LDDD2E2DF2DDG 2SDH2DDDDDI2DDDDDJ2K 2L2M2ZN2DK2O2J2DDK2P 2C2DDQ2G2DTJG2R2Q2Q2 FJ2ZS2P DDQ2T2DU2RV2DDW2G2DD X2Y2Z2A3DDB3DZC3Q2D Z2Z2DDDDDFFD3E3SZ2F3 G3G2FQ2U2J2DDDQ2FX2Z 2U2H3DAI3 A H3H3DDDH3H3DH3H3DJ3F DH3DH3K3JDH3L3H3DAZ2 A3H3M3H3DZ2H3Z2H3N3H 3H3DO3VZ2DDZ2Z2VZ2DP 3Q2Z2DO3H3H3FDQ2DQ2D DDZ2A3DDDDM3Z2VDL2Q3 H3DDDZ2H3DDDFFDH3DDD R3Q2S3T3S3H3S3DS3Z2S 3DU3DM3DV3DFDW3Z2X3H 3DDH3SZ2H3Z2DSY3H3H3 H3H3Z3H3DDH3K3H3A4 Z2DFDK3H3FZ2DZ2H3DH3 DZ2B4I3C4X3DH3DM3Z2H 3H3D4F3H3H3H3L2H3FDH 3DDDH3H3ZH3DDDF3I3F3 DA4DK2DA4A3A4H3H3E4Z H3Q2H3DH3 DQ2Z2VDDDDDH3DSH3E4Q 2H3H3DF4FDE4G4Q2Z2B4 H3DH3DDDZ2Z2H3FDH3H3 H4S A H3H3H3Q2H3DZ2DDDH3Z2 Q2N3H3FH3JH3DFH3H3VV I4DQ2DDI3ZDH3Z Q2H3H3Z2FDH3H3JH3J4K 4DA3N3H3DDDH3H3FDDDH 3H3A4DQ2H3DDH3FH3DZ2 DL4FDL4DQ2Z2DK2Q2A3 Q2Z2I3DM3H3D H3DO3H3A3B4H3B4D K2 DK2H3H3DH3DDDDDDH3H3 H3H3H3X3Q2DH3H3H3DB4 DDDK2DH3DM4H3SDDDDH3 DH3DDH3H3DK2N4A3H3DD Q2O4DDDDDQ2H3P4DDQ4O 4H3H3Z2A3DDO3DH3DH3A 3DQ2O3DDDVH3DL2DDDH3 D DH3R4H3H3DH3H3Q2H3Q2 DDH3C4Q2H3DDDQ2H3H3D H3H3Q2DX3H3H3DDH3DDF DDH3K2A3FDDI3S4K2DH3 H3H3DFB4DDH3K2FDH3FD H3DB4H3DH3H3H3O4DUT4 DH3Q2H3H3DDH3L2DH3Q2 U4H3D V4

Chapter I	A
	-
Once on a time a Dawn all red and bright	B
Leapt on the conquered ramparts of the Night	B
And flamed one brilliant instant on the world	C
Then back into the historic moat was hurled	C
And Night was King again for many years	D
Once on a time the Rose of Spring blushed out	E
But Winter angrily withdrew it back	F
Into his rough new bursten husk and shut	G
The stern husk leaves and hid it many years	D
Once Famine tricked himself with ears of corn	H
And Hate strung flowers on his spiked belt	I
And glum Revenge in silver lilies pranked him	J
And Lust put violets on his shameless front	K
And all minced forth o' the street like holiday folk	L
That sally off afield on Summer morns	D
Once certain hounds that knew of many a chase	D
And bare great wounds of antler and of tusk	M
That they had ta'en to give a lord some sport	N
Good hounds that would have died to give lords sport	N
Were so bewrayed and kicked by these same lords	D
That all the pack turned tooth o' the knights and bit	O
As knights had been no better things than boars	D
And took revenge as bloody as a man's	D
Unhoundlike sudden hot i' the chops and sweet	P
Once sat a falcon on a lady's wrist	Q
Seeming to doze with wrinkled eye lid drawn	R
But dreaming hard of hoods and slaveries	D
And of dim hungers in his heart and wings	D
Then while the mistress gazed above for game	S
Sudden he flew into her painted face	D
And hooked his horn claws in her lily throat	T
And drove his beak into her lips and eyes	D
In fierce and hawkish kissing that did scar	U
And mar the lady's beauty evermore	V
And once while Chivalry stood tall and lithe	W
And flashed his sword above the stricken eyes	D
Of all the simple peasant folk of France	D
While Thought was keen and hot and quick	X
And did not play as in these later days	D
Like summer lightning flickering in the west	Y
As little dreadful as if glow worms lay	Z
In the cool and watery clouds and glimmered weak	A2
But gleamed and struck at once or oak or man	B2
And left not space for Time to wave his wing	C2
Betwixt the instantaneous flash and stroke	L
While yet the needs of life were brave and fierce	D
And did not hide their deeds behind their words	D
And logic came not 'twixt desire and act	D2
And Want and Take was the whole Form of life	E2
While Love had fires a burning in his veins	D
And hidden Hate could flash into revenge	F2
Ere yet young Trade was 'ware of his big thews	D
Or dreamed that in the bolder afterdays	D
He would hew down and bind old Chivalry	G2
And drag him to the highest height of fame	S
And plunge him thence in the sea of still Romance	D
To lie for aye in never rusted mail	H2
Gleaming through quiet ripples of soft songs	D
And sheens of old traditionary tales	D
On such a time a certain May arose	D
From out that blue Sea that between five lands	D
Lies like a violet midst of five large leaves	D
Arose from out this violet and flew on	I2
And stirred the spirits of the woods of France	D
And smoothed the brows of moody Auvergne hills	D
And wrought warm sea tints into maidens' eyes	D
And calmed the wordy air of market towns	D
With faint suggestions blown from distant buds	D
Until the land seemed a mere dream of land	J2
And in this dream field Life sat like a dove	K2
And cooed across unto her dove mate Death	L2
Brooding pathetic by a river lone	M2
Oh sharper tangs pierced through this perfumed May	Z
Strange aches sailed by with odors on the wind	N2
As when we kneel in flowers that grow on graves	D
Of friends who died unworthy of our love	K2
King John of France was proving such an ache	O2
In English prisons wide and fair and grand	J2
Whose long expanses of green park and chace	D
Did ape large liberty with such success	D
As smiles of irony ape smiles of love	K2
Down from the oaks of Hertford Castle park	P2
Double with warm rose breaths of southern Spring	C2
Came rumors as if odors too had thorns	D
Sharp rumors how the three Estates of France	D
Like old Three headed Cerberus of Hell	Q2
Had set upon the Duke of Normandy	G2
Their rightful Regent snarled in his great face	D
Snapped jagged teeth in inch breadth of his throat	T
And blown such hot and savage breath upon him	J
That he had tossed great sops of royalty	G2
Unto the clamorous three mawed baying beast	R2
And was not further on his way withal	Q2
And had but changed a snarl into a growl	Q2
How Arnold de Cervolles had ta'en the track	F
That war had burned along the unhappy land	J2
Shouting since France is then too poor to pay	Z
The soldiers that have bloody devoir done	S2
And since needs must pardie a man must eat	P
Arm gentlemen swords slice as well as knives '	-
And so had tempted stout men from the ranks	D
And now was adding robbers' waste to war's	D
Stealing the leavings of remorseless battle	Q2
And making gaunter the gaunt bones of want	T2
How this Cervolles called Arch priest by the mass	D
Through warm Provence had marched and menace made	U2
Against Pope Innocent at Avignon	R
And how the Pope nor ate nor drank nor slept	V2
Through godly fear concerning his red wines	D
For if these knaves should sack his holy house	D
And all the blessed casks be knocked o' the head	W2
HORRENDUM all his Holiness' drink to be	G2
Profanely guzzled down the reeking throats	D
Of scoundrels and inflame them on to seize	D
The massy coffers of the Church's gold	X2
And steal mayhap the carven silver shrine	Y2
And all the golden crucifixes No	Z2
And so the holy father Pope made stir	A3
And had sent forth a legate to Cervolles	D
And treated with him and made compromise	D
And last had bidden all the Arch priest's troop	B3
To come and banquet with him in his house	D
Where they did wassail high by night and day	Z
And Father Pope sat at the board and carved	C3
Midst jokes that flowed full greasily	Q2
And priest and soldier trolled good songs for mass	D
And all the prayers the Priests made were pray drink '	-
And all the oaths the Soldiers swore were drink '	-
Till Mirth sat like a jaunty postillon	Z2
Upon the back of Time and urged him on	Z2
With piquant spur past chapel and past cross	D
How Charles King of Navarre in long duress	D
By mandate of King John within the walls	D
Of Crevacoeur and then of strong Alleres	D
In faithful ward of Sir Tristan du Bois	D
Was now escaped had supped with Guy Kyrec	F
Had now a pardon of the Regent Duke	F
By half compulsion of a Paris mob	D3
Had turned the people's love upon himself	E3
By smooth harangues and now was bold to claim	S
That France was not the Kingdom of King John	Z2
But By our Lady his by right and worth	F3
And so was plotting treason in the State	G3
And laughing at weak Charles of Normandy	G2
Nay these had been like good news to the King	F
Were any man but bold enough to tell	Q2
The King what bitter sayings men had made	U2
And hawked augmenting up and down the land	J2
Against the barons and great lords of France	D
That fled from English arrows at Poictiers	D
POICTIERS POICTIERS this grain i' the eye of France	D
Had swelled it to a big and bloodshot ball	Q2
That looked with rage upon a world askew	F
Poictiers' disgrace was now but two years old	X2
Yet so outrageous rank and full was grown	Z2
That France was wholly overspread with shade	U2
And bitter fruits lay on the untilled ground	H3
That stank and bred so foul contagious smells	D
That not a nose in France but stood awry	A
Nor boor that cried not FAUGH upon the air	I3
	-
	-
Chapter II	A
	-
Franciscan friar John de Rochetaillade	H3
With gentle gesture lifted up his hand	H3
And poised it high above the steady eyes	D
Of a great crowd that thronged the market place	D
In fair Clermont to hear him prophesy	D
Midst of the crowd old Gris Grillon the maimed	H3
A wretched wreck that fate had floated out	H3
From the drear storm of battle at Poictiers	D
A living man whose larger moiety	H3
Was dead and buried on the battle field	H3
A grisly trunk without or arms or legs	D
And scarred with hoof cuts over cheek and brow	J3
Lay in his wicker cradle smiling	F
Jacques	D
Quoth he My son I would behold this priest	H3
That is not fat and loves not wine and fasts	D
And stills the folk with waving of his hand	H3
And threats the knights and thunders at the Pope	K3
Make way for Gris ye who are whole of limb	J
Set me on yonder ledge that I may see	D
Forthwith a dozen horny hands reached out	H3
And lifted Gris Grillon upon the ledge	L3
Whereon he lay and overlooked the crowd	H3
And from the gray grown hedges of his brows	D
Shot forth a glance against the friar's eye	A
That struck him like an arrow	Z2
Then the friar	A3
With voice as low as if a maiden hummed	H3
Love songs of Provence in a mild day dream	M3
And when he broke the second seal I heard	H3
The second beast say Come and see	D
And then	Z2
Went out another horse and he was red	H3
And unto him that sat thereon was given	Z2
To take the peace of earth away and set	H3
Men killing one another and they gave	N3
To him a mighty sword	H3
The friar paused	H3
And pointed round the circle of sad eyes	D
There is no face of man or woman here	O3
But showeth print of the hard hoof of war	V
Ah yonder leaneth limbless Gris Grillon	Z2
Friends Gris Grillon is France	D
Good France my France	D
Wilt never walk on glory's hills again	Z2
Wilt never work among thy vines again	Z2
Art footless and art handless evermore	V
Thou felon War I do arraign thee now	Z2
Of mayhem of the four main limbs of France	D
Thou old red criminal stand forth I charge	P3
But O I am too utter sorrowful	Q2
To urge large accusation now	Z2
Nathless	D
My work to day is still more grievous Hear	O3
The stains that war hath wrought upon the land	H3
Show but as faint white flecks if seen o' the side	H3
Of those blood covered images that stalk	F
Through yon cold chambers of the future as	D
The prophet mood now stealing on my soul	Q2
Reveals them marching marching marching See	D
There go the kings of France in piteous file	Q2
The deadly diamonds shining in their crowns	D
Do wound the foreheads of their Majesties	D
And glitter through a setting of blood gouts	D
As if they smiled to think how men are slain	Z2
By the sharp facets of the gem of power	A3
And how the kings of men are slaves of stones	D
But look The long procession of the kings	D
Wavers and stops the world is full of noise	D
The ragged peoples storm the palaces	D
They rave they laugh they thirst they lap the stream	M3
That trickles from the regal vestments down	Z2
And lapping smack their heated chaps for more	V
And ply their daggers for it till the kings	D
All die and lie in a crooked sprawl of death	L2
Ungainly foul and stiff as any heap	Q3
Of villeins rotting on a battle field	H3
'Tis true that when these things have come to pass	D
Then never a king shall rule again in France	D
For every villein shall be king in France	D
And who hath lordship in him whether born	Z2
In hedge or silken bed shall be a lord	H3
And queens shall be as thick i' the land as wives	D
And all the maids shall maids of honor be	D
And high and low shall commune solemnly	D
And stars and stones shall have free interview	F
But woe is me 'tis also piteous true	F
That ere this gracious time shall visit France	D
Your graves Beloved shall be some centuries old	H3
And so your children's and their children's graves	D
And many generations'	D
Ye O ye	D
Shall grieve and ye shall grieve and ye shall grieve	R3
Your Life shall bend and o'er his shuttle toil	Q2
A weaver weaving at the loom of grief	S3
Your Life shall sweat 'twixt anvil and hot forge	T3
An armorer working at the sword of grief	S3
Your Life shall moil i' the ground and plant his seed	H3
A farmer foisoning a huge crop of grief	S3
Your Life shall chaffer in the market place	D
A merchant trading in the goods of grief	S3
Your Life shall go to battle with his bow	Z2
A soldier fighting in defence of grief	S3
By every rudder that divides the seas	D
Tall Grief shall stand the helmsman of the ship	U3
By every wain that jolts along the roads	D
Stout Grief shall walk the driver of the team	M3
Midst every herd of cattle on the hills	D
Dull Grief shall lie the herdsman of the drove	V3
Oh Grief shall grind your bread and play your lutes	D
And marry you and bury you	F
How else	D
Who's here in France can win her people's faith	W3
And stand in front and lead the people on	Z2
Where is the Church	X3
The Church is far too fat	H3
Not mark by robust swelling of the thews	D
But puffed and flabby large with gross increase	D
Of wine fat plague fat dropsy fat	H3
O shame	S
Thou Pope that cheatest God at Avignon	Z2
Thou that shouldst be the Father of the world	H3
And Regent of it whilst our God is gone	Z2
Thou that shouldst blaze with conferred majesty	D
And smite old Lust o' the Flesh so as by flame	S
Thou that canst turn thy key and lock Grief up	Y3
Or turn thy key and unlock Heaven's Gate	H3
Thou that shouldst be the veritable hand	H3
That Christ down stretcheth out of heaven yet	H3
To draw up him that fainteth to His heart	H3
Thou that shouldst bear thy fruit yet virgin live	Z3
As she that bore a man yet sinned not	H3
Thou that shouldst challenge the most special eyes	D
Of Heaven and Earth and Hell to mark thee since	D
Thou shouldst be Heaven's best captain Earth's best friend	H3
And Hell's best enemy false Pope false Pope	K3
The world thy child is sick and like to die	H3
But thou art dinner drowsy and cannot come	A4
And Life is sore beset and crieth help '	-
But thou brook'st not disturbance at thy wine	Z2
And France is wild for one to lead her souls	D
But thou art huge and fat and laggest back	F
Among the remnants of forsaken camps	D
Thou'rt not God's Pope thou art the Devil's Pope	K3
Thou art first Squire to that most puissant knight	H3
Lord Satan who thy faithful squireship long	F
Hath watched and well shall guerdon	Z2
Ye sad souls	D
So faint with work ye love not so thin worn	Z2
With miseries ye wrought not so outraged	H3
By strokes of ill that pass th' ill doers' heads	D
And cleave the innocent so desperate tired	H3
Of insult that doth day by day abuse	D
The humblest dignity of humblest men	Z2
Ye cannot call toward the Church for help	B4
The Church already is o'erworked with care	I3
Of its dyspeptic stomach	C4
Ha the Church	X3
Forgets about eternity	D
I had	H3
A vision of forgetfulness	D
O Dream	M3
Born of a dream as yonder cloud is born	Z2
Of water which is born of cloud	H3
I thought	H3
I saw the moonlight lying large and calm	D4
Upon the unthrobbing bosom of the earth	F3
As a great diamond glittering on a shroud	H3
A sense of breathlessness stilled all the world	H3
Motion stood dreaming he was changed to Rest	H3
And Life asleep did fancy he was Death	L2
A quick small shadow spotted the white world	H3
Then instantly 'twas huge and huger grew	F
By instants till it did o'ergloom all space	D
I lifted up mine eyes O thou just God	H3
I saw a spectre with a million heads	D
Come frantic downward through the universe	D
And all the mouths of it were uttering cries	D
Wherein was a sharp agony and yet	H3
The cries were much like laughs as if Pain laughed	H3
Its myriad lips were blue and sometimes they	Z
Closed fast and only moaned dim sounds that shaped	H3
Themselves to one word Homeless' and the stars	D
Did utter back the moan and the great hills	D
Did bellow it and then the stars and hills	D
Bandied the grief o' the ghost 'twixt heaven and earth	F3
The spectre sank and lay upon the air	I3
And brooded level close upon the earth	F3
With all the myriad heads just over me	D
I glanced in all the eyes and marked that some	A4
Did glitter with a flame of lunacy	D
And some were soft and false as feigning love	K2
And some were blinking with hypocrisy	D
And some were overfilmed by sense and some	A4
Blazed with ambition's wild unsteady fire	A3
And some were burnt i' the sockets black and some	A4
Were dead as embers when the fire is out	H3
A curious zone circled the Spectre's waist	H3
Which seemed with strange device to symbol Time	E4
It was a silver gleaming thread of day	Z
Spiral about a jet black band of night	H3
This zone seemed ever to contract and all	Q2
The frame with momentary spasms heaved	H3
In the strangling traction which did never cease	D
I cried unto the spectre Time hath bound	H3
Thy body with the fibre of his hours '	-
Then rose a multitude of mocking sounds	D
And some mouths spat at me and cried thou fool'	Q2
And some thou liest' and some he dreams' and then	Z2
Some hands uplifted certain bowls they bore	V
To lips that writhed but drank with eagerness	D
And some played curious viols shaped like hearts	D
And stringed with loves to light and ribald tunes	D
And other hands slit throats with knives	D
And others patted all the painted cheeks	D
In reach and others stole what others had	H3
Unseen or boldly snatched at alien rights	D
And some o' the heads did vie in a foolish game	S
OF WHICH COULD HOLD ITSELF THE HIGHEST and	H3
OF WHICH ONE'S NECK WAS STIFF THE LONGEST TIME	E4
And then the sea in silence wove a veil	Q2
Of mist and breathed it upward and about	H3
And waved and wound it softly round the world	H3
And meshed my dream i' the vague and endless folds	D
And a light wind arose and blew these off	F4
And I awoke	F
The many heads are priests	D
That have forgot eternity and Time	E4
Hath caught and bound them with a withe	G4
Into a fagot huge to burn in hell	Q2
Now if the priesthood put such shame upon	Z2
Your cry for leadership can better help	B4
Come out of knighthood	H3
Lo you smile you boors	D
You villeins smile at knighthood	H3
Now thou France	D
That wert the mother of fair chivalry	D
Unclose thine eyes unclose thine eyes here see	D
Here stand a herd of knaves that laugh to scorn	Z2
Thy gentlemen	Z2
O contumely hard	H3
O bitterness of last disgrace O sting	F
That stings the coward knights of lost Poictiers	D
I would but now a murmur rose i' the crowd	H3
Of angry voices and the friar leapt	H3
From where he stood to preach and pressed a path	H4
Betwixt the mass that way the voices came	S
	-
	-
Chapter III	A
	-
Lord Raoul was riding castleward from field	H3
At left hand rode his lady and at right	H3
His fool whom he loved better and his bird	H3
His fine ger falcon best beloved of all	Q2
Sat hooded on his wrist and gently swayed	H3
To the undulating amble of the horse	D
Guest knights and huntsmen and a noisy train	Z2
Of loyal stomached flatterers and their squires	D
Clattered in retinue and aped his pace	D
And timed their talk by his and worked their eyes	D
By intimation of his glance with great	H3
And drilled precision	Z2
Then said the fool	Q2
'Twas a brave flight my lord that last one brave	N3
Didst note the heron once did turn about	H3
And show a certain anger with his wing	F
And make as if he almost dared not quite	H3
To strike the falcon ere the falcon him	J
A foolish damnable advised bird	H3
Yon heron What Shall herons grapple hawks	D
God made the herons for the hawks to strike	F
And hawk and heron made he for lords' sport	H3
What then my honey tongued Fool that knowest	H3
God's purposes what made he fools for	V
For	V
To counsel lords my lord Wilt hear me prove	I4
Fools' counsel better than wise men's advice	D
Aye prove it If thy logic fail wise fool	Q2
I'll cause two wise men whip thee soundly	D
So	D
Wise men are prudent prudent men have care	I3
For their own proper interest therefore they	Z
Advise their own advantage not another's	D
But fools are careless careless men care not	H3
For their own proper interest therefore they	Z
Advise their friend's advantage not their own '	-
Now hear the commentary Cousin Raoul	Q2
This fool unselfish counsels thee his lord	H3
Go not through yonder square where as thou see'st	H3
Yon herd of villeins crick necked all with strain	Z2
Of gazing upward stand and gaze and take	F
With open mouth and eye and ear the quips	D
And heresies of John de Rochetaillade	H3
Lord Raoul half turned him in his saddle round	H3
And looked upon his fool and vouchsafed him	J
What moiety of fastidious wonderment	H3
A generous nobleness could deign to give	J4
To such humility with eye superb	K4
Where languor and surprise both showed themselves	D
Each deprecating t'other	A3
Now dear knave	N3
Be kind and tell me tell me quickly too	H3
Some proper reasonable ground or cause	D
Nay tell me but some shadow of some cause	D
Nay hint me but a thin ghost's dream of cause	D
So will I thee absolve from being whipped	H3
Why I Lord Raoul should turn my horse aside	H3
From riding by yon pitiful villein gang	F
Or ay by God from riding o'er their heads	D
If so my humor serve or through their bodies	D
Or miring fetlocks in their nasty brains	D
Or doing aught else I will in my Clermont	H3
Do me this grace mine Idiot	H3
Please thy Wisdom	A4
An thou dost ride through this same gang of boors	D
'Tis my fool's prophecy some ill shall fall	Q2
Lord Raoul yon mass of various flesh is fused	H3
And melted quite in one by white hot words	D
The friar speaks Sir sawest thou ne'er sometimes	D
Thine armorer spit on iron when 'twas hot	H3
And how the iron flung the insult back	F
Hissing So this contempt now in thine eye	H3
If it shall fall on yonder heated surface	D
May bounce back upward Well and then What then	Z2
Why if thou cause thy folk to crop some villein's ears	D
So evil falls and a fool foretells the truth	L4
Or if some erring crossbow bolt should break	F
Thine unarmed head shot from behind a house	D
So evil falls and a fool foretells the truth	L4
Well quoth Lord Raoul with languid utterance	D
'Tis very well and thou'rt a foolish fool	Q2
Nay thou art Folly's perfect witless man	Z2
Stupidity doth madly dote on thee	D
And Idiocy doth fight her for thy love	K2
Yet Silliness doth love thee best of all	Q2
And while they quarrel snatcheth thee to her	A3
And saith Ah 'tis my sweetest No brains mine '	-
And 'tis my mood to day some ill shall fall	Q2
And there right suddenly Lord Raoul gave rein	Z2
And galloped straightway to the crowded square	I3
What time a strange light flickered in the eyes	D
Of the calm fool that was not folly's gleam	M3
But more like wisdom's smile at plan well laid	H3
And end well compassed In the noise of hoofs	D
Secure the fool low muttered Folly's love '	-
So Silliness' sweetheart no brains ' quoth my Lord	H3
Why how intolerable an ass is he	D
Whom Silliness' sweetheart drives so by the ear	O3
Thou languid lordly most heart breaking Nought	H3
Thou bastard zero that hast come to power	A3
Nothing's right issue failing Thou mere pooh'	B4
That Life hath uttered in some moment's pet	H3
And then forgot she uttered thee Thou gap	B4
In time thou little notch in circumstance	D
	-
	-
Chapter IV	K2
	-
Lord Raoul drew rein with all his company	D
And urged his horse i' the crowd to gain fair view	K2
Of him that spoke and stopped at last and sat	H3
Still underneath where Gris Grillon was laid	H3
And heard somewhile with languid scornful gaze	D
The friar putting blame on priest and knight	H3
But presently as 'twere in weariness	D
He gazed about and then above and so	D
Made mark of Gris Grillon	D
So there old man	D
Thou hast more brows than legs	D
I would quoth Gris	D
That thou upon a certain time I wot	H3
Hadst had less legs and bigger brows my Lord	H3
Then all the flatterers and their squires cried out	H3
Solicitous with various voice Go to	H3
Old Rogue or Shall I brain him my good Lord	H3
Or So let me but chuck him from his perch	X3
Or Slice his tongue to piece his leg withal	Q2
Or Send his eyes to look for his missing arms	D
But my Lord Raoul was in the mood to day	H3
Which craves suggestions simply with a view	H3
To flout them in the face and so waved hand	H3
Backward and stayed the on pressing sycophants	D
Eager to buy rich praise with bravery cheap	B4
I would know why he said thou wishedst me	D
Less legs and bigger brows and when	D
Wouldst know	D
Learn then cried Gris Grillon and stirred himself	K2
In a great spasm of passion mixed with pain	D
An thou hadst had more courage and less speed	H3
Then ah my God then could not I have been	D
That piteous gibe of a man thou see'st I am	M4
Sir having no disease nor any taint	H3
Nor old hereditament of sin or shame	S
But feeling the brave bound and energy	D
Of daring health that leaps along the veins	D
As a hart upon his river banks at morn	D
Sir wild with the urgings and hot strenuous beats	D
Of manhood's heart in this full sinewed breast	H3
Which thou may'st even now discern is mine	D
Sir full aware each instant in each day	H3
Of motions of great muscles once were mine	D
And thrill of tense thew knots and stinging sense	D
Of nerves nice capable and delicate	H3
Sir visited each hour by passions great	H3
That lack all instrument of utterance	D
Passion of love that hath no arm to curve	K2
Passion of speed that hath no limb to stretch	N4
Yea even that poor feeling of desire	A3
Simply to turn me from this side to that	H3
Which brooded on into wild passion grows	D
By reason of the impotence that broods	D
Balked of its end and unachievable	Q2
Without assistance of some foreign arm	O4
Sir moved and thrilled like any perfect man	D
O trebly moved and thrilled since poor desires	D
That are of small import to happy men	D
Who easily can compass them to me	D
Become mere hopeless Heavens or actual Hells	D
Sir strengthened so with manhood's seasoned soul	Q2
I lie in this damned cradle day and night	H3
Still still so still my Lord less than a babe	P4
In powers but more than any man in needs	D
Dreaming with open eye of days when men	D
Have fallen cloven through steel and bone and flesh	Q4
At single strokes of this of that big arm	O4
Once wielded aught a mortal arm might wield	H3
Waking a prey to any foolish gnat	H3
That wills to conquer my defenceless brow	Z2
And sit thereon in triumph hounded ever	A3
By small necessities of barest use	D
Which since I cannot compass them alone	D
Do snarl my helplessness into mine ear	O3
Howling behind me that I have no hands	D
And yelping round me that I have no feet	H3
So that my heart is stretched by tiny ills	D
That are so much the larger that I knew	H3
In bygone days how trifling small they were	A3
Dungeoned in wicker strong as 'twere in stone	D
Fast chained with nothing firmer than with steel	Q2
Captive in limb yet free in eye and ear	O3
Sole tenant of this puny Hell in Heaven	D
And this all this because I was a man	D
For in the battle ha thou know'st pale face	D
When that the four great English horsemen bore	V
So bloodily on thee I leapt to front	H3
To front of thee of thee and fought four blades	D
Thinking to win thee time to snatch thy breath	L2
And by a rearing fore hoof stricken down	D
Mine eyes through blood my brain through pain	D
Midst of a dim hot uproar fainting down	D
Were 'ware of thee far rearward fleeing Hound	H3
	-
	-
Chapter V	D
	-
Then as the passion of old Gris Grillon	D
A wave swift swelling grew to highest height	H3
And snapped a foaming consummation forth	R4
With salty hissing came the friar through	H3
The mass A stillness of white faces wrought	H3
A transient death on all the hands and breasts	D
Of all the crowd and men and women stood	H3
One instant fixed as they had died upright	H3
Then suddenly Lord Raoul rose up in selle	Q2
And thrust his dagger straight upon the breast	H3
Of Gris Grillon to pin him to the wall	Q2
But ere steel point met flesh tall Jacques Grillon	D
Had leapt straight upward from the earth and in	D
The self same act had whirled his bow by end	H3
With mighty whirr about his head and struck	C4
The dagger with so featly stroke and full	Q2
That blade flew up and hilt flew down and left	H3
Lord Raoul unfriended of his weapon	D
Then	D
The fool cried shrilly Shall a knight of France	D
Go stabbing his own cattle And Lord Raoul	Q2
Calm with a changing mood sat still and called	H3
Here huntsmen 'tis my will ye seize the hind	H3
That broke my dagger bind him to this tree	D
And slice both ears to hair breadth of his head	H3
To be his bloody token of regret	H3
That he hath put them to so foul employ	Q2
As catching villainous breath of strolling priests	D
That mouth at knighthood and defile the Church	X3
The knife Rest of line lost	H3
To place the edge Rest of line lost	H3
Mary the blood it oozes sluggishly	D
Scorning to come at call of blade so base	D
Sathanas He that cuts the ear has left	H3
The blade sticking at midway for to turn	D
And ask the Duke if 'tis not done	D
Thus far with nice precision and the Duke	F
Leans down to see and cries 'tis marvellous nice	D
Shaved as thou wert ear barber by profession	D
Whereat one witling cries 'tis monstrous fit	H3
In sooth a shaven pated priest should have	K2
A shaven eared audience and another	A3
Give thanks thou Jacques to this most gracious Duke	F
That rids thee of the life long dread of loss	D
Of thy two ears by cropping them at once	D
And now henceforth full safely thou may'st dare	I3
The powerfullest Lord in France to touch	S4
An ear of thine and now the knave o' the knife	K2
Seizes the handle to commence again and saws	D
And ha Lift up thine head O Henry Friend	H3
'Tis Marie walking midway of the street	H3
As she had just stepped forth from out the gate	H3
Of the very very Heaven where God is	D
Still glittering with the God shine on her Look	F
And there right suddenly the fool looked up	B4
And saw the crowd divided in two ranks	D
Raoul pale stricken as a man that waits	D
God's first remark when he hath died into	H3
God's sudden presence saw the cropping knave	K2
A pause with knife in hand the wondering folk	F
All straining forward with round ringed eyes	D
And Gris Grillon calm smiling while he prayed	H3
The Holy Virgin's blessing	F
Down the lane	D
Betwixt the hedging bodies of the crowd	H3
Part of line lost majesty	D
Part of line lost a spirit pacing on the top	B4
Of springy clouds and bore straight on toward	H3
The Duke On him her eyes burned steadily	D
With such gray fires of heaven hot command	H3
As Dawn burns Night away with and she held	H3
Her white forefinger quivering aloft	H3
At greatest arm's length of her dainty arm	O4
In menace sweeter than a kiss could be	D
And terribler than sudden whispers are	U
That come from lips unseen in sunlit room	T4
So with the spell of all the Powers of Sense	D
That e'er have swayed the savagery of hot blood	H3
Raying from her whole body beautiful	Q2
She held the eyes and wills of all the crowd	H3
Then from the numbed hand of him that cut	H3
The knife dropped down and the quick fool stole in	D
And snatched and deftly severed all the withes	D
Unseen and Jacques burst forth into the crowd	H3
And then the mass completed the long breath	L2
They had forgot to draw and surged upon	D
The centre where the maiden stood with sound	H3
Of multitudes of blessings and Lord Raoul	Q2
Rode homeward silent and most pale and strange	U4
Deep wrapt in moody fits of hot and cold	H3
End of Chapter V	D
	-
	-
	-
Macon Georgia	V4

Sidney Lanier

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