Ginevra Degli Amieri. A Story Of Old Florence. Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFG HIBJK LMNOJPQRSKTUVTWXJ YBZA2B2C2D2 E2F2G2UH2RI2J2K2L2M2 N2A2 O2P2Q2VR2JP2S2T2R2RU 2V2 W2X2J2Y2JKZ2A3 BM2B3C3FFUE X2D3E3KCF3G3H3I3KP2Z J3K3F3L3BM3UX2N3O3P3 P3DQ3P3P3O2O2P3KR3 S3T3O2O2P3P3O2O2D2U3 V3W3P3P3D2 FP3P3X3Y3Z3A4B4P3F3U P3P3P3C4D4P3 P3P3P3KE4O2H2F4G4K D4P3H4FP3KI4O2P3J4 TK4P3P3P3P3P3 P3A3A3T3L4M4 N4P3O4 P3RP4P3F2P3Q4S2YR4S4 P3U T4U4P3P3DV4W4X4S2| So it is come The doctor's glossy smile | A |
| Deceives me not I saw him shake his head | B |
| Whispering and heard poor Giulia sob without | C |
| As slowly creaking he went down the stair | D |
| Were they afraid that I should be afraid | E |
| I who had died once and been laid in tomb | F |
| They need not | G |
| - | |
| Little one look not so pale | H |
| I am not raving Ah you never heard | I |
| The story Climb up there upon the bed | B |
| Sit close and listen After this one day | J |
| I shall not tell you stories any more | K |
| - | |
| How old are you my rose What almost twelve | L |
| Almost a woman Scarcely more than that | M |
| Was your fair mother when she bore her bud | N |
| And scarcely more was I when long years since | O |
| I left my father's house a bride in May | J |
| You know the house beside St Andrea's church | P |
| Gloomy and rich which stands and seems to frown | Q |
| On the Mercato humming at its base | R |
| And hold on high out of the common reach | S |
| The lilies and carved shields above its door | K |
| And higher yet to catch and woo the sun | T |
| A little loggia set against the sky | U |
| That was my play place ever as a child | V |
| And with me used to play a kinsman's son | T |
| Antonio Rondinelli Ah dear days | W |
| Two happy things we were with none to chide | X |
| Or hint that life was anything but play | J |
| - | |
| Sudden the play time ended All at once | Y |
| You must be wed they told me What is wed | B |
| I asked but with the word I bent my brow | Z |
| Let them put on the garland smiled to see | A2 |
| The glancing jewels tied about my neck | B2 |
| And so half pleased half puzzled was led forth | C2 |
| By my grave husband older than my sire | D2 |
| - | |
| O the long years that followed It would seem | E2 |
| That the sun never shone in all those years | F2 |
| Or only with a sudden troubled glint | G2 |
| Flashed on Antonio's curls as he went by | U |
| Doffing his cap with eyes of wistful love | H2 |
| Raised to my face my conscious woful face | R |
| Were we so much to blame Our lives had twined | I2 |
| Together none forbidding for so long | J2 |
| They let our childish fingers drop the seed | K2 |
| Unhindered which should ripen to tall grain | L2 |
| They let the firm small roots tangle and grow | M2 |
| Then rent them careless that it hurt the plant | N2 |
| I loved Antonio and he loved me | A2 |
| - | |
| Life was all shadow but it was not sin | O2 |
| I loved Antonio but I kept me pure | P2 |
| Not for my husband's sake but for the sake | Q2 |
| Of him my first born child my little child | V |
| Mine for a few short weeks whose touch whose look | R2 |
| Thrilled all my soul and thrills it to this day | J |
| I loved but hear me swear I kept me pure | P2 |
| Remember that Madonna when I come | S2 |
| Before thy throne to morrow Be not stern | T2 |
| Or gaze upon me with reproachful look | R2 |
| Making my little angel hide his face | R |
| And weep while all the others turn glad eyes | U2 |
| Rejoicing on their mothers | V2 |
| - | |
| It was hard | W2 |
| To sit in darkness while the rest had light | X2 |
| To move to discords when the rest had song | J2 |
| To be so young and never to have lived | Y2 |
| I bore as women bear until one day | J |
| Soul said to flesh This I endure no more | K |
| And with the word uprose tore clay apart | Z2 |
| And what was blank before grew blanker still | A3 |
| - | |
| It was a fever so the leeches said | B |
| I had been dead so long I did not know | M2 |
| The difference or heed Oil on my breast | B3 |
| The garments of the grave about me wrapped | C3 |
| They bore me forth and laid me in the tomb | F |
| The rich and beautiful and dreadful tomb | F |
| Where all the buried Amteris lie | U |
| Beneath the Duomo's black and towering shade | E |
| - | |
| Open the curtain child Yes it is night | X2 |
| It was night then when I awoke to feel | D3 |
| That deadly chill and see by ghostly gleams | E3 |
| Of moonlight creeping through the grated door | K |
| The coffins of my fathers all about | C |
| Strange hollow clamors rang and echoed back | F3 |
| As struggling out of mine I dropped and fell | G3 |
| With frantic strength I beat upon the grate | H3 |
| It yielded to my touch Some careless hand | I3 |
| Had left the bolt half slipped My father swore | K |
| Afterward with a curse he would make sure | P2 |
| Next time NEXT TIME That hurts me even now | Z |
| - | |
| Dead or alive I issued scarce sure which | J3 |
| High overhead Giotto's tower soared | K3 |
| Behind the Duomo rose all white and black | F3 |
| Then pealed a sudden jargoning of bells | L3 |
| And down the darkling street I wildly fled | B |
| Led by a little cold and wandering moon | M3 |
| Which seemed as lonely and as lost as I | U |
| I had no aim save to reach warmth and light | X2 |
| And human touch but still my witless steps | N3 |
| Led to my husband's door and there I stopped | O3 |
| By instinct knocked and called | P3 |
| - | |
| A window oped | P3 |
| A voice t'was his demanded Who is there | D |
| Tis I Ginevra Then I heard the tone | Q3 |
| Change into horror and he prayed aloud | P3 |
| And called upon the saints the while I urged | P3 |
| O let me in Francesco let me in | O2 |
| I am so cold so frightened let me in | O2 |
| Then with a crash the window was shut fast | P3 |
| And though I cried and beat upon the door | K |
| And wailed aloud no other answer came | R3 |
| - | |
| Weeping I turned away and feebly strove | S3 |
| Down the hard distance towards my father's house | T3 |
| They will have pity and will let me in | O2 |
| I thought They loved me and will let me in | O2 |
| Cowards At the high window overhead | P3 |
| They stood and trembled while I plead and prayed | P3 |
| I am your child Ginevra Let me in | O2 |
| I am not dead In mercy let me in | O2 |
| The holy saints forbid declared my sire | D2 |
| My mother sobbed and vowed whole pounds of wax | U3 |
| To St Eustachio would he but remove | V3 |
| This fearful presence from her door Then sharp | W3 |
| Came click of lock and a long tube was thrust | P3 |
| From out the window and my brother cried | P3 |
| Spirit or devil go or else I fire | D2 |
| - | |
| Where should I go Back to the ghastly tomb | F |
| And the cold coffined ones Up the long street | P3 |
| Wringing my hands and sobbing low I went | P3 |
| My feet were bare and bleeding from the stones | X3 |
| My hands were bleeding too my hair hung loose | Y3 |
| Over my shroud So wild and strange a shape | Z3 |
| Saw never Florence since The people call | A4 |
| That street through which I walked and wrung my hands | B4 |
| Street of the Dead One even to this day | P3 |
| The sleeping houses stood in midnight black | F3 |
| And not a soul was in the streets but I | U |
| - | |
| At last I saw a flickering point of light | P3 |
| High overhead in a dim window set | P3 |
| I had lain down to die but at the sight | P3 |
| I rose crawled on and with expiring strength | C4 |
| Knocked sank again and knew not even then | D4 |
| It was Antonio's door by which I lay | P3 |
| - | |
| A window opened and a voice called out | P3 |
| Qui e I am Ginevra And I thought | P3 |
| Now he will fall to trembling like the rest | P3 |
| And bid me hence But lo a moment more | K |
| The bolts were drawn and arms whose very touch | E4 |
| Was life lifted and clasped and bore me in | O2 |
| O ghost or angel of my buried love | H2 |
| I know not care not which be welcome here | F4 |
| Welcome thrice welcome to this heart of mine | G4 |
| I heard him say and then I heard no more | K |
| - | |
| It was high noontide when I woke again | D4 |
| To hear fierce voices wrangling by my bed | P3 |
| My father's and my husband's for with dawn | H4 |
| Gathering up valor they had sought the tomb | F |
| Had found me gone and tracked my bleeding feet | P3 |
| Over the pavement to Antonio's door | K |
| Dead they cared nothing living I was theirs | I4 |
| Hot raged the quarrel then came Justice in | O2 |
| And to the court we swept I in my shroud | P3 |
| To try the cause | J4 |
| - | |
| This was the verdict given | T |
| A woman who has been to burial borne | K4 |
| Made fast and left and locked in with the dead | P3 |
| Who at her husband's door has stood and plead | P3 |
| For entrance and has heard her prayer denied | P3 |
| Who from her father's house is urged and chased | P3 |
| Must be adjudged as dead in law and fact | P3 |
| - | |
| The Court pronounces the defendant dead | P3 |
| She can resume her former ties at will | A3 |
| Or may renounce them if such be her will | A3 |
| She is no more a daughter or a spouse | T3 |
| Unless she choose and is set free to form | L4 |
| New ties if so she choose | M4 |
| - | |
| O blessed words | N4 |
| That very day we knelt before the priest | P3 |
| My love and I were wed and life began | O4 |
| - | |
| Child of my child child of Antonio's child | P3 |
| Bend down and let me kiss your wondering face | R |
| 'Tis a strange tale to tell a rose like you | P4 |
| But time is brief and had I told you not | P3 |
| Haply the story would have met your ears | F2 |
| From them the Amieri my own blood | P3 |
| Now turned to gall whose foul and bitter lips | Q4 |
| Will wag with lies when once my lips are dumb | S2 |
| Pardon me Virgin I was gentle once | Y |
| And thou hast seen my wrongs Thou wilt forgive | R4 |
| Now go my dearest When they wake thee up | S4 |
| To tell thee I am dead be not too sad | P3 |
| I who have died once do not fear to die | U |
| - | |
| Sweet was that waking sweeter will be this | T4 |
| Close to Heaven's gate my own Antonio sits | U4 |
| Waiting and spite of all the Frati say | P3 |
| I know I shall not stand long at that gate | P3 |
| Or knock and be refused an entrance there | D |
| For he will start up when lie hears my voice | V4 |
| The saints will smile and he will open quick | W4 |
| Only a night to part me from that joy | X4 |
| Jesu Maria let the dawning come | S2 |
Susan Coolidge (sarah Chauncey Woolsey)
(1)
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About Ginevra Degli Amieri. A Story Of Old Florence.
Ginevra Degli Amieri. A Story Of Old Florence. is a poem by Susan Coolidge (sarah Chauncey Woolsey). This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
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