A Sicilian Idyll Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFFG FHI AJKLM FNO AFPFQG FARSTUV ADWX FYO AZO FA2ZA DB2FOC2D2OOOSQFOE2F2 RQB2QOOXOOOOQG2B2QH2 OX QOOQQOOO OFQFSEI2AJ2QAOOB2SQO K2QQOOOOQQOQQL2OEOFE M2XFCQN2FVCB2FQQFO2O CQP2B2CFQ2R2COFXL2S2 QB2J2FQT2 QOO QCOOOU2 FFC CCQQOQCV2COOF FCF COC OFirst Scene Damon | A |
I thank thee no | B |
Already have I drunk a bowl of wine | C |
Nay nay why wouldst thou rise | D |
There rolls thy ball of worsted Sit thee down | E |
Come sit thee down Cydilla | F |
And let me fetch thy ball rewind the wool | F |
And tell thee all that happened yesterday | G |
- | |
Cydilla | F |
Thanks Damon now by Zeus thou art so brisk | H |
It shames me that to stoop should try my bones | I |
- | |
Damon | A |
We both are old | J |
And if we may have peaceful days are blessed | K |
Few hours of bouyancy will come to break | L |
The sure withdrawal from us of life's flood | M |
- | |
Cydilla | F |
True true youth looks a great way off To think | N |
It wonce was age did lie quite out of sight | O |
- | |
Damon | A |
Not many days have been so beautiful | F |
As yesterday Cydilla yet one was | P |
And I with thee broke tranced on its fine spell | F |
Thou dost remember Yes but not with tears | Q |
Ah not with tears Cydilla pray oh pray | G |
- | |
Cydilla | F |
Pardon me Damon | A |
'Tis many years since thou hast touched thereon | R |
And something stirs about thee | S |
Such air of eagerness as was thine when | T |
I was more foolish than in my life I hope | U |
To ever have been at another time | V |
- | |
Damon | A |
Pooh foolish thou wast then so very wise | D |
That often having seen thee foolish since | W |
Wonder has made me faint that thou shouldst err | X |
- | |
Cydilla | F |
Nay then I erred dear Damon and remorse | Y |
Was not so slow to find me as thou deemst | O |
- | |
Damon | A |
There mop those dear wet eyes or thou'lt ne'er hear | Z |
What it was filled my heart yesterday | O |
- | |
Cydilla | F |
Tell Damon since I well know that regrets | A2 |
Hang like dull gossips round another's ear | Z |
Damon | A |
- | |
First thou must know that oftentimes I rise | D |
Not heeding or not finding sleep of watching | B2 |
Afraid no longer to be prodigal | F |
And gaze upon the beauty of the night | O |
Quiet hours while dawn absorbs the waning stars | C2 |
Are like cold water sipped between our cups | D2 |
Washing the jaded palate till it taste | O |
The wine again Ere the sun rose I sat | O |
Within my garden porch my lamp was left | O |
Burning beside my bed though it would be | S |
Broad day before I should return upstairs | Q |
I let it burn willing to waste some oil | F |
Rather than to disturb my tranquil mood | O |
But as the Fates determined it was seen | E2 |
Suddenly running round the dovecote came | F2 |
A young man naked breathless through the dawn | R |
Florid with haste and wine it was Hipparchus | Q |
Yes there he stood before me panting rubbing | B2 |
His heated flesh which felt the cold at once | Q |
When he had breath enough he begged me straight | O |
To put the lamp out and himself and done it | O |
Ere I was on the stair | X |
Flung all along my bed his gasping shook it | O |
When I at length could sit down by his side | O |
'What cause young sir brings you here in this plight | O |
At such an hour ' He shuddered sighed and rolled | O |
My blanket round him then came a gush of words | Q |
'The first of causes Damon namely Love | G2 |
Eldest and least resigned and most unblushing | B2 |
Of all the turbulent impulsive gods | Q |
A quarter of an hour scarce has flown | H2 |
Since lovely arms clung round me and my head | O |
Asleep lay nested in a woman's hair | X |
My cheek still bears print of its ample coils ' | - |
Athwart its burning flush he drew my fingers | Q |
And their tips felt it might be as he said | O |
'Oh I have had a night a night a night | O |
Had Paris so much bliss | Q |
And oh was Helen's kiss | Q |
To be compared with those I tasted | O |
Which but for me had all been wasted | O |
On a bald man a fat man a gross man a beast | O |
To scare the best guest from the very best feast ' | - |
Cydilla need not hear half that he said | O |
For he was mad awhile | F |
But having given rein to hot caprice | Q |
And satyr jest and the distempered male | F |
At length I heard his story | S |
At sun down certain miles without the town | E |
He'd chanced upon a light wheeled litter car | I2 |
And in it there stood one | A |
Yet more a woman than her garb was rich | J2 |
With more of youth and health than elegance | Q |
'The mules ' he said 'were beauties she was one | A |
And cried directions to the neighbour field | O |
'O catch that big bough Fool not that the next | O |
Clumsy you've let it go O stop it swaying | B2 |
The eggs will jolt out ' From the road ' said he | S |
'I could not see who thus was rated so | Q |
Sprang up beside her and beheld her husband | O |
Lover or keeper what you like to call him | K2 |
A middle aged stout man upon whose shoulders | Q |
Kneeled up a scraggy mule boy slave who was | Q |
The fool that could not reach a thrush's nest | O |
Which they while plucking almond had revealed | O |
Before she knew who it could be I said | O |
'Why yes he is a fool but we fair friend | O |
Were we not foolish waiting for such fools | Q |
Let us be off ' I stooped took shook the reins | Q |
With one hand while the other clasped her waist | O |
'Ah who ' she turned I smiled like amorous Zeus | Q |
A certain vagueness clouded her wild eyes | Q |
As though she saw a swan a bull a shower | L2 |
Of hurried flames and felt divinely pleased | O |
I cracked the whip and we were jolted down | E |
A kiss was snatched getting the ribbons straight | O |
We hardly heard them first begin to bawl | F |
So great our expedition towards the town | E |
We flew I pulled up at an inn then bid them | M2 |
Stable my mules and chariot and prepare | X |
A meal for Dives meanwhile we would stroll | F |
Down to the market Took her arm in mine | C |
And out of sight hurried her through cross lanes | Q |
Bade her choose now at a fruit now pastry booth | N2 |
Until we gained my lodging she spoke little | F |
But often laughed tittering from time to time | V |
'O Bacchus what a prank Just think of Cymon | C |
So stout as he is at least five miles to walk | B2 |
Without a carriage well you take things coolly' | F |
Or such appreciation nice of gifts | Q |
I need not boast of since I had them gratis | Q |
When my stiff door creaked open grudgingly | F |
Her face first fell the room looked bare enough | O2 |
Still we brought with us food and cakes I owned | O |
A little cellar of delicious wine | C |
An unasked neighbour's garden furnished flowers | Q |
Jests helped me nimbly I surpassed myself | P2 |
So we were friends and having laughed we drank | B2 |
Ate sang danced grew wild Soon both had one | C |
Desire effort goal | F |
One bed one sleep one dream | Q2 |
O Damon Damon both had one alarm | R2 |
When woken by the door forced rudely open | C |
Lit from the stair bedazzled glowered at hated | O |
She clung to me her master husband uncle | F |
I know not which or what he was stood there | X |
It crossed my mind he might have been her father | L2 |
Naked unarmed I rose and did assume | S2 |
What dignity is not derived from clothes | Q |
Bid them to quit my room my private dwelling | B2 |
It was no use for that gross beast was rich | J2 |
Had his been neither legal right nor moral | F |
My natural right was nought for his she was | Q |
In eyes of those bribed catchpolls Brute revenge | T2 |
Seethed in his pimpled face 'To gaol with him ' | - |
He shouted huskily I wrapped some clothes | Q |
About my shuddering bed fellow a sheet | O |
Flung round myself ere she was led away | O |
Had whispered to her 'Shriek faint on the stair ' | - |
Then I was seized by two dog officers | Q |
That girl was worth her keep for going down | C |
She suddenly writhed gasped and had a fit | O |
My chance occurred and I whipped through the casement | O |
All they could do was catch away the sheet | O |
I dropped a dozen feet into a bush | U2 |
Soon found my heels and plied them here I am ' | - |
- | |
Cydilla | F |
A strange tale Damon this to tell to me | F |
And introduce as thou at first began | C |
- | |
Damon | C |
Thy life Cydilla has at all times been | C |
A ceremony this young man's | Q |
Discovered by free impulse not couched in forms | Q |
Worn and made smooth by prudent folk long dead | O |
I love Hipparchus for his wave like brightness | Q |
He wastes himself but till his flash is gone | C |
I shall be ever glad to hear him laugh | V2 |
Nor could one make a Spartan of him even | C |
Were one the Spartan with a will to do it | O |
Yet had there been no more than what is told | O |
Thou wouldst not now be lending ear to me | F |
- | |
Cydilla | F |
Hearing such things I think of my poor son | C |
Which makes me far too sad to smile at folly | F |
- | |
Damon | C |
There let me tell thee all just as it happened | O |
And of thy son I shall be speaking soon | C |
- | |
Cyd | O |
Thomas Sturge Moore
(1)
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