Ballad Of The Old Cypress Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQJBP ROLST| In front of the temple of Chu ko Liang there is an old cypress Its branches | A |
| are like green bronze its roots like rocks around its great girth of forty | B |
| spans its rimy bark withstands the washing of the rain Its jet colored top | C |
| rises two thousand feet to greet the sky Prince and statesman have long since | D |
| paid their debt to time but the tree continues to be cherished among men When | E |
| the clouds come continuous vapors link it with the mists of the long Wu | F |
| Gorge and when the moon appears the cypress tree shares the chill of the | G |
| Snowy Mountains' whiteness | H |
| I remember a year or so ago where the road wound east round my Brocade | I |
| River pavilion the First Ruler and Chu ko Liang shared the same shrine There | J |
| too were towering cypresses on the ancient plain outside the city The paint | K |
| work of the temple's dark interior gleamed dully through derelict doors and | L |
| windows But this cypress here though it holds its ground well clinging with | M |
| wide encompassing snake like hold yet because of its lonely height rising | N |
| into the gloom of the sky meets much of the wind's fierce blast Nothing but | O |
| the power of Divine Providence could have kept it standing for so long its | P |
| straightness must be the work of the Creator himself If a great hall had | Q |
| collapsed and beams for it were needed ten thousand oxen might turn their | J |
| heads inquiringly to look at such a mountain of a load But it is already | B |
| marvel enough to astonish the world without any need to undergo a craftsman's | P |
| embellishing It has never refused the axe there is simply no one who could | R |
| carry it away if it were felled Its bitter heart has not escaped the ants but | O |
| there are always phoenixes roosting in its scented leaves Men of ambition and | L |
| you who dwell unseen do not cry out in despair From of old the really great | S |
| has never been found a use for | T |
Tu Fu
(1)
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