The Toad Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFFGHIFFF FFJKFLMNOPQRFF SITKUDVWFXLNFYUZA2B2 C2D2FOPE2F2A2G2D2TCK JB2EH2I2SMJ2K2L2E PIFE2M2IFIFFN2IIFO2I E2I H2P2XIQ2XO2II FFP2R2IIS2IIT2E2O2FU 2IN2IF III KIFCIEV2W2FX2FISE2O2 Y2ZEI T2FE2 ZIN2FZ2OA3B3FV2OFC3F EID3 IFE3ZXIWZEF3II

O who shall tell us of the truth of thingsA
The day was ending blood red in the WestB
After a storm The sun had smelted downC
As in a furnace all the clouds to goldD
Upon a cart track by a pool of rainE
Dumbly with calm eyes fixed upon the heavensF
A toad sat thinking It was wretchednessF
That gazed on majesty Ah who shall tellG
The very truth of things the hidden lawH
Of pain and ugliness Byzantium bredI
Growths of Augustuli Great Rome her crimesF
As Earth breeds flowers the firmament its sunsF
And the toad too his crop of ulcerous soresF
-
The leaves turned purple on the vermeil treesF
The rain lay like a mirror in the rutsF
The dying sun shook his last banners outJ
Birds sang in whispers and the world grew dumbK
With the hush of evening and forgetfulnessF
Then too the toad forgot himself and allL
His daylight shame as he looked out bright eyedM
Into the sweet face of the coming nightN
For who shall tell He too the accursed oneO
Dreamt of a blessing There is not a creatureP
On whom the infinite heaven hath not smiledQ
Wildly and tenderly no thing impureR
Monstrous deformed and hideous but he holdsF
The immensity of the starlight in his eyesF
-
A priest came by and saw the unholy thingS
And with his foot even as his prayers he readI
Trod it aside and shuddered and went onT
A woman with a wild flower in her bosomK
Came next and at the eye's light mirrored thereU
Aimed her umbrella point Now he was oldD
And she was beautiful Then home from schoolV
Ran four boys with young faces like the dawnW
I was a child was weak was pitiless''F
Thus must each man relate who would beginX
The true tale of his life A child hath allL
Joy laughter mirth He is drunk with life's delightN
Hope's day star breaketh in his innocent eyesF
He hath a mother He is just a boyY
A little man who breathes the untrammelled airU
Clean winded and clean limbed and he is freeZ
And the world loves him Why should he not thenA2
For lack of sorrow strike the sorrowfulB2
-
The toad dragged down the deep track of the roadC2
It was the hour when from the hollows roundD2
Blue mists steal creeping low upon the fieldsF
His wild heart sought the night Just then the childrenO
Came on the fugitive and all togetherP
Cried Let us kill him We will punish himE2
For being so ugly '' And at the word they laughedF2
For children laugh when they do murder ThenA2
They thrust at him with sticks and where the eyeG2
Bulged from its socket made a ghastlier woundD2
Opening his sores The passers by looked onT
And they too laughed And then the night fell downC
Black on the blackness of his martyrdomK
Who was so dumb And when the blood flowed outJ
It was horrible blood And he was horribleB2
That was his crime And still along the laneE
The creature sprawled One foot had been shorn awayH2
By a child's spade and at each new blow aimedI2
Its jaws foamed blood poor damn d suffering thingS
Which even when the sun had soothed its hideM
Had skulked in holes And the children mocked the moreJ2
Wretch Would you spit at us '' O strange child's heartK2
What rage is thine to pluck thus at the robeL2
Of misery and taunt it with its painE
-
And so from clod to clod from briar to briarP
But breathing still in his dull fear he fledI
Seeking a shelter from their tyrannous eyesF
So mean a thing it seemed Death shrank from himE2
Refusing aid of his all pitying scytheM2
And the children followed on with rushes noosedI
To take him but he slipped between their handsF
And fell so chanced it where the rut gaped deepestI
Into a mire of mud cool hiding placeF
It was and refuge for his mangled limbsF
And there he quaking lay The anointing slimeN2
Soothed his hurt body like a sacramentI
An extreme unction for his utter needI
Nor yet was safety won The children's eyesF
Abominable eyes were on him stillO2
With their hard mirth Is there no stone '' they criedI
To end him with Here Jeremiah JimE2
Lend us a hand '' And willing hands were lentI
-
Once more O child of Man I ask it SayH2
What is the goal of thy desire What aimP2
Is thine What target wouldst thou hit What winX
Say Is it death or life The stone was broughtI
A ponderous mass broad as a paving flagQ2
But light in his young hands that bore it inX
Pride giving strength to lift and the lust to killO2
You shall see what this will do '' the young giant criedI
And all stood near expectant of the endI
-
And then a new thing happened a new chanceF
A coster's dray drawn by an ancient assF
Passed down the lane With creaking wheels it cameP2
And slow harsh jolts in the ruts The ass was leanR2
And stiff with age spavined with foundered feetI
And dead to blows which rained on his dull hideI
Each step he stumbled He was near his homeS2
After a long day's labour in the fieldI
And began to scent his stable while the cartI
Lagged in the ruts or with shafts forward thrownT2
Pressed his galled sides and thrust its load on himE2
At the downward slope where the lane left the hillO2
More than his strength A mist was in his eyesF
And that dull stupor which foreshadows deathU2
Thus the cart moved its driver cursing loudI
Its driven dumb while the whip cracked in timeN2
The ass was in his dreams beyond our thoughtI
Plunged in those depths of soul where no man straysF
-
And the children heard the cart upon the roadI
It gave them a new thought And Stop '' they criedI
Let the stone be We shall have better sportI
Here with the wheels This ass will do the thing ''-
And they stood aside and watched what next should comeK
And the cart drew near its wheels sunk in the rutI
Where the toad lay the ass with his dull eyesF
Fixed on the path before him his head downC
Nosing the ground in apathy of thoughtI
And the ass stopped He the sad slave of painE
Had seen the vision of a sadder slaveV2
Needing his pity and being as it were the judgeW2
To save or slay he had been moved to graceF
He had seen and understood And gathering upX2
In a single act supreme of his poor weaknessF
All that remained to him of combative prideI
He made the grand refusal masteringS
By his last strength the load which pressed on himE2
With terrible connivance of the hillO2
And wrenched the cart wheel from its track of doomY2
Spite of his tyrant's voice of blasphemyZ
And its mad curses and his own huge painE
And so the victory won passed on his roadI
-
Then also was it that that child with the stoneT2
He who now tells this story from his handsF
Let the flag drop A voice had cried to himE2
Too loud for denial Fool Be merciful ''-
-
O wisdom of the witless Law of pityZ
Loud on the lips of pain Nature's pure lightI
Lightening the darkness of Man's gulfs of crimeN2
Lessons of courage taught by coward heartsF
Of joy by the joyless Eyes that cannot weepZ2
Pleading with grief and pointing consolationO
The eloquent call of one poor damn d soulA3
Preaching to souls elect the beast to manB3
Know this hours are there twilight hours of graceF
When be he what he may beast bird or slaveV2
Each living thing gets glimpses of God's heavenO
And knows himself own brother to the starsF
Being one with these in ancestry of loveC3
Kindred in kindness Learn that this poor assF
Facing his pain rather than add to painE
Was master of his soul in verier deedI
Than Socrates was saint than Plato sageD3
-
Who is the teacher here O man of mindI
Wouldst thou touch truth The true truth in thee liesF
Thy lack of light Nay kneel weep pray believeE3
Grovel on the Earth She shall thy teacher beZ
A corner of their Heaven thou too shalt winX
When thou art dust with these Then shalt thou tooI
Get glimpses of their world's ingenuous dawnW
And purchase back thy soul's lost purityZ
The love that casts out fear and conquers painE
The link which binds its weak ones with its strongF3
And equals all in one divine accordI
The unknowing ass with the all knowing GodI

Wilfrid Scawen Blunt



Rate:
(1)



Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme

Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation


Write your comment about The Toad poem by Wilfrid Scawen Blunt


 

Recent Interactions*

This poem was read 0 times,

This poem was added to the favorite list by 0 members,

This poem was voted by 0 members.

(* Interactions only in the last 7 days)

New Poems

Popular Poets