Hope, Like The Short-lived Ray That Gleams Awhile Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABAC DEFG HIHI HJHK LMGM NHNH HHHH HOHO JPJQHope like the short lived ray that gleams awhile | A |
Through wintry skies upon the frozen waste | B |
Cheers e'en the face of misery to a smile | A |
But soon the momentary pleasure's past | C |
- | |
How oft my Delia since our last farewell | D |
Years that have rolled since that distressful hour | E |
Grieved I have said when most our hopes prevail | F |
Our promised happiness is least secure | G |
- | |
Oft I have thought the scene of troubles closed | H |
And hoped once more to gaze upon your charms | I |
As oft some dire mischance has interposed | H |
And snatched the expected blessing from my arms | I |
- | |
The seaman thus his shattered vessel lost | H |
Still vainly strives to shun the threatening death | J |
And while he thinks to gain the friendly coast | H |
And drops his feet and feels the sands beneath | K |
- | |
Borne by the wave steep sloping from the shore | L |
Back to the inclement deep again he beats | M |
The surge aside and seems to treat secure | G |
And now the refluent wave his baffled toil defeats | M |
- | |
Had you my love forbade me to pursue | N |
My fond attempt disdainfully retired | H |
And with proud scorn compelled me to subdue | N |
The ill fated passion by yourself inspired | H |
- | |
Then haply to some distant spot removed | H |
Hopeless to gain unwilling to molest | H |
With fond entreaties whom I dearly loved | H |
Despair or absense had redeemed my rest | H |
- | |
But now sole partner in my Delia's heart | H |
Yet doomed far off in exile to complain | O |
Eternal absence cannot ease my smart | H |
And hope subsists but to prolong my pain | O |
- | |
Oh then kind Heaven be this my latest breath | J |
Here end my life or make it worth my care | P |
Absence from whom we love is worse than death | J |
And frustrate hope severer than dismay | Q |
William Cowper
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
Write your comment about Hope, Like The Short-lived Ray That Gleams Awhile poem by William Cowper
Best Poems of William Cowper