Return To Nature Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDDEEFGHHIJKLMN OOPPNNQQRRSSTTUUVVVW DDIXYYZZA2A2B2B2C2C2 D2E2B2B2F2F2G2G2B2B2 H2H2ZZI2I2B2B2J2J2K2 K2L2M2N2N2O2O2P2P2UU Q2R2S2S2EEUUT2T2T2T2 T2T2T2T2U2V2T2T2T2T2 W2W2LX2B2B2I2I2N2N2Y 2Y2N2N2Z2MA3A3T2T2B3 B3L2L2O2O2N2N2C3C3ZZ T2T2D3E3T2T2Y2Y2G2G2 T2T2T2T2F3D3T2T2UUI2 I2G3G3JXH3H3T2T2T2T2 B2B2I3J3

My song is of that city whichA
Has men too poor and men too richA
Where some are sick too richly fedB
While others take the sparrows' breadB
Where some have beds to warm their bonesC
While others sleep on hard cold stonesC
That suck away their bodies' heatD
Where men are drunk in every streetD
Men full of poison like those fliesE
That still attack the horses' eyesE
Where some men freeze for want of clothF
While others show their jewels' worthG
And dress in satin fur or silkH
Where fine rich ladies wash in milkH
While starving mothers have no foodI
To make them fit in flesh and bloodJ
So that their watery breasts can giveK
Their babies milk and make them liveL
Where one man does the work of fourM
And dies worn out before his hourN
While some seek work in vain and griefO
Doth make their fretful lives as briefO
Where ragged men are seen to waitP
For charity that's small and lateP
While others haunt in idle leisureN
Theatre doors to pay for pleasureN
No more I'll walk those crowded placesQ
And take hot dreams from harlots' facesQ
I'll know no more those passions' dreamsR
While musing near these quiet streamsR
That biting state of savage lustS
Which true love absent burns to dustS
Gold's rattle shall not rob my earsT
Of this sweet music of the spheresT
I'll walk abroad with fancy freeU
Each leafy summer's morn I'll seeU
The trees all legs or bodies whenV
They vary in their shapes like menV
I'll walk abroad and see againV
How quiet pools are pricked by rainW
And you shall hear a song as sweetD
As when green leaves and raindrops meetD
I'll hear the Nightingale's fine moodI
Rattling with thunder in the woodX
Made bolder by each mighty crashY
Who drives her notes with every flashY
Of lightning through the summer's nightZ
No more I'll walk in that pale lightZ
That shows the homeless man awakeA2
Ragged and cold harlot and rakeA2
That have their hearts in rags and dieB2
Before that poor wretch they pass byB2
Nay I have found a life so fineC2
That every moment seems divineC2
By shunning all those pleasures fullD2
That bring repentance cold and dullE2
Such misery seen in days gone byB2
That made a coward now I flyB2
To green things like a bird AlasF2
In days gone by I could not passF2
Ten men but what the eyes of oneG2
Would burn me for no kindness doneG2
And wretched women I passed byB2
Sent after me a moan or sighB2
Ah wretched days for in that placeH2
My soul's leaves sought the human faceH2
And not the Sun's for warmth and lightZ
And so was never free from blightZ
But seek me now and you will findI2
Me on some soft green bank reclinedI2
Watching the stately deer close byB2
That in a great deep hollow lieB2
Shaking their tails with all the easeJ2
That lambs can First look for the treesJ2
Then if you seek me find me quickK2
Seek me no more where men are thickK2
But in green lanes where I can walkL2
A mile and still no human folkM2
Tread on my shadow Seek me whereN2
The strange oak tree is that can bearN2
One white leaved branch among the greenO2
Which many a woodman has not seenO2
If you would find me go where cowsP2
And sheep stand under shady boughsP2
Where furious squirrels shake a treeU
As though they'd like to bury meU
Under a leaf shower heavy andQ2
I laugh at them for spite and standR2
Seek me no more in human waysS2
Who am a coward since those daysS2
My mind was burned by poor men's eyesE
And frozen by poor women's sighsE
Then send your pearls across the seaU
Your feathers scent and ivoryU
You distant lands but let my balesT2
Be brought by Cuckoos NightingalesT2
That come in spring from your far shoresT2
Sweet birds that carry richer storesT2
Than men can dream of when they prizeT2
Fine silks and pearls for merchandiseT2
And dream of ships that take the floodsT2
Sunk to their decks with such vain goodsT2
Bringing that traitor silk whose softU2
Smooth tongue persuades the poor too oftV2
From sweet content and pearls whose firesT2
Make ashes of our best desiresT2
For I have heard the sighs and whinesT2
Of rich men that drink costly winesT2
And eat the best of fish and fowlW2
Men that have plenty and still growlW2
Because they cannot like kings liveL
Alas they whine we cannot saveX2
Since I have heard those rich ones sighB2
Made poor by their desires so highB2
I cherish more a simple mindI2
That I am well content to findI2
My pictures in the open airN2
And let my walls and floors go bareN2
That I with lovely things can fillY2
My rooms whene'er sweet Fancy willY2
I make a fallen tree my chairN2
And soon forget no cushion's thereN2
I lie upon the grass or strawZ2
And no soft down do I sigh forM
For with me all the time I keepA3
Sweet dreams that do I wake or sleepA3
Shed on me still their kindly beamsT2
Aye I am richer with my dreamsT2
Than banks where men dull eyed and coldB3
Without a tremble shovel goldB3
A happy life is this I walkL2
And hear more birds than people talkL2
I hear the birds that sing unseenO2
On boughs now smothered with leaves greenO2
I sit and watch the swallows thereN2
Making a circus in the airN2
That speed around straight going crowC3
As sharks around a ship can goC3
I hear the skylark out of sightZ
Hid perfectly in all this lightZ
The dappled cows in fields I passT2
Up to their bosoms in deep grassT2
Old oak trees with their bowels goneD3
I see with spring's green finery onE3
I watch the buzzing bees for hoursT2
To see them rush at laughing flowersT2
And butterflies that lie so stillY2
I see great houses on the hillY2
With shining roofs and there shines oneG2
It seems that heaven has dropped the sunG2
I see yon cloudlet sail the skiesT2
Racing with clouds ten times its sizeT2
I walk green pathways where love waitsT2
To talk in whispers at old gatesT2
Past stiles on which I lean aloneF3
Carved with the names of lovers goneD3
I stand on arches whose dark stonesT2
Can turn the wind's soft sighs to groansT2
I hear the Cuckoo when first heU
Makes this green world's discoveryU
And re creates it in my mindI2
Proving my eyes were growing blindI2
I see the rainbow come forth clearG3
And wave her coloured scarf to cheerG3
The sun long swallowed by a floodJ
So do I live in lane and woodX
Let me look forward to each springH3
As eager as the birds that singH3
And feed my eyes on spring's young flowersT2
Before the bees by many hoursT2
My heart to leap and sing her praiseT2
Before the birds by many daysT2
Go white my hair and skin go dryB2
But let my heart a dewdrop lieB2
Inside those leaves when they go wrongI3
As fresh as when my life was youngJ3

William Henry Davies



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