The Grave Of Howard Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJ KKLLHHMNOPEEQQLLRRAA SSTTUUVVPPMNOOWWBBXX YYRRKKZMA2A2B2B2C2C2 AAD2D2GGEEBBGGE2E2F2 G2H2H2PONNI2I2F2J2NN K2K2L2L2VVM2M2N2N2O2 NOOEETTKKEEP2P2QQJQ2 M2M2R2R2S2S2T2T2U2U2 EEV2V2W2W2

Spirit of Death whose outstretched pennons dreadA
Wave o'er the world beneath their shadow spreadA
Who darkly speedest on thy destined wayB
Midst shrieks and cries and sounds of dire dismayB
Spirit behold thy victory AssumeC
A form more terrible an ampler plumeC
For he who wandered o'er the world aloneD
Listening to Misery's universal moanD
He who sustained by Virtue's arm sublimeE
Tended the sick and poor from clime to climeE
Low in the dust is laid thy noblest spoilF
And Mercy ceases from her awful toilF
'Twas where the pestilence at thy commandG
Arose to desolate the sickening landG
When many a mingled cry and dying prayerH
Resounded to the listening midnight airH
When deep dismay heard not the frequent knellI
And the wan carcase festered as it fellI
'Twas there with holy Virtue's awful mienJ
Amid the sad sights of that fearful sceneJ
Calm he was found the dews of death he driedK
He spoke of comfort to the poor that criedK
He watched the fading eye the flagging breathL
Ere yet the languid sense was lost in deathL
And with that look protecting angels wearH
Hung o'er the dismal couch of pale DespairH
Friend of mankind thy righteous task is o'erM
The heart that throbbed with pity beats no moreN
Around the limits of this rolling sphereO
Where'er the just and good thy tale shall hearP
A tear shall fall alone amidst the gloomE
Of the still dungeon his long sorrow's tombE
The captive mourning o'er his chain shall bendQ
To think the cold earth holds his only friendQ
He who with labour draws his wasting breathL
On the forsaken silent bed of deathL
Remembering thy last look and anxious eyeR
Shall gaze around unvisited and dieR
Friend of mankind farewell These tears we shedA
So nature dictates o'er thy earthly bedA
Yet we forget not it was His high willS
Who saw thee Virtue's arduous task fulfilS
Thy spirit from its toil at last should restT
So wills thy GOD and what He wills is bestT
Thou hast encountered dark Disease's trainU
Thou hast conversed with Poverty and PainU
Thou hast beheld the dreariest forms of woeV
That through this mournful vale unfriended goV
And pale with sympathy hast paused to hearP
The saddest plaints e'er told to human earP
Go then the task fulfilled the trial o'erM
Where sickness want and pain are known no moreN
How awful did thy lonely track appearO
Enlightening Misery's benighted sphereO
As when an angel all serene goes forthW
To still the raging tempest of the northW
The embattled clouds that hid the struggling dayB
Slow from his face retire in dark arrayB
On the black waves like promontories hungX
A light as of the orient morn is flungX
Till blue and level heaves the silent brineY
And the new lighted rocks at distance shineY
Ev'n so didst thou go forth with cheering eyeR
Before thy glance the shades of misery flyR
So didst thou hush the tempest stilling wideK
Of human woe the loud lamenting tideK
Nor shall the spirit of those deeds expireZ
As fades the feeble spark of vital fireM
But beam abroad and cheer with lustre mildA2
Humanity's remotest prospects wildA2
Till this frail orb shall from its sphere be hurledB2
Till final ruin hush the murmuring worldB2
And all its sorrows at the awful blastC2
Of the archangel's trump be but as shadows pastC2
Relentless Time that steals with silent treadA
Shall tear away the trophies of the deadA
Fame on the pyramid's aspiring topD2
With sighs shall her recording trumpet dropD2
The feeble characters of Glory's handG
Shall perish like the tracks upon the sandG
But not with these expire the sacred flameE
Of Virtue or the good man's honoured nameE
HOWARD it matters not that far awayB
From Albion's peaceful shore thy bones decayB
Him it might please by whose sustaining handG
Thy steps were led through many a distant landG
Thy long and last abode should there be foundE2
Where many a savage nation prowls aroundE2
That Virtue from the hallowed spot might riseF2
And pointing to the finished sacrificeG2
Teach to the roving Tartar's savage clanH2
Lessons of love and higher aims of manH2
The hoary chieftain who thy tale shall hearP
Pale on thy grave shall drop his faltering spearO
The cold unpitying Cossack thirst no moreN
To bathe his burning falchion deep in goreN
Relentless to the cry of carnage speedI2
Or urge o'er gasping heaps his panting steedI2
Nor vain the thought that fairer hence may riseF2
New views of life and wider charitiesJ2
Far from the bleak Riphean mountains hoarN
From the cold Don and Wolga's wandering shoreN
From many a shady forest's lengthening tractK2
From many a dark descending cataractK2
Succeeding tribes shall come and o'er the placeL2
Where sleeps the general friend of human raceL2
Instruct their children what a debt they oweV
Speak of the man who trode the paths of woeV
Then bid them to their native woods departM2
With new born virtue stirring in their heartM2
When o'er the sounding Euxine's stormy tidesN2
In hostile pomp the Turk's proud navy ridesN2
Bent on the frontiers of the Imperial CzarO2
To pour the tempest of vindictive warN
If onward to those shores they haply steerO
Where HOWARD thy cold dust reposes nearO
Whilst o'er the wave the silken pennants streamE
And seen far off the golden crescents gleamE
Amid the pomp of war the swelling breastT
Shall feel a still unwonted awe impressedT
And the relenting Pagan turn asideK
To think on yonder shore the Christian diedK
But thou O Briton doomed perhaps to roamE
An exile many a year and far from homeE
If ever fortune thy lone footsteps leadsP2
To the wild Nieper's banks and whispering reedsP2
O'er HOWARD's grave thou shalt impassioned bendQ
As if to hold sad converse with a friendQ
Whate'er thy fate upon this various sceneJ
Where'er thy weary pilgrimage hath beenQ2
There shalt thou pause and shutting from thy heartM2
Some vain regrets that oft unbidden startM2
Think upon him to every lot resignedR2
Who wept who toiled and perished for mankindR2
For me who musing HOWARD on thy fateS2
These pensive strains at evening meditateS2
I thank thee for the lessons thou hast taughtT2
To mend my heart or animate my thoughtT2
I thank thee HOWARD for that awful viewU2
Of life which thou hast drawn most sad most trueU2
Thou art no more and the frail fading bloomE
Of this poor offering dies upon thy tombE
Beyond the transient sound of earthly praiseV2
Thy virtues live perhaps in seraph's laysV2
I borne in thought to the wild Nieper's waveW2
Sigh to the reeds that whisper o'er thy graveW2

William Lisle Bowles



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