The Missionary - Canto Fifth Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCCDDEEFFGGHHIIFFJJ KKFFLLCCMMNNOOCCPPQQ FRSFFEETTSUVVTTWW X URYYZA2KK X B2B2C2C2 X IINNC2C2TTVVGD2E2E2I IF2F2EEIIIIG2G2URC2C 2F2F2IIC2C2H2H2YYI2I 2GGJ2J2JJIIIIK2K2III INNH2H2IIF2F2C2C2IIL 2M2GGD2JJC2C2N2N2IIO 2O2IIN2N2'Tis dawn the distant Andes' rocky spires | A |
One after one have caught the orient fires | B |
Where the dun condor shoots his upward flight | C |
His wings are touched with momentary light | C |
Meantime beneath the mountains' glittering heads | D |
A boundless ocean of gray vapour spreads | D |
That o'er the champaign stretching far below | E |
Moves now in clustered masses rising slow | E |
Till all the living landscape is displayed | F |
In various pomp of colour light and shade | F |
Hills forests rivers lakes and level plain | G |
Lessening in sunshine to the southern main | G |
The Llama's fleece fumes with ascending dew | H |
The gem like humming birds their toils renew | H |
And there by the wild river's devious side | I |
The tall flamingo in its crimson pride | I |
Stalks on in richest plumage bright arrayed | F |
With snowy neck superb and legs of lengthening shade | F |
Sad maid for others may the valleys ring | J |
For other ears the birds of morning sing | J |
For other eyes the palms in beauty wave | K |
Dark is thy prison in the ocean cave | K |
Amid that winding cavern's inmost shade | F |
A dripping rill its ceaseless murmur made | F |
Masses of dim discovered crags aloof | L |
Hung threatening from the vast and vaulted roof | L |
And through a fissure in its glimmering height | C |
Seen like a star appeared the distant light | C |
Beneath the opening where the sunbeams shine | M |
Far down the rock weed hung its slender twine | M |
Here pale and bound the Spanish captive lay | N |
Till morn on morn in silence passed away | N |
When once as o'er her sleeping child she hung | O |
And sad her evening supplication sung | O |
Like a small gem amidst the gloom of night | C |
A glow worm shot its green and trembling light | C |
And 'mid the moss and craggy fragments shed | P |
Faint lustre o'er her sleeping infant's head | P |
And hark a voice a woman's voice its sound | Q |
Dies in faint echoes 'mid the vault profound | Q |
Let us pity the poor white maid | F |
She has no mother near | R |
No friend to dry her tear | S |
Upon the cold earth she is laid | F |
Let us pity the poor white maid | F |
It seemed the burden of a song of woe | E |
And see across the gloom an Indian girl move slow | E |
Her nearer look is sorrowful yet mild | T |
Her hanging locks are wreathed with rock weed wild | T |
Gently she spoke Poor Christian dry thy tear | S |
Art thou afraid all are not cruel here | U |
Oh still more wretched may my portion be | V |
Stranger if I could injure thine and thee | V |
And lo I bring from banks and thickets wild | T |
Wood strawberries and honey for thy child | T |
Whence who art thou who in this fearful place | W |
Does comfort speak to one of Spanish race | W |
- | |
INDIAN | X |
- | |
It is an Indian maid who chanced to hear | U |
Thy tale of sorrow as she wandered near | R |
I loved a white man once but he is flown | Y |
And now I wander heartless and alone | Y |
I traced the dark and winding way beneath | Z |
But well I know to lead thee hence were death | A2 |
Oh say what fortunes cast thee o'er the wave | K |
On these sad shores perhaps to find a grave | K |
- | |
SPANISH WOMAN | X |
- | |
Three years have passed since a fond husband left | B2 |
Me and this infant of his love bereft | B2 |
Him I have followed need I tell thee more | C2 |
Cast helpless friendless hopeless on this shore | C2 |
- | |
INDIAN | X |
- | |
Oh did he love thee then Let death betide | I |
Yes from this cavern I will be thy guide | I |
Nay do not shrink from Caracalla's bay | N |
Ev'n now the Spaniards wind their march this way | N |
As late in yester eve I paced the shore | C2 |
I heard their signal guns at distance roar | C2 |
Wilt thou not follow He will shield thy child | T |
The Christian's God through passes dark and wild | T |
He will direct thy way Come follow me | V |
Oh yet be loved be happy and be free | V |
But I an outcast on my native plain | G |
The poor Olola ne'er shall smile again | D2 |
So guiding from the cave when all was still | E2 |
And pointing to the furthest glimmering hill | E2 |
The Indian led till on Itata's side | I |
The Spanish camp and night fires they descried | I |
Then on the stranger's neck that wild maid fell | F2 |
And said Thy own gods prosper thee farewell | F2 |
The owl is hooting overhead below | E |
On dusky wing the vampire bat sails slow | E |
Ongolmo stood before the cave of night | I |
Where the great wizard sat a lurid light | I |
Was on his face twelve giant shadows frowned | I |
His mute and dreadful ministers around | I |
Each eye ball as in life was seen to roll | G2 |
Each lip to move but not a living soul | G2 |
Was there save bold Ongolmo and the seer | U |
The warrior half advanced his lifted spear | R |
Then spoke Dread master of the mighty lore | C2 |
Say shall the Spaniards welter in their gore | C2 |
Let these dark ministers the answer tell | F2 |
Replied the master of the mighty spell | F2 |
Then every giant shadow as it stood | I |
Lifted on high a skull that dropped with blood | I |
Yet more the impatient warrior cried yet more | C2 |
Say shall I live and drink the tyrant's gore | C2 |
'Twas silence Speak he cried none made reply | H2 |
At once strange thunder shook the distant sky | H2 |
And all was o'er the grisly shapes are flown | Y |
And the grim warrior stands in the wild woods alone | Y |
St Pedro's church had rung its midnight chimes | I2 |
And the gray friars were chanting at their primes | I2 |
When winds as of a rushing hurricane | G |
Shook the tall windows of the towered fane | G |
Sounds more than earthly with the storm arose | J2 |
And a dire troop are passed to Andes' snows | J2 |
Where mighty spirits in mysterious ring | J |
Their dread prophetic incantations sing | J |
Round Chillan's crater smoke whose lurid light | I |
Streams high against the hollow cope of night | I |
Thy genius Andes towering o'er the rest | I |
Rose vast and thus a phantom shape addressed | I |
Who comes so swift amid the storm | K2 |
Ha I know thy bloodless form | K2 |
I know thee angel who thou art | I |
By the hissing of thy dart | I |
'Tis Death the king the rocks around | I |
Hark echo back the fearful sound | I |
'Tis Death the king away away | N |
The famished vulture scents its prey | N |
Spectre hence we cannot die | H2 |
Thy withering weapons we defy | H2 |
Dire and potent as thou art | I |
Then spoke the phantom of the uplifted dart | I |
Spirits who in darkness dwell | F2 |
I heard far off your secret spell | F2 |
Enough on yonder fatal shore | C2 |
My fiends have drank your children's gore | C2 |
Lo I come and doom to fate | I |
The murderers and the foe you hate | I |
Of all who shook their hostile spears | L2 |
And marked their way through blood and tears | M2 |
Now sleeping still on yonder plain | G |
But one one only shall remain | G |
Ere thrice the morn shall shine again | D2 |
Then sang the mighty spirits Thee they sing | J |
Hail to thee Death all hail to Death the king | J |
The penguin flaps her wings in gore | C2 |
Devoted Spain along the shore | C2 |
Whence that shriek with ghastly eyes | N2 |
Thy victor chief abandoned lies | N2 |
Victor of the southern world | I |
Whose crimson banners were unfurled | I |
O'er the silence of the waves | O2 |
O'er a land of bleeding slaves | O2 |
Victor where is now thy boast | I |
Thine iron steeds thy mailed host | I |
Hark hark even now I hear his cries | N2 |
Spirits hence he dies he dies | N2 |
William Lisle Bowles
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