Until The Troubling Of The Waters Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQCRS TBUVWXIPYZHA2B2C2D2K TE2MJF2G2H2I2J2K2TL2 TM2N2L2AO2CP2YTQ2R2K 2S2E2Q2BT2U2V2Q2XW2Q 2X2Y2Z2T2Q2A3B3I2S2Q 2Q2C3BS2D3S2E3 F3G3BFH3LQ2I3J3Z2K3S 2L3I2M3Q2N3O3Q2P3Q3L Q2R3AS3BFI2Q2BQ2T3U3 Q2V3CW3L3U2E2Q2X3Y3Q 2LN3Z3A4Q2B4Q2Q2BQ2 C4K2S3D4E4F4P2UX3LFQ 2G4H4Q2Q2V3I4QJ4K4DL 4J3O2QBR3M4K2M4N4A2C 4OK2O4K2I3QQ2P4EQ4HQ 2LR4S4T2I2Q2TH2K2M3C O2Q2B R4C4R3T4U4V4O4Q2UCA2 Y3PW4FY3L4O3X4S3LS2E Q2BY4TDS2Z4E3 Q2Q2Y4TB2Q2Q2Q4O2Q2G 3Q2J3F4Z2S3G4C4 Q2ZZ2U2C3Q4EH4H4I4UY 3C4Y2T3Q2C3V4TQ2FU3U Q2Q2 V4W2I2GL2Y4Q2Q2Q2W4I 2NE4P4Q2F4CQ2Q2Q2Q2 G4Q2SQ2R3W4

Two hours two hours God give me strength for it	A
He who has given so much strength to me	B
And nothing to my child must give to day	C
What more I need to try and save my child	D
And get for him the life I owe to him	E
To think that I may get it for him now	F
Before he knows how much he might have missed	G
That other boys have got The bitterest thought	H
Of all that plagued me when he came was this	I
How some day he would see the difference	J
And drag himself to me with puzzled eyes	K
To ask me why it was He would have been	L
Cruel enough to do it knowing not	M
That was the question my rebellious heart	N
Cried over and over one whole year to God	O
And got no answer and no help at all	P
If he had asked me what could I have said	Q
What single word could I have found to say	C
To hide me from his searching puzzled gaze	R
Some coward thing at best never the truth	S
The truth I never could have told him No	T
I never could have said God gave you me	B
To fashion you a body right and strong	U
With sturdy little limbs and chest and neck	V
For fun and fighting with your little mates	W
Great feats and voyages in the breathless world	X
Of out of doors He gave you me for this	I
And I was such a bungler that is all	P
O the old lie that thought was not the worst	Y
I never have been truthful with myself	Z
For by the door where lurked one ghostly thought	H
I stood with crazy hands to thrust it back	A2
If it should dare to peep and whisper out	B2
Unbearable things about me hearing which	C2
The women passing in the streets would turn	D2
To pity me and scold me with their eyes	K
Who was so bad a mother and so slow	T
To learn to help God do his wonder in her	E2
That she O my sweet baby It was not	M
The fear that you would see the difference	J
Between you and the other boys and girls	F2
No no it was the dimmer wilder fear	G2
That you might never see it never look	H2
Out of your tiny baby house of mind	I2
But sit your life through quiet in the dark	J2
Smiling and nodding at what was not there	K2
A foolish fear God could not punish so	T
Yet until yesterday I thought He would	L2
My soul was always cowering at the blow	T
I saw suspended ready to be dealt	M2
The moment that I showed my fear too much	N2
Therefore I hid it from Him all I could	L2
And only stole a shaking glance at it	A
Sometimes in the dead minutes before dawn	O2
When He forgets to watch Till yesterday	C
For yesterday was wonderful and strange	P2
From the beginning When I wakened first	Y
And looked out at the window the last snow	T
Was gone from earth about the apple trees	Q2
Hung a faint mist of bloom small sudden green	R2
Had run and spread and rippled everywhere	K2
Over the fields and in the level sun	S2
Walked something like a presence and a power	E2
Uttering hopes and loving kindnesses	Q2
To all the world but chiefly unto me	B
It walked before me when I went to work	T2
And all day long the noises of the mill	U2
Were spun upon a core of golden sound	V2
Half spoken words and interrupted songs	Q2
Of blessed promise meant for all the world	X
But most for me because I suffered most	W2
The shooting spindles the smooth humming wheels	Q2
The rocking webs seemed toiling to some end	X2
Beneficent and human known to them	Y2
And duly brought to pass in power and love	Z2
The faces of the girls and men at work	T2
Met mine with intense greeting veiled at once	Q2
As if they knew a secret they must keep	A3
For fear the joy would harm me if they told	B3
Before some inkling filtered to my mind	I2
In roundabout ways When the day's work was done	S2
There lay a special silence on the fields	Q2
And as I passed the bushes and the trees	Q2
The very ruts and puddles of the road	C3
Spoke to each other saying it was she	B
The happy woman the elected one	S2
The vessel of strange mercy and the sign	D3
Of many loving wonders done in Heaven	S2
To help the piteous earth	E3
	-
At last I stopped	F3
And looked about me in sheer wonderment	G3
What did it mean What did they want with me	B
What was the matter with the evening now	F
That it was just as bound to make me glad	H3
As morning and the live long day had been	L
Me who had quite forgot what gladness was	Q2
Who had no right to anything but toil	I3
And food and sleep for strength to toil again	J3
And that fierce frightened anguish of my love	Z2
For the poor little spirit I had wronged	K3
With life that was no life What had befallen	S2
Since yesterday No need to stop and ask	L3
Back there in the dark places of my mind	I2
Where I had thrust it fearing to believe	M3
An unbelievable mercy shone the news	Q2
Told by the village neighbors coming home	N3
Last night from the great city of a man	O3
Arisen like the first evangelists	Q2
With power to heal the bodies of the sick	P3
In testimony of his master Christ	Q3
Who heals the soul when it is sick with sin	L
Could such a thing be true in these hard days	Q2
Was help still sent in such a way as that	R3
No no I did not dare to think of it	A
Feeling what weakness and despair would come	S3
After the crazy hope broke under me	B
I turned and started homeward faster now	F
But never fast enough to leave behind	I2
The voices and the troubled happiness	Q2
That still kept mounting mounting like a sea	B
And singing far off like a rush of wings	Q2
Far down the road a yellow spot of light	T3
Shone from my cottage window rayless yet	U3
Where the last sunset crimson caught the panes	Q2
Alice had lit the lamp before she went	V3
Her day of pity and unmirthful play	C
Was over and her young heart free to live	W3
Until to morrow brought her nursing task	L3
Again and made her feel how dark and still	U2
That life could be to others which to her	E2
Was full of dreams that beckoned reaching hands	Q2
And thrilling invitations young girls hear	X3
My boy was sleeping little mind and frame	Y3
More tired just lying there awake two hours	Q2
Than with a whole day's romp he should have been	L
He would not know his mother had come home	N3
But after supper I would sit awhile	Z3
Beside his bed and let my heart have time	A4
For that worst love that stabs and breaks and kills	Q2
This I thought over to myself by rote	B4
And habit but I could not feel my thoughts	Q2
For still that dim unmeaning happiness	Q2
Kept mounting mounting round me like a sea	B
And singing inward like a wind of wings	Q2
	-
Before I lifted up the latch I knew	C4
I felt no fear the One who waited there	K2
In the low lamplight by the bed had come	S3
Because I was his sister and in need	D4
My word had got to Him somehow at last	E4
And He had come to help me or to tell	F4
Where help was to be found It was not strange	P2
Strange only He had stayed away so long	U
But that should be forgotten He was here	X3
I pushed the door wide open and looked in	L
He had been kneeling by the bed and now	F
Half risen kissed my boy upon the lips	Q2
Then turned and smiled and pointed with his hand	G4
I must have fallen on the threshold stone	H4
For I remember that I felt not saw	Q2
The resurrection glory and the peace	Q2
Shed from his face and raiment as He went	V3
Out by the door into the evening street	I4
But when I looked the place about the bed	Q
Was yet all bathed in light and in the midst	J4
My boy lay changed no longer clothed upon	K4
With scraps and shreds of life but like the child	D
Of some most fortunate mother In a breath	L4
The image faded There he lay again	J3
The same as always and the light was gone	O2
I sank with moans and cries beside the bed	Q
The cruelty O Christ the cruelty	B
To come at last and then to go like that	R3
Leaving the darkness deeper than before	M4
Then though I heard no sound I grew aware	K2
Of some one standing by the open door	M4
Among the dry vines rustling in the porch	N4
My heart laughed suddenly He had come back	A2
He had come back to make the vision true	C4
He had not meant to mock me God was God	O
And Christ was Christ there was no falsehood there	K2
I heard a quiet footstep cross the room	O4
And felt a hand laid gently on my hair	K2
A human hand worn hard by daily toil	I3
Heavy with life long struggle after bread	Q
Alice's father The kind homely voice	Q2
Had in it such strange music that I dreamed	P4
Perhaps it was the Other speaking in him	E
Because His own bright form had made me swoon	Q4
With its too much of glory What he brought	H
Was news as good as ever heavenly lips	Q2
Had the dear right to utter He had been	L
All day among the crowds of curious folk	R4
From the great city and the country side	S4
Gathered to watch the Healer do his work	T2
Of mercy on the sick and halt and blind	I2
And with his very eyes had seen such things	Q2
As awestruck men had witnessed long ago	T
In Galilee and writ of in the Book	H2
To morrow morning he would take me there	K2
If I had strength and courage to believe	M3
It might be there was hope he could not say	C
But knew what he had seen When he was gone	O2
I lay for hours letting the solemn waves	Q2
Thundering joy go over and over me	B
	-
Just before midnight baby fretted woke	R4
He never yet has slept a whole night through	C4
Without his food and petting As I sat	R3
Feeding and petting him and singing soft	T4
I felt a jealousy begin to ache	U4
And worry at my heartstrings hushing down	V4
The gladness Jealousy of what or whom	O4
I hardly knew or could not put in words	Q2
At least it seemed too foolish and too wrong	U
When said and so I shut the thought away	C
Only next minute it came stealing back	A2
After the change would my boy be the same	Y3
As this one Would he be my boy at all	P
And not another's his who gave the life	W4
I could not give or did not anyhow	F
How could I look in his new eyes to claim	Y3
The whole of him the body and the breath	L4
When some one not his mother a strange man	O3
Had clothed him in that beauty of the flesh	X4
Perhaps for who could know perhaps by some	S3
Hateful disfiguring miracle had even	L
Transformed his spirit to a better one	S2
Better but not the same I prayed for him	E
Down out of Heaven through the sleepless nights	Q2
The best that God would send to such as me	B
I tried to strangle back the wicked pain	Y4
Fancied him changed and tried to love him so	T
No use it was another not my child	D
Not my frail broken priceless little one	S2
My cup of anguish and my trembling star	Z4
Hung small and sad and sweet above the earth	E3
So sure to fall but for my cherishing
	-
When he had dropped asleep again I rose	Q2
And wrestled with the sinful selfishness	Q2
The dark injustice the unnatural pain	Y4
Fevered at last with pacing to and fro	T
I raised the bedroom window and leaned out	B2
The white moon low behind the sycamores	Q2
Silvered the silent country not a voice	Q2
Of all the myriads summer moves to sing
Had yet awakened in the level moon	Q4
Walked that same presence I had heard at dawn	O2
Uttering hopes and loving kindnesses	Q2
But now dispirited and reticent	G3
It walked the moonlight like a homeless thing
O how to cleanse me of the cowardice	Q2
How to be just Was I a mother then	J3
A mother and not love her child as well	F4
As her own covetous and morbid love	Z2
Was it for this the Comforter had come	S3
Smiling at me and pointing with His hand	G4
What had He meant to have me think or do	C4
Smiling and pointing
	-
All at once I saw	Q2
A way to save my darling from myself	Z
And make atonement for my grudging love	Z2
Under the sycamores and up the hill	U2
And down across the river the wet road	C3
Went stretching cityward silvered in the moon	Q4
I who had shrunk from sacrifice even I
Who had refused God's blessing for my boy
Would take him in my arms and carry him	E
Up to the altar of the miracle
I would not wait for daylight nor the help
Of any human friendship I alone	H4
Through the still miles of country I alone	H4
Only my arms to shield him and my feet	I4
To bear him he should have no one to thank
But me for that I knew the way was long	U
But knew strength would be given So I came	Y3
Soon the stars failed the late moon faded too	C4
I think my heart had sucked their beams from them	Y2
To build more blue amid the murky night	T3
Its own miraculous day From creeks and fields	Q2
The fog climbed slowly blotted out the road	C3
And hid the signposts telling of the town	V4
After a while rain fell with sleet and snow	T
What did I care Baby was snug and dry
Some day when I was telling him of this	Q2
He would but hug me closer hearing how	F
The night conspired against us Better hard
Than easy then I almost felt regret	U3
My body was so capable and strong	U
To do its errand Honeyed drop by drop
The ghostly jealousy loosening at my breast
Distilled into a dew of quiet tears	Q2
And fell with splash of music in the wells	Q2
And on the hidden rivers of my soul
	-
The hardest part was coming through the town	V4
The country even when it hindered most	W2
Seemed conscious of the thing I went to find	I2
The rocks and bushes looming through the mist	G
Questioned and acquiesced and understood	L2
The trees and streams believed the wind and rain	Y4
Even they for all their temper had some words	Q2
Of faith and comfort But the glaring streets	Q2
The dizzy traffic the piled merchandise	Q2
The giant buildings swarming with fierce life	W4
Cared nothing for me They had never heard
Of me nor of my business When I asked
My way a shade of pity or contempt
Showed through men's kindness for they all were kind	I2
Daunted and chilled and very sick at heart	N
I walked the endless pavements But at last	E4
The streets grew quieter the houses seemed	P4
As if they might be homes where people lived
Then came the factories and cottages	Q2
And all was well again Much more than well	F4
For many sick and broken went my way	C
Alone or helped along by loving hands	Q2
And from a thousand eyes the famished hope
Looked out at mine wild patient querulous	Q2
But always hope and hope a thousand tongues	Q2
Speaking one word in many languages	Q2
	-
In two hours He will come they say will stand	G4
There on the steps above the waiting crowd
And touch with healing hands whoever asks	Q2
Believingly in spirit and in truth	S
Can such a mercy be in these hard days	Q2
Is help still sent in such a way as that	R3
Christ I believe pity my unbelief	W4

William Vaughn Moody

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