The Princes' Quest - Part The Fifth Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCADEEFFAAGHIIJJ KL MMNNAAOOAAPPOQAAAAKK PPAABNRRSSTUOOAAPPVV KKPPKKJJWWAA KKAAVVXY ZAAAAQVAAKKA2A2AAAAP POOVVVV B2B2AAAAAAKKSC2D2E2A AKKVV PPAAIIF2F2F2F2VQF2F2 VVF2F2PPPPQQPPKKQQF2 F2QQAAKK AQQAAF2F2So being risen the Prince in brief while went | A |
Forth to the market place where babblement | A |
Of them that bought and them that sold was one | B |
Of many sounds in murmurous union | B |
buzzing as of bees about their hives | C |
With shriller gossiping of garrulous wives | C |
Piping a tuneless treble thereunto | A |
In midst whereof he went his way as who | D |
Looketh about him well before he buys | E |
To mark the manner of their merchandise | E |
Till chancing upon one who cried for sale | F |
A horse and seeing it well limb'd and hale | F |
And therewithal right goodly to behold | A |
He bought the beast and paid the man in gold | A |
And having gotten him the needful gear | G |
Rode from the market nothing loth to hear | H |
Its garrulous wives no longer and the din | I |
Of them that daily bought and sold therein | I |
So from the place he passed and slowly down | J |
Street after street betook him till the town | J |
Behind him and the gates before him were | K |
And all without was cornland greenly fair | L |
- | |
And through the cornland wending many a mile | M |
And through the meadowland he came erewhile | M |
To where the highways parted and no man | N |
Was nigh to tell him whitherward they ran | N |
But while he halted all in doubtful mood | A |
An eagle as if mourning for her brood | A |
Stolen above him sped with rueful cry | O |
And when that he perceived the fowl to fly | O |
Plaining aloud unto himself he said | A |
'Now shall yon mournful mother overhead | A |
Instruct the wandering of my feet and they | P |
Shall follow where she leadeth ' and away | P |
The bird went winging westward clamorously | O |
That westward even in her wake went he | Q |
And it may be that in his heart there stirred | A |
Some feeling as of fellowship with the bird | A |
For he like her was bound on a lone quest | A |
And for his feet as for her wings no rest | A |
Might be but only urgence of desire | K |
And one far goal that seemed not ever nigher | K |
- | |
So through that country wended he his way | P |
Resting anights till on the seventh day | P |
He passed unwares into another land | A |
Whose people's speech he could not understand | A |
A tract o'er run with tribes barbarian | B |
And blood red from the strife of man with man | N |
And truly 'twas a thing miraculous | R |
That one should traverse all that rude land thus | R |
And no man rid him of his gold nor raise | S |
A hand to make abridgment of his days | S |
But there was that about him could make men's | T |
Hearts ere they knew it yield him reverence | U |
Perchance a sovran something in his eye | O |
Whereat the fierce heart failed it wist not why | O |
Perchance that Fate which hovering like a doubt | A |
Athwart his being hemmed him round about | A |
Gloomed as a visible shadow across his way | P |
And made men fearful Be this as it may | P |
No harm befell him in that land and so | V |
He came at last to where the ebb and flow | V |
Of other seas than he had wandered o'er | K |
Upflung to landward an attempered roar | K |
And wandering downward to the beach he clomb | P |
To topmost of a tall grey cliff wherefrom | P |
He saw a smoke as of men's houses far | K |
Off from a jutting point peninsular | K |
Uprising whence he deemed that there a town | J |
Must surely be And so he clambered down | J |
The cliff and getting him again to horse | W |
Thither along the seabound held his course | W |
And reached that city about sunset tide | A |
The smoking of whose hearths he had espied | A |
- | |
There at an hostel rested he and there | K |
Tarried the coming of the morn But ere | K |
He fell asleep that night a wandering thought | A |
Through darkling byeways of the spirit brought | A |
Knock'd at his soul for entrance whispering low | V |
'What if to night thou dream The Dream and know | V |
To morrow when thou wakest from that bliss | X |
The land wherein thou liest to be his | Y |
Who hath the mystic jewel in his keep ' | - |
So full of flattering hope he fell asleep | Z |
And sleeping dreamed but dreamed not that he would | A |
For at one time it seemed as if he stood | A |
Alone upon a sterile neck of land | A |
Where round about him upon either hand | A |
Was darkness and the cry of a dark sea | Q |
And worldwide vapours glooming thunderously | V |
And ever as he stood the unstable ground | A |
Slid from beneath his feet with a great sound | A |
Till he could find no foothold anywhere | K |
That seemed not unsubstantial as the air | K |
At otherwhiles he wandered all alone | A2 |
About a lonely land and heard a moan | A2 |
As of some bird that sang and singing grieved | A |
And peering all about the woods thick leaved | A |
If so he might espy the bird he found | A |
At length after long searching that the sound | A |
Even from the bottom of his own heart came | P |
And unawares his own mouth sang the same | P |
And then in dream 'twas like as years went by | O |
And still he journeyed hardly knowing why | O |
Till at the last a mist about him fell | V |
And if the mist were death he could not tell | V |
For after that he knew no more And so | V |
He slept until the cock began to crow | V |
- | |
Then came the gladful morn that sendeth sick | B2 |
Dreams flying and all shapes mel ncholic | B2 |
That vex the slumbers of the love distraught | A |
Unto his heart the merry morning brought | A |
Cheer and forewhisperings of some far off rest | A |
When he should end in sweet that bitter quest | A |
But going forth that morn and with his feet | A |
Threading the murmurous maze of street and street | A |
All strangely fell upon him everywhere | K |
The things he saw and heard of foul or fair | K |
The thronging of the folk that filled the ways | S |
The hubbub of the street and market place | C2 |
The sound of heavy wain wheels on the stones | D2 |
The comely faces and ill favoured ones | E2 |
The girls with apple cheeks and hair of gold | A |
The grey locks and the wrinkles of the old | A |
All these remote and unfamiliar | K |
Seem'd and himself a something from afar | K |
Looking at men as shadows on the wall | V |
And even the veriest shadow among them all | V |
- | |
But now when all things dreamwise seemed to swim | P |
About the dubious eyes and ears of him | P |
That nothing in the world might be believed | A |
It chanced that on a sudden he perceived | A |
Where one that dealt in jewels sat within | I |
His doorway hearkening to the outer din | I |
As who cared no wise to make fast his ears | F2 |
Against the babble of the street farers | F2 |
Whereat the merchant seeing a stranger pass | F2 |
Guessed by his garb what countryman he was | F2 |
And giving him good day right courteously | V |
Bespake him in his mother tongue for he | Q |
Had wandered in his youth o'er distant seas | F2 |
And knew full many lands and languages | F2 |
Wherefore with him the royal stranger fell | V |
To talking cheerly and besought him tell | V |
Whence all his gems were had and costly things | F2 |
Talismans amulets and charm d rings | F2 |
Whereto the other answered They had come | P |
Some from a country not far hence and some | P |
From out a land a thousand leagues away | P |
To eastward ev'n the birthplace of the Day | P |
The region of the sun's nativity | Q |
And giving ear to this right readily | Q |
The Prince would fain be told of him the way | P |
To that far homeland of the youngling Day | P |
So being ask'd the other answered 'Sir | K |
There liveth but one master mariner | K |
Whose ship hath sailed so far and that is he | Q |
Who hither brought the jewels thou dost see | Q |
And now as luck will have it for the nonce | F2 |
He wills to voyage thitherward but once | F2 |
Before he die for he is old like me | Q |
And even this day se'nnight saileth he | Q |
Wherefore if thou be fain to see that land | A |
There needeth only gold within thy hand | A |
For gold if that it jingle true and clear | K |
Hath still a merry music for man's ear | K |
And where is he that hateth sound of it ' | - |
So saying the merchant bade the stranger sit | A |
But the Prince thanked him for his courtesy | Q |
And went his way And that day se'nnight he | Q |
Was sailing toward the far off morningland | A |
And felt the skies about him like a band | A |
And heard the low wind uttering numerous noise | F2 |
And all the great sea singing as one voice | F2 |
William Watson
(1)
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