The Princes' Quest - Part The Second Poem Rhyme Scheme

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A fearful and a lovely thing is Sleep	A
And mighty store of secrets hath in keep	A
And those there were of old who well could guess	B
What meant his fearfulness and loveliness	B
And all his many shapes of life and death	C
And all the secret things he uttereth	C
But Wisdom lacketh sons like those that were	D
And Sleep hath never an interpreter	D
So there be none that know to read aright	E
The riddles he propoundeth every night	E
	-
And verily of all the wondrous things	B
By potence wrought of mortal visionings	B
In that dark house whereof Sleep hath the keys	B
Of suchlike miracles and mysteries	B
Not least meseems is this among them all	F
That one in dream enamoured should fall	F
And ever afterward in waking thought	E
Worship the phantom which the dream hath brought	E
Howbeit such things have been and in such wise	B
Did that king's son behold with mortal eyes	B
A more than mortal loveliness and thus	B
Was stricken through with love miraculous	B
	-
For evermore thereafter he did seem	G
To see that royal maiden of his dream	G
Unto her palace riding sovranly	F
And much he marvelled where that land might be	H
That basking lay beneath her beauty's beams	B
Well knowing in his heart that suchlike dreams	B
Come not in idleness but evermore	I
Are Fate's veiled heralds that do fly before	I
Their mighty master as he journeyeth	C
And sing strange songs of life and love and death	C
And so he did scarce aught but dream all day	E
Of that far land revealed of sleep that lay	E
He knew not where and musing more and more	I
On her the mistress of that unknown shore	I
There fell a sadness on him thus to be	H
Vext with desire of her he might not see	H
Yet could not choose but long for till erewhile	E
Nor man nor woman might behold the smile	E
Make sudden morning of his countenance	B
But likest one he seemed half sunk in trance	B
That wanders groping in a shadowy land	E
Hearing strange things that none can understand	E
Now after many days and nights had passed	E
The queen his mother well beloved at last	E
Being sad at heart because his heart was sad	E
Would e'en be told what hidden cause he had	E
To be cast down in so mysterious wise	B
And he beholding by her tearful eyes	B
How of his grief she was compassionate	E
No more a secret made thereof but straight	E
Discovered to her all about his dream	G
The mystic happy marvel of the stream	G
A fountain running Youth to all the land	E
Flowing with deep dim woods on either hand	E
Where through the boughs did birds of strange song flit	E
And all beside the bloomy banks of it	E
The city with its towers and domes far seen	J
And then he told her how that city's queen	J
Did pass before him like a breathing flower	D
That he had loved her image from that hour	D
'And sure am I ' upspake the Prince at last	E
'That somewhere in this world so wide and vast	E
Lieth the land mine eyes have inly seen	J
Perhaps in very truth my spirit hath been	K
Translated thither and in very truth	C
Hath seen the brightness of that city of youth	C
Who knows for I have heard a wise man say	E
How that in sleep the souls of mortals may	E
At certain seasons which the stars decree	H
From bondage of the body be set free	H
To visit farthest countries and be borne	L
Back to their fleshly houses ere the morn '	-
	-
At this the good queen greatly marvelling	M
Made haste to tell the story to the king	M
Who hearing laughed her tale to scorn But when	N
Weeks followed one another and all men	N
About his person had begun to say	E
'What ails our Prince He groweth day by day	E
Less like the Prince we knew wan cheeks and eyes	B
Hollow for lack of sleep and secret sighs	B
Some hidden grief the youth must surely have '	-
Then like his queen the king himself wox grave	O
And thus it chanced one summer eventide	E
They sitting in an arbour side by side	E
All unawares the Pince passed by that way	E
And as he passed unmark'd of either they	E
Nought heeding but their own discourse could hear	P
Amidst thereof his own name uttered clear	Q
And straight was 'ware it was the queen who spake	M
And spake of him whereat the king 'gan make	M
Answer in this wise somewhat angerly	E
'The youth is crazed and but one remedy	E
Know I to cure such madness he shall wed	E
Some princess ere another day be sped	E
Myself will bid this dreamer go prepare	R
To take whom I shall choose to wife some fair	R
And highborn maiden worthy to be queen	J
Hereafter ' So the Prince albeit unseen	J
Heard and his soul rebelled against the thing	M
His sire had willed and slowly wandering	M
About the darkling pleasance all amid	E
A maze of intertangled walks or hid	E
In cedarn glooms or where mysterious bowers	B
Were heavy with the breath of drows d flowers	B
Something he knew not what within his heart	E
Rose like a faint heard voice and said 'Depart	E
From hence and follow where thy dream shall lead '	-
And fain would he have followed it indeed	E
But wist not whither it would have him go	M
	-
Howbeit while yet he wandered to and fro	M
Among his thoughts a chance remembrance leapt	E
All sudden like a seed that long hath slept	E
In earth upspringing as a flower at last	E
When he that sowed forgetteth where 'twas cast	E
A chance remembrance of the tales men told	E
Concerning one whose wisdom manifold	E
Made all the world to wonder and revere	Q
A mighty mage and learn'd astrologer	D
Who dwelt in honour at a great king's court	E
In a far country whither did resort	E
Pilgrims innumerable from many lands	B
Who crossed the wide seas and the desert sands	B
To learn of him the occult significance	B
Of some perplexing omen or perchance	B
To hear forewhisperings of their destiny	E
And know what things in aftertime should be	E
'Now surely ' thought the Prince 'this subtile seer	P
To whom the darkest things belike are clear	Q
Could read the riddle of my dream and tell	E
Where lieth that strange land delectable	E
Wherein mine empress hath her dwelling place	B
So might I look at last upon her face	B
And make an end of all these weary sighs	B
And melt into the shadow of her eyes '	-
Thus musing for a little space he stood	E
As holden to the spot and evil good	E
Life death and earth beneath and heaven above	S
Shrank up to less than shadows only Love	S
With harpings of an hundred harps unseen	J
Filled all the emptiness where these had been	K
	-
But soon like one that hath a sudden thought	E
He lifted up his eyes and turning sought	E
The halls once more where he was bred and passed	E
Through court and corridor and reached at last	E
His chamber in a world of glimmer and gloom	T
Here while the moonrays filled the wide rich room	T
The Prince in haste put off his courtly dress	B
For raiment of a lesser sumptuousness	B
A sober habit such as might disguise	B
His royal rank in any stranger's eyes	B
And taking in his hand three gems that made	E
Three several splendours in the moonlight laid	E
These in his bosom where no eye might see	B
The triple radiance then all noiselessly	E
Down the wide stair from creaking floor to floor	I
Passed and went out from the great palace door	I
	-
Crossing the spacious breadth of garden ground	E
Wherein his footfalls were the only sound	E
Save the wind's wooing of the tremulous trees	B
Forth of that region of imperial ease	B
He fared amid the doubtful shadows dim	U
No eye in all the place beholding him	U
No eye save only of the warders who	V
Opened the gates that he might pass therethrough	I
	-
And now to the safe keeping of the night	E
Intrusted he the knowledge of his flight	E
And quitting all the purlieus of the court	E
Out from the city by a secret port	E
Went and along the moonlit highway sped	E
And himself spake unto himself and said	E
Heard only of the silence in his heart	E
'Tarry thou here no longer but depart	E
Unto the land of the Great Mage and seek	M
The Mage and whatsoever he shall speak	M
Give ear to that he saith and reverent heed	E
And wheresoever he may bid thee speed	E
Thitherward thou shalt set thy face and go	M
For surely one of so great lore must know	M
Where lies the land thou sawest in thy dream	G
Nay if he k	E

William Watson

The Princes' Quest - Part The Second Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

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