The Oakland Dog Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: AABB CCDD EEFF GGEE HHII JJKK LLMM EEEE NNOO PPQR SSTT OOFU OOVV WWOO OOXX YYOO YYZ JJEE A2B2C2C2

I lay one happy night in bedA
And dreamed that all the dogs were deadA
They'd all been taken out and shotB
Their bodies strewed each vacant lotB
-
O'er all the earth from Berkeley downC
To San Leandro's ancient townC
And out in space as far as NilesD
I saw their mortal parts in pilesD
-
One stack upreared its ridge so highE
Against the azure of the skyE
That some good soul with pious viewsF
Put up a steeple and sold pewsF
-
No wagging tail the scene relievedG
I never in my life conceivedG
I swear it on the DecalogueE
Such penury of living dogE
-
The barking and the howling stilledH
The snarling with the snarler killedH
All nature seemed to hold its breathI
The silence was as deep as deathI
-
True candidates were all in roarJ
On every platform as beforeJ
And villains as before felt freeK
To finger the calliopeK
-
True the Salvationist by nightL
And milkman in the early lightL
The lonely flutist and the millM
Performed their functions with a willM
-
True church bells on a Sunday rangE
The sick man's curtain down the bangE
Of trains contesting for the trackE
Out of the shadow called him backE
-
True cocks at all unheavenly hoursN
Crew with excruciating powersN
Cats on the woodshed rang and roaredO
Fat citizens and fog horns snoredO
-
But this was all too fine for earsP
Accustomed through the awful yearsP
To the nocturnal monologuesQ
And day debates of Oakland dogsR
-
And so the world was silent NowS
What else befell to whom and howS
Imprimis then there were no fleasT
And days of worth brought nights of easeT
-
Men walked about without the dreadO
Of being torn to many a shredO
Each fragment holding half a cruseF
Of hydrophobia's quickening juiceU
-
They had not to propitiateO
Some curst kioodle at each gateO
But entered one another's groundsV
Unscared and were not fed to houndsV
-
Women could drive and not a pupW
Would lift the horse's tendons upW
And let them go to interjectO
A certain musical effectO
-
Even children's ponies went aboutO
All grave and sober paced withoutO
A bulldog hanging to each noseX
Proud of his fragrance I supposeX
-
Dog being dead Man's lawless flameY
Burned out he granted Woman's claimY
Children's and those of country artO
all took lodgings in his heartO
-
When memories of his former shameY
Crimsoned his cheeks with sudden flameY
He said 'I know my fault too wellZ
They fawned upon me and I fell '-
-
Ah 'twas a lovely world no moreJ
I met that indisposing boreJ
The unseraphic cynogogueE
The man who's proud to love a dogE
-
Thus in my dream the golden reignA2
Of Reason filled the world againB2
And all mankind confessed her swayC2
From Walnut Creek to San JoseC2

Ambrose Bierce



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