Off The Turnpike Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGHIHJKHLMNGOPN QGRSTPUVWAMMJXYNZAKW MGWGWA2GJWB2NC2GWWGD 2E2WNWMF2JGGWNWNMGWN GG2EMGWWGWWH2I2KJ2NW K2E2WL2NWECM2WWJ2N2W WFCGWKKWWWWO2J2WJ2WW J2WL2WJ2GGP2J2NWWWGN KGQ2WWJ2GJ2E2WKL2KWW WKWWWGWGJ2WWKWGGKJ2W R2 WGS2GKWKGGJ2KKGKWJ2J 2T2GJ2GGL2LNGJ2WJ2J2 WNGKJ2WWWKWJ2WWKJ2WW WU2L2J2KWNNJ2WGJ2WV2 J2WJ2GKGWWWWWV2WW2NV 2GNWGJ2GWWWGKW| Good ev'nin' Mis' Priest | A |
| I jest stepped in to tell you Good bye | B |
| Yes it's all over | C |
| All my things is packed | D |
| An' every last one o' them boxes | E |
| Is on Bradley's team | F |
| Bein' hauled over to th' depot | G |
| No I ain't goin' back agin | H |
| I'm stoppin' over to French's fer to night | I |
| And goin' down first train in th' mornin' | H |
| Yes it do seem kinder queer | J |
| Not to be goin' to see Cherry's Orchard no more | K |
| But Land Sakes When a change's comin' | H |
| Why I al'ays say it can't come too quick | L |
| Now that's real kind o' you | M |
| Your doughnuts is always so tasty | N |
| Yes I'm goin' to Chicago | G |
| To my niece | O |
| She's married to a fine man hardware business | P |
| An' doin' real well she tells me | N |
| Lizzie's be'n at me to go out ther for the longest while | Q |
| She ain't got no kith nor kin to Chicago you know | G |
| She's rented me a real nice little flat | R |
| Same house as hers | S |
| An' I'm goin' to try that city livin' folks say's so pleasant | T |
| Oh yes he was real generous | P |
| Paid me a sight o' money fer the Orchard | U |
| I told him 'twouldn't yield nothin' but stones | V |
| But he ain't farmin' it | W |
| Lor' no Mis' Priest | A |
| He's jest took it to set and look at the view | M |
| Mebbe he wouldn't be so stuck on the view | M |
| Ef he'd seed it every mornin' and night for forty year | J |
| Same's as I have | X |
| I dessay it's pretty enough | Y |
| But it's so pressed into me | N |
| I c'n see't with my eyes shut | Z |
| No I ain't cold Mis' Priest | A |
| Don't shut th' door | K |
| I'll be all right in a minit | W |
| But I ain't a mite sorry to leave that view | M |
| Well mebbe 'tis queer to feel so | G |
| An' mebbe 'taint | W |
| My But that tea's revivin' | G |
| Old things ain't always pleasant things Mis' Priest | W |
| No no I don't cal'late on comin' back | A2 |
| That's why I'd ruther be to Chicago | G |
| Boston's too near | J |
| It ain't cold Mis' Priest | W |
| It's jest my thoughts | B2 |
| I ain't sick only | N |
| Mis' Priest ef you've nothin' ter take yer time | C2 |
| An' have a mind to listen | G |
| Ther's somethin' I'd like ter speak about | W |
| I ain't never mentioned it | W |
| But I'd like to tell yer 'fore I go | G |
| Would you mind lowerin' them shades | D2 |
| Fall twilight's awful grey | E2 |
| An' that fire's real cosy with the shades drawed | W |
| Well I guess folks about here think I've be'n dret'ful onsociable | N |
| You needn't say 'taint so 'cause I know diff'rent | W |
| An' what's more it's true | M |
| Well the reason is I've be'n scared out o' my life | F2 |
| Scared ev'ry minit o' th' time fer eight year | J |
| Eight mortal year 'tis come next June | G |
| 'Twas on the eighteenth o' June | G |
| Six months after I'd buried my husband | W |
| That somethin' happened ter me | N |
| Mebbe you'll mind that afore that | W |
| I was a cheery body | N |
| Hiram was too | M |
| Al'ays liked to ask a neighbor in | G |
| An' ev'n when he died | W |
| Barrin' low sperrits I warn't averse to seein' nobody | N |
| But that eighteenth o' June changed ev'rythin' | G |
| I was doin' most o' th' farmwork myself | G2 |
| With jest a hired boy Clarence King 'twas | E |
| Comin' in fer an hour or two | M |
| Well that eighteenth o' June | G |
| I was goin' round | W |
| Lockin' up and seein' to things 'fore I went to bed | W |
| I was jest steppin' out t' th' barn | G |
| Goin' round outside 'stead o' through the shed | W |
| 'Cause there was such a sight o' moonlight | W |
| Somehow or another I thought 'twould be pretty outdoors | H2 |
| I got settled for pretty things that night I guess | I2 |
| I ain't stuck on 'em no more | K |
| Well them laylock bushes side o' th' house | J2 |
| Was real lovely | N |
| Glitt'rin' and shakin' in the moonlight | W |
| An' the smell o' them rose right up | K2 |
| An' most took my breath away | E2 |
| The colour o' the spikes was all faded out | W |
| They never keep their colour when the moon's on 'em | L2 |
| But the smell fair 'toxicated me | N |
| I was al'ays partial to a sweet scent | W |
| An' I went close up t' th' bushes | E |
| So's to put my face right into a flower | C |
| Mis' Priest jest's I got breathin' in that laylock bloom | M2 |
| I saw layin' right at my feet | W |
| A man's hand | W |
| It was as white's the side o' th' house | J2 |
| And sparklin' like that lum'nous paint they put on gate posts | N2 |
| I screamed right out | W |
| I couldn't help it | W |
| An' I could hear my scream | F |
| Goin' over an' over | C |
| In that echo be'ind th' barn | G |
| Hearin' it agin an' agin like that | W |
| Scared me so I dar'sn't scream any more | K |
| I jest stood ther | K |
| And looked at that hand | W |
| I thought the echo'd begin to hammer like my heart | W |
| But it didn't | W |
| There was only th' wind | W |
| Sighin' through the laylock leaves | O2 |
| An' slappin' 'em up agin the house | J2 |
| Well I guess I looked at that hand | W |
| Most ten minits | J2 |
| An' it never moved | W |
| Jest lay there white as white | W |
| After a while I got to thinkin' that o' course | J2 |
| 'Twas some drunken tramp over from Redfield | W |
| That calmed me some | L2 |
| An' I commenced to think I'd better git him out | W |
| From under them laylocks | J2 |
| I planned to drag him in t' th' barn | G |
| An' lock him in ther till Clarence come in th' mornin' | G |
| I got so mad thinkin' o' that all fired brazen tramp | P2 |
| Asleep in my laylocks | J2 |
| I jest stooped down and grabbed th' hand and give it an awful pull | N |
| Then I bumped right down settin' on the ground | W |
| Mis' Priest ther warn't no body come with the hand | W |
| No it ain't cold it's jest that I can't abear thinkin' of it | W |
| Ev'n now | G |
| I'll take a sip o' tea | N |
| Thank you Mis' Priest that's better | K |
| I'd ruther finish now I've begun | G |
| Thank you jest the same | Q2 |
| I dropped the hand's ef it'd be'n red hot | W |
| 'Stead o' ice cold | W |
| Fer a minit or two I jest laid on that grass | J2 |
| Pantin' | G |
| Then I up and run to them laylocks | J2 |
| An' pulled 'em every which way | E2 |
| True es I'm settin' here Mis' Priest | W |
| Ther warn't nothin' ther | K |
| I peeked an' pryed all about 'em | L2 |
| But ther warn't no man ther | K |
| Neither livin' nor dead | W |
| But the hand was ther all right | W |
| Upside down the way I'd dropped it | W |
| And glist'nin' fit to dazzle yer | K |
| I don't know how I done it | W |
| An' I don't know why I done it | W |
| But I wanted to git that dret'ful hand out o' sight | W |
| I got in t' th' barn somehow | G |
| An' felt roun' till I got a spade | W |
| I couldn't stop fer a lantern | G |
| Besides the moonlight was bright enough in all conscience | J2 |
| Then I scooped that awful thing up in th' spade | W |
| I had a sight o' trouble doin' it | W |
| It slid off and tipped over and I couldn't bear | K |
| Ev'n to touch it with my foot to prop it | W |
| But I done it somehow | G |
| Then I carried it off be'ind the barn | G |
| Clost to an old apple tree | K |
| Where you couldn't see from the house | J2 |
| An' I buried it | W |
| Good an' deep | R2 |
| - | |
| I don't rec'lect nothin' more o' that night | W |
| Clarence woke me up in th' mornin' | G |
| Hollerin' fer me to come down and set th' milk | S2 |
| When he'd gone | G |
| I stole roun' to the apple tree | K |
| And seed the earth all new turned | W |
| Where I left it in my hurry | K |
| I did a heap o' gardenin' | G |
| That mornin' | G |
| I couldn't cut no big sods | J2 |
| Fear Clarence would notice and ask me what I wanted 'em fer | K |
| So I got teeny bits o' turf here and ther | K |
| And no one couldn't tell ther'd be'n any diggin' | G |
| When I got through | K |
| They was awful days after that Mis' Priest | W |
| I used ter go every mornin' and poke about them bushes | J2 |
| An' up and down the fence | J2 |
| Ter find the body that hand come off of | T2 |
| But I couldn't never find nothin' | G |
| I'd lay awake nights | J2 |
| Hearin' them laylocks blowin' and whiskin' | G |
| At last I had Clarence cut 'em down | G |
| An' make a big bonfire of 'em | L2 |
| I told him the smell made me sick | L |
| An' that warn't no lie | N |
| I can't abear the smell on 'em now | G |
| An' no wonder es you say | J2 |
| I fretted somethin' awful 'bout that hand | W |
| I wondered could it be Hiram's | J2 |
| But folks don't rob graveyards hereabouts | J2 |
| Besides Hiram's hands warn't that awful starin' white | W |
| I give up seein' people | N |
| I was afeared I'd say somethin' | G |
| You know what folks thought o' me | K |
| Better'n I do I dessay | J2 |
| But mebbe now you'll see I couldn't do nothin' diff'rent | W |
| But I stuck it out | W |
| I warn't goin' to be downed | W |
| By no loose hand no matter how it come ther | K |
| But that ain't the worst Mis' Priest | W |
| Not by a long ways | J2 |
| Two year ago Mr Densmore made me an offer for Cherry's Orchard | W |
| Well I'd got used to th' thought o' bein' sort o' blighted | W |
| An' I warn't scared no more | K |
| Lived down my fear I guess | J2 |
| I'd kinder got used to th' thought o' that awful night | W |
| And I didn't mope much about it | W |
| Only I never went out o' doors by moonlight | W |
| That stuck | U2 |
| Well when Mr Densmore's offer come | L2 |
| I started thinkin' 'bout the place | J2 |
| An' all the things that had gone on ther | K |
| Thinks I I guess I'll go and see where I put the hand | W |
| I was foolhardy with the long time that had gone by | N |
| I know'd the place real well | N |
| Fer I'd put it right in between two o' the apple roots | J2 |
| I don't know what possessed me Mis' Priest | W |
| But I kinder wanted to know | G |
| That the hand had been flesh and bone anyway | J2 |
| It had sorter bothered me thinkin' I might ha' imagined it | W |
| I took a mornin' when the sun was real pleasant and warm | V2 |
| I guessed I wouldn't jump for a few old bones | J2 |
| But I did jump somethin' wicked | W |
| Ther warn't no bones | J2 |
| Ther warn't nothin' | G |
| Not ev'n the gold ring I'd minded bein' on the little finger | K |
| I don't know ef ther ever was anythin' | G |
| I've worried myself sick over it | W |
| I be'n diggin' and diggin' day in and day out | W |
| Till Clarence ketched me at it | W |
| Oh I know'd real well what you all thought | W |
| An' I ain't sayin' you're not right | W |
| But I ain't goin' to end in no county 'sylum | V2 |
| If I c'n help it | W |
| The shiv'rin' fits come on me sudden like | W2 |
| I know 'em don't you trouble | N |
| I've fretted considerable about the 'sylum | V2 |
| I guess I be'n frettin' all the time I ain't be'n diggin' | G |
| But anyhow I can't dig to Chicago can I | N |
| Thank you Mis' Priest | W |
| I'm better now I only dropped in in passin' | G |
| I'll jest be steppin' along down to French's | J2 |
| No I won't be seein' nobody in the mornin' | G |
| It's a pretty early start | W |
| Don't you stand ther Mis' Priest | W |
| The wind'll blow yer lamp out | W |
| An' I c'n see easy I got aholt o' the gate now | G |
| I ain't a mite tired thank you | K |
| Good night | W |
Amy Lowell
(1)
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