The Names Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A B C D E F G A H I J K L M N O P Q R S C T U T U V W W X W N Y Z A2 B2 T C C2 N D2 E2 T T F2 N F2 K W T G2 T H2 T T K| Yesterday I lay awake in the palm of the night | A |
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| A soft rain stole in unhelped by any breeze | B |
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| And when I saw the silver glaze on the windows | C |
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| I started with A with Ackerman as it happened | D |
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| Then Baxter and Calabro | E |
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| Davis and Eberling names falling into place | F |
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| As droplets fell through the dark | G |
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| Names printed on the ceiling of the night | A |
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| Names slipping around a watery bend | H |
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| Twenty six willows on the banks of a stream | I |
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| In the morning I walked out barefoot | J |
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| Among thousands of flowers | K |
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| Heavy with dew like the eyes of tears | L |
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| And each had a name | M |
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| Fiori inscribed on a yellow petal | N |
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| Then Gonzalez and Han Ishikawa and Jenkins | O |
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| Names written in the air | P |
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| And stitched into the cloth of the day | Q |
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| A name under a photograph taped to a mailbox | R |
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| Monogram on a torn shirt | S |
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| I see you spelled out on storefront windows | C |
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| And on the bright unfurled awnings of this city | T |
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| I say the syllables as I turn a corner | U |
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| Kelly and Lee | T |
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| Medina Nardella and O'Connor | U |
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| When I peer into the woods | V |
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| I see a thick tangle where letters are hidden | W |
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| As in a puzzle concocted for children | W |
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| Parker and Quigley in the twigs of an ash | X |
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| Rizzo Schubert Torres and Upton | W |
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| Secrets in the boughs of an ancient maple | N |
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| Names written in the pale sky | Y |
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| Names rising in the updraft amid buildings | Z |
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| Names silent in stone | A2 |
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| Or cried out behind a door | B2 |
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| Names blown over the earth and out to sea | T |
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| In the evening weakening light the last swallows | C |
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| A boy on a lake lifts his oars | C2 |
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| A woman by a window puts a match to a candle | N |
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| And the names are outlined on the rose clouds | D2 |
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| Vanacore and Wallace | E2 |
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| let X stand if it can for the ones unfound | T |
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| Then Young and Ziminsky the final jolt of Z | T |
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| Names etched on the head of a pin | F2 |
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| One name spanning a bridge another undergoing a tunnel | N |
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| A blue name needled into the skin | F2 |
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| Names of citizens workers mothers and fathers | K |
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| The bright eyed daughter the quick son | W |
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| Alphabet of names in a green field | T |
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| Names in the small tracks of birds | G2 |
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| Names lifted from a hat | T |
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| Or balanced on the tip of the tongue | H2 |
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| Names wheeled into the dim warehouse of memory | T |
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| So many names there is barely room on the walls of the heart | T |
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| This poem is dedicated to the victims of September and to their survivors | K |
Billy Collins
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Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
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