Guild's Signal Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABCDEEB FFGHIJJB KKBDCLMB NNBBBJJB OOBAAJJB| Two low whistles quaint and clear | A |
| That was the signal the engineer | A |
| That was the signal that Guild 'tis said | B |
| Gave to his wife at Providence | C |
| As through the sleeping town and thence | D |
| Out in the night | E |
| On to the light | E |
| Down past the farms lying white he sped | B |
| - | |
| As a husband's greeting scant no doubt | F |
| Yet to the woman looking out | F |
| Watching and waiting no serenade | G |
| Love song or midnight roundelay | H |
| Said what that whistle seemed to say | I |
| To my trust true | J |
| So love to you | J |
| Working or waiting good night it said | B |
| - | |
| Brisk young bagmen tourists fine | K |
| Old commuters along the line | K |
| Brakemen and porters glanced ahead | B |
| Smiled as the signal sharp intense | D |
| Pierced through the shadows of Providence | C |
| Nothing amiss | L |
| Nothing it is | M |
| Only Guild calling his wife they said | B |
| - | |
| Summer and winter the old refrain | N |
| Rang o'er the billows of ripening grain | N |
| Pierced through the budding boughs o'erhead | B |
| Flew down the track when the red leaves burned | B |
| Like living coals from the engine spurned | B |
| Sang as it flew | J |
| To our trust true | J |
| First of all duty Good night it said | B |
| - | |
| And then one night it was heard no more | O |
| From Stonington over Rhode Island shore | O |
| And the folk in Providence smiled and said | B |
| As they turned in their beds The engineer | A |
| Has once forgotten his midnight cheer | A |
| ONE only knew | J |
| To his trust true | J |
| Guild lay under his engine dead | B |
Bret Harte
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
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