One Woman's Memory Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABABCDCD EFEFGAGA BHBHIJIJ KAK LMLM NONOPQPQ KRKSTUTU

Here is a lock of his soft dark hairA
And here are the letters he wrote to meB
And the ring of gold that I used to wearA
Is here in the casket seeB
I put them away ten years agoC
'What is it ' you ask 'did I love in vainD
Was my lover unfaithful ' No oh noC
My heart was spared that painD
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He died in the bloom of his manhood's youthE
You say I have his memory friendF
That he is not dead but lives in truthE
Wait till you hear the endF
Death in itself is a little thingG
It is only passing from here to thereA
But a death of shame has a bitter stingG
That makes it hard to bearA
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He was good and true as a man could beB
Noble and pure when I loved him firstH
But all of his race were cursed you seeB
With a fiery craving thirstH
And the tempter morning and noon and nightI
Was placed in his path by a mother's handJ
The woe of wine and its blasting blightI
She did not understandJ
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I did not know or I did not thinkK
Of the awful shame that was hidden thereA
When I saw him lift the glass and drinkK
To the health of his 'lady fair '-
I knew and I thought when it was too lateL
I reached out my hands but I could not saveM
He hurried on to his fearful fateL
And sank in a drunkard's graveM
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He was good and kind and true but weakN
When the ruby wine danced o'er the brimO
And woe is me that I did not speakN
One warning word to himO
If I had but told him to cast awayP
To touch not and taste not the mocker wineQ
I need not have felt as I feel to dayP
That blood stains these hands of mineQ
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O ye who have friends on the awful brinkK
That hangs o'er the river of ruin and deathR
When you see them lift the glass oh thinkK
Of the jagg d rocks beneathS
Reach out a hand ere the deed is doneT
Send forth a cry in the dear Lord's nameU
Oh stand not aloof while a precious oneT
Speeds down to a grave of shameU

Ella Wheeler Wilcox



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