The Dirge Of The Winds Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: AABBCDEE FFGGHHIIJJKKC BBIILLMMAA N OOIIP QQCCRRJ SSKKOOT CCUUFFE

The four winds of earth the North South East and WestA
Shrieked and groaned sobbed and wailed like the soul of unrestA
I stood in the dusk of the twilight aloneB
And heard them go by with a terrible moanB
'What is it O winds that is grieving you soC
Come tell me your sorrow and tell me your woe 'D
'What is it ' I questioned They shuddered and saidE
'We mourn for the dead Oh we mourn for the deadE
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'For the dishonored dead that the wine cup has slainF
For the wrecks that are lying on hill and on plainF
For the beautiful faces so young and so fairG
That are lying down under the green grasses thereG
For the masterful minds and beautiful soulsH
That were shattered and drowned and debased in the bowlsH
For the graves that are scattered broadcast o'er the landI
The graves that were dug by King Alcohol's handI
For the scenes that we saw as we came on our wayJ
The sights and the sounds that degraded the dayJ
East and West North and South the tale is the sameK
A tale of debasement and sorrow and shameK
And this is our sorrow and this is our woeC
It is this it is this that is grieving us so '-
-
-
Three winds hushed their voices The East wind aloneB
Told her tale in a moaning and sorrowful toneB
'I came yesterday from the great Eastern landI
Where the mountains are high and the cities are grandI
But the devil walks there night and day in the streetsL
And he offers red wine to each soul that he greetsL
They drink and the record of crimes and of sinsM
And the record of shame and of sorrow beginsM
I sped from the sin burdened East to the WestA
But I find not of balm for my agonized breastA
Wine blackens the West as it blackens the East '-
And the voice of the wind sobbed and wailed as it ceasedN
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'I come from the West ' another voice criedO
'Where the rivers are broad and the prairies are wideO
There is vigor and strength in that beautiful landI
But the devil walks there with a bowl in his handI
And the strongest grow weak and the mightiest fallP
In the damnable reign of this King Alcohol '-
-
-
He ceased and another came mournfully forthQ
And spake 'I came from the land of the NorthQ
Where the streamlets are ice and the hillocks are snowC
And little of passions in mortal veins flowC
But the devil walks there in that land day and nightR
And he covers his face with a mask that is whiteR
And he smiles as he pours out the wine for his preyJ
Nor counts up the legions he kills every day '-
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The voice of the South wind spoke now in a sighS
'And I too can tell of the thousands that dieS
By the hand of this king in my soft southern climeK
Where the sweet waters flow in a musical chimeK
The devil walks there by King Alcohol's sideO
And he pours out the wine till it flows in a tideO
It rushes along with a gurgling soundT
And thousands are caught in the current and drowned '-
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Again the four winds cried aloud in their woeC
'It is this it is this that is grieving us soC
We see the mad legions go down to the graveU
Unable to warn them unable to saveU
We shriek and we groan we shudder in painF
For the souls that are lost for the youths that are slainF
And the river flows onward the river wine redE
And we mourn for the dead oh we mourn for the dead '-

Ella Wheeler Wilcox



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