A Cry From An Indian Wife Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCDEEFGHHAIJKLLMN BBOODDPPQQRRSTUUVVWW OOXXYYZZA2A2B2B2C2C2 WWD2D2VV| My forest brave my Red skin love farewell | A |
| We may not meet to morrow who can tell | A |
| What mighty ills befall our little band | B |
| Or what you'll suffer from the white man's hand | B |
| Here is your knife I thought 'twas sheathed for aye | C |
| No roaming bison calls for it to day | D |
| No hide of prairie cattle will it maim | E |
| The plains are bare it seeks a nobler game | E |
| 'Twill drink the life blood of a soldier host | F |
| Go rise and strike no matter what the cost | G |
| Yet stay Revolt not at the Union Jack | H |
| Nor raise Thy hand against this stripling pack | H |
| Of white faced warriors marching West to quell | A |
| Our fallen tribe that rises to rebel | I |
| They all are young and beautiful and good | J |
| Curse to the war that drinks their harmless blood | K |
| Curse to the fate that brought them from the East | L |
| To be our chiefs to make our nation least | L |
| That breathes the air of this vast continent | M |
| Still their new rule and council is well meant | N |
| They but forget we Indians owned the land | B |
| From ocean unto ocean that they stand | B |
| Upon a soil that centuries agone | O |
| Was our sole kingdom and our right alone | O |
| They never think how they would feel to day | D |
| If some great nation came from far away | D |
| Wresting their country from their hapless braves | P |
| Giving what they gave us but wars and graves | P |
| Then go and strike for liberty and life | Q |
| And bring back honour to your Indian wife | Q |
| Your wife Ah what of that who cares for me | R |
| Who pities my poor love and agony | R |
| What white robed priest prays for your safety here | S |
| As prayer is said for every volunteer | T |
| That swells the ranks that Canada sends out | U |
| Who prays for vict'ry for the Indian scout | U |
| Who prays for our poor nation lying low | V |
| None therefore take your tomahawk and go | V |
| My heart may break and burn into its core | W |
| But I am strong to bid you go to war | W |
| Yet stay my heart is not the only one | O |
| That grieves the loss of husband and of son | O |
| Think of the mothers o'er the inland seas | X |
| Think of the pale faced maiden on her knees | X |
| One pleads her God to guard some sweet faced child | Y |
| That marches on toward the North West wild | Y |
| The other prays to shield her love from harm | Z |
| To strengthen his young proud uplifted arm | Z |
| Ah how her white face quivers thus to think | A2 |
| Your tomahawk his life's best blood will drink | A2 |
| She never thinks of my wild aching breast | B2 |
| Nor prays for your dark face and eagle crest | B2 |
| Endangered by a thousand rifle balls | C2 |
| My heart the target if my warrior falls | C2 |
| O coward self I hesitate no more | W |
| Go forth and win the glories of the war | W |
| Go forth nor bend to greed of white men's hands | D2 |
| By right by birth we Indians own these lands | D2 |
| Though starved crushed plundered lies our nation low | V |
| Perhaps the white man's God has willed it so | V |
Emily Pauline Johnson
(1)
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