At Half-mast Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDDEE FFGGHIFFCCJJFF KKLLMMNOPPQQ| You didn't know Billy did you Well Bill was one of the boys | A |
| The greatest fellow you ever seen to racket an' raise a noise | A |
| An' sing say you never heard singing 'nless you heard Billy sing | B |
| I used to say to him Billy that voice that you've got there'd bring | B |
| A mighty sight more bank notes to tuck away in your vest | C |
| If only you'd go on the concert stage instead of a ranchin' West | C |
| An' Billy he'd jist go laughin' and say as I didn't know | D |
| A robin's whistle in springtime from a barnyard rooster's crow | D |
| But Billy could sing an' I sometimes think that voice lives anyhow | E |
| That perhaps Bill helps with the music in the place he's gone to now | E |
| - | |
| The last time that I seen him was the day he rode away | F |
| He was goin' acrost the plain to catch the train for the East next day | F |
| 'Twas the only time I ever seen poor Bill that he didn't laugh | G |
| Or sing an' kick up a rumpus an' racket around and chaff | G |
| For he'd got a letter from his folks that said for to hurry home | H |
| For his mother was dyin' away down East an' she wanted Bill to come | I |
| Say but the feller took it hard but he saddled up right away | F |
| An' started across the plains to take the train for the East next day | F |
| Sometimes I lie awake a nights jist a thinkin' of the rest | C |
| For that was the great big blizzard day when the wind come down from west | C |
| An' the snow piled up like mountains an' we couldn't put foot outside | J |
| But jist set into the shack an' talked of Bill on his lonely ride | J |
| We talked of the laugh he threw us as he went at the break o' day | F |
| An' we talked of the poor old woman dyin' a thousand mile away | F |
| - | |
| Well Dan O'Connell an' I went out to search at the end of the week | K |
| Fer all of us fellers thought a lot a lot that we darsn't speak | K |
| We'd been up the trail about forty mile an' was talkin' of turnin' back | L |
| But Dan well he wouldn't give in so we kep' right on to the railroad track | L |
| As soon as we sighted them telegraph wires says Dan Say bless my soul | M |
| Ain't that there Bill's red handkerchief tied half way up that pole | M |
| Yes sir there she was with her ends a flippin' an' flyin' in the wind | N |
| An' underneath was the envelope of Bill's letter tightly pinned | O |
| Why he must a boarded the train right here says Dan but I kinder knew | P |
| That underneath them snowdrifts we would find a thing or two | P |
| Fer he'd writ on that there paper Been lost fer hours all hope is past | Q |
| You'll find me boys where my handkerchief is flyin' at half mast | Q |
Emily Pauline Johnson
(1)
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