John Smith Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDEFFGGHHIE JJBBKKLLMMNNOON PPOOOOQQRRSSTTO PPPPUUKKHHVVOOO BBPPWWXXPPPPPPOO YYPPNNOOZZPPPPO

To day I strayed in Charing Cross as wretched as could beA
With thinking of my home and friends across the tumbling seaA
There was no water in my eyes but my spirits were depressedB
And my heart lay like a sodden soggy doughnut in my breastB
This way and that streamed multitudes that gayly passed me byC
Not one in all the crowd knew me and not a one knew IC
'Oh for a touch of home ' I sighed 'oh for a friendly faceD
Oh for a hearty handclasp in this teeming desert place 'E
And so soliloquizing as a homesick creature willF
Incontinent I wandered down the noisy bustling hillF
And drifted automatic like and vaguely into Lowe'sG
Where Fortune had in store a panacea for my woesG
The register was open and there dawned upon my sightH
A name that filled and thrilled me with a cyclone of delightH
The name that I shall venerate unto my dying dayI
The proud immortal signature 'John Smith U S A 'E
-
Wildly I clutched the register and brooded on that nameJ
I knew John Smith yet could not well identify the sameJ
I knew him North I knew him South I knew him East and WestB
I knew him all so well I knew not which I knew the bestB
His eyes I recollect were gray and black and brown and blueK
And when he was not bald his hair was of chameleon hueK
Lean fat tall short rich poor grave gay a blonde and a brunetteL
Aha amid this London fog John Smith I see you yetL
I see you yet and yet the sight is all so blurred I seemM
To see you in composite or as in a waking dreamM
Which are you John I'd like to know that I might weave a rhymeN
Appropriate to your character your politics and climeN
So tell me were you 'raised' or 'reared' your pedigree confessO
In some such treacherous ism as 'I reckon' or 'I guess'O
Let fall your tell tale dialect that instantly I mayN
Identify my countryman 'John Smith U S A '-
-
It's like as not you are the John that lived a spell agoP
Down East where codfish beans 'nd bona fide school marms growP
Where the dear old homestead nestles like among the Hampshire hillsO
And where the robin hops about the cherry boughs and trillsO
Where Hubbard squash 'nd huckleberries grow to powerful sizeO
And everything is orthodox from preachers down to piesO
Where the red wing blackbirds swing 'nd call beside the pickril pondQ
And the crows air cawin' in the pines uv the pasture lot beyondQ
Where folks complain uv bein' poor because their money's lentR
Out West on farms 'nd railroads at the rate uv ten per centR
Where we ust to spark the Baker girls a comin' home from choirS
Or a settin' namin' apples round the roarin' kitchen fireS
Where we had to go to meetin' at least three times a weekT
And our mothers learnt us good religious Dr Watts to speakT
And where our grandmas sleep their sleep God rest their souls I sayO
And God bless yours ef you're that John 'John Smith U S A '-
-
Or mebbe Colonel Smith yo' are the gentleman I knowP
In the country whar the finest democrats 'nd horses growP
Whar the ladies are all beautiful an' whar the crap of cawnP
Is utilized for Bourbon and true dawters are bawnP
You've ren for jedge and killed yore man and bet on Proctor KnottU
Yore heart is full of chivalry yore skin is full of shotU
And I disremember whar I've met with gentlemen so trueK
As yo' all in Kaintucky whar blood an' grass are blueK
Whar a niggah with a ballot is the signal fo' a fightH
Whar a yaller dawg pursues the coon throughout the bammy nightH
Whar blooms the furtive 'possum pride an' glory of the SouthV
And Aunty makes a hoe cake sah that melts within yo' mouthV
Whar all night long the mockin' birds are warblin' in the treesO
And black eyed Susans nod and blink at every passing breezeO
Whar in a hallowed soil repose the ashes of our ClayO
Hyar's lookin' at yo' Colonel 'John Smith U S A '-
-
Or wuz you that John Smith I knew out yonder in the WestB
That part of our republic I shall always love the bestB
Wuz you him that went prospectin' in the spring of sixty nineP
In the Red Hoss mountain country for the Gosh All Hemlock MineP
Oh how I'd like to clasp your hand an' set down by your sideW
And talk about the good old days beyond the big divideW
Of the rackaboar the snaix the bear the Rocky Mountain goatX
Of the conversazzhyony 'nd of Casey's tabble doteX
And a word of them old pardners that stood by us long agoP
Three Fingered Hoover Sorry Tom and Parson Jim you knowP
Old times old friends John Smith would make our hearts beat high againP
And we'd see the snow top mountain like we used to see 'em thenP
The magpies would go flutterin' like strange sperrits to 'nd froP
And we'd hear the pines a singing' in the ragged gulch belowP
And the mountain brook would loiter like upon its windin' wayO
Ez if it waited for a child to jine it in its playO
-
You see John Smith just which you are I cannot well recallY
And really I am pleased to think you somehow must be allY
For when a man sojourns abroad awhile as I have doneP
He likes to think of all the folks he left at home as oneP
And so they are For well you know there's nothing in a nameN
Our Browns our Joneses and our Smiths are happily the sameN
All represent the spirit of the land across the seaO
All stand for one high purpose in our country of the freeO
Whether John Smith be from the South the North the West the EastZ
So long as he's American it mattereth not the leastZ
Whether his crest be badger bear palmetto sword or pineP
He is the glory of the stars that with the stripes combineP
Where'er he be whate'er his lot he's eager to be knownP
Not by his mortal name but by his country's name aloneP
And so compatriot I am proud you wrote your name to dayO
Upon the register at Lowe's 'John Smith U S A '-

Eugene Field



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