Blackmouth, Of Colorado Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AAABBCCD DEEFFCCGGHHIIJJGDKKL LMM NNOODGPPQRRDDGGGGDD SSTTEEUUVVW WDDXXGGY AADDDDZZA2A2B2B2C2C2 D2D2 DDC2C2E2E2GGF2F2 G2G2GG H2H2H2GG I2I2J2J2GGK2K2L2L2M2 M2EEGGN2N2DD J2J2GGO2O2P2P2DDQQ J2Q2Q2J2HHDDAAEE| Who is Blackmouth Well that's hard to say | A |
| Mebbe he might ha' told you 't other day | A |
| If you'd been here Now he's gone away | A |
| Come to think on 't wouldn't ha' been no use | B |
| If you'd called here earlier His excuse | B |
| Always was whenever folks would ask him | C |
| Where he hailed from an' would tease an' task him | C |
| What d' you s'pose He just said I don' know | D |
| - | |
| That was truth He came here long ago | D |
| But before that he'd been born somewhere | E |
| The conundrum started first right there | E |
| Little shaver afore he knew his name | F |
| Or the place from whereabouts he came | F |
| On a wagon train the Apaches caught him | C |
| Killed the old folks But this cus' they brought him | C |
| Safe away from fire an' knife an' arrows | G |
| So'thin' 'bout him must have touched their marrows | G |
| They was merciful treated him real good | H |
| Brought him up to man's age well's they could | H |
| Now d' you b'lieve me that there likely lad | I |
| For all they used him so went to the bad | I |
| Leastways left the red men that he knew | J |
| 'N' come to look for folks like me an' you | J |
| Goldarned white folks that he never saw | G |
| Queerest thing was though he loved a squaw | D |
| 'T was on her account he planned escape | K |
| Shook the Apaches an' took up red tape | K |
| With the U S gov'ment arter a while | L |
| Tho' they do say gov'ment may be vile | L |
| Mean an' treacherous an' deceivin' Well | M |
| I ain't sayin' our gov'ment is a sell | M |
| - | |
| Bocanegra Spanish term I've heard | N |
| Stands for Blackmouth Now this curious bird | N |
| Known as Bocanegra gave his life | O |
| Most for others First he saved his wife | O |
| Her I spoke of nothin' but a squaw | D |
| You might wonder by what sort of law | G |
| He a white man born should come to love her | P |
| But 't was somehow so he did discover | P |
| Beauty in her of the holding kind | Q |
| Some men love the light an' some the shade | R |
| Round that little Indian girl there played | R |
| Soft an' shadowy tremblings like the dark | D |
| Under trees yet now an' then a spark | D |
| Quick 's a firefly flashing from her eyes | G |
| Made you think of summer midnight skies | G |
| She was faithful too like midnight stars | G |
| As for Blackmouth if you'd seen the scars | G |
| Made by wounds he suffered for her sake | D |
| You'd have called him true and no mistake | D |
| - | |
| Growin' up a man he scarcely met | S |
| Other white folks an' his heart was set | S |
| On this red girl Yet he said We'll wait | T |
| You must never be my wedded mate | T |
| Till we reach the white man's country There | E |
| Everything that's done is fair and square | E |
| Patiently they stayed thro' trust or doubt | U |
| Till tow'rds Colorado he could scout | U |
| Some safe track He told her You go first | V |
| All my joy goes with you that's the worst | V |
| But I wait to guard or hide the trail | W |
| - | |
| Indians caught him an' they gave him hail | W |
| Cut an' tortured him till he was bleeding | D |
| Yet they found that still they weren't succeeding | D |
| Where's that squaw they asked We'll have her blood | X |
| Either that or grind you into mud | X |
| Pick your eyes out too if you can't see | G |
| Where she's gone to Which now shall it be | G |
| Tell us where she's hid | Y |
| - | |
| I'll show the way | A |
| Blackmouth says an' leads toward dawn of day | A |
| Till they come straight out beside the brink | D |
| Of a precipice that seems to sink | D |
| Into everlasting gulfs below | D |
| Loose me Blackmouth tells 'em But go slow | D |
| Then they loosed him and with one swift leap | Z |
| Blackmouth swooped right down into the deep | Z |
| Jumped out into space beyond the edge | A2 |
| While the Apaches cowered along the ledge | A2 |
| Seven hundred feet they say That's guff | B2 |
| Seventy foot I tell you 's 'bout enough | B2 |
| Indians called him a dead antelope | C2 |
| But they couldn't touch the bramble slope | C2 |
| Where he bruised and stabbed crawled under brush | D2 |
| Their hand was beat hollow he held a flush | D2 |
| - | |
| Day and night he limped or crawled along | D |
| Winds blew hot yet sang to him a song | D |
| So he told me once that gave him hope | C2 |
| Every time he saw a shadow grope | C2 |
| Down the hillsides from a flying cloud | E2 |
| Something touched his heart that made him proud | E2 |
| Seemed to him he saw her dusky face | G |
| Watching over him from place to place | G |
| Every time the dry leaves rustled near | F2 |
| Seemed to him she whispered Have no fear | F2 |
| - | |
| So at last he found her they were married | G2 |
| But from those days on he always carried | G2 |
| Marks of madness actually yes | G |
| Trusted the good faith of these U S | G |
| - | |
| Indian hate an' deviltry he braved | H2 |
| 'N' scores an' scores of white men's lives he saved | H2 |
| Just for that his name should be engraved | H2 |
| But it won't be U S gov'ment dreads | G |
| Men who're taller 'n politicians' heads | G |
| - | |
| All the while his wife tho' half despised | I2 |
| By the frontier folks that civilized | I2 |
| An' converted her served by his side | J2 |
| Helping faithfully until she died | J2 |
| Left alone he lay awake o' nights | G |
| Thinkin' what they'd both done for the whites | G |
| Then he thought of her and Indian people | K2 |
| Tryin' to measure by the church's steeple | K2 |
| Just how Christian our great nation's been | L2 |
| Toward those native tribes so full of sin | L2 |
| When he counted all the wrongs we've done | M2 |
| To the wild men of the setting sun | M2 |
| Seem'd to him the gov'ment wa'n't quite fair | E |
| When its notes came due it wa'n't right there | E |
| U S gov'ment promised Indians lots | G |
| But at last it closed accounts with shots | G |
| Mouth was black perhaps but he was white | N2 |
| Calling gov'ment black don't seem polite | N2 |
| Yet I'll swear its actions wouldn't show | D |
| 'Longside Blackmouth's better 'n soot with snow | D |
| - | |
| Yes sir Blackmouth took the other side | J2 |
| Honestly for years an' years he tried | J2 |
| Getting justice for the Indians He | G |
| Risking life an' limb for you an' me | G |
| He the man who proved his good intent | O2 |
| By his deeds an' plainly showed he meant | O2 |
| He would die for us turned round an' said | P2 |
| White men have been saved Now save the red | P2 |
| But it didn't pan out No one would hark | D |
| Let the prairie dogs an' Blackmouth bark | D |
| Said our folks And no he wa'n't resigned | Q |
| But concluded he had missed his find | Q |
| - | |
| Where is Blackmouth That I can't decide | J2 |
| Red an' white men both he tried to serve | Q2 |
| But I guess at last he lost his nerve | Q2 |
| Kind o' tired out See He had his pride | J2 |
| Gave his life for others far 's he could | H |
| Hoping it would do 'em some small good | H |
| Didn't seem to be much use An' so | D |
| Well you see that man dropped in the snow | D |
| Where the crowd is Suicide they say | A |
| Looks as though he had quit work to stay | A |
| Bullet in the breast His body 's there | E |
| But poor Blackmouth's gone I don't know where | E |
George Parsons Lathrop
(1)
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