Minnetonka Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABC DDEEFFGGAHH I GGJJKKLLMM BNNOPQQRJRSCS TTC BBUVLLWWGG QXYJZIJ HH| Note The Dakota name for this beautiful lake is Me ne a | A |
| tan ka Broad Water By dropping the a before | B |
| tanka we have changed the name to Big Water | C |
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| I sit once more on breezy shore at sunset in this glorious June | D |
| I hear the dip of gleaming oar I list the singer's merry tune | D |
| Beneath my feet the waters beat and ripple on the polished stones | E |
| The squirrel chatters from his seat the bag pipe beetle hums and drones | E |
| The pink and gold in blooming wold the green hills mirrored in the lake | F |
| The deep blue waters zephyr rolled along the murmuring pebbles break | F |
| The maples screen the ferns and lean the leafy lindens o'er the deep | G |
| The sapphire set in emerald green lies like an Orient gem asleep | G |
| The crimsoned west glows like the breast of Rhuddin a | A |
| when he pipes in May | H |
| As downward droops the sun to rest and shadows gather on the bay | H |
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| a The Welsh name for the robin | I |
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| In amber sky the swallows fly and sail and circle o'er the deep | G |
| The light winged night hawks whir and cry the silver pike and salmon leap | G |
| The rising moon the woods aboon looks laughing down on lake and lea | J |
| Weird o'er the waters shrills the loon the high stars twinkle in the sea | J |
| From bank and hill the whippowil sends piping forth his flute like notes | K |
| And clear and shrill the answers trill from leafy isles and silver throats | K |
| The twinkling light on cape and height the hum of voices on the shores | L |
| The merry laughter on the night the dip and plash of frolic oars | L |
| These tell the tale On hill and dale the cities pour their gay and fair | M |
| Along the sapphire lake they sail and quaff like wine the balmy air | M |
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| 'Tis well Of yore from isle and shore | B |
| the smoke of Indian teepees a rose | N |
| The hunter plied the silent oar the forest lay in still repose | N |
| The moon faced maid in leafy glade her warrior waited from the chase | O |
| The nut brown naked children played and chased the gopher on the grass | P |
| The dappled fawn on wooded lawn peeped out upon the birch canoe | Q |
| Swift gliding in the gray of dawn along the silent waters blue | Q |
| In yonder tree the great Wanm dee b securely built her spacious nest | R |
| The blast that swept the land locked sea c | J |
| but rocked her clamorous babes to rest | R |
| By grassy mere the elk and deer gazed on the hunter as he came | S |
| Nor fled with fear from bow or spear so wild were they that they were | C |
| tame | S |
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| a Lodges | T |
| b Wanm dee the war eagle of the Dakotas | T |
| c Lake Superior | C |
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| Ah birch canoe and hunter too have long forsaken lake and shore | B |
| He bade his father's bones adieu and turned away forevermore | B |
| But still methinks on dusky brinks the spirit of the warrior moves | U |
| At crystal springs the hunter drinks and nightly haunts the spot he loves | V |
| For oft at night I see the light of lodge fires on the shadowy shores | L |
| And hear the wail some maiden's sprite above her slaughtered warrior pours | L |
| I hear the sob on Spirit Knob a of Indian mother o'er her child | W |
| And on the midnight waters throb her low yun he he's b weird and wild | W |
| And sometimes too the light canoe glides like a shadow o'er the deep | G |
| At midnight when the moon is low and all the shores are hushed in sleep | G |
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| a Spirit Knob is a small hill up on a point in the lake in full view | Q |
| from Wayzata The spirit of a Dakota mother whose only child was drowned | X |
| in the lake during a storm many many years ago often wails at midnight | Y |
| so the Dakotas say on this hill So they called it Wa na gee | J |
| Pa ze dan Spirit Knob Literally little hill of the spirit | Z |
| b Pronounced Yoon hay hay the exclamation used by Dakota women | I |
| in their lament for the dead and equivalent to woe is me | J |
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| Alas Alas for all things pass and we shall vanish too as they | H |
| We build our monuments of brass and granite but they waste away | H |
Hanford Lennox Gordon
(1)
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