The Song Of Hiawatha Xix: The Ghosts Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGAAFHIFFFIJKLA FFFFMAADFCNAOFPADQDL CFLAAFRSTOLLUHLCCAFF VOLFTRWLFFTRXQLFFACR AAFAFFOXFRLHLFFFYAQD FFRQFAFHLRXLLFFDRLLR DLQDHLAFFACFQRFFAZFA DLCQMLDLLQCCFFLLLLFW FXDDFLTFTTCFDLJTFTLD QMAFLLFHRFRHRHFFLLFL HLFQMFFFMMXFRMROLA2L AFRANever stoops the soaring vulture | A |
On his quarry in the desert | B |
On the sick or wounded bison | C |
But another vulture watching | D |
From his high aerial look out | E |
Sees the downward plunge and follows | F |
And a third pursues the second | G |
Coming from the invisible ether | A |
First a speck and then a vulture | A |
Till the air is dark with pinions | F |
So disasters come not singly | H |
But as if they watched and waited | I |
Scanning one another's motions | F |
When the first descends the others | F |
Follow follow gathering flock wise | F |
Round their victim sick and wounded | I |
First a shadow then a sorrow | J |
Till the air is dark with anguish | K |
Now o'er all the dreary North land | L |
Mighty Peboan the Winter | A |
Breathing on the lakes and rivers | F |
Into stone had changed their waters | F |
From his hair he shook the snow flakes | F |
Till the plains were strewn with whiteness | F |
One uninterrupted level | M |
As if stooping the Creator | A |
With his hand had smoothed them over | A |
Through the forest wide and wailing | D |
Roamed the hunter on his snow shoes | F |
In the village worked the women | C |
Pounded maize or dressed the deer skin | N |
And the young men played together | A |
On the ice the noisy ball play | O |
On the plain the dance of snow shoes | F |
One dark evening after sundown | P |
In her wigwam Laughing Water | A |
Sat with old Nokomis waiting | D |
For the steps of Hiawatha | Q |
Homeward from the hunt returning | D |
On their faces gleamed the firelight | L |
Painting them with streaks of crimson | C |
In the eyes of old Nokomis | F |
Glimmered like the watery moonlight | L |
In the eyes of Laughing Water | A |
Glistened like the sun in water | A |
And behind them crouched their shadows | F |
In the corners of the wigwam | R |
And the smoke In wreaths above them | S |
Climbed and crowded through the smoke flue | T |
Then the curtain of the doorway | O |
From without was slowly lifted | L |
Brighter glowed the fire a moment | L |
And a moment swerved the smoke wreath | U |
As two women entered softly | H |
Passed the doorway uninvited | L |
Without word of salutation | C |
Without sign of recognition | C |
Sat down in the farthest corner | A |
Crouching low among the shadows | F |
From their aspect and their garments | F |
Strangers seemed they in the village | V |
Very pale and haggard were they | O |
As they sat there sad and silent | L |
Trembling cowering with the shadows | F |
Was it the wind above the smoke flue | T |
Muttering down into the wigwam | R |
Was it the owl the Koko koho | W |
Hooting from the dismal forest | L |
Sure a voice said in the silence | F |
'These are corpses clad in garments | F |
These are ghosts that come to haunt you | T |
From the kingdom of Ponemah | R |
From the land of the Hereafter ' | X |
Homeward now came Hiawatha | Q |
From his hunting in the forest | L |
With the snow upon his tresses | F |
And the red deer on his shoulders | F |
At the feet of Laughing Water | A |
Down he threw his lifeless burden | C |
Nobler handsomer she thought him | R |
Than when first he came to woo her | A |
First threw down the deer before her | A |
As a token of his wishes | F |
As a promise of the future | A |
Then he turned and saw the strangers | F |
Cowering crouching with the shadows | F |
Said within himself 'Who are they | O |
What strange guests has Minnehaha ' | X |
But he questioned not the strangers | F |
Only spake to bid them welcome | R |
To his lodge his food his fireside | L |
When the evening meal was ready | H |
And the deer had been divided | L |
Both the pallid guests the strangers | F |
Springing from among the shadows | F |
Seized upon the choicest portions | F |
Seized the white fat of the roebuck | Y |
Set apart for Laughing Water | A |
For the wife of Hiawatha | Q |
Without asking without thanking | D |
Eagerly devoured the morsels | F |
Flitted back among the shadows | F |
In the corner of the wigwam | R |
Not a word spake Hiawatha | Q |
Not a motion made Nokomis | F |
Not a gesture Laughing Water | A |
Not a change came o'er their features | F |
Only Minnehaha softly | H |
Whispered saying 'They are famished | L |
Let them do what best delights them | R |
Let them eat for they are famished ' | X |
Many a daylight dawned and darkened | L |
Many a night shook off the daylight | L |
As the pine shakes off the snow flakes | F |
From the midnight of its branches | F |
Day by day the guests unmoving | D |
Sat there silent in the wigwam | R |
But by night in storm or starlight | L |
Forth they went into the forest | L |
Bringing fire wood to the wigwam | R |
Bringing pine cones for the burning | D |
Always sad and always silent | L |
And whenever Hiawatha | Q |
Came from fishing or from hunting | D |
When the evening meal was ready | H |
And the food had been divided | L |
Gliding from their darksome corner | A |
Came the pallid guests the strangers | F |
Seized upon the choicest portions | F |
Set aside for Laughing Water | A |
And without rebuke or question | C |
Flitted back among the shadows | F |
Never once had Hiawatha | Q |
By a word or look reproved them | R |
Never once had old Nokomis | F |
Made a gesture of impatience | F |
Never once had Laughing Water | A |
Shown resentment at the outrage | Z |
All had they endured in silence | F |
That the rights of guest and stranger | A |
That the virtue of free giving | D |
By a look might not be lessened | L |
By a word might not be broken | C |
Once at midnight Hiawatha | Q |
Ever wakeful ever watchful | M |
In the wigwam dimly lighted | L |
By the brands that still were burning | D |
By the glimmering flickering firelight | L |
Heard a sighing oft repeated | L |
From his couch rose Hiawatha | Q |
From his shaggy hides of bison | C |
Pushed aside the deer skin curtain | C |
Saw the pallid guests the shadows | F |
Sitting upright on their couches | F |
Weeping in the silent midnight | L |
And he said 'O guests why is it | L |
That your hearts are so afflicted | L |
That you sob so in the midnight | L |
Has perchance the old Nokomis | F |
Has my wife my Minnehaha | W |
Wronged or grieved you by unkindness | F |
Failed in hospitable duties ' | X |
Then the shadows ceased from weeping | D |
Ceased from sobbing and lamenting | D |
And they said with gentle voices | F |
'We are ghosts of the departed | L |
Souls of those who once were with you | T |
From the realms of Chibiabos | F |
Hither have we come to try you | T |
Hither have we come to warn you | T |
'Cries of grief and lamentation | C |
Reach us in the Blessed Islands | F |
Cries of anguish from the living | D |
Calling back their friends departed | L |
Sadden us with useless sorrow | J |
Therefore have we come to try you | T |
No one knows us no one heeds us | F |
We are but a burden to you | T |
And we see that the departed | L |
Have no place among the living | D |
'Think of this O Hiawatha | Q |
Speak of it to all the people | M |
That henceforward and forever | A |
They no more with lamentations | F |
Sadden the souls of the departed | L |
In the Islands of the Blessed | L |
'Do not lay such heavy burdens | F |
In the graves of those you bury | H |
Not such weight of furs and wampum | R |
Not such weight of pots and kettles | F |
For the spirits faint beneath them | R |
Only give them food to carry | H |
Only give them fire to light them | R |
'Four days is the spirit's journey | H |
To the land of ghosts and shadows | F |
Four its lonely night encampments | F |
Four times must their fires be lighted | L |
Therefore when the dead are buried | L |
Let a fire as night approaches | F |
Four times on the grave be kindled | L |
That the soul upon its journey | H |
May not lack the cheerful firelight | L |
May not grope about in darkness | F |
'Farewell noble Hiawatha | Q |
We have put you to the trial | M |
To the proof have put your patience | F |
By the insult of our presence | F |
By the outrage of our actions | F |
We have found you great and noble | M |
Fail not in the greater trial | M |
Faint not In the harder struggle ' | X |
When they ceased a sudden darkness | F |
Fell and filled the silent wigwam | R |
Hiawatha heard a rustle | M |
As of garments trailing by him | R |
Heard the curtain of the doorway | O |
Lifted by a hand he saw not | L |
Felt the cold breath of the night air | A2 |
For a moment saw the starlight | L |
But he saw the ghosts no longer | A |
Saw no more the wandering spirits | F |
From the kingdom of Ponemah | R |
From the land of the Hereafter | A |
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
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