The Song Of Hiawatha Xxi: The White Man's Foot Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABCDEFAGGHIJDBKALJJ BFMNFOBPAPENQRSTPUVA WBXPQDBXYQQDKJAZJFA2 ZAGB2QQDC2DJFUFAMD2Q IFAIBQNE2BFAJF2AG2H2 ADJEIII2H2J2I2LLC2I2 JAAJJI2JFJJDAK2DJDJJ JJL2JC2M2UC2K2FJI2DF DUJJN2C2JJDQUUC2I2JU QQUJDJJFUQC2DDFDQO2J JJI2FFJJJQI2I2DJFJJI 2O2DFI2UI2N2C2C2UC2J C2JJP2JI2FFUI2JJO2DD JJJJUFDI2JUO2O2DIn his lodge beside a river | A |
Close beside a frozen river | A |
Sat an old man sad and lonely | B |
White his hair was as a snow drift | C |
Dull and low his fire was burning | D |
And the old man shook and trembled | E |
Folded in his Waubewyon | F |
In his tattered white skin wrapper | A |
Hearing nothing but the tempest | G |
As it roared along the forest | G |
Seeing nothing but the snow storm | H |
As it whirled and hissed and drifted | I |
All the coals were white with ashes | J |
And the fire was slowly dying | D |
As a young man walking lightly | B |
At the open doorway entered | K |
Red with blood of youth his cheeks were | A |
Soft his eyes as stars In Spring time | L |
Bound his forehead was with grasses | J |
Bound and plumed with scented grasses | J |
On his lips a smile of beauty | B |
Filling all the lodge with sunshine | F |
In his hand a bunch of blossoms | M |
Filling all the lodge with sweetness | N |
'Ah my son ' exclaimed the old man | F |
'Happy are my eyes to see you | O |
Sit here on the mat beside me | B |
Sit here by the dying embers | P |
Let us pass the night together | A |
Tell me of your strange adventures | P |
Of the lands where you have travelled | E |
I will tell you of my prowess | N |
Of my many deeds of wonder ' | Q |
From his pouch he drew his peace pipe | R |
Very old and strangely fashioned | S |
Made of red stone was the pipe head | T |
And the stem a reed with feathers | P |
Filled the pipe with bark of willow | U |
Placed a burning coal upon it | V |
Gave it to his guest the stranger | A |
And began to speak in this wise | W |
'When I blow my breath about me | B |
When I breathe upon the landscape | X |
Motionless are all the rivers | P |
Hard as stone becomes the water ' | Q |
And the young man answered smiling | D |
'When I blow my breath about me | B |
When I breathe upon the landscape | X |
Flowers spring up o'er all the meadows | Y |
Singing onward rush the rivers ' | Q |
'When I shake my hoary tresses ' | Q |
Said the old man darkly frowning | D |
'All the land with snow is covered | K |
All the leaves from all the branches | J |
Fall and fade and die and wither | A |
For I breathe and lo they are not | Z |
From the waters and the marshes | J |
Rise the wild goose and the heron | F |
Fly away to distant regions | A2 |
For I speak and lo they are not | Z |
And where'er my footsteps wander | A |
All the wild beasts of the forest | G |
Hide themselves in holes and caverns | B2 |
And the earth becomes as flintstone ' | Q |
'When I shake my flowing ringlets ' | Q |
Said the young man softly laughing | D |
'Showers of rain fall warm and welcome | C2 |
Plants lift up their heads rejoicing | D |
Back Into their lakes and marshes | J |
Come the wild goose and the heron | F |
Homeward shoots the arrowy swallow | U |
Sing the bluebird and the robin | F |
And where'er my footsteps wander | A |
All the meadows wave with blossoms | M |
All the woodlands ring with music | D2 |
All the trees are dark with foliage ' | Q |
While they spake the night departed | I |
From the distant realms of Wabun | F |
From his shining lodge of silver | A |
Like a warrior robed and painted | I |
Came the sun and said 'Behold me | B |
Gheezis the great sun behold me ' | Q |
Then the old man's tongue was speechless | N |
And the air grew warm and pleasant | E2 |
And upon the wigwam sweetly | B |
Sang the bluebird and the robin | F |
And the stream began to murmur | A |
And a scent of growing grasses | J |
Through the lodge was gently wafted | F2 |
And Segwun the youthful stranger | A |
More distinctly in the daylight | G2 |
Saw the icy face before him | H2 |
It was Peboan the Winter | A |
From his eyes the tears were flowing | D |
As from melting lakes the streamlets | J |
And his body shrunk and dwindled | E |
As the shouting sun ascended | I |
Till into the air it faded | I |
Till into the ground it vanished | I2 |
And the young man saw before him | H2 |
On the hearth stone of the wigwam | J2 |
Where the fire had smoked and smouldered | I2 |
Saw the earliest flower of Spring time | L |
Saw the Beauty of the Spring time | L |
Saw the Miskodeed in blossom | C2 |
Thus it was that in the North land | I2 |
After that unheard of coldness | J |
That intolerable Winter | A |
Came the Spring with all its splendor | A |
All its birds and all its blossoms | J |
All its flowers and leaves and grasses | J |
Sailing on the wind to northward | I2 |
Flying in great flocks like arrows | J |
Like huge arrows shot through heaven | F |
Passed the swan the Mahnahbezee | J |
Speaking almost as a man speaks | J |
And in long lines waving bending | D |
Like a bow string snapped asunder | A |
Came the white goose Waw be wawa | K2 |
And in pairs or singly flying | D |
Mahng the loon with clangorous pinions | J |
The blue heron the Shuh shuh gah | D |
And the grouse the Mushkodasa | J |
In the thickets and the meadows | J |
Piped the bluebird the Owaissa | J |
On the summit of the lodges | J |
Sang the robin the Opechee | L2 |
In the covert of the pine trees | J |
Cooed the pigeon the Omemee | C2 |
And the sorrowing Hiawatha | M2 |
Speechless in his infinite sorrow | U |
Heard their voices calling to him | C2 |
Went forth from his gloomy doorway | K2 |
Stood and gazed into the heaven | F |
Gazed upon the earth and waters | J |
From his wanderings far to eastward | I2 |
From the regions of the morning | D |
From the shining land of Wabun | F |
Homeward now returned Iagoo | D |
The great traveller the great boaster | U |
Full of new and strange adventures | J |
Marvels many and many wonders | J |
And the people of the village | N2 |
Listened to him as he told them | C2 |
Of his marvellous adventures | J |
Laughing answered him in this wise | J |
'Ugh it is indeed Iagoo | D |
No one else beholds such wonders ' | Q |
He had seen he said a water | U |
Bigger than the Big Sea Water | U |
Broader than the Gitche Gumee | C2 |
Bitter so that none could drink it | I2 |
At each other looked the warriors | J |
Looked the women at each other | U |
Smiled and said 'It cannot be so ' | Q |
Kaw ' they said it cannot be so ' | Q |
O'er it said he o'er this water | U |
Came a great canoe with pinions | J |
A canoe with wings came flying | D |
Bigger than a grove of pine trees | J |
Taller than the tallest tree tops | J |
And the old men and the women | F |
Looked and tittered at each other | U |
'Kaw ' they said 'we don't believe it ' | Q |
From its mouth he said to greet him | C2 |
Came Waywassimo the lightning | D |
Came the thunder Annemeekee | D |
And the warriors and the women | F |
Laughed aloud at poor Iagoo | D |
'Kaw ' they said 'what tales you tell us ' | Q |
In it said he came a people | O2 |
In the great canoe with pinions | J |
Came he said a hundred warriors | J |
Painted white were all their faces | J |
And with hair their chins were covered | I2 |
And the warriors and the women | F |
Laughed and shouted in derision | F |
Like the ravens on the tree tops | J |
Like the crows upon the hemlocks | J |
'Kaw ' they said 'what lies you tell us | J |
Do not think that we believe them ' | Q |
Only Hiawatha laughed not | I2 |
But he gravely spake and answered | I2 |
To their jeering and their jesting | D |
'True is all Iagoo tells us | J |
I have seen it in a vision | F |
Seen the great canoe with pinions | J |
Seen the people with white faces | J |
Seen the coming of this bearded | I2 |
People of the wooden vessel | O2 |
From the regions of the morning | D |
From the shining land of Wabun | F |
'Gitche Manito the Mighty | I2 |
The Great Spirit the Creator | U |
Sends them hither on his errand | I2 |
Sends them to us with his message | N2 |
Wheresoe'er they move before them | C2 |
Swarms the stinging fly the Ahmo | C2 |
Swarms the bee the honey maker | U |
Wheresoe'er they tread beneath them | C2 |
Springs a flower unknown among us | J |
Springs the White man's Foot in blossom | C2 |
'Let us welcome then the strangers | J |
Hail them as our friends and brothers | J |
And the heart's right hand of friendship | P2 |
Give them when they come to see us | J |
Gitche Manito the Mighty | I2 |
Said this to me in my vision | F |
'I beheld too in that vision | F |
All the secrets of the future | U |
Of the distant days that shall be | I2 |
I beheld the westward marches | J |
Of the unknown crowded nations | J |
All the land was full of people | O2 |
Restless struggling toiling striving | D |
Speaking many tongues yet feeling | D |
But one heart beat in their bosoms | J |
In the woodlands rang their axes | J |
Smoked their towns in all the valleys | J |
Over all the lakes and rivers | J |
Rushed their great canoes of thunder | U |
'Then a darker drearier vision | F |
Passed before me vague and cloud like | D |
I beheld our nation scattered | I2 |
All forgetful of my counsels | J |
Weakened warring with each other | U |
Saw the remnants of our people | O2 |
Sweeping westward wild and woful | O2 |
Like | D |
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
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