The Slave Ships Poem Rhyme Scheme

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'ALL ready ' cried the captain	A
'Ay ay ' the seamen said	B
'Heave up the worthless lubbers	C
The dying and the dead '	D
Up from the slave ship's prison	A
Fierce bearded heads were thrust	E
'Now let the sharks look to it	F
Toss up the dead ones first '	D
Corpse after corpse came up	G
Death had been busy there	H
Where every blow is mercy	I
Why should the spoiler spare	H
Corpse after corpse they cast	J
Sullenly from the ship	K
Yet bloody with the traces	L
Of fetter link and whip	K
Gloomily stood the captain	A
With his arms upon his breast	M
With his cold brow sternly knotted	N
And his iron lip compressed	M
'Are all the dead dogs over '	D
Growled through that matted lip	K
'The blind ones are no better	O
Let's lighten the good ship '	D
Hark from the ship's dark bosom	P
The very sounds of hell	Q
The ringing clank of iron	R
The maniac's short sharp yell	Q
The hoarse low curse throat stified	M
The starving infant's moan	S
The horror of a breaking heart	M
Poured through a mother's groan	S
Up from that loathsome prison	A
The stricken blind ones came	T
Below had all been darkness	U
Above was still the same	T
Yet the holy breath of heaven	A
Was sweetly breathing there	H
And the heated brow of fever	O
Cooled in the soft sea air	H
'Overboard with them shipmates '	D
Cutlass and dirk were plied	M
Fettered and blind one after one	A
Plunged down the vessel's side	M
The sabre smote above	V
Beneath the lean shark lay	W
Waiting with wide and bloody jaw	X
His quick and human prey	W
God of the earth what cries	Y
Rang upward unto thee	I
Voices of agony and blood	M
From ship deck and from sea	I
The last dull plunge was heard	M
The last wave caught its stain	Z
And the unsated shark looked up	G
For human hearts in vain	Z
	D
Red glowed the western waters	C
The setting sun was there	H
Scattering alike on wave and cloud	M
His fiery mesh of hair	H
Amidst a group in blindness	U
A solitary eye	A2
Gazed from the burdened slaver's deck	B2
Into that burning sky	A2
' A storm ' spoke out the gazer	H
'Is gathering and at hand	M
Curse on't I'd give my other eye	A2
For one firm rood of land '	D
And then he laughed but only	I
His echoed laugh replied	M
For the blinded and the suffering	C2
Alone were at his side	M
Night settled on the waters	C
And on a stormy heaven	A
While fiercely on that lone ship's track	D2
The thunder gust was driven	A
'A sail thank God a sail '	D
And as the helmsman spoke	E2
Up through the stormy murmur	H
A shout of gladness broke	E2
Down came the stranger vessel	F2
Unheeding on her way	W
So near that on the slaver's deck	B2
Fell off her driven spray	W
' Ho for the love of mercy	I
We're perishing and blind '	D
A wail of utter agony	I
Came back upon the wind	M
' Help us for we are stricken	A
With blindness every one	A
Ten days we've floated fearfully	F2
Unnoting star or sun	A
Our ship's the slaver Leon	G2
We're but a score on board	M
Our slaves are all gone over	H
Help for the love of God '	D
On livid brows of agony	I
The broad red lightning shone	S
But the roar of wind and thunder	H
Stifled the answering groan	S
Wailed from the broken waters	C
A last despairing cry	A2
As kindling in the stormy light	M
The stranger ship went by	A2
	D
In the sunny Guadaloupe	G
A dark hulled vessel lay	F2
With a crew who noted never	H
The nightfall or the day	F2
The blossom of the orange	H2
Was white by every stream	I2
And tropic leaf and flower and bird	M
Were in the warm sunbeam	I2
And the sky was bright as ever	H
And the moonlight slept as well	F2
On the palm trees by the hillside	M
And the streamlet of the dell	F2
And the glances of the Creole	F2
Were still as archly deep	G
And her smiles as full as ever	H
Of passion and of sleep	G
But vain were bird and blossom	P
The green earth and the sky	A2
And the smile of human faces	L
To the slaver's darkened eye	A2
At the breaking of the morning	C2
At the star lit evening time	J2
O'er a world of light and beauty	I
Fell the blackness of his crime	J2

John Greenleaf Whittier

The Slave Ships Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

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