Tripoli Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABABCDCD EEEE FGHGIJIJ EEEE GKGLFMHM EEEE NONOPQPQ EEEE RSRSJTJT EEEE EUEUULUL EEEE VLBLUWUW EEEE UKUKUXUX EEEE YZYZUUUU EEEE YUYUUA2UA2 EEEE B2OB2OJTT EEEE LULUUC2UC2 EEEE

Hear the singing on the boatsA
As they halt beside the pierB
Ah those fresh Italian throatsA
How they cheerB
Yet the words they sing so loudC
Bring depression to my heartD
As I watch the youthful crowdC
Thus departD
-
We are going o'er the seaE
Loyal sons of ItalyE
We are bound for TripoliE
TripoliE
-
See that lad of twenty yearsF
Who is stretching out his handG
Toward his mother there in tearsH
On the strandG
Should he perish in the strifeI
Under Afric's burning skyJ
There were nothing left in lifeI
She must dieJ
-
Yet he's going o'er the seaE
At the call of ItalyE
He is bound for TripoliE
TripoliE
-
Now the plank is pulled to landG
And the last farewell is o'erK
As the steamer at commandG
Leaves the shoreL
There are shouts and ringing cheersF
For the boys are brave and strongM
Yet one feels that there are tearsH
In their songM
-
We are going o'er the seaE
Loyal sons of ItalyE
We are bound for TripoliE
TripoliE
-
Ah that mother who is leftN
She is weeping now aloneO
Like a Niobe bereftN
Of her ownO
And at length I dare to speakP
To the woman seated thereQ
With the tears upon her cheekP
In despairQ
-
He has gone across the seaE
Who so dutiful as heE
He is bound for TripoliE
TripoliE
-
Nay good mother do not weepR
Since the summons comes from RomeS
Can we really wish to keepR
Sons at homeS
And why not she made replyJ
We have no invading foeT
I would send my son to dieJ
Were it soT
-
But he's gone across the seaE
Gone with thousands such as heE
He is bound for TripoliE
TripoliE
-
What is Africa to meE
If it swallow up my childU
What care I for TripoliE
Spot defiledU
Did not Abyssinian sandU
Drink sufficiently our goreL
Must we stain that fatal strandU
As beforeL
-
Yet he's gone across the seaE
Who more valorous than heE
He is bound for TripoliE
TripoliE
-
Have we no great uses hereV
For the millions we outpourL
Are our consciences quite clearB
In this warL
Are there no more roads to buildU
Schools to found and farms to workW
That we let our boys be killedU
By the TurkW
-
Yet we send them o'er the seaE
Youthful sons of ItalyE
They are bound for TripoliE
TripoliE
-
We are hungry yet beholdU
How the price of food goes higherK
And the nights will soon be coldU
Without fireK
Who will earn for me my breadU
Who my little home will saveX
When he lies there cold and deadU
In his graveX
-
But he's gone across the seaE
Who so good and kind to meE
He is bound for TripoliE
TripoliE
-
To the churchyard near the bayY
Went the mother in her griefZ
For her soul was moved to prayY
For reliefZ
And deep sobs convulsed her breastU
As she knelt upon the sodU
Where her husband lay at restU
Safe in GodU
-
For the boy was o'er the seaE
Whom she rocked upon her kneeE
He had gone to TripoliE
TripoliE
-
She was buried yesterdayY
With her husband side by sideU
Ere two months had passed awayY
She had diedU
For one morning she had readU
Of her son among the slainA2
And they saw her old gray headU
Sink in painA2
-
Nevermore across the seaE
Will he come to ItalyE
He was killed in TripoliE
TripoliE
-
There was nothing more to tellB2
Of a lad so little knownO
He was reckoned one who fellB2
That aloneO
Was he wounded Did he lieJ
Long ill treated by the foeT
And not knowT
-
Yes he lies beyond the seaE
Can it be that that is heE
In the sands of TripoliE
TripoliE
-
She had asked for nothing moreL
But in silence slowly failedU
Dreaming ever of the shoreL
Whence he sailedU
Till her face so wan and whiteU
Flushed at last with sweet surpriseC2
And a strangely tender lightU
Filled her eyesC2
-
Then for her was no more seaE
She had found the soul set freeE
From the sands of TripoliE
TripoliE

John L. Stoddard



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