The Rock Cries Out To Us Today Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGHAIAJEKLMNOPQ ARSNTAUVWXYTFZIA2B2C 2XD2E2D2D2F2F2QQEAAQ QXFG2H2AI2J2K2L2FFM2 AFN2AO2P2D2Q2R2S2XD2 S2M2S2T2U2D2V2W2HX2F AX2Y2Z2A3R2AAA3S2A3A 3X2AAAB3C2A Rock A River A Tree | A |
Hosts to species long since departed | B |
Mark the mastodon | C |
The dinosaur who left dry tokens | D |
Of their sojourn here | E |
On our planet floor | F |
Any broad alarm of their of their hastening doom | G |
Is lost in the gloom of dust and ages | H |
But today the Rock cries out to us clearly forcefully | A |
Come you may stand upon my | I |
Back and face your distant destiny | A |
But seek no haven in my shadow | J |
I will give you no hiding place down here | E |
You created only a little lower than | K |
The angels have crouched too long in | L |
The bruising darkness | M |
Have lain too long | N |
Face down in ignorance | O |
Your mouths spelling words | P |
Armed for slaughter | Q |
The rock cries out today you may stand on me | A |
But do not hide your face | R |
Across the wall of the world | S |
A river sings a beautiful song | N |
Come rest here by my side | T |
Each of you a bordered country | A |
Delicate and strangely made proud | U |
Yet thrusting perpetually under siege | V |
Your armed struggles for profit | W |
Have left collars of waste upon | X |
My shore currents of debris upon my breast | Y |
Yet today I call you to my riverside | T |
If you will study war no more | F |
Come clad in peace and I will sing the songs | Z |
The Creator gave to me when I | I |
And the tree and stone were one | A2 |
Before cynicism was a bloody sear across your brow | B2 |
And when you yet knew you still knew nothing | C2 |
The river sings and sings on | X |
There is a true yearning to respond to | D2 |
The singing river and the wise rock | E2 |
So say the Asian the Hispanic the Jew | D2 |
The African and Native American the Sioux | D2 |
The Catholic the Muslim the French the Greek | F2 |
The Irish the Rabbi the Priest the Sheikh | F2 |
The Gay the Straight the Preacher | Q |
The privileged the homeless the teacher | Q |
They hear They all hear | E |
The speaking of the tree | A |
Today the first and last of every tree | A |
Speaks to humankind Come to me here beside the river | Q |
Plant yourself beside me here beside the river | Q |
Each of you descendant of some passed on | X |
Traveller has been paid for | F |
You who gave me my first name | G2 |
You Pawnee Apache and Seneca | H2 |
You Cherokee Nation who rested with me | A |
Then forced on bloody feet | I2 |
Left me to the employment of other seekers | J2 |
Desperate for gain starving for gold | K2 |
You the Turk the Swede the German the Scot | L2 |
You the Ashanti the Yoruba the Kru | F |
Bought sold stolen arriving on a nightmare | F |
Praying for a dream | M2 |
Here root yourselves beside me | A |
I am the tree planted by the river | F |
Which will not be moved | N2 |
I the rock I the river I the tree | A |
I am yours your passages have been paid | O2 |
Lift up your faces you have a piercing need | P2 |
For this bright morning dawning for you | D2 |
History despite its wrenching pain | Q2 |
Cannot be unlived and if faced with courage | R2 |
Need not be lived again | S2 |
Lift up your eyes upon | X |
The day breaking for you | D2 |
Give birth again | S2 |
To the dream | M2 |
Women children men | S2 |
Take it into the palms of your hands | T2 |
Mold it into the shape of your most | U2 |
Private need Sculpt it into | D2 |
The image of your most public self | V2 |
Lift up your hearts | W2 |
Each new hour holds new chances | H |
For new beginnings | X2 |
Do not be wedded forever | F |
To fear yoked eternally | A |
To brutishness | X2 |
The horizon leans forward | Y2 |
Offering you space to place new steps of change | Z2 |
Here on the pulse of this fine day | A3 |
You may have the courage | R2 |
To look up and out upon me | A |
The rock the river the tree your country | A |
No less to Midas than the mendicant | A3 |
No less to you now than the mastodon then | S2 |
Here on the pulse of this new day | A3 |
You may have the grace to look up and out | A3 |
And into your sister's eyes | X2 |
Into your brother's face your country | A |
And say simply | A |
Very simply | A |
With hope | B3 |
Good morning | C2 |
Maya Angelou
(2)
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Kenneth R.Jenkins: This was the poem I remembered during President Clinton's Inauguration and loved it when she read it. When Ms Angelou stood up to read, everyone in the newspaper and print shop stopped to listen; what a moment!!!!
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