A Tale Of The Thirteenth Floor Poem Rhyme Scheme

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The hands of the clock were reaching high	A
In an old midtown hotel	B
I name no name but its sordid fame	C
Is table talk in hell	B
I name no name but hell's own flame	C
Illumes the lobby garish	D
A gilded snare just off Times Square	E
For the maidens of the parish	D
	-
The revolving door swept the grimy floor	F
Like a crinoline grotesque	G
And a lowly bum from an ancient slum	H
Crept furtively past the desk	G
His footsteps sift into the lift	I
As a knife in the sheath is slipped	J
Stealthy and swift into the lift	I
As a vampire into a crypt	J
	-
Old Maxie the elevator boy	K
Was reading an ode by Shelley	L
But he dropped the ode as it were a toad	M
When the gun jammed into his belly	L
There came a whisper as soft as mud	N
In the bed of an old canal	O
Take me up to the suite of Pinball Pete	P
The rat who betrayed my gal	O
	-
The lift doth rise with groans and sighs	Q
Like a duchess for the waltz	R
Then in middle shaft like a duchess daft	S
It changes its mind and halts	R
The bum bites lip as the landlocked ship	T
Doth neither fall nor rise	Q
But Maxie the elevator boy	K
Regards him with burning eyes	Q
First to explore the thirteenth floor	F
Says Maxie would be wise	Q
	-
Quoth the bum There is moss on your double cross	U
I have been this way before	F
I have cased the joint at every point	V
And there is no thirteenth floor	F
The architect he skipped direct	W
From twelve unto fourteen	X
There is twelve below and fourteen above	Y
And nothing in between	X
For the vermin who dwell in this hotel	B
Could never abide thirteen	X
	-
Said Max Thirteen that floor obscene	X
Is hidden from human sight	Z
But once a year it doth appear	A2
On this Walpurgis Night	Z
Ere you peril your soul in murderer's role	B2
Heed those who sinned of yore	F
The path they trod led away from God	C2
And onto the thirteenth floor	F
Where those they slew a grisly crew	D2
Reproach them forevermore	D2
	-
We are higher than twelve and below fourteen	X
Said Maxie to the bum	H
And the sickening draft that taints the shaft	S
Is a whiff of kingdom come	H
The sickening draft that taints the shaft	S
Blows through the devil's door	D2
And he squashed the latch like a fungus patch	E2
And revealed the thirteenth floor	D2
	-
It was cheap cigars like lurid scars	F2
That glowed in the rancid gloom	G2
The murk was a boil with fusel oil	H2
And the reek of stale perfume	G2
And round and round there dragged and wound	I2
A loathsome conga chain	J2
The square and the hep in slow lock step	K2
The slayer and the slain	J2
For the souls of the victims ascend on high	A
But their bodies below remain	J2
	-
The clean souls fly to their home in the sky	A
But their bodies remain below	L2
To pursue the Cain who each has slain	J2
And harry him to and fro	L2
When life is extinct each corpse is linked	M2
To its gibbering murderer	D2
As a chicken is bound with wire around	I2
The neck of a killer cur	D2
	-
Handcuffed to Hate come Doctor Waite	N2
He tastes the poison now	O2
And Ruth and Judd and a head of blood	N
With horns upon its brow	O2
Up sashays Nan with her feathery fan	P2
From Floradora bright	Z
She never hung for Caesar Young	Q2
But she's dancing with him tonight	Z
	-
Here's the bulging hip and the foam flecked lip	T
Of the mad dog Vincent Coll	R2
And over there that ill met pair	D2
Becker and Rosenthal	S2
Here's Legs and Dutch and a dozen such	T2
Of braggart bullies and brutes	F2
And each one bends 'neath the weight of friends	F2
Who are wearing concrete suits	F2
	-
Now the damned make way for the double damned	U2
Who emerge with shuffling pace	F2
From the nightmare zone of persons unknown	V2
With neither name nor face	F2
And poor Dot King to one doth cling	W2
Joined in a ghastly jig	X2
While Elwell doth jape at a goblin shape	Y2
And tickle it with his wig	X2
	-
See Rothstein pass like breath on a glass	F2
The original Black Sox kid	Z2
He riffles the pack riding piggyback	A3
On the killer whose name he hid	Z2
And smeared like brine on a slavering swine	B3
Starr Faithful once so fair	D2
Drawn from the sea to her debauchee	T2
With the salt sand in her hair	D2
	-
And still they come and from the bum	H
The icy sweat doth spray	D2
His white lips scream as in a dream	C3
For God's sake let's away	D2
If ever I meet with Pinball Pete	P
I will not seek his gore	D2
Lest a treadmill grim I must trudge with him	D3
On the hideous thirteenth floor	D2
	-
For you I rejoice said Maxie's voice	F2
And I bid you go in peace	F2
But I am late for a dancing date	N2
That nevermore will cease	F2
So remember friend as your way you wend	E3
That it would have happened to you	D2
But I turned the heat on Pinball Pete	P
You see I had a daughter too	D2
	-
The bum reached out and he tried to shout	F3
But the door in his face was slammed	U2
And silent as stone he rode down alone	V2
From the floor of the double damned	U2

Ogden Nash

A Tale Of The Thirteenth Floor Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

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