Brother Jonathan's Lament Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABB CCDD EEFF GGHH IIJJ KKBB LLMM CCLL NNOO| SHE has gone she has left us in passion and pride | A |
| Our stormy browed sister so long at our side | A |
| She has torn her own star from our firmament's glow | B |
| And turned on her brother the face of a foe | B |
| - | |
| Oh Caroline Caroline child of the sun | C |
| We can never forget that our hearts have been one | C |
| Our foreheads both sprinkled in Liberty's name | D |
| From the fountain of blood with the finger of flame | D |
| - | |
| You were always too ready to fire at a touch | E |
| But we said She is hasty she does not mean much | E |
| We have scowled when you uttered some turbulent threat | F |
| But Friendship still whispered Forgive and forget | F |
| - | |
| Has our love all died out Have its altars grown cold | G |
| Has the curse come at last which the fathers foretold | G |
| Then Nature must teach us the strength of the chain | H |
| That her petulant children would sever in vain | H |
| - | |
| They may fight till the buzzards are gorged with their spoil | I |
| Till the harvest grows black as it rots in the soil | I |
| Till the wolves and the catamounts troop from their caves | J |
| And the shark tracks the pirate the lord of the waves | J |
| - | |
| In vain is the strife When its fury is past | K |
| Their fortunes must flow in one channel at last | K |
| As the torrents that rush from the mountains of snow | B |
| Roll mingled in peace through the valleys below | B |
| - | |
| Our Union is river lake ocean and sky | L |
| Man breaks not the medal when God cuts the die | L |
| Though darkened with sulphur though cloven with steel | M |
| The blue arch will brighten the waters will heal | M |
| - | |
| Oh Caroline Caroline child of the sun | C |
| There are battles with Fate that can never be won | C |
| The star flowering banner must never be furled | L |
| For its blossoms of light are the hope of the world | L |
| - | |
| Go then our rash sister afar and aloof | N |
| Run wild in the sunshine away from our roof | N |
| But when your heart aches and your feet have grown sore | O |
| Remember the pathway that leads to our door | O |
Oliver Wendell Holmes
(1)
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