Hallelujah: A Sestina Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEE EAEBDC CEDABE ECBEAD DEACEB FDEECA ECA| A wind's word the Hebrew Hallelujah | A |
| I wonder they never gave it to a boy | B |
| Hal for short boy with wind wild hair | C |
| It means Praise God as well it should since praise | D |
| Is what God's for Why didn't they call my father | E |
| Hallelujah instead of Ebenezer | E |
| - | |
| Eben of course but christened Ebenezer | E |
| Product of Nova Scotia hallelujah | A |
| Daniel a country doctor was his father | E |
| And my father his tenth and final boy | B |
| A baby and last he had a baby's praise | D |
| Red petticoats red cheeks and crow black hair | C |
| - | |
| A boy has little to say about his hair | C |
| And little about a name like Ebenezer | E |
| Except that you can shorten either Praise | D |
| God for that for that shout Hallelujah | A |
| Shout Hallelujah for everything a boy | B |
| Can be that is not his father or grandfather | E |
| - | |
| But then before you know it he is a father | E |
| Too and passing on his brand of hair | C |
| To one more perfectly defenseless boy | B |
| Dubbing him John or James or Ebenezer | E |
| But never so far as I know Hallelujah | A |
| As if God didn't need quite that much praise | D |
| - | |
| But what I'm coming to Could I ever praise | D |
| My father half enough for being a father | E |
| Who let me be myself Sing Hallelujah | A |
| Preacher he was with a prophet's head of hair | C |
| And what but a prophet's name was Ebenezer | E |
| However little I guessed it as a boy | B |
| - | |
| Outlandish names of course are never a boy's | F |
| Choice And it takes some time to learn to praise | D |
| Stone of Help is the meaning of Ebenezer | E |
| Stone of Help what fitter name for my father | E |
| Always the Stone of Help however his hair | C |
| Might graduate from black to Hallelujah | A |
| - | |
| Such is the old drama of boy and father | E |
| Praise from a grayhead now with thinning hair | C |
| Sing Ebenezer Robert sing Hallelujah | A |
Robert Francis
(1)
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