The Christmas Tree Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCDEE FFGGHHI JJKKL MMNNOO PPQQAARREE SSTTQQOO U VSSAA EEWWXXPP GGYYZZRREE A2A2EEB2B2C2| In the dark and damp of the alley cold | A |
| Lay the Christmas tree that hadn't been sold | A |
| By a shopman dourly thrown outside | B |
| With the ruck and rubble of Christmas tide | B |
| Trodden deep in the muck and mire | C |
| Unworthy even to feed a fire | D |
| So I stopped and salvaged that tarnished tree | E |
| And thus is the story it told to me | E |
| - | |
| My Mother was Queen of the forest glade | F |
| And proudly I prospered in her shade | F |
| For she said to me 'When I am dead | G |
| You will be monarch in my stead | G |
| And reign as I for a hundred years | H |
| A tower of triumph amid your peers | H |
| When I crash in storm I will yield you space | I |
| Son you will worthily take my place ' | - |
| - | |
| So I grew in grace like a happy child | J |
| In the heart of the forest free and wild | J |
| And the moss and the ferns were all about | K |
| And the craintive mice crept in and out | K |
| And a wood dove swung on my highest twig | L |
| And a chipmunk chattered 'So big So big ' | - |
| And a shy fawn nibbled a tender shoot | M |
| And a rabbit nibbled under my root | M |
| Oh I was happy in rain and shine | N |
| As I thought of the destiny that was mine | N |
| Then a man with an axe came cruising by | O |
| And I knew that my fate was to fall and die | O |
| - | |
| With a hundred others he packed me tight | P |
| And we drove to a magic city of light | P |
| To an avenue lined with Christmas trees | Q |
| And I thought may be I'll be one of these | Q |
| Tinselled with silver and tricked with gold | A |
| A lovely sight for a child to behold | A |
| A glitter with lights of every hue | R |
| Ruby and emerald orange and blue | R |
| And kiddies dancing with shrieks of glee | E |
| One might fare worse than a Christmas tree | E |
| - | |
| So they stood me up with a hundred more | S |
| In the blaze of a big department store | S |
| But I thought of the forest dark and still | T |
| And the dew and the snow and the heat and the chill | T |
| And the soft chinook and the summer breeze | Q |
| And the dappled deer and the birds and the bees | Q |
| I was so homesick I wanted to cry | O |
| But patient I waited for someone to buy | O |
| And some said 'Too big ' and some 'Too small ' | - |
| And some passed on saying nothing at all | U |
| Then a little boy cried Ma buy that one ' | - |
| But she shook her head 'Too dear my son | V |
| So the evening came when they closed the store | S |
| And I was left on the littered floor | S |
| A tree unwanted despised unsold | A |
| Thrown out at last in the alley cold | A |
| - | |
| Then I said Don't sorrow at least you'll be | E |
| A bright and beautiful New Year's tree | E |
| All shimmer and glimmer and glow and gleam | W |
| A radiant sight like a fairy dream | W |
| For there is a little child I know | X |
| Who lives in poverty want and woe | X |
| Who lies abed from morn to night | P |
| And never has known an hour's delight | P |
| - | |
| So I stood the tree at the foot of her bed | G |
| Santa's a little late I said | G |
| Poor old chap Snowbound on the way | Y |
| But he's here at last so let's be gay | Y |
| Then she woke from sleep and she saw you there | Z |
| And her eyes were love and her lips were prayer | Z |
| And her thin little arms were stretched to you | R |
| With a yearning joy that they never knew | R |
| She woke from the darkest dark to see | E |
| Like a heavenly vision that Christmas Tree | E |
| - | |
| Her mother despaired and feared the end | A2 |
| But from that day she began to mend | A2 |
| To play to sing to laugh with glee | E |
| Bless you O little Christmas Tree | E |
| You died but your life was not in vain | B2 |
| You helped a child to forget her pain | B2 |
| And let hope live in our hearts again | C2 |
Robert William Service
(1)
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