The Bankrupt Peace Maker Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJ GGKKLLBBMMNNGGOOPPQQ RRSSTTUUVVWWLL| I opened the ink well and smoke filled the room | A |
| The smoke formed the giant frog cat of my doom | A |
| His web feet left dreadful slime tracks on the floor | B |
| He had hammer and nails that he laid by the door | B |
| He sprawled on the table claw hands in my hair | C |
| He looked through my heart to the mud that was there | C |
| Like a black mailer hating his victim he spoke | D |
| When I see all your squirming I laugh till I choke | D |
| Singing of peace Railing at battle | E |
| Soothing a handful with saccharine prattle | E |
| All the millions of earth have voted for fight | F |
| You are voting for talk with hands lily white | F |
| He leaped to the floor then grew seven feet high | G |
| Beautiful terrible scorn in his eye | G |
| The Devil Eternal Apollo grown old | H |
| With beard of bright silver and garments of gold | H |
| What will you do to end war for good | I |
| Will you stand by the book case be nailed to the wood | I |
| I stretched out my arms He drove the nails deep | J |
| Silently coolly The house was asleep | J |
| I hung for three years forbidden to die | G |
| I seemed but a shadow the servants passed by | G |
| At the end of the time with hot irons he returned | K |
| The Quitter Sublime on my bosom he burned | K |
| As he seared me he hissed You are wearing away | L |
| The good angels tell me you leave them today | L |
| You want to come down from the nails in the door | B |
| The victor must hang there three hundred years more | B |
| If any prig saint would outvote all mankind | M |
| He must use an immortally resolute mind | M |
| Think what the saints of Benares endure | N |
| Through infinite birthpangs their courage is sure | N |
| Self tortured self ruled they build their powers high | G |
| Until they are gods overmaster the sky | G |
| Then he pulled out the nails He shouted Come in | O |
| To heal me there stepped in a lady of sin | O |
| Her hand was in mine We walked in the sun | P |
| She said Now forget them the Saxon and Hun | P |
| You are dreary and aged and silly and weak | Q |
| Let us smell the sweet groves Let the summertime speak | Q |
| We walked to the river We swam there in state | R |
| I was a serpent She was my mate | R |
| I forgot in the marsh as I tumbled about | S |
| That trial in my room where I did not hold out | S |
| Since I was a serpent my mate seemed to me | T |
| As a mermaiden seems to a fisher at sea | T |
| Or a whisky soaked girl to a whisky soaked king | U |
| I woke She had turned to a ravening thing | U |
| On the table a buzzard with leperous head | V |
| She tore up my rhymes and my drawings She said | V |
| I am your own cheap bankrupt soul | W |
| Will you die for the nations making them whole | W |
| We joy in the swamp and here we are gay | L |
| WILL YOU BRING YOUR FINE PEACE TO THE NATIONS TODAY | L |
Vachel Lindsay
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
About The Bankrupt Peace Maker
The Bankrupt Peace Maker is a poem by Vachel Lindsay. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
Write your comment about The Bankrupt Peace Maker poem by Vachel Lindsay
Best Poems of Vachel Lindsay