The Congo Poem Rhyme Scheme

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Vachel Lindsay

The Congo Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

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A Study of the Negro Race	A
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I Their Basic Savagery	B
	-
Fat black bucks in a wine barrel room	C
Barrel house kings with feet unstable	D
A deep rolling bass	E
Sagged and reeled and pounded on the table	D
Pounded on the table	D
Beat an empty barrel with the handle of a broom	C
Hard as they were able	D
Boom boom BOOM	C
With a silk umbrella and the handle of a broom	C
Boomlay boomlay boomlay BOOM	C
THEN I had religion THEN I had a vision	F
I could not turn from their revel in derision	F
More deliberate Solemnly chanted	G
THEN I SAW THE CONGO CREEPING THROUGH THE BLACK	H
CUTTING THROUGH THE FOREST WITH A GOLDEN TRACK	H
Then along that riverbank	I
A thousand miles	J
Tattooed cannibals danced in files	J
Then I heard the boom of the blood lust song	K
A rapidly piling climax of speed and racket	L
And a thigh bone beating on a tin pan gong	K
And BLOOD screamed the whistles and the fifes of the warriors	M
BLOOD screamed the skull faced lean witch doctors	M
Whirl ye the deadly voo doo rattle	D
Harry the uplands	N
Steal all the cattle	D
Rattle rattle rattle rattle	D
Bing	O
Boomlay boomlay boomlay BOOM	C
With a philosophic pause	P
A roaring epic rag time tune	Q
From the mouth of the Congo	R
To the Mountains of the Moon	Q
Death is an Elephant	S
Shrilly and with a heavily accented metre	T
Torch eyed and horrible	D
Foam flanked and terrible	D
BOOM steal the pygmies	U
BOOM kill the Arabs	V
BOOM kill the white men	W
HOO HOO HOO	X
Like the wind in the chimney	B
Listen to the yell of Leopold's ghost	Y
Burning in Hell for his hand maimed host	Y
Hear how the demons chuckle and yell	Z
Cutting his hands off down in Hell	Z
Listen to the creepy proclamation	F
Blown through the lairs of the forest nation	F
Blown past the white ants' hill of clay	A2
Blown past the marsh where the butterflies play	A2
Be careful what you do	X
All the o sounds very golden Heavy accents very heavy	B
Light accents very light Last line whispered	B2
Or Mumbo Jumbo God of the Congo	R
And all of the other	T
Gods of the Congo	R
Mumbo Jumbo will hoo doo you	X
Mumbo Jumbo will hoo doo you	X
Mumbo Jumbo will hoo doo you	X
	-
	-
II Their Irrepressible High Spirits	C2
	-
Rather shrill and high	D2
Wild crap shooters with a whoop and a call	E2
Danced the juba in their gambling hall	E2
And laughed fit to kill and shook the town	F2
And guyed the policemen and laughed them down	F2
With a boomlay boomlay boomlay BOOM	C
Read exactly as in first section	F
THEN I SAW THE CONGO CREEPING THROUGH THE BLACK	H
CUTTING THROUGH THE FOREST WITH A GOLDEN TRACK	H
Lay emphasis on the delicate ideas	G2
Keep as light footed as possible	D
A negro fairyland swung into view	X
A minstrel river	T
Where dreams come true	X
The ebony palace soared on high	D2
Through the blossoming trees to the evening sky	D2
The inlaid porches and casements shone	H2
With gold and ivory and elephant bone	H2
And the black crowd laughed till their sides were sore	I2
At the baboon butler in the agate door	I2
And the well known tunes of the parrot band	J2
That trilled on the bushes of that magic land	J2
	-
With pomposity	B
A troupe of skull faced witch men came	K2
Through the agate doorway in suits of flame	K2
Yea long tailed coats with a gold leaf crust	L2
And hats that were covered with diamond dust	L2
And the crowd in the court gave a whoop and a call	E2
And danced the juba from wall to wall	E2
With a great deliberation and ghostliness	G2
But the witch men suddenly stilled the throng	K
With a stern cold glare and a stern old song	K
Mumbo Jumbo will hoo doo you	X
With overwhelming assurance good cheer and pomp	M2
Just then from the doorway as fat as shotes	G2
Came the cake walk princes in their long red coats	G2
Canes with a brilliant lacquer shine	N2
And tall silk hats that were red as wine	N2
With growing speed and sharply marked dance rhythm	O2
And they pranced with their butterfly partners there	P2
Coal black maidens with pearls in their hair	P2
Knee skirts trimmed with the jassamine sweet	Q2
And bells on their ankles and little black feet	Q2
And the couples railed at the chant and the frown	F2
Of the witch men lean and laughed them down	F2
O rare was the revel and well worth while	R2
That made those glowering witch men smile	R2
	-
The cake walk royalty then began	S2
To walk for a cake that was tall as a man	S2
To the tune of Boomlay boomlay BOOM	C
With a touch of negro dialect	T2
and as rapidly as possible toward the end	U2
While the witch men laughed with a sinister air	P2
And sang with the scalawags prancing there	P2
Walk with care walk with care	P2
Or Mumbo Jumbo God of the Congo	R
And all of the other	T
Gods of the Congo	R
Mumbo Jumbo will hoo doo you	X
Beware beware walk with care	P2
Boomlay boomlay boomlay boom	C
Boomlay boomlay boomlay boom	C
Boomlay boomlay boomlay boom	C
Boomlay boomlay boomlay	R2
BOOM	C
Slow philosophic calm	V2
Oh rare was the revel and well worth while	R2
That made those glowering witch men smile	R2
	-
	-
III The Hope of their Religion	F
	-
Heavy bass With a literal imitation	F
of camp meeting racket and trance	G2
A good old negro in the slums of the town	F2
Preached at a sister for her velvet gown	F2
Howled at a brother for his low down ways	G2
His prowling guzzling sneak thief days	G2
Beat on the Bible till he wore it out	W2
Starting the jubilee revival shout	W2
And some had visions as they stood on chairs	G2
And sang of Jacob and the golden stairs	G2
And they all repented a thousand strong	K
From their stupor and savagery and sin and wrong	K
And slammed with their hymn books till they shook the room	C
With glory glory glory	B
And Boom boom BOOM	C
Exactly as in the first section	F
Begin with terror and power end with joy	X2
THEN I SAW THE CONGO CREEPING THROUGH THE BLACK	H
CUTTING THROUGH THE JUNGLE WITH A GOLDEN TRACK	H
And the gray sky opened like a new rent veil	R2
And showed the apostles with their coats of mail	R2
In bright white steele they were seated round	Y2
And their fire eyes watched where the Congo wound	Y2
And the twelve Apostles from their thrones on high	D2
Thrilled all the forest with their heavenly cry	D2
Sung to the tune of Hark ten thousand	Z2
harps and voices	G2
Mumbo Jumbo will die in the jungle	R2
Never again will he hoo doo you	X
Never again will he hoo doo you	X
	-
With growing deliberation and joy	X2
Then along that river a thousand miles	G2
The vine snared trees fell down in files	G2
Pioneer angels cleared the way	A2
For a Congo paradise for babes at play	A2
For sacred capitals for temples clean	A3
Gone were the skull faced witch men lean	A3
In a rather high key as delicately as possible	R2
There where the wild ghost gods had wailed	B3
A million boats of the angels sailed	B3
With oars of silver and prows of blue	X
And silken pennants that the sun shone through	X
'Twas a land transfigured 'twas a new creation	F
Oh a singing wind swept the negro nation	F
And on through the backwoods clearing flew	X
To the tune of Hark ten thousand harps and voices	G2
Mumbo Jumbo is dead in the jungle	R2
Never again will he hoo doo you	X
Never again will he hoo doo you	X
	-
Redeemed were the forests the beasts and the men	W
And only the vulture dared again	W
By the far lone mountains of the moon	Q
To cry in the silence the Congo tune	Q
Dying down into a penetrating terrified whisper	T
Mumbo Jumbo will hoo doo you	X
Mumbo Jumbo will hoo doo you	X
Mumbo Jumbo will hoo doo you	X