The Tale Of The Tiger Tree Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: AB CADE FGGHII IGG JKLKMNON PQOQRRSRTGTGUVWVXYZY AA2B2A2C2C2D2C2 KVKE2E2F2PG2VF2IPH2P G2VG2V E2MI2MKKJ2K E2K2L2K2K2K2K2K2GGM2 AK2K2VVK2N2N2C2C2K2K 2O2AO2IIO2O2 P2K2Q2Q2 P2P2R2 AK2Q2Q2C2C2AIIQQK2K2 VK2G2K2VK2K2K2 E2 IGG G2S2VO2O2G2S2VO2O2O2 IALAK2O2O2O2O2K2K2K2 T2E2K2OOE2U2U2V2G2AA G2O2O2LG2LK2LVVVVW2V E2K2VK2K2KK2KX2X2X2G 2X2G2G2AAG2 I EK2C2G2K2G2K2K2X2YAY YK2X2C2C2O2AO2IIO2O2 IG2K2G2K2K2Y2Y2K2 K2QOQG2G2

A Fantasy dedicated to the little poet Alice OliverA
Henderson ten years oldB
-
The Fantasy shows how tiger hearts are the cause of war inC
all ages It shows how the mammoth forces may be eitherA
friends or enemies of the struggle for peace It shows howD
the dream of peace is unconquerable and eternalE
-
-
I-
-
Peace of the Heart my own for longF
Whose shining hair the May winds fanG
Making it tangled as they canG
A mystery still star shining yetH
Through ancient ages known to meI
And now once more reborn with meI
-
This is the tale of the Tiger TreeI
A hundred times the height of a manG
Lord of the race since the world beganG
-
This is my city SpringfieldJ
My home on the breast of the plainK
The state house towers to heavenL
By an arsenal gray as the rainK
And suddenly all is mistM
And I walk in a world apartN
In the forest age when I first knelt downO
At your feet O Peace of the HeartN
-
This is the wonder of twilightP
Three times as high as the domeQ
Tiger striped trees encircle the townO
Golden geysers of foamQ
While giant white parrots sail past in their prideR
The roofs now are clouds and storms that they rideR
And there with the huntsmen of mound builder daysS
Through jungle and meadow I strideR
And the Tiger Tree leaf is falling aroundT
As it fell when the world beganG
Like a monstrous tiger skin stretched on the groundT
Or the cloak of a medicine manG
A deep crumpled gossamer webU
Fringed with the fangs of a snakeV
The wind swirls it down from the leperous boughsW
It shimmers on clay hill and lakeV
With the gleam of great bubbles of bloodX
Or coiled like a rainbow shellY
I feast on the stem of the Leaf as I marchZ
I am burning with Heaven and HellY
-
II-
-
The gray king died in his hourA
Then we crowned you the prophetess wiseA2
Peace of the Heart we deeply adoredB2
For the witchcraft hid in your eyesA2
Gift from the sky overmastering allC2
You sent forth your magical parrots to callC2
The plot hatching prince of the tigersD2
To your throne by the red clay wallC2
-
Thus came that genius insaneK
Spitting and slinkingV
Sneering and vainK
He sprawled to your grassy throne drunk on The LeafE2
The drug that was cunning and splendor and griefE2
He had fled from the mammoth by dayF2
He had blasted the mammoth by nightP
War was his drunkennessG2
War was his dreamingV
War was his love and his playF2
And he hissed at your heavenly gloryI
While his councillors snarled in delightP
Asking in irony What shall we learnH2
From this whisperer fragile and whiteP
-
And had you not been an enchantressG2
They would not have loitered to mockV
Nor spared your white parrots who walked by their pawsG2
With bantering venturesome talkV
-
You made a white fire of The LeafE2
You sang while the tiger chiefs hissedM
You chanted of Peace to the wonderful worldI2
And they saw you in dazzling mistM
And their steps were no longer insaneK
Kindness came down like the rainK
They dreamed that like fleet young ponies they feastedJ2
On succulent grasses and grainK
-
-
-
Then came the black mammoth chiefE2
Long haired and shaggy and greatK2
Proud and sagacious he marshalled his courtL2
You had sent him your parrots of stateK2
His trunk in rebellion upcurledK2
A curse at the tiger he hurledK2
Huge elephants trumpeted there by his sideK2
And mastodon chiefs of the worldK2
But higher magic beganG
For the turbulent vassals of manG
You harnessed their fever you conquered their ireM2
Their hearts turned to flowers through holy desireA
For their darling and star you were crownedK2
And their raging demons were boundK2
You rode on the back of the yellow streaked kingV
His loose neck was wreathed with a mistletoe ringV
Primordial elephants loomed by your sideK2
And our clay painted children danced by your pathN2
Chanting the death of the kingdoms of wrathN2
You wrought until night with us allC2
The fierce brutes fawned at your callC2
Then slipped to their lairs song chainedK2
And thus you sang sweetly and reignedK2
Immortal is the inner peace free to beasts and menO2
Beginning in the darkness the mystery will conquerA
And now it comforts every heart that seeks for love againO2
And now the mammoth bows the kneeI
We hew down every Tiger TreeI
We send each tiger bound in love and glory to his denO2
Bound in love and wisdom and glory to his denO2
-
III-
-
Beware of the trumpeting swineP2
Came the howl from the northward that nightK2
Twice rebel tigers warning was stillQ2
If we held not beside them it boded us illQ2
From the parrots translating the cry-
And the apes in the trees came the whineP2
Beware of the trumpeting swineP2
Beware of the faith of a mammothR2
-
Beware of the faith of a tigerA
Came the roar from the southward that nightK2
Trumpeting mammoths warning us stillQ2
If we held not beside them it boded us illQ2
The frail apes wailed to us allC2
The parrots reechoed the callC2
Beware of the faith of a tigerA
From the heights of the forest the watchers could seeI
The tiger cats crunching the Leaf of the TreeI
Lashing themselves and scattering foamQ
Killing our huntsmen hurrying homeQ
The chiefs of the mammoths our mastery spurnedK2
And eastward restlessly fumed and burnedK2
The peacocks squalled out the news of their drillingV
And told how they trampled maneuvered and turnedK2
Ten thousand man hating tigersG2
Whirling down from the north like a floodK2
Ten thousand mammoths oncomingV
From the south as avengers of bloodK2
Our child queen was mourning her magic was deadK2
The roots of the Tiger Tree reeking with redK2
-
IVE2
-
This is the tale of the Tiger TreeI
A hundred times the height of a manG
Lord of the race since the world beganG
-
We marched to the mammothsG2
We pledged them our steelS2
And scorning you sangV
We are menO2
We are menO2
We mounted their necksG2
And they stamped a wide reelS2
We sangV
We are fighting the hell cats againO2
We are mound builder menO2
We are elephant menO2
We left you there lonelyI
Beauty your powerA
Wisdom your watchmanL
To hold the clay towerA
While the black mammoths boomedK2
You are elephant menO2
MenO2
MenO2
Elephant menO2
The dawn winds prophesied battles untoldK2
While the Tiger Trees roared of the glories of oldK2
Of the masterful spirits and hardK2
-
The drunken cats came in their joyT2
In the sunrise a glittering waveE2
We are tigers are tigers they yowledK2
DownO
DownO
Go the swine to the graveE2
But we trampU2
TrampU2
Trampled them thereV2
Then charged with our sabres and spearsG2
The swish of the sabreA
The swish of the sabreA
Was a marvellous tune in our earsG2
We yelled We are menO2
We are menO2
As we bled to death in the sunL
Then staunched our horrible woundsG2
With the cry that the battle was wonL
And at lastK2
When the black mammoth legionL
Split the night with their songV
Right is braver than wrongV
Right is stronger than wrongV
The buzzards came tauntingV
Down from the northW2
Tiger nations are sweeping alongV
-
-
-
Then we ate of the ravening LeafE2
As our savage fathers of oldK2
No longer our wounds made us weakV
No longer our pulses were coldK2
Though half of my troops were afootK2
For the great who had borne them were slainK
We dreamed we were tigers and leapedK2
And foamed with that vision insaneK
We cried We are soldiers of doomX2
DoomX2
Sabres of glory and doomX2
We wreathed the king of the mammothsG2
In the tiger leaves' terrible bloomX2
We flattered the king of the mammothsG2
Loud rattling sabres and spearsG2
The swish of the sabreA
The swish of the sabreA
Was a marvellous tune in his earsG2
-
VI
-
This was the end of the battleE
The tigers poured by in a tideK2
Over us all with their caterwaul callC2
We are the tigersG2
They criedK2
We are the sabresG2
They criedK2
But we laughed while our blades swept wideK2
While the dawn rays stabbed through the gloomX2
We are suns on fire was our yellY
Suns on fireA
But man child and mastodon fellY
Mammoth and elephant fellY
The fangs of the devil cats closed on the worldK2
Plunged it to blackness and doomX2
The desolate red clay wallC2
Echoed the parrots' callC2
Immortal is the inner peace free to beasts and menO2
Beginning in the darkness the mystery will conquerA
And now it comforts every heart that seeks for love againO2
And now the mammoth bows the kneeI
We hew down every Tiger TreeI
We send each tiger bound in love and glory to his denO2
Bound in love and wisdom and glory to his denO2
-
A peacock screamed of his beautyI
On that broken wall by the treesG2
Chiding his little mateK2
Spreading his fans in the breezeG2
And you with eyes of a brideK2
Knelt on the wall at my sideK2
The deathless song in your mouthY2
A million new tigers swept southY2
As we laughed at the peacock and diedK2
-
This is my vision in SpringfieldK2
Three times as high as the domeQ
Tiger striped trees encircle the townO
Golden geysers of foamQ
Though giant white parrots sail past giving voiceG2
Though I walk with Peace of the Heart and rejoiceG2

Vachel Lindsay



Rate:
(1)



Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme

Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation


Write your comment about The Tale Of The Tiger Tree poem by Vachel Lindsay


 

Recent Interactions*

This poem was read 1 times,

This poem was added to the favorite list by 0 members,

This poem was voted by 0 members.

(* Interactions only in the last 7 days)

New Poems

Popular Poets