The Great Yellow River Inundation In China Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABB CCDE FFFF GHII CCJJ KKKK AALL MANO PQFF RSDD SSTT UUCC KKVV QPWW| 'Twas in the year of and on the th of September | A |
| Which many people of Honan in China will long remember | A |
| Especially those that survived the mighty deluge | B |
| That fled to the mountains and tops of trees for refuge | B |
| - | |
| The river burst its embankments suddenly at dead of night | C |
| And the rushing torrent swept all before it left and right | C |
| All over the province of Honan which for its fertility | D |
| Is commonly called by historians the garden of China | E |
| - | |
| The river was at its fullest when the embankment gave way | F |
| And when the people heard it oh horror and dismay | F |
| 'Twas then fathers and mothers leaped from their beds without delay | F |
| And some saved themselves from being drowned but thousands were swept away | F |
| - | |
| Oh it was a horrible and most pitiful scene | G |
| To hear fathers and mothers and their children loudly scream | H |
| As the merciless water encircled they bodies around | I |
| While the water spirits laughed to see them drowned | I |
| - | |
| Oh heaven it must have been an appalling sight | C |
| To witness in the dead stillness of the night | C |
| Frantic fathers and mothers struggling hard against the roaring flood | J |
| To save themselves and little ones their own flesh and blood | J |
| - | |
| The watchmen tried to patch the breach but it was all in vain | K |
| Because the banks were sodden with the long prolonged rain | K |
| And driven along by a high wind which brought the last strain | K |
| Which caused the water with resistless fury to spread o'er the plain | K |
| - | |
| And the torrent poured into the valley of the La Chia river | A |
| Sweeping thousands of the people before it ere a helping hand could them deliver | A |
| Oh it was horrible to hear the crashing of houses fallen on every side | L |
| As the flood of rushing waters spread far and wide | L |
| - | |
| The Chinese offer sacrifices to the water spirits twice a year | M |
| And whether the water spirits or God felt angry I will not aver | A |
| But perhaps God has considered such sacrifices a sin | N |
| And has drowned so many thousands of them for not worshipping Him | O |
| - | |
| How wonderful are the works of God | P |
| At times among His people abroad | Q |
| Therefore let us be careful of what we do or say | F |
| For fear God doth suddenly take our lives away | F |
| - | |
| The province of Honan is about half the size of Scotland | R |
| Dotted over with about villages most grand | S |
| And inhabited by millions of people of every degree | D |
| And these villages and people were transformed into a raging sea | D |
| - | |
| The deluge swept on over the fertile and well cultivated land | S |
| And the rushing of the mighty torrent no power could withstand | S |
| And the appalling torrent was about twenty feet deep | T |
| And with resistless fury everything before it it did sweep | T |
| - | |
| Methinks I see the waste of surging waters and hear its deafening roar | U |
| And on its surface I see corpses of men and women by the score | U |
| And the merciless torrent in the darkness of the night | C |
| Sportively tossing them about oh what a horrible sight | C |
| - | |
| Besides there were buffaloes and oxen timber straw and grain | K |
| Also three thousand villages were buried beneath the waters of the plain | K |
| And multitudes beneath their own roofs have found a watery grave | V |
| While struggling hard no doubt poor souls their lives to save | V |
| - | |
| Therefore good people at home or abroad | Q |
| Be advised by me and trust more in God | P |
| Than the people of Honan the benighted Chinese | W |
| For fear God punished you likewise for your iniquities | W |
William Topaz Mcgonagall
(1)
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