Humor Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEAFAGHAAIDJDKDIL MANOPAQARIFSTUAVWIAA XAAYDZA2IDI Z| Tsars Kings Emperors | A |
| sovereigns of all the earth | B |
| have commanded many a parade | C |
| but they could not command humor | D |
| When Aesop the tramp came visiting | E |
| the palaces of eminent personages | A |
| ensconced in sleek comfort all day | F |
| they struck him as paupers | A |
| In houses where hypocrites have | G |
| left the smear of their puny feet | H |
| there Hodja Nasr ed Din with his jests | A |
| swept clean all meanness | A |
| like a board of chessmen | I |
| They tried to commission humor | D |
| but humor is not to be bought | J |
| They tried to murder humor | D |
| but humor thumbed his nose at them | K |
| It's hard to fight humor | D |
| They executed him time and again | I |
| His hacked off head | L |
| was stuck on the point of a pike | M |
| But as soon as the mummer's pipes | A |
| began their quipping tale | N |
| humor defiantly cried | O |
| 'I'm back I'm here ' | P |
| and started to foot a dance | A |
| in an overcoat shabby and short | Q |
| with eyes cast down and a mask of repentance | A |
| he a political criminal | R |
| now under arrest walked to his execution | I |
| He appeared to submit in every way | F |
| accepting the life beyond | S |
| but of a sudden he wriggled out of his coat | T |
| and waving his hand did a bolt | U |
| Humor was shoved into cells | A |
| but much good that did | V |
| Humor went straight through | W |
| prison bars and walls of stone | I |
| Coughing from the lungs | A |
| like any man in the ranks | A |
| he marched singing a popular ditty | X |
| rifle in hand upon the Winter Palace | A |
| He's accustomed to frowning looks | A |
| but they do him no harm | Y |
| and humor at times with humor | D |
| glances at himself | Z |
| He's everpresent Nimble and quick | A2 |
| he'll slip through anything through everyone | I |
| So glory be to humor | D |
| He is a valiant man | I |
| - | |
| - | |
| Translated by George Reavey | Z |
Yevgeny Yevtushenko
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
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