Alfonso, Dressing to Wait at Table
Claude McKay 1889 (Clarendon Parish) – 1948 (Chicago)
Alfonso is a handsome bronze-hued lad
Of subtly-changing and surprising parts;
His moods are storms that frighten and make glad,
His eyes were made to capture women's hearts.
Down in the glory-hole Alfonso sings
An olden song of wine and clinking glasses
And riotous rakes; magnificently flings
Gay kisses to imaginary lasses.
Alfonso's voice of mellow music thrills
Our swaying forms and steals our hearts with joy;
And when he soars, his fine falsetto trills
Are rarest notes of gold without alloy.
But, O Alfonso! wherefore do you sing
Dream-songs of carefree men and ancient places?
Soon we shall be beset by clamouring
Of hungry and importunate palefaces.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 18, 2023
- 33 sec read
- 257 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABAB CDCB XEBE FDFB |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 668 |
Words | 110 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4 |
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"Alfonso, Dressing to Wait at Table" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/6844/alfonso,-dressing-to-wait-at-table>.
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