Los Cigarillos
This is the land of the dark-eyed gente,Of the dolce far niente,Where we dream awayBoth the night and day,At night-time in sleep our dreams we invoke,Our dreams come by day through the redolent smoke,As it lazily curls,And slowly unfurlsFrom our lips,And the tipsOf our fragrant cigarillos.For life in the tropics is only a joke,So we pass it in dreams, and we pass it in smoke,Smoke--smoke--smoke.
Tropical constitutionsCall for occasional revolutions;But after that's through,Why there's nothing to doBut smoke--smoke;
For life in the tropics is only a joke,So we pass it in dreams, and we pass it in smoke,Smoke--smoke--smoke.
Words in this poem
- dolce adv.
- Softly; sweetly; with soft, smooth, and delicate execution. [It., fr. L. dulcis sweet, soft.]
- redolent a.
- Diffusing odor or fragrance; spreading sweet scent; scented; odorous; smelling; -- usually followed by of. [L. redolens, -entis, p. pr. of redolere to emit a scent, diffuse an odor; pref. red-, re-, re- + olere to emit a smell. See Odor.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Los Cigarillos is in the public domain. This text is taken from Fifty Years, & Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #17884; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: James Weldon Johnson, Los Cigarillos, in Fifty Years and Other Poems (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17884, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/johnson-fifty-years/los-cigarillos.html, id L08308.
Form and metre
Los Cigarillos is 22 lines in 3 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 73% of the lines. 87% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.0 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 23% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in rhyming couplets.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 --AABBCCDD-BBB gente · niente · awayA · dayA · invokeB · smokeB · curlsC · unfurlsC · lipsD · tipsD · cigarillos · jokeB · smokeB · smokeB
- 2 AABB- constitutionsA · revolutionsA · throughB · doB · smoke
- 3 AAA jokeA · smokeA · smokeA
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| This is the land of the dark-eyed gente, | 9 | ········· |
| Of the dolce far niente, | 6 | ··/··· |
| Where we dream away | 5 | ···˘/ |
| Both the night and day, | 5 | ····· |
| At night-time in sleep our dreams we invoke, | 10 | ·····/··˘/ |
| Our dreams come by day through the redolent smoke, | 10 | /······/˘· |
| As it lazily curls, | 6 | ··/˘˘· |
| And slowly unfurls | 5 | ·/˘˘/ |
| From our lips, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| And the tips | 3 | ··· |
| Of our fragrant cigarillos. | 8 | ·//˘···· |
| For life in the tropics is only a joke, | 11 | ····/˘·/˘·· |
| So we pass it in dreams, and we pass it in smoke, | 12 | ············ |
| Smoke--smoke--smoke. | 3 | ··· |
| Tropical constitutions | 7 | /˘˘·˘/˘ |
| Call for occasional revolutions; | 9 | ··˘/˘·˘/˘ |
| But after that's through, | 5 | ····· |
| Why there's nothing to do | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| But smoke--smoke; | 3 | ··· |
| For life in the tropics is only a joke, | 11 | ····/˘·/˘·· |
| So we pass it in dreams, and we pass it in smoke, | 12 | ············ |
| Smoke--smoke--smoke. | 3 | ··· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.