It Was a Dark and Stormy Night...

I wrote this poem to help my students understand rhyming couplets and rhyme in general. They had to fill in the blanks.

It Was a Dark and Stormy Night...

It was a dark and stormy night;
The wind-swept trees were a ghastly - - - - - ;

The clouds obscured the midnight moon

Oh how I wished the hour were - - - - .

My mind invented countless fears

My eyes were on the brink of  - - - - - ,

When through the window I glimpsed a shape.

It seemed there would be no - - - - - - ,

As the shape came closer to my door,

And this, I swear, is what I - - - :

A grisly werewolf dripping blood

On my front doorstep howling - - - - - .

Quick as a flash I grabbed my gun

And, before the beast had time to - - - ,

I fired a shot into its brain.

The werewolf screamed and writhed in - - - - ,

For my bullet was a silver one

The sort that werewolves fear and - - - - .

Then, before my awestruck eyes,

The dying werewolf changed its - - - - - :

Its hair began to disappear,

And soon its face was pale and - - - - - .

The dreadful truth before me lay, 

And I could only hope and - - - -

That God would have mercy on my sin,

For I had killed my next of - - - .

My younger brother, little Jack,

Dead and bloody, on his - - - - ,

Gazing blind at the starry sky,

Was the ghastly werewolf that - ,

In my complete ignorance, had slain.

Sobbing, I took the gun - - - - - ,

(Feeling sick at heart and tired)

Held it to my temple and - - - - - .

 

 

 

 

Author's Note