Exodus Parthenidae Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCBC DEE FGFGBHBH IF FEJEJ KL LFJF AMAMFN AOAOALAL PPPP PBP FPFPAQAQ ARARRPRP EPEPEAES AFAFERER RBRBTPBP| The Lay of the Last Squatter | A |
| - | |
| Draw your chair to the fire old woman | B |
| The days are warm but the nights are cold | C |
| So they've hunted our milkers off the common | B |
| And pounded them calves and all I'm told | C |
| Had I caught 'Long Henderson' driving 'Molly ' | - |
| I'd have made him tell me 'the reason why' | D |
| He'd scarcely have answered you so jolly | E |
| Had I turned the corner suddenly | E |
| - | |
| Faith 'tis time we laid our oars in the rullocks | F |
| We've got no right of commonage now | G |
| And the sheep are sold and the working bullocks | F |
| And the cattle all but the strawberry cow | G |
| I felt my heart for the moment soften | B |
| When the butcher offered me three pound five | H |
| For the poor old thing that you've milked so often | B |
| She sha'n't be slaughtered while I'm alive | H |
| - | |
| And Robinson Brown has sent me his bill dear | I |
| And Morton Jones has taken the lease | F |
| And the kangaroo dogs 'Lion' and 'Kildeer ' | - |
| Are sold for fifty shillings apiece | F |
| I'm sorry to part with the red dog truly | E |
| At fifty shillings I call him cheap | J |
| But the brindled dog is a trifle unruly | E |
| Oh Carrington Jackson mind your sheep | J |
| - | |
| I'm sure if Giles is satisfied I am | K |
| The horses averaged well and though | L |
| I'd like to have kept the colt by 'Priam ' | - |
| 'Tis just as well that I let him go | L |
| For if my creditors won't be losers | F |
| I've set them scratching their heads mayhap | J |
| And you know that some folk mustn't be choosers | F |
| Which folk I belong to 'verbum sap ' | - |
| - | |
| I've had an interview with the banker | A |
| And I found him civil and even kind | M |
| But the game's up here we must weigh the anchor | A |
| We've the surf before and the rocks behind | M |
| So trim the canvas and clear the gangways | F |
| They've got the great unwashed on their side | N |
| It's no use sparring with 'Templar Strangways ' | - |
| It's no use kicking at 'Lavendar Glyde ' | - |
| - | |
| And I guess it's all U P with the squatter | A |
| The people are crying aloud for the land | O |
| They've made it hot and they'll find it hotter | A |
| When they plough the limestone and sow the sand | O |
| 'All flesh is grass ' so saith the preacher | A |
| 'All grass is ours ' quoth Randolph Stow | L |
| Is the man related to Harriet Beecher | A |
| With mobile vulgus he's all the go | L |
| - | |
| And years to come in the book of Hansard | P |
| You may read the tale of the frogs retold | P |
| How they prayed for a king how their prayer was answered | P |
| How the king was crowned and the frogs were sold | P |
| How they ended the schemes whose names were 'Legion ' | - |
| In the Mephisopheles laughter note | P |
| From the depths of 'the Mariner's' gastric region | B |
| That rattled up to his innocent throat | P |
| - | |
| I wish you'd write me a line to Maddox | F |
| My fingers are cramped with that boring brute | P |
| I'll take his bid for the purchased paddocks | F |
| The sum we mentioned he won't dispute | P |
| I might have made better terms with Parker | A |
| If he hadn't known I was forced to sell | Q |
| But I couldn't have kept these matters darker | A |
| I didn't try to 'tis just as well | Q |
| - | |
| Fred Carson made an offer for Lancer | A |
| 'Twas a little less than his hide would bring | R |
| You may guess I gave him a civil answer | A |
| Which put a stop to his huckstering | R |
| I loosed the old nag at the sliding railing | R |
| And carried my saddle up to the hut | P |
| His eyes as well as his limbs are failing | R |
| He scarcely knew when the gate was shut | P |
| - | |
| Aye troubles are coming upon us thickly | E |
| 'Tis hard to leave the old place at last | P |
| And you're not strong and the baby's sickly | E |
| And your mothers ailing and aging fast | P |
| I remember the days when credit was plenty | E |
| And years were few but those days are o'er | A |
| Old Beranger sings of the joys of twenty | E |
| But I shall never see thirty more | S |
| - | |
| It's no use talking things might have been better | A |
| And then again they might well be worse | F |
| You needn't trouble about that letter | A |
| The youngster's squalling for a nurse | F |
| And your hand is surely unsteady | E |
| That writing looks to be all askew | R |
| What are there tears in your eyes already | E |
| Come old girl this will never do | R |
| - | |
| - | |
| - | |
| I might have taken Time by the forelock | R |
| I might have made my hay in the sun | B |
| I might have foreseen but wizard or warlock | R |
| Could never undo what has been done | B |
| And at least I've wantonly injured no man | T |
| Although I've lived on the people's land | P |
| Draw your chair to the fire old woman | B |
| And mix a drop of the battle axe brand | P |
Adam Lindsay Gordon
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