The Old Leaven: A Dialogue Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCBCDEDEFGFGHIHJIKL K MNONO APQPQ MRSRSTUTU AVWVW MAXAY AZA2ZA2 MGB2GB2C2BD2B AE2F2E2F2 MG2H2A2H2I2J2I2J2J2K 2J2K2J2L2J2L2M2N2M2N 2J2O2J2O2P2J2P2J2J2K 2J2K2J2 OOOO MQ2OQ2O AR2S2R2T2 MBJ2BJ2 AU2V2 MU2V2 AJ2YJ2XJ2J2J2J2J2K2J 2K2J2E2J2E2J2J2J2J2W 2X2W2X2 MJ2Y2J2Y2J2WJ2WZ2YZ2 XA3J2A3J2B3N2B3N2 AC3UC3UD3J2D3J2J2E3J 2E3 UF3A2F3A2Mark | A |
So Maurice you sail to morrow you say | B |
And you may or may not return | C |
Be sociable man for once in a way | B |
Unless you're too old to learn | C |
The shadows are cool by the water side | D |
Where the willows grow by the pond | E |
And the yellow laburnum's drooping pride | D |
Sheds a golden gleam beyond | E |
For the blended tints of the summer flowers | F |
For the scents of the summer air | G |
For all nature's charms in this world of ours | F |
'Tis little or naught you care | G |
Yet I know for certain you haven't stirred | H |
Since noon from your chosen spot | I |
And you've hardly spoken a single word | H |
Are you tired or cross or what | J |
You're fretting about those shares you bought | I |
They were to have gone up fast | K |
But I heard how they fell to nothing in short | L |
They were given away at last | K |
- | |
Maurice | M |
No Mark I'm not so easily cross'd | N |
'Tis true that I've had a run | O |
Of bad luck lately indeed I've lost | N |
Well somebody else has won | O |
- | |
Mark | A |
The glass has fallen perhaps you fear | P |
A return of your ancient stitch | Q |
That souvenir of the Lady's Mere | P |
Park palings and double ditch | Q |
- | |
Maurice | M |
You're wrong I'm not in the least afraid | R |
Of that If the truth be told | S |
When the stiffness visits my shoulder blade | R |
I think on the days of old | S |
It recalls the rush of the freshening wind | T |
The strain of the chestnut springing | U |
And the rolling thunder of hoofs behind | T |
Like the Rataplan chorus ringing | U |
- | |
Mark | A |
Are you bound to borrow or loth to lend | V |
Have you purchased another screw | W |
Or backed a bill for another friend | V |
Or had a bad night at loo | W |
- | |
Maurice | M |
Not one of those you're all in the dark | A |
If you choose you can guess again | X |
But you'd better give over guessing Mark | A |
It's only labour in vain | Y |
- | |
Mark | A |
I'll try once more does it plague you still | Z |
That trifle of lead you carry | A2 |
A guest that lingers against your will | Z |
Unwelcome yet bound to tarry | A2 |
- | |
Maurice | M |
Not so That burden I'm used to bear | G |
'Tis seldom it gives me trouble | B2 |
And to earn it as I did then and there | G |
I'd carry a dead weight double | B2 |
A shock like that for a splintered rib | C2 |
Can a thousand fold repay | B |
As the swallow skims through the spider's web | D2 |
We rode through their ranks that day | B |
- | |
Mark | A |
Come Maurice you sha'n't escape me so | E2 |
I'll hazard another guess | F2 |
That girl that jilted you long ago | E2 |
You're thinking of her confess | F2 |
- | |
Maurice | M |
Tho' the blue lake flush'd with a rosy light | G2 |
Reflected from yonder sky | H2 |
Might conjure a vision of Aphrodite | A2 |
To a poet's or painter's eye | H2 |
Tho' the golden drop with its drooping curl | I2 |
Between the water and wood | J2 |
Hangs down like the tress of a wayward girl | I2 |
In her dreamy maidenhood | J2 |
Such boyish fancies seem out of date | J2 |
To one half inclined to censure | K2 |
Their folly and yet your shaft flew straight | J2 |
Though you drew your bow at a venture | K2 |
I saw my lady the other night | J2 |
In the crowded opera hall | L2 |
When the boxes sparkled with faces bright | J2 |
I knew her amongst them all | L2 |
Tho' little for these things now I reck | M2 |
I singled her from the throng | N2 |
By the queenly curves of her head and neck | M2 |
By the droop of her eyelash long | N2 |
Oh passionless placid and calm and cold | J2 |
Does the fire still lurk within | O2 |
That lit her magnificent eyes of old | J2 |
And coloured her marble skin | O2 |
For a weary look on the proud face hung | P2 |
While the music clash'd and swell'd | J2 |
And the restless child to the silk skirt clung | P2 |
Unnoticed tho' unrepelled | J2 |
They've paled those rosebud lips that I kist | J2 |
That slim waist has thickened rather | K2 |
And the cub has the sprawling mutton fist | J2 |
And the great splay foot of the father | K2 |
May the blight | J2 |
- | |
Mark Hold hard there Maurice my son | O |
Let her rest since her spell is broken | O |
We can neither recall deeds rashly done | O |
Nor retract words hastily spoken | O |
- | |
Maurice | M |
Time was when to pleasure her girlish whim | Q2 |
In my blind infatuation | O |
I've freely endangered life and limb | Q2 |
Aye perilled my soul's salvation | O |
- | |
Mark | A |
With the best intentions we all must work | R2 |
But little good and much harm | S2 |
Be a Christian for once not a Pagan Turk | R2 |
Nursing wrath and keeping it warm | T2 |
- | |
Maurice | M |
If our best intentions pave the way | B |
To a place that is somewhat hot | J2 |
Can our worst intentions lead us say | B |
To a still more sultry spot | J2 |
- | |
Mark | A |
'Tis said that charity makes amends | U2 |
For a multitude of transgressions | V2 |
- | |
Maurice | M |
But our perjured loves and our faithless friends | U2 |
Are entitled to no concessions | V2 |
- | |
Mark | A |
Old man these many years side by side | J2 |
Our parallel paths have lain | Y |
Now in life's long journey diverging wide | J2 |
They can scarcely unite again | X |
And tho' from all that I've seen and heard | J2 |
You're prone to chafe and to fret | J2 |
At the least restraint not one angry word | J2 |
Have we two exchanged as yet | J2 |
We've shared our peril we've shared our sport | J2 |
Our sunshine and gloomy weather | K2 |
Feasted and flirted and fenced and fought | J2 |
Struggled and toiled together | K2 |
In happier moments lighter of heart | J2 |
Stouter of heart in sorrow | E2 |
We've met and we've parted and now we part | J2 |
For ever perchance to morrow | E2 |
She's a matron now when you knew her first | J2 |
She was but a child and your hate | J2 |
Fostered and cherished nourished and nursed | J2 |
Will it never evaporate | J2 |
Your grievance is known to yourself alone | W2 |
But Maurice I say for shame | X2 |
If in ten long years you haven't outgrown | W2 |
Ill will to an ancient flame | X2 |
- | |
Maurice | M |
Well Mark you're right if I spoke in spite | J2 |
Let the shame and the blame be mine | Y2 |
At the risk of a headache we'll drain this night | J2 |
Her health in a flask of wine | Y2 |
For a castle in Spain tho' it never was built | J2 |
For a dream tho' it never came true | W |
For a cup just tasted tho' rudely spilt | J2 |
At least she can hold me due | W |
Those hours of pleasure she dealt of yore | Z2 |
As well as those hours of pain | Y |
I ween they would flit as they flitted before | Z2 |
If I had them over again | X |
Against her no word from my lips shall pass | A3 |
Betraying the grudge I've cherished | J2 |
Till the sand runs down in my hour glass | A3 |
And the gift of my speech has perished | J2 |
Say why is the spirit of peace so weak | B3 |
And the spirit of wrath so strong | N2 |
That the right we must steadily search and seek | B3 |
Tho' we readily find the wrong | N2 |
- | |
Mark | A |
Our parents of old entailed the curse | C3 |
Which must to our children cling | U |
Let us hope at least that we're not much worse | C3 |
Than the founder from whom we spring | U |
Fit sire was he of a selfish race | D3 |
Who first to temptation yielded | J2 |
Then to mend his case tried to heap disgrace | D3 |
On the woman he should have shielded | J2 |
Say comrade mine the forbidden fruit | J2 |
We'd have plucked that I well believe | E3 |
But I trust we'd rather have suffered mute | J2 |
Than have laid the blame upon Eve | E3 |
- | |
Maurice yawning | U |
Who knows not I I can hardly vouch | F3 |
For the truth of what little I see | A2 |
And now if you've any weed in your pouch | F3 |
Just hand it over to me | A2 |
Adam Lindsay Gordon
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