The Sick Stockrider Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABABCDCDEFEFGHGHIJIJ KLKLMNON PQPQRSRS TUTUVWVW XYXY ZA2ZB2 VGVGC2C2C2C2 D2E2D2E2 F2G2F2G2H2I2D2I2 GYGJ2K2E2K2E2

Hold hard Ned Lift me down once more and lay me in the shadeA
Old man you've had your work cut out to guideB
Both horses and to hold me in the saddle when I sway'dA
All through the hot slow sleepy silent rideB
The dawn at Moorabinda was a mist rack dull and denseC
The sunrise was a sullen sluggish lampD
I was dozing in the gateway at Arbuthnot's bound'ry fenceC
I was dreaming on the Limestone cattle campD
We crossed the creek at Carricksford and sharply through the hazeE
And suddenly the sun shot flaming forthF
To southward lay Katawa with the sandpeaks all ablazeE
And the flush'd fields of Glen Lomond lay to northF
Now westward winds the bridle path that leads to LindisfarmG
And yonder looms the double headed BluffH
From the far side of the first hill when the skies are clear and calmG
You can see Sylvester's woolshed fair enoughH
Five miles we used to call it from our homestead to the placeI
Where the big tree spans the roadway like an archJ
'Twas here we ran the dingo down that gave us such a chaseI
Eight years ago or was it nine last MarchJ
-
'Twas merry in the glowing morn among the gleaming grassK
To wander as we've wandered many a mileL
And blow the cool tobacco cloud and watch the white wreaths passK
Sitting loosely in the saddle all the whileL
'Twas merry 'mid the blackwoods when we spied the station roofsM
To wheel the wild scrub cattle at the yardN
With a running fire of stockwhips and a fiery run of hoofsO
Oh the hardest day was never then too hardN
-
Aye we had a glorious gallop after Starlight and his gangP
When they bolted from Sylvester's on the flatQ
How the sun dried reed beds crackled how the flint strewn ranges rangP
To the strokes of Mountaineer and AcrobatQ
Hard behind them in the timber harder still across the heathR
Close beside them through the tea tree scrub we dash'dS
And the golden tinted fern leaves how they rustled underneathR
And the honeysuckle osiers how they crash'dS
-
We led the hunt throughout Ned on the chestnut and the greyT
And the troopers were three hundred yards behindU
While we emptied our six shooters on the bushrangers at bayT
In the creek with stunted box tree for a blindU
There you grappled with the leader man to man and horse to horseV
And you roll'd together when the chestnut rear'dW
He blazed away and missed you in that shallow watercourseV
A narrow shave his powder singed your beardW
-
In these hours when life is ebbing how those days when life was youngX
Come back to us how clearly I recallY
Even the yarns Jack Hall invented and the songs Jem Roper sungX
And where are now Jem Roper and Jack HallY
-
Aye nearly all our comrades of the old colonial schoolZ
Our ancient boon companions Ned are goneA2
Hard livers for the most part somewhat reckless as a ruleZ
It seems that you and I are left aloneB2
-
There was Hughes who got in trouble through that business with the cardsV
It matters little what became of himG
But a steer ripp'd up MacPherson in the Cooraminta yardsV
And Sullivan was drown'd at Sink or swimG
And Mostyn poor Frank Mostyn died at last a fearful wreckC2
In the horrors at the Upper WandinongC2
And Carisbrooke the rider at the Horsefall broke his neckC2
Faith the wonder was he saved his neck so longC2
-
Ah those days and nights we squandered at the Logans' in the glenD2
The Logans man and wife have long been deadE2
Elsie's tallest girl seems taller than your little Elsie thenD2
And Ethel is a woman grown and wedE2
-
I've had my share of pastime and I've done my share of toilF2
And life is short the longest life a spanG2
I care not now to tarry for the corn or for the oilF2
Or for the wine that maketh glad the heart of manG2
For good undone and gifts misspent and resolutions vainH2
'Tis somewhat late to trouble This I knowI2
I should live the same life over if I had to live againD2
And the chances are I go where most men goI2
-
The deep blue skies wax dusky and the tall green trees grow dimG
The sward beneath me seems to heave and fallY
And sickly smoky shadows through the sleepy sunlight swimG
And on the very sun's face weave their pallJ2
Let me slumber in the hollow where the wattle blossoms waveK2
With never stone or rail to fence my bedE2
Should the sturdy station children pull the bush flowers on my graveK2
I may chance to hear them romping overheadE2

Adam Lindsay Gordon



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