A Railroad Lackey Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABABBAACD EFEFFEEGH IJIJJIIKK LMLMMLLNN OPQPPOOHH ERERREESS| Ben Truman you're a genius and can write | A |
| Though one would not suspect it from your looks | B |
| You lack that certain spareness which is quite | A |
| Distinctive of the persons who make books | B |
| You show the workmanship of Stanford's cooks | B |
| About the region of the appetite | A |
| Where geniuses are singularly slight | A |
| Your friends the Chinamen are understood | C |
| Indeed to speak of you as 'belly good ' | D |
| - | |
| Still you can write spell too I understand | E |
| Though how two such accomplishments can go | F |
| Like sentimental schoolgirls hand in hand | E |
| Is more than ever I can hope to know | F |
| To have one talent good enough to show | F |
| Has always been sufficient to command | E |
| The veneration of the brilliant band | E |
| Of railroad scholars who themselves indeed | G |
| Although they cannot write can mostly read | H |
| - | |
| There's Towne and Fillmore Goodman and Steve Gage | I |
| Ned Curtis of Napoleonic face | J |
| Who used to dash his name on glory's page | I |
| 'A M ' appended to denote his place | J |
| Among the learned Now the last faint trace | J |
| Of Nap is all obliterate with age | I |
| And Ned's degree less precious than his wage | I |
| He says 'I done it ' with his every breath | K |
| 'Thou canst not say I did it ' says Macbeth | K |
| - | |
| Good land how I run on I quite forgot | L |
| Whom this was meant to be about for when | M |
| I think upon that odd unearthly lot | L |
| Not quite Creedhaymonds yet not wholly men | M |
| I'm dominated by my rebel pen | M |
| That like the stubborn bird from which 'twas got | L |
| Goes waddling forward if I will or not | L |
| To leave your comrades Ben I'm now content | N |
| I'll meet them later if I don't repent | N |
| - | |
| You've writ a letter I observe nay more | O |
| You've published it to say how good you think | P |
| The coolies and invite them to come o'er | Q |
| In thicker quantity Perhaps you drink | P |
| No corporation's wine but love its ink | P |
| Or when you signed away your soul and swore | O |
| On railrogue battle fields to shed your gore | O |
| You mentally reserved the right to shed | H |
| The raiment of your character instead | H |
| - | |
| You're naked anyhow unragged you stand | E |
| In frank and stark simplicity of shame | R |
| And here upon your flank in letters grand | E |
| The iron has marked you with your owner's name | R |
| Needless for none would steal and none reclaim | R |
| But 'Leland tanford' is a pretty brand | E |
| Wrought by an artist with a cunning hand | E |
| But come this naked unreserve is flat | S |
| Don your habiliment you're fat you're fat | S |
Ambrose Bierce
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
About A Railroad Lackey
A Railroad Lackey is a poem by Ambrose Bierce. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
Write your comment about A Railroad Lackey poem by Ambrose Bierce
Best Poems of Ambrose Bierce