The Sheep-washers' Lament Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCBCBDEF GHFIJDEF KLMLNDEF OPQPCDEF RSTSUDEF VCWCXDEF YZA2ZB2DEF C2D2C2D2C2DXDAir The Bonnie Irish Boy | A |
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Come now ye sighing washers all | B |
Join in my doleful lay | C |
Mourn for the times none can recall | B |
With hearts to grief a prey | C |
We'll mourn the washer's sad downfall | B |
In our regretful strain | D |
Lamenting on the days gone by | E |
Ne'er to return again | F |
- | |
When first I went a washing sheep | G |
The year was sixty one | H |
The master was a worker then | F |
The servant was a man | I |
But now the squatters puffed with pride | J |
They treat us with disdain | D |
Lament the days that are gone by | E |
Ne'er to return again | F |
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From sixty one to sixty six | K |
The bushman stout and strong | L |
Would smoke his pipe and whistle his tune | M |
And sing his cheerful song | L |
As wanton as the kangaroo | N |
That bounds across the plain | D |
Lament the days that are gone by | E |
Ne'er to return again | F |
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Supplies of food unstinted good | O |
No squatter did withhold | P |
With plenty grog to cheer our hearts | Q |
We feared nor heat nor cold | P |
With six and six per man per day | C |
We sought not to complain | D |
Lament the days that are gone by | E |
Ne'er to return again | F |
- | |
With perfect health a mine of wealth | R |
Our days seemed short and sweet | S |
On pleasure bent our evenings spent | T |
Enjoyment was complete | S |
But now we toil from morn till night | U |
Though much against the grain | D |
Lamenting on the days gone by | E |
Ne'er to return again | F |
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I once could boast two noble steeds | V |
To bear me on my way | C |
My good revolver in my belt | W |
I never knew dismay | C |
But lonely now I hump my drum | X |
In sunshine and in rain | D |
Lamenting on the days gone by | E |
Ne'er to return again | F |
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A worthy cheque I always earned | Y |
And spent it like a lord | Z |
My dress a prince's form would grace | A2 |
And spells I could afford | Z |
But now in tattered rags arrayed | B2 |
My limbs they ache with pain | D |
Lamenting on the days gone by | E |
Ne'er to return again | F |
- | |
May bushmen all in unity | C2 |
Combine with heart and hand | D2 |
May cursed cringing poverty | C2 |
Be banished from the land | D2 |
In Queensland may prosperity | C2 |
In regal glory reign | D |
And washers in the time to come | X |
Their vanished rights regain | D |
Banjo Paterson (andrew Barton)
(1)
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