The Boss Of The Admiral Lynch Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCDEEFFGGHHIIJJKK LLMMNNOOPP QQOOLLRRHHLLKK LLSSHHTTKK| Did you ever hear tell of Chili I was readin' the other day | A |
| Of President Balmaceda and of how he was sent away | A |
| It seems that he didn't suit 'em they thought that they'd like a change | B |
| So they started an insurrection and chased him across the range | B |
| They seem to be restless people and judging by what you hear | C |
| They raise up these revolutions 'bout two or three times a year | D |
| And the man that goes out of office he goes for the boundary quick | E |
| For there isn't no vote by ballot it's bullets that does the trick | E |
| And it ain't like a real battle where the prisoners' lives are spared | F |
| And they fight till there's one side beaten and then there's a truce declared | F |
| And the man that has got the licking goes down like a blooming lord | G |
| To hand in his resignation and give up his blooming sword | G |
| And the other man bows and takes it and everything's all polite | H |
| This wasn't that sort of a picnic this wasn't that sort of a fight | H |
| For the pris'ners they took they shot 'em no odds were they small or great | I |
| If they'd collared old Balmaceda they reckoned to shoot him straight | I |
| A lot of bloodthirsty devils they were but there ain't a doubt | J |
| They must have been real plucked uns the way that they fought it out | J |
| And the king of 'em all I reckon the man that could stand a pinch | K |
| Was the boss of a one horse gunboat They called her the Admiral Lynch | K |
| Well he was for Balmaceda and after the war was done | L |
| And Balmaceda was beaten and his troops had been forced to run | L |
| The other man fetched his army and proceeded to do things brown | M |
| He marched 'em into the fortress and took command of the town | M |
| Cannon and guns and horses troopin' along the road | N |
| Rumblin' over the bridges and never a foeman showed | N |
| Till they came in sight of the harbour and the very first thing they see | O |
| Was this mite of a one horse gunboat a lying against the quay | O |
| And there as they watched they noticed a flutter of crimson rag | P |
| And under their eyes he hoisted old Balmaceda's flag | P |
| - | |
| Well I tell you it fairly knocked 'em it just took away their breath | Q |
| For he must ha' known if they caught him 'twas nothin' but sudden death | Q |
| Ad' he'd got no fire in his furnace no chance to put out to sea | O |
| So he stood by his gun and waited with his vessel against the quay | O |
| Well they sent him a civil message to say that the war was done | L |
| And most of his side were corpses and all that were left had run | L |
| And blood had been spilt sufficient so they gave him a chance to decide | R |
| If he's haul down his bit of bunting and come on the winning side | R |
| He listened and heard their message and answered them all polite | H |
| That he was a Spanish hidalgo and the men of his race must fight | H |
| A gunboat against an army and with never a chance to run | L |
| And them with their hundred cannon and him with a single gun | L |
| The odds were a trifle heavy but he wasn't the sort to flinch | K |
| So he opened fire on the army did the boss of the Admiral Lynch | K |
| - | |
| They pounded his boat to pieces they silenced his single gun | L |
| And captured the whole consignment for none of 'em cared to run | L |
| And it don't say whether they shot him it don't even give his name | S |
| But whatever they did I'll wager that he went to his graveyard game | S |
| I tell you those old hidalgos so stately and so polite | H |
| They turn out the real Maginnis when it comes to an uphill fight | H |
| There was General Alcantara who died in the heaviest brunt | T |
| And General Alzereca was killed in the battle's front | T |
| But the king of 'em all I reckon the man that could stand a pinch | K |
| Was the man who attacked the army with the gunboat Admiral Lynch | K |
Banjo Paterson
(1)
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