The Story Of Mongrel Grey Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABABCCDEDECC FGFGCC HIHIII GIGICC JKJKFF FFFFLL MKMKJJ FFFFCC IGIGCC NKNOFF IPIPQQ FFFFCC CFCFFF FRFRCCThis is the story the stockman told | A |
On the cattle camp when the stars were bright | B |
The moon rose up like a globe of gold | A |
And flooded the plain with her mellow light | B |
We watched the cattle till dawn of day | C |
And he told me the story of Mongrel Grey | C |
He was a knock about station hack | D |
Spurred and walloped and banged and beat | E |
Ridden all day with a sore on his back | D |
Left all night with nothing to eat | E |
That was a matter of everyday | C |
Normal occurrence with Mongrel Grey | C |
- | |
We might have sold him but someone heard | F |
He was bred out back on a flooded run | G |
Where he learnt to swim like a waterbird | F |
Midnight or midday were all as one | G |
In the flooded ground he would find his way | C |
Nothing could puzzle old Mongrel Grey | C |
- | |
'Tis a trick no doubt that some horses learn | H |
When the floods are out they will splash along | I |
In girth deep water and twist and turn | H |
From hidden channel and billabong | I |
Never mistaking the road to go | I |
for a man may guess but the horses know | I |
- | |
I was camping out with my youngest son | G |
Bit of a nipper just learnt to speak | I |
In an empty hut on the lower run | G |
Shooting and fishing in Conroy's Creek | I |
The youngster toddled about all day | C |
And there with our horses was Mongrel Grey | C |
- | |
All of a sudden a flood came down | J |
At first a freshet of mountain rain | K |
Roaring and eddying rank and brown | J |
Over the flats and across the plain | K |
Rising and rising at fall of night | F |
Nothing but water appeared in sight | F |
- | |
'Tis a nasty place when the floods are out | F |
Even in daylight for all around | F |
Channels and billabongs twist about | F |
Stretching for miles in the flooded ground | F |
And to move seemed a hopeless thing to try | L |
In the dark with the storm water racing by | L |
- | |
I had to risk it I heard a roar | M |
As the wind swept down and the driving rain | K |
And the water rose till it reached the floor | M |
Of our highest room and 'twas very plain | K |
The way the torrent was sweeping down | J |
We must make for the highlands at once or drown | J |
- | |
Off to the stable I splashed and found | F |
The horses shaking with cold and fright | F |
I led them down to the lower ground | F |
But never a yard would they swim that night | F |
They reared and snorted and turned away | C |
And none would face it but Mongrel Grey | C |
- | |
I bound the child on the horse's back | I |
And we started off with a prayer to heaven | G |
Through the rain and the wind and the pitchy black | I |
For I knew that the instinct God has given | G |
To prompt His creatures by night and day | C |
Would guide the footsteps of Mongrel Grey | C |
- | |
He struck deep water at once and swam | N |
I swam beside him and held his mane | K |
Till we touched the bank of the broken dam | N |
In shallow water then off again | O |
Swimming in darkness across the flood | F |
Rank with the smell of the drifting mud | F |
- | |
He turned and twisted across and back | I |
Choosing the places to wade or swim | P |
Picking the safest and shortest track | I |
The blackest darkness was clear to him | P |
Did he strike the crossing by sight or smell | Q |
The Lord that held him alone could tell | Q |
- | |
He dodged the timber whene'er he could | F |
But timber brought us to grief at last | F |
I was partly stunned by a log of wood | F |
That struck my head as it drifted past | F |
Then lost my grip of the brave old grey | C |
And in half a second he swept away | C |
- | |
I reached a tree where I had to stay | C |
And did a perish for two days' hard | F |
And lived on water but Mongrel Grey | C |
He walked right into the homestead yard | F |
At dawn next morning and grazed around | F |
With the child strapped on to him safe and sound | F |
- | |
We keep him now for the wife to ride | F |
Nothing too good for him now of course | R |
Never a whip on his fat old hide | F |
For she owes the child to that brave grey horse | R |
And not Old Tyson himself could pay | C |
The purchase money of Mongrel Grey | C |
Banjo Paterson
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
Write your comment about The Story Of Mongrel Grey poem by Banjo Paterson
Best Poems of Banjo Paterson