The Babes In The Bush Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABAABBB CDECDDD FGFFGGG GHGGHHH IJIKJJJ GHGGHHH LHHLLL GBGGBBB MNOMNNN PH PPP HHHHH HG HGGG HQHHQQQ RSRRT UHUUHHH SVSSVVVDozens of damp little curls | A |
One little short upper lip | B |
Two rows of teeth like diminutive pearls | A |
Eyes clear and grey as the creek where it swirls | A |
Over the ledges that's Tip | B |
With a skip | B |
A perfectly hopeless young nip | B |
- | |
Smudge on the tip of his nose | C |
Mischievous glance of a Puck | D |
Heart just as big as the rents in his clothes | E |
Lungs like a locust and cheeks like a rose | C |
Total it there you have Tuck | D |
And bad luck | D |
To the man who would question his pluck | D |
- | |
School is all over at last | F |
School with its pothooks and strokes | G |
Homeward they toddle but who could go fast | F |
So many wonderful things to be passed | F |
Froggie for instance who croaks | G |
'Neath the oaks | G |
By the creek where the watercress soaks | G |
- | |
Sandpipers dance on the bars | G |
Swallows white throated and fleet | H |
Dip thirsty beaks in the stream as they pass | G |
Smooth water beetles that twinkle like stars | G |
Watch the gay dragon flies greet | H |
Hark how sweet | H |
Is the pipe of the tiny pee weet | H |
- | |
Near too the earth is all torn | I |
Strong willing workers have thrown | J |
Great heaps of tailings smooth polished and worn | I |
Round the mysterious caverns that yawn | K |
Stacks of the snowy quartz stone | J |
Grass grown | J |
Piles of the Earth's dry bone | J |
- | |
Grasshoppers chirp on the brace | G |
Briars drop berries blood red | H |
Into the mouldering void of the race | G |
Green mosses flourish on cutting and face | G |
Children speak softly with dread | H |
When they tread | H |
In this desolate place of the dead | H |
- | |
'Tum on ' said Tip 'here's a nest ' | - |
Looking behind as he ran | L |
'No ' said his brother expanding his chest | H |
'I like to play at pro'pectin' the best' | H |
Thumping a rusty old pan | L |
Then began | L |
To wash up a dish like a man | L |
- | |
'Tum on here's four little eggs | G |
Do tum ' he whimpers his lip | B |
A tremble his eyes wet by tears as he begs | G |
And sharp briars are scratching his legs | G |
A branch strikes his face like a whip | B |
Then a slip | B |
And a shaft swallows poor little Tip | B |
- | |
Peering and catching his breath | M |
Tuck felt his little heart swell | N |
Nothing at all could he see underneath | O |
P'r'aps poor old Tippy had gone to his death | M |
Would it hurt him if he fell | N |
Who could tell | N |
The depth of that horrible well | N |
- | |
'Tippy oh Tip are you dead ' | - |
Never a sound or a sigh | P |
Tuck held his breath his heart heavy as lead | H |
Then 'Tuck where are you I've hurted my head ' | - |
Came up the quav'ring reply | P |
And a cry | P |
'Oh Tuck don't go 'way or I'll die | P |
- | |
'Tuck it's so dark I'm afraid ' | - |
He drew down his eyebrows and frowned | H |
Up the creek down the creek somewhat dismayed | H |
Miles to go home but again if he stayed | H |
How would they ever be found Underground | H |
In that cavern that swallowed all sound | H |
- | |
'Tuck I'm all covered with blood | H |
Sobbed the small voice without cess | G |
'Why don't you help me up out of the mud ' | - |
Tuck foraged out a long length of pine wood | H |
Stripped off his little print dress | G |
And just guess | G |
Rigged a white flag of distress | G |
- | |
Truly the depth was not great | H |
That though the babe did not know | Q |
Lowering himself till the whole of his weight | H |
Hung on the fingers that clutched the blue slate | H |
'Please God ' he let himself go | Q |
And I trow | Q |
That angel hands caught him below | Q |
- | |
Never a scratch or a mark | R |
No and not even a tear | S |
Little hands feeling their way through the dark | R |
What if that other should be stiff and stark | R |
'Here I am Tippy quite near | T |
Oh dear ' | - |
Then came the answer 'I'm here ' | - |
- | |
Crouched in the mouth of a drive | U |
Tippy sobbed out his delight | H |
Not so much hurt after all quite alive | U |
Almost convinced that no harm could arrive | U |
Now that Tuck's arms clasped him tight | H |
Then the light | H |
Died slowly and lo it was Night | H |
- | |
Above the flag blows to the air | S |
Sad parents seek vainly and weep | V |
There are lights 'mid the thistles and cries of despair | S |
A rifle cracks loudly and bonfires glare | S |
Below where the blind creatures creep | V |
Hidden deep | V |
Two pretty babes smile in their sleep | V |
Barcroft Boake
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