The Box-tree's Love Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDDEEEEFGEE HHIIIJJEEKL MMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECC EE EENBEEEEEEOOLLEEEEEE EEPPQQLLEEEEQQEEEEPP LLEEEEEEEEGGLLEECREE SSTTRHRREEU VVRRWWRREELLEEXX RREEEE LLEESSEEYYEEQQRREEZZ BB E E A2A2 EEB2B2E EEC2C2RRJN LLBBD2D2EERR EEE2E2F2F2G2H2I2I2J2 J2LLQQB2B2 RREED EEK2K2EEEE L2L2EEM2M2EEEE| Long time beside the squatter's gate | A |
| A great grey Box Tree early late | A |
| Or shine or rain in silence there | B |
| Had stood and watched the seasons fare | B |
| Had seen the wind upon the plain | C |
| Caress the amber ears of grain | C |
| The river burst its banks and come | D |
| Far past its belt of mighty gum | D |
| Had seen the scarlet months of drought | E |
| Scourging the land with fiery knout | E |
| And seasons ill and seasons good | E |
| Had alternated as they would | E |
| The years were born had grown and gone | F |
| While suns had set and suns had shone | G |
| Fierce flames had swept chill waters drenched | E |
| That sturdy yeoman never blenched | E |
| - | |
| The Tree had watched the station grow | H |
| The buildings rising row on row | H |
| And from that point of vantage green | I |
| Peering athwart its leafy screen | I |
| The wondering soldier birds had seen | I |
| The lumbering bullock dray draw near | J |
| Led by that swarthy pioneer | J |
| Who gazing at the pleasant shade | E |
| Was tempted dropped his whip and stayed | E |
| Brought there his wanderings to a close | K |
| Unloosed the polished yokes and bows | L |
| - | |
| The bullocks thankful for the boon | M |
| Rang on their bells a merry tune | M |
| The hobbles clinked the horses grazed | E |
| The snowy calico was raised | E |
| The fire was lit the fragrant tea | E |
| Drunk to a sunset melody | E |
| Tuned by the day before it died | E |
| To waken on Earth's other side | E |
| There 'twas beneath that Box Tree's shade | E |
| Fortune's foundation stone was laid | E |
| Cemented fast with toil and thrift | E |
| Stone upon stone was laid to lift | E |
| A mighty arch commemorate | E |
| Of one who reached the goal too late | E |
| That white haired pioneer with pride | E |
| Fitted the keystone then he died | E |
| His toil his thrift all to what boot | E |
| He gave his life for Dead Sea fruit | E |
| What did it boot his wide domain | C |
| Of feathered pine and sweeping plain | C |
| Sand ridge and turf for he lay dead | E |
| Another reigning in his stead | E |
| - | |
| His sons forgot him but that Tree | E |
| Mourned for him long and silently | E |
| And o'er the old man's lonely bier | N |
| Would if he could have dropped a tear | B |
| One other being only shared | E |
| His grief one other only cared | E |
| And she was but a six years' maid | E |
| His grandchild who had watched him fade | E |
| In childish ignorance and wept | E |
| Because the poor old grand dad slept | E |
| So long a sleep and never came | O |
| To smile upon her at her game | O |
| Or tell her stories of the fays | L |
| And giants of the olden days | L |
| She cared and as the seasons sped | E |
| Linked by the memory of the dead | E |
| They two the Box Tree and the Child | E |
| Grew old in friendship and she smiled | E |
| Clapping her chubby hands with glee | E |
| When for her pleasure that old Tree | E |
| Would shake his limbs and let the light | E |
| Glance in a million sparkles bright | E |
| From off his polished olive cloak | P |
| Then would the infant gently stroke | P |
| His massive bole and laughing try | Q |
| To count the patches of blue sky | Q |
| Betwixt his leaves or in the shades | L |
| That trembled on the grassy blades | L |
| Trace curious faces till her head | E |
| Of gold grew heavy then he'd spread | E |
| His leaves to shield her while he droned | E |
| A lullaby so softly toned | E |
| It seemed but as the gentle sigh | Q |
| Of Summer as she floated by | Q |
| While bird and beast grew humble voiced | E |
| Seeing those golden ringlets moist | E |
| With dew of sleep With one small hand | E |
| Grasping a grass stem for a wand | E |
| Titania slept Nature nor spoke | P |
| Nor dared to breathe until she woke | P |
| - | |
| The years passed onward and perchance | L |
| The Tree had shot his tufted lance | L |
| Up to the sky a few slow feet | E |
| But one great limb grew down to greet | E |
| His mistress who had ne'er declined | E |
| In love for him though far behind | E |
| Her child life lay and now she stood | E |
| Waiting to welcome womanhood | E |
| She loved him always as of old | E |
| Yet would his great roots grasp the mould | E |
| And knotted branches grind and groan | G |
| To see her seek him not alone | G |
| For lovers came and 'neath those boughs | L |
| With suave conversing sought to rouse | L |
| The slumbering passion in a breast | E |
| Whose coldness gave an added zest | E |
| To the pursuit but all in vain | C |
| They spoke the once nor came again | R |
| Save one alone who pressed his suit | E |
| Man like he loved forbidden fruit | E |
| And strove to change her Nay to Yea | S |
| Until it fell upon a day | S |
| Once more he put his fate to proof | T |
| Standing beneath that olive roof | T |
| And though her answer still was 'No' | R |
| He half incensed refused to go | H |
| Asking her Had she heart for none | R |
| Because there was some other one | R |
| Who claimed it all Whereon the maid | E |
| Slipped off her ring and laughing said | E |
| 'Look you my friend here now I prove | U |
| The truth of it and pledge my love ' | - |
| And poised on tiptoe touched a limb | V |
| That bent to gratify her whim | V |
| She slipped the golden circle on | R |
| A tiny branchlet whence it shone | R |
| Mocking the suitor with its gleam | W |
| A quaint dispersal of his dream | W |
| She left the trinket there but when | R |
| She came to take it back again | R |
| She found it not nor though she knelt | E |
| Upon the scented grass and felt | E |
| Among its roots or parted sheaves | L |
| And peered among the shining leaves | L |
| Could it be found The Box Tree held | E |
| Her troth for aye his great form swelled | E |
| Until the bitter sap swept through | X |
| His veins and gave him youth anew | X |
| - | |
| With busy fingers lank and thin | R |
| The fatal Sisters sit and spin | R |
| Life's web in gloomy musings wrapt | E |
| Caring not when a thread is snapt | E |
| What harm its severance may do | E |
| Whether it strangleth one or two | E |
| - | |
| Alas there came an awful space | L |
| Of time wherein that sweet young face | L |
| Grew pale its sharpened outline pressed | E |
| Deep in the pillow for a guest | E |
| Unsought unbidden forced his way | S |
| Into the chamber where she lay | S |
| 'Twas Death Outside the Box Tree kept | E |
| Sad vigil and at times he swept | E |
| His branches softly as a thrill | Y |
| Shot through his framework boding ill | Y |
| To her he loved and so he bade | E |
| A bird fly ask her why she stayed | E |
| The messenger with glistening eye | Q |
| Returned and said 'The maid doth lie | Q |
| Asleep I tapped upon the pane | R |
| She stirred not so I tapped again | R |
| She rests so silent on the bed | E |
| Friend that I fear the maid is dead | E |
| For they have cut great sprays of bloom | Z |
| And laid them all about the room | Z |
| The scent of roses fills the air | B |
| They nestle in her breast and hair | B |
| - | |
| Like snowy mourners scented sweet | E |
| Around her pillow and her feet ' | - |
| 'Ah me ' the Box Tree sighing said | E |
| 'My love is dead my love is dead ' | - |
| And shook his branches till each leaf | A2 |
| Chorused his agony of grief | A2 |
| - | |
| They bore the maiden forth and laid | E |
| Her down to rest where she had played | E |
| Amid her piles of forest spoil | B2 |
| In childhood now the sun caked soil | B2 |
| Closed over her 'Ah ' sighed the Tree | E |
| 'Mark how my love doth come to me ' | - |
| He pushed brown rootlets down and slid | E |
| Between the casket and its lid | E |
| And bade them very gently creep | C2 |
| And wake the maiden from her sleep | C2 |
| The tiny filaments slipped down | R |
| And plucked the lace upon her gown | R |
| She stirred not when they ventured near | J |
| And softly whispered in her ear | N |
| - | |
| The silken fibres gently press | L |
| Upon her lips a chill caress | L |
| They wreathe her waist they brush her hair | B |
| Under her pallid eyelids stare | B |
| Yet all in vain she will not wake | D2 |
| Not even for her lover's sake | D2 |
| The Box Tree groaned aloud and cried | E |
| 'Ah me grim Death hath stole my bride | E |
| Where is she hidden Where hath flown | R |
| Her soul I cannot bide alone | R |
| But fain would follow ' | - |
| - | |
| Then he called | E |
| And whispered to an ant that crawled | E |
| Upon a bough and bade it seek | E2 |
| The white ant colony and speak | E2 |
| A message where beneath a dome | F2 |
| Of earth the white queen hath her home | F2 |
| She sent a mighty army forth | G2 |
| That fall upon the tree in wrath | H2 |
| And entering by a tiny hole | I2 |
| Fill all the hollow of his bole | I2 |
| Through all its pipes and crannies pour | J2 |
| Sharp at his aching heart strings tore | J2 |
| Along his branches built a maze | L |
| Of sinuous earthen covered ways | L |
| His smooth leaves shrunk his sap ran dry | Q |
| The sunbeams laughing from the sky | Q |
| Helped the ant workers at their toil | B2 |
| Sucking all moisture from the soil | B2 |
| - | |
| Then on a night the wind swept down | R |
| And rustled 'mid the foliage brown | R |
| The mighty framework creaked and groaned | E |
| In giant agony and moaned | E |
| Its wind swept branches growing numb | D |
| 'I come my love my love I come ' | - |
| A gust more furious than the rest | E |
| Struck the great Box Tree's shivering crest | E |
| The great bole snapped across its girth | K2 |
| The forest monarch fell to earth | K2 |
| With such a mighty rush of sound | E |
| The settlers heard it miles around | E |
| While upward through the windy night | E |
| That faithful lover's soul took flight | E |
| - | |
| The squatter smiled to see it fall | L2 |
| He sent his men with wedge and maul | L2 |
| Who split the tree but found it good | E |
| For nothing more than kindling wood | E |
| They marvelled much to find a ring | M2 |
| Asking themselves what chanced to bring | M2 |
| The golden circlet which they found | E |
| Clasping a branchlet firmly round | E |
| Foolish and blind they could not see | E |
| The faithfulness of that dead Tree | E |
Barcroft Boake
(1)
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About The Box-tree's Love
The Box-tree's Love is a poem by Barcroft Boake. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
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