At Devlin's Siding Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AA BB CC DD EE FF GG HH II CC JJ KK LM| What made the porter stare so hard what made the porter stare | A |
| And eye the tall young woman and the bundle that she bare | A |
| - | |
| What made the tall young woman flush and strive to hide her face | B |
| As the train slid past the platform and the guard swung in his place | B |
| - | |
| What made her look so stealthily both up and down the line | C |
| And quickly give the infant suck to still its puny whine | C |
| - | |
| Why was the sawmill not at work why were the men away | D |
| They might have turned a woman from a woeful deed that day | D |
| - | |
| Why did the pine scrub stand so thick why was the place so lone | E |
| That nothing but the soldier birds might hear a baby moan | E |
| - | |
| Why doth the woman tear the child why doth the mother take | F |
| The infant from her breast and weep as if her heart would break | F |
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| Why doth she moan and grind her teeth and weave an awful curse | G |
| To fall on him who made of her a harlot ay and worse | G |
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| Why should she fall upon her knees and with a trembling hand | H |
| Clear off the underbrush and scrape a cradle in the sand | H |
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| Why doth she shudder as she hears the buzz of eager flies | I |
| And bind a handkerchief across the sleeping infant's eyes | I |
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| Why doth she turn but come again and feverishly twine | C |
| To shield it from the burning sun the fragrant fronds of pine | C |
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| Why as she strides the platform does she try hard not to think | J |
| That somewhere in the scrub a babe is calling her for drink | J |
| - | |
| Why through the alleys of the pine do languid breezes sigh | K |
| A low refrain that seems to mock her with a baby's cry | K |
| - | |
| Seek not to know but pray for her and pity as the train | L |
| Carries a white faced woman back to face the world again | M |
Barcroft Henry Thomas Boake
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