Kelly's Conversion Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDDEFFGGHEIIJJH EKKLLMNOEKKPPQQKEKKR SMMHE TTKKUUFFVVKKKKNNTTVV WW XXXYYDDKKZZX A2A2B2B2PPC2C2C2BB A2A2D2D2IIKKKKK YYE2F2E2KKDDG2G2H2A2 I2I2 KKOOK KKKK KKJ2J2AAVVKK KKXXKELLY the Ranger half opened an eye | A |
To wink at the Army passing by | A |
While his hot breath thick with the taint of beer | B |
Came forth from his lips in a drunken jeer | B |
Brown and bearded and long of limb | C |
He lay as the Army confronted him | C |
And clad in grey one and all did pray | D |
That his deadly sins might be washed away | D |
But Kelly stubbornly answered Nay ' | E |
Then the captain left him in mild despair | F |
But before the music took up its blare | F |
A pale faced lassie stepped out and spoke | G |
A little sad girl in a sad grey cloak | G |
Rise up Kelly your work's to do | H |
Kelly the Saviour's a calling you ' | E |
He strove to look wise rubbed at his eyes | I |
Looked down at the ground looked up at the skies | I |
And something that p'r'aps was his conscience stirred | J |
He seemed perplexed as again he heard | J |
The girl with the garments of saddest hue | H |
Say Kelly the Saviour's a calling you ' | E |
He got on his knees and thence to his feet | K |
And stumbled away down the dusty street | K |
Contrived to cadge at the pub a drink | L |
But still in his ear the glasses chink | L |
And jingle only the one refrain | M |
Clear as the lassie's voice again | N |
Kelly Kelly come here to me | O |
Kelly the Rager I've work for thee ' | E |
He trembled and dropped the tumbler and slopped | K |
The beer on the counter the barman stopped | K |
With a curious eye on his haggard face | P |
Kelly old fellow you're going the pace | P |
Don't you fancy it's time to take | Q |
A pull on yourself put your foot on the brake | Q |
You'll have the horrors without a doubt | K |
This time next week if you don't look out ' | E |
But he didn't he sobered himself that night | K |
That time next week' he was nearly right | K |
Yet still at the mill though he'd stopped the grog | R |
As the saw bit into the green pine log | S |
The wood shrieked out to him in its pain | M |
A fragment caught of the same refrain | M |
As the swift teeth cut and the sawdust flew | H |
Kelly Kelly I've work for you ' | E |
- | |
Then the seasons fell and the floods came down | T |
And laid the dust in the frightened town | T |
No more the beat of hoofs and feet | K |
Was heard the length of the crooked street | K |
For leaving counter and desk and till | U |
All had fled to the far sandhill | U |
But everywhere that a man might dare | F |
Risk life to save it Kelly was there | F |
No more the voice had a tale to tell | V |
He'd found his work and he did it well | V |
Who stripped leggings and hat and coat | K |
To swim the lagoon to reach the boat | K |
Who pushed out in the dead of night | K |
At the mute appeal of a beacon light | K |
Who was blessed by the women then | N |
And who was cheered by the stalwart men | N |
As he shot the rapids above the town | T |
With two pale Smiths and a weeping Brown | T |
Landing them safe from his cockle shell | V |
Woefully frightened but safe and well | V |
With their friends on the sandhill all secure | W |
Who but Kelly you may be sure | W |
- | |
They reckoned the heads up one by one | X |
And he sighed as he thought that the work was done | X |
But soon found out that 'twas not begun | X |
They counted away till it came to pass | Y |
They missed the little Salvation lass | Y |
She'd been to pray with a man who lay | D |
Sick on the river shore far away | D |
Men looked askance and the women smote | K |
Their hands in grief as he launched the boat | K |
He turned as he cast the painter loose | Z |
Who'll make another It's little use | Z |
My going alone for I'm nearly done | X |
And from here to the point is a stiffish run ' | - |
Then one stepped forward and took an oar | A2 |
And the boat shot out for the other shore | A2 |
To and fro where the gums hang low | B2 |
And bar their passage the comrades row | B2 |
Hard up stream where the waters race | P |
Steady where floating branches lace | P |
Through many a danger and sharp escape | C2 |
And catch of breath as the timbers scrape | C2 |
And thrill to the touch of some river shape | C2 |
Till at last the huts on the point draw near | B |
And over their shoulders the boatmen peer | B |
- | |
The flood was running from door to door | A2 |
Two feet six on the earthen floor | A2 |
Half way up to the bed it ran | D2 |
Where two pale women and one sick man | D2 |
Crouched and looked at the water's rise | I |
With horror set in their staring eyes | I |
While the children wept as the water crept | K |
But how the blood to their hearts high leapt | K |
As over the threshold the rescuers stepped | K |
And wrapped in blanket and shawl and coat | K |
Carried the saved to the crazy boat | K |
- | |
Then Kelly circled the little lass | Y |
With his strong right arm and as in a glass | Y |
Saw himself in her eyes that shone | E2 |
Sweet in a face that was drawn and wan | F2 |
And he felt that for her life he'd give his own | E2 |
Too short a moment her cheek was pressed | K |
Close to the beat of his spray wet breast | K |
While her hair just lay like a golden ray | D |
The last farewell of a passing day | D |
Gently he settled her down in the stern | G2 |
With a tender smile and had time to turn | G2 |
To look to the others and then he saw | H2 |
That the craft was full and could hold no more | A2 |
He looked at the party old young and sick | I2 |
While he had no tie neither wife nor chick | I2 |
- | |
Then with a shove he sent out the boat | K |
Far on the turbid stream afloat | K |
Pull ' said Kelly now pull ' said he | O |
Pull with your load and come back for me | O |
You may be late but at any rate | K |
I'm better able than you to wait ' | - |
They pulled and looking back saw him stand | K |
Shading his eyes with his big rough hand | K |
Silent patient and smiling faced | K |
With the water curling around his waist | K |
- | |
Return they did but they found him not | K |
Nought but the chimney then marked the spot | K |
They found him not when the boat went back | J2 |
Never a trace of him never a track | J2 |
Only the sigh and the dreary cry | A |
Of the gums that had wept to see him die | A |
These alone had a tale to tell | V |
Of a life that had ended passing well | V |
The sad refrain of a hero's fate | K |
Tuned in a tongue we may not translate | K |
- | |
Facing Death with a stout brave heart | K |
Choosing the nobler and better part | K |
Home to the land of eternal sun | X |
Kelly had gone for his work was done | X |
Barcroft Henry Thomas Boake
(1)
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