On The Range Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABABCBCBDBDBEFEDFGHI HJIKLKLMNIMN KOKOPQRPQSDSDTUTUKSK NS VWVWXYZXYA2CA2C NB2NB2C2D2C2D2E2F2BE 2BA2BA2BKG2KG2 ZIH2BIBC2I2BI2DBJ2K2 J2K2L2LL2LIM2IM2 ACACIIN2IC2N2IO2IO2Q P2QD2P2Q2LQ2L NR2NR2IIIIOn Nungar the mists of the morning hung low | A |
The beetle browed hills brooded silent and black | B |
Not yet warmed to life by the sun's loving glow | A |
As through the tall tussocks rode young Charlie Mac | B |
What cared he for mists at the dawning of day | C |
What cared he that over the valley stern Jack | B |
The Monarch of frost held his pitiless sway | C |
A bold mountaineer born and bred was young Mac | B |
A galloping son of a galloping sire | D |
Stiffest fence roughest ground never took him aback | B |
With his father's cool judgement his dash and his fire | D |
The pick of Manaro rode young Charlie Mac | B |
And the pick of the stable the mare he bestrode | E |
Arab grey built to stay lithe of limb deep of chest | F |
She seemed to be happy to bear such a load | E |
As she tossed the soft forelock that curled on her | D |
crest | F |
They crossed Nungar Creek where its span is but | G |
short | H |
At its head where together spring two mountain rills | I |
When a mob of wild horses sprang up with a snort | H |
By thunder quoth Mac there's the Lord of | J |
the Hills | I |
Decoyed from her paddock a Murray bred mare | K |
Had fled to the hills with a warrigal band | L |
A pretty bay foal had been born to her there | K |
Whose veins held the very best blood in the land | L |
The Lord of the Hills as the bold mountain men | M |
Whose courage and skill he was wont to defy | N |
Had named him they yarded him once but since | I |
then | M |
He held to the saying Once bitten twice shy | N |
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The scrubber thus suddenly roused from his lair | K |
Struck straight for the timber with fear in his heart | O |
As Charlie rose up in his stirrups the mare | K |
Sprang forward no need to tell Empress to start | O |
She laid to the chase just as soon as she felt | P |
Her rider's skill d touch light yet firm on the rein | Q |
Stride for stride lengthened wide for the green | R |
timber belt | P |
The fastest half mile ever done on the plain | Q |
They reached the low sallee before he could wheel | S |
The warrigal mob up they dashed with a stir | D |
Of low branches and undergrowth Charlie could feel | S |
His mare catch her breath on the side of the spur | D |
That steeply slopes up till it meets the bald cone | T |
'Twas here on the range that the trouble began | U |
For a slip on the sidling a loose rolling stone | T |
And the chase would be done but the bay in the van | U |
And the little grey mare were a sure footed pair | K |
He looked once around as she crept to his heel | S |
And the swish that he gave his long tale in the air | K |
Seemed to say Here's a foeman well worthy my | N |
steel | S |
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They raced to within half a mile of the bluff | V |
That drops to the river the squadron strung out | W |
I wonder quoth Mac has the bay had enough | V |
But he was not left very much longer in doubt | W |
For the Lord of the Hills struck a spur for the flat | X |
And followed it leaving his mob mares and all | Y |
While Empress brave heart she could climb like a | Z |
cat | X |
Down the stony descent raced with never a fall | Y |
Once down on the level 'twas galloping ground | A2 |
For a while Charlie thought he might yard the big bay | C |
At his uncle's out station but no He wheeled round | A2 |
And down the sharp dip to the Gulf made his way | C |
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Betwixt those twin portals that towering high | N |
And backwardly sloping in watchfulness lift | B2 |
Their smooth grassy summits to the far sky | N |
The course of the clear Murrumbidgee runs swift | B2 |
No time then to seek where the crossing might be | C2 |
It was in at the one side and out where you could | D2 |
But fear never dwelt in the hearts of those three | C2 |
Who emerged from the shade of the low muzzle wood | D2 |
Once more did the Lord of the Hills strike a line | E2 |
Up the side of the range and once more he looked | F2 |
back | B |
So close were they now he could see the sun shine | E2 |
In the bold grey eyes flashing of young Charlie Mac | B |
He saw little Empress stretched out like a hound | A2 |
On the trail of its quarry the pick of the pack | B |
With ne'er tiring stride and his heart gave a bound | A2 |
As he saw the lithe stockwhip of young Charlie Mac | B |
Showing snaky and black on the neck of the mare | K |
In three hanging coils with a turn round the wrist | G2 |
And he heartily wished himself back in his lair | K |
'Mid the tall tussocks beaded with chill morning mist | G2 |
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Then he fancied the straight mountain ashes the | Z |
gums | I |
And the wattles all mocked him and whispered | H2 |
You lack | B |
The speed to avert cruel capture that comes | I |
To the warrigal fancied by young Charlie Mac | B |
For he'll yard you and rope you and then you'll be | C2 |
stuck | I2 |
In the crush while his saddle is girthed to your back | B |
Then out in the open and there you may buck | I2 |
Till you break your bold heart but you'll never | D |
throw Mac | B |
The Lord of the Hills at the thought felt the sweat | J2 |
Break over the smooth summer gloss of his hide | K2 |
He spurted his utmost to leave her but yet | J2 |
The Empress crept up to him stride upon stride | K2 |
No need to say Charlie was riding her now | L2 |
Yet still for all that he had something in hand | L |
With here a sharp stoop to avoid a low bough | L2 |
Or quick rise and fall as a tree trunk they spanned | L |
In his terror the brumby struck down the rough falls | I |
T wards Yiack with fierce disregard for his neck | M2 |
Tis useless he finds for the mare overhauls | I |
Him slowly no timber could keep her in check | M2 |
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There's a narrow beat pathway that winds to and fro | A |
Down the deeps of the gully half hid from the day | C |
There's a turn in the track where the hop bushes grow | A |
And hide the grey granite that crosses the way | C |
While sharp swerves the path round the boulder's | I |
broad base | I |
And now the last scene in the drama is played | N2 |
As the Lord of the Hills with the mare in full chase | I |
Swept t wards it but ere his long stride could be | C2 |
stayed | N2 |
With a gathered momentum that gave not a chance | I |
Of escape and a shuddering sickening shock | O2 |
He struck on the granite that barred his advance | I |
And sobbed out his life a the foot of the rock | O2 |
While Charlie pulled off with a twitch of the rein | Q |
And an answering spring from his surefooted mount | P2 |
One might say unscathed though a crimsoning stain | Q |
Marked the graze of the granite but that would | D2 |
ne'er count | P2 |
With Charlie who speedily sprang to the earth | Q2 |
To ease the mare's burden his deft fingered hand | L |
Unslackened her surcingle loosened tight girth | Q2 |
And cleansed with a tussock the spurs' ruddy brand | L |
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There he lay by the rock drooping head glazing eye | N |
Strong limbs stilled for ever no more would he fear | R2 |
The tread of a horseman no more would he fly | N |
Through the hills with his harem in rapid career | R2 |
The pick of the Mountain Mob bays greys or roans | I |
He proved by his death that the pace 'tis that kills | I |
And a sun shrunken hide o'er a few whitened bones | I |
Marks the last resting place of the Lord of the Hills | I |
Barcroft Henry Thomas Boake
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