Skeeta ( An Old Servant's Tale ) Poem Rhyme Scheme

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Our Skeeta was married our Skeeta the tomboy	A
and pet of the place	B
No more as a maiden we'd greet her no more	C
would her pert little face	B
Light up the chill gloom of the parlour no more	C
would her deft little hands	D
Serve drinks to the travel stained caller on his way	E
to more southerly lands	D
No more would she chaff the rough drovers and	F
send them away with a smile	G
No more would she madden her lovers demurely	H
with womanish guile	G
The prince from the great Never Never with	I
light touch of lips and of hand	J
Had come and enslaved her for ever a potentate	K
bearded and tanned	J
From the land where the white mirage dances its	L
dance of death over the plains	M
With the glow of the sun in his glances the lust of	N
the West in his veins	M
	-
	-
	-
His talk of long drought stricken stretches when the	O
tongue rattled dry on the lips	P
Of his fights with the niggers poor wretches as	Q
he sped on his perilous trips	P
A supple thewed desert bred rover with naught to	R
commend him but this	S
That he was her idol her lover who'd fettered her	T
heart with a kiss	S
	-
	-
	-
They were wed and he took her to Warren where	U
she with his love was content	V
But town life to him was too foreign so back to the	O
droving he went	V
A man away down on the border of Vic bought	W
some cattle from Cobb	X
And gave Harry Parker the order to go to the	O
Gulf for the mob	X
And he went for he held her love cheaper than his	Y
wish to re live the old life	Z
Or his reason might have been deeper I called it	A2
deserting his wife	Z
	-
	-
	-
Then one morning his horses were mustered the	O
start on the journey was made	B2
A clatter an oath through the dust heard was the	O
last of the long cavalcade	B2
As we stood by the stockyard assembled poor child	C2
how she strove to be brave	D2
But yet I could see how she trembled at the careless	E2
farewell that he gave	D2
We brought her back home on the morrow but none	F2
of us ever may learn	G2
Of the fight that she fought to keep sorrow at bay	E
till her husband's return	G2
He had gone but the way of his going twas that	H2
which she dwelt on with pain	I2
Careless kiss though there sure was no knowing	J2
when or where he might kiss her again	K2
He had ridden away and had left her a woman	F2
in all but in years	L2
Of her girlhood s gay hopes had bereft her and	F
left in their place nought but tears	M2
	-
	-
	-
Yet still as the months passed a treasure was	N2
brought her by Love ere he fled	O2
And garments of infantile measure she fashioned	F
with needle and thread	O2
She fashioned with linen and laces and ribbons a	O
nest for her bird	P2
While colour returned to her face as the bud of	N
maternity stirred	P2
It blossomed and died we arrayed it in all its soft	Q2
splendour of white	R2
And sorrowing took it and laid it in the earth	S2
whence it sprung out of sight	R2
She wept not at all only whitened as Death in	T2
his pitiless quest	U2
Leant over her pillow and tightened the throat of the	O
child at her breast	U2
	-
	-
	-
She wept not her soul was too tired for waiting is	Y
harrowing work	V2
And then I bethought me and wired away to the	O
agents in Bourke	V2
'Twas little enough I could glean there 'twas little	W2
enough that they knew	R
They answered he hadn't been seen there but might	R2
in a week perchance two	R
She wept not at all only whitened with staring too	R
long at the night	R2
There was only one time when she brightened that	H2
time when red dust hove in sight	R2
And settled and hung on the backs of the cattle and	F
altered their spots	X2
While the horses swept up with their packs of blue	R
blankets and jingling pots	X2
She always was set upon meeting those boisterous	E2
cattle men lest	U2
Her husband had sent her a greeting by one of them	Y2
in from the West	U2
Not one of them ever owned to him or seemed to	R
remember the name	Z2
The truth was they all of them knew him but	A3
wouldn't tell her of his shame	Z2
But never though long time she waited did her faith	B3
in the faithless grow weak	C3
And each time the outer door grated an eager flush	D3
sprang to her cheek	C3
	-
	-
	-
'Twasn't he and it died with a flicker and then	K2
what I had long dreaded came	Z2
I was serving two drovers with liquor when one of	N
them mentioned his name	Z2
Oh yes said the other one winking on the	O
Paroo I saw him he'd been	T2
In Eulo a fortnight then drinking and driving	J2
about with The Queen	E3
While the bullocks were going to glory and his	Y
billet was not worth a G d	H
I told him to cut short the story as I pulled to the	O
door with a slam	F3
Too late for the words were loud spoken and Skeeta	H
was out in the hall	G3
Then I knew that a girl's heart was broken as I	H3
heard a low cry and a fall	G3
	-
	-
	-
And then came a day when the doctor went home	I3
for the truth was avowed	H
And I knew that my hands which had rocked her in	T2
childhood would fashion her shroud	H
I knew we should tenderly carry and lay her where	U
many more lie	H3
Ah why will the girls love and marry when men are	J3
not worthy ah why	H3
She lay there a dying our Skeeta not e'en did she	H
stir at my kiss	S
In the next world perchance we may greet her but	H
never ah never in this	S
Like the last breath of air in a gully that sighs as	Q
the sun slowly dips	P
To the knell of a heart beating dully her soul	K3
struggled out on her lips	P
But she lifted great eyelids and pallid while once	L3
more beneath them there glowed	H
The fire of Love as she rallied at sound of hoofs	M3
out on the road	H
They rang sharp and clear on the metal they ceased	H
at the gate in the lane	I2
A pause and we heard the beats settle in long	N3
swinging cadence again	K2
With a rattle a rush and a clatter the rider came	Z2
down by the store	C
And neared us but what did it matter he never	T
pulled rein at the door	C
But over the brow of the hill he sped on with a	O
low muffled roll	K3
Twas only young Smith on his filly he passed and	H
so too did her soul	K3
	-
	-
	-
Weeks after I went down one morning to trim the	O
white rose that had grown	O3
And clasped with its tender adorning the plain	I2
little cross of white stone	O3
In the lane dusty drovers were wheeling dull cattle	W2
with turbulent sound	H
But I paused as I saw a man kneeling with his	Y
forehead pressed low on the mound	H
Already he'd heard me approaching and slowly I	H3
saw him up rise	P3
And move away sullenly slouching his cabbage	Q3
tree over his eyes	P3
I never said anything to him as he mounted his horse	R3
at the gate	H
He didn't know me but I knew him the husband	H
who came back too late	H

Barcroft Henry Thomas Boake

Skeeta ( An Old Servant's Tale ) Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

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