Luke Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: AABCC DEFGBG HHIJI KKLMM NNOO PPQRSR TUVUSWS XXYDBE GIZIWA2A2A2 IZIB2BB2 DEC2C2 D2D2A2AA2 E2E2CC F2F2KK G2IBIZII FH2H2II SSCC

Wot's that you're readin' a novel A novel well darn my skinA
You a man grown and bearded and histin' such stuff ez that inA
Stuff about gals and their sweethearts No wonder you're thin ez aB
knifeC
Look at me clar two hundred and never read one in my lifeC
-
That's my opinion o' novels And ez to their lyin' round hereD
They belong to the Jedge's daughter the Jedge who came up last yearE
On account of his lungs and the mountains and the balsam o' pine andF
firG
And his daughter well she read novels and that's what's theB
matter with herG
-
Yet she was sweet on the Jedge and stuck by him day and nightH
Alone in the cabin up 'yer till she grew like a ghost all whiteH
She wus only a slip of a thing ez light and ez up and awayI
Ez rifle smoke blown through the woods but she wasn't my kind noJ
wayI
-
Speakin' o' gals d'ye mind that house ez you rise the hillK
A mile and a half from White's and jist above Mattingly's millK
You do Well now THAR's a gal What you saw her Oh come nowL
thar quitM
She was only bedevlin' you boys for to me she don't cotton one bitM
-
Now she's what I call a gal ez pretty and plump ez a quailN
Teeth ez white ez a hound's and they'd go through a ten penny nailN
Eyes that kin snap like a cap So she asked to know whar I was hidO
She did Oh it's jist like her sass for she's peart ez a KatydidO
-
But what was I talking of Oh the Jedge and his daughter she readP
Novels the whole day long and I reckon she read them abedP
And sometimes she read them out loud to the Jedge on the porch whereQ
he satR
And 'twas how Lord Augustus said this and how Lady Blanche sheS
said thatR
-
But the sickest of all that I heerd was a yarn thet they read 'boutT
a chapU
Leather stocking by name and a hunter chock full o' the greenestV
o' sapU
And they asked me to hear but I says Miss Mabel not any for meS
When I likes I kin sling my own lies and thet chap and I shouldn'tW
agreeS
-
Yet somehow or other that gal allus said that I brought her to mindX
Of folks about whom she had read or suthin belike of thet kindX
And thar warn't no end o' the names that she give me thet summer upY
hereD
Robin Hood Leather stocking Rob Roy Oh I tell you theB
critter was queerE
-
And yet ef she hadn't been spiled she was harmless enough in herG
wayI
She could jabber in French to her dad and they said that she knewZ
how to playI
And she worked me that shot pouch up thar which the man doesn'tW
live ez kin useA2
And slippers you see 'em down 'yer ez would cradle an Injin'sA2
papooseA2
-
Yet along o' them novels you see she was wastin' and mopin' awayI
And then she got shy with her tongue and at last she had nothin' toZ
sayI
And whenever I happened around her face it was hid by a bookB2
And it warn't till the day she left that she give me ez much ez aB
lookB2
-
And this was the way it was It was night when I kem up hereD
To say to 'em all good by for I reckoned to go for deerE
At sun up the day they left So I shook 'em all round by the handC2
'Cept Mabel and she was sick ez they give me to understandC2
-
But jist ez I passed the house next morning at dawn some oneD2
Like a little waver o' mist got up on the hill with the sunD2
Miss Mabel it was alone all wrapped in a mantle o' laceA2
And she stood there straight in the road with a touch o' the sun inA
her faceA2
-
And she looked me right in the eye I'd seen suthin' like it beforeE2
When I hunted a wounded doe to the edge o' the Clear Lake ShoreE2
And I had my knee on its neck and I jist was raisin' my knifeC
When it give me a look like that and well it got off with its lifeC
-
We are going to day she said and I thought I would say good byF2
To you in your own house Luke these woods and the bright blue skyF2
You've always been kind to us Luke and papa has found you stillK
As good as the air he breathes and wholesome as Laurel Tree HillK
-
And we'll always think of you Luke as the thing we could not takeG2
awayI
The balsam that dwells in the woods the rainbow that lives in theB
sprayI
And you'll sometimes think of ME Luke as you know you once used toZ
sayI
A rifle smoke blown through the woods a moment but never to stayI
-
And then we shook hands She turned but a suddent she tottered andF
fellH2
And I caught her sharp by the waist and held her a minit WellH2
It was only a minit you know thet ez cold and ez white she layI
Ez a snowflake here on my breast and then well she melted awayI
-
And was gone And thar are her books but I says not any for meS
Good enough may be for some but them and I mightn't agreeS
They spiled a decent gal ez might hev made some chap a wifeC
And look at me clar two hundred and never read one in my lifeC

Bret Harte



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