The Legend Of La Brea Poem Rhyme Scheme

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Down beside the loathly Pitch Lake	A
In the stately Morichal	B
Sat an ancient Spanish Indian	C
Peering through the columns tall	B
	-
Watching vainly for the flashing	D
Of the jewelled colibris	E
Listening vainly for their humming	D
Round the honey blossomed trees	E
	-
'Few ' he sighed 'they come and fewer	F
To the cocorite bowers	E
Murdered madly through the forests	E
Which of yore were theirs and ours	E
	-
By there came a negro hunter	F
Lithe and lusty sleek and strong	G
Rolling round his sparkling eyeballs	E
As he loped and lounged along	G
	-
Rusty firelock on his shoulder	F
Rusty cutlass on his thigh	H
Never jollier British subject	I
Rollicked underneath the sky	H
	-
British law to give him safety	J
British fleets to guard his shore	K
And a square of British freehold	L
He had all we have and more	K
	-
Fattening through the endless summer	F
Like his own provision ground	M
He had reached the summum bonum	N
Which our latest wits have found	M
	-
So he thought and in his hammock	O
Gnawed his junk of sugar cane	P
Toasted plantains at the fire stick	Q
Gnawed and dozed and gnawed again	R
	-
Had a wife in his ajoupa	S
Or at least what did instead	T
Children too who died so early	J
He'd no need to earn their bread	T
	-
Never stole save what he needed	U
From the Crown woods round about	V
Never lied except when summoned	W
Let the warden find him out	V
	-
Never drank except at market	X
Never beat his sturdy mate	Y
She could hit as hard as he could	Z
And had just as hard a pate	Y
	-
Had no care for priest nor parson	C
Hope of heaven nor fear of hell	B
And in all his views of nature	F
Held with Comte and Peter Bell	B
	-
Healthy happy silly kindly	J
Neither care nor toil had he	J
Save to work an hour at sunrise	E
And then hunt the colibri	F
	-
Not a bad man not a good man	A2
Scarce a man at all one fears	E
If the Man be that within us	E
Which is born of fire and tears	E
	-
Round the palm stems round the creepers	E
Flashed a feathered jewel past	B2
Ruby crested topaz throated	C2
Plucked the cocorite bast	B2
	-
Plucked the fallen ceiba cotton	C
Whirred away to build his nest	D2
Hung at last with happy humming	D
Round some flower he fancied best	D2
	-
Up then went the rusty muzzle	B
'Dat de tenth I shot to day '	-
But out sprang the Indian shouting	D
Balked the negro of his prey	F
	-
'Eh you Senor Trinidada	D2
What dis new ondacent plan	A2
Spoil a genl'man's chance ob shooting	D
I as good as any man	A2
	-
'Dese not your woods dese de Queen's woods	E
You seem not know whar you ar	F
Gibbin' yuself dese buckra airs here	F
You black Indian Papist Dar '	-
	-
Stately courteous stood the Indian	C
Pointed through the palm tree shade	D2
'Does the gentleman of colour	F
Know how yon Pitch Lake was made '	-
	-
Grinned the negro grinned and trembled	D2
Through his nerves a shudder ran	A2
Saw a snake like eye that held him	E2
Saw he'd met an Obeah man	A2
	-
Saw a fetish such a bottle	B
Buried at his cottage door	F
Toad and spider dirty water	F
Rusty nails and nine charms more	F
	-
Saw in vision such a cock's head	D2
In the path and it was white	D2
Saw Brinvilliers in his pottage	F2
Faltered cold and damp with fright	D2
	-
Fearful is the chance of poison	C
Fearful too the great unknown	G2
Magic brings some positivists	E
Humbly on their marrow bone	G2
	-
Like the wedding guest enchanted	D2
There he stood a trembling cur	F
While the Indian told his story	F
Like the Ancient Mariner	F
	-
Told how 'Once that loathly Pitch Lake	A
Was a garden bright and fair	F
How the Chaymas off the mainland	D2
Built their palm ajoupas there	F
	-
'How they throve and how they fattened	D2
Hale and happy safe and strong	G
Passed the livelong days in feasting	D
Passed the nights in dance and song	G
	-
'Till they cruel grew and wanton	C
Till they killed the colibris	E
Then outspake the great Good Spirit	D2
Who can see through all the trees	E
	-
'Said 'And what have I not sent you	H2
Wanton Chaymas many a year	F
Lapp agouti cachicame	E2
Quenc and guazu pita deer	F
	-
''Fish I sent you sent you turtle	B
Chip chip conch flamingo red	D2
Woodland paui horned screamer	F
And blue ramier overhead	D2
	-
''Plums from balata and mombin	C
Tania manioc water vine	C
Let you fell my slim manacques	E
Tap my sweet moriche wine	C
	-
''Sent rich plantains food of angels	E
Rich ananas food of kings	E
Grudged you none of all my treasures	E
Save these lovely useless things '	-
	-
'But the Chaymas' ears were deafened	D2
Blind their eyes and could not see	E
How a blissful Indian's spirit	D2
Lived in every colibri	F
	-
'Lived forgetting toil and sorrow	F
Ever fair and ever new	C
Whirring round the dear old woodland	D2
Feeding on the honey dew	C
	-
'Till one evening roared the earthquake	A
Monkeys howled and parrots screamed	D2
And the Guaraons at morning	D
Gathered here as men who dreamed	D2
	-
'Sunk were gardens sunk ajoupas	E
Hut and hammock man and hound	D2
And above the Chayma village	F2
Boiled with pitch the cursed ground	D2
	-
'Full and too full safe and too safe	I2
Negro man take care take care	F
He that wantons with God's bounties	E
Of God's wrath had best beware	F
	-
'For the saucy reckless heartless	E
Evil days are sure in store	F
You may see the Negro sinking	D
As the Chayma sank of yore '	-
	-
Loudly laughed that stalwart hunter	F
'Eh what superstitious talk	J2
Nyam am nyam an' maney maney	E
Birds am birds like park am park	K2
An' dere's twenty thousand birdskins	E
Ardered jes' now fram New Yark '	-
	-
	-
Eversley	B

Charles Kingsley

The Legend Of La Brea Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

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