Old Mates Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCC DDEECC FFGHCC IIJJCC KKAACC LLMMCC CCNNCC| I came up to night to the station the tramp had been longish and cold | A |
| My swag ain't too heavy to carry but then I begin to get old | A |
| I came through this way to the diggings how long will that be ago now | B |
| Thirty years how the country has altered and miles of it under the plough | B |
| And Jack was my mate on the journey we both run away from the sea | C |
| He's got on in the world and I haven't and now he looks sideways on me | C |
| - | |
| We were mates and that didn't mean jokers who meets for a year or a day | D |
| We meant to go jogging together the whole of the blooming long way | D |
| We slept with one blanket between us the night that we run from the port | E |
| There was nothing above us but heaven yet we took it as jolly good sport | E |
| And now he's the boss of a station and I'm well the bloke that you see | C |
| For he had the luck and I hadn't and now he looks sideways on me | C |
| - | |
| We pegged out a claim on the Dunstan there used to be gold in them days | F |
| There's blokes that still sticks to the digging but Lord only knows how it pays | F |
| For the country as far as I've seen it's as chock full of holes as a sieve | G |
| With the Chinkies amullocking through it and yet them coves manage to live | H |
| But when Jack took me to the cradle the place was a wonder to see | C |
| We washed out a fortune between us and now he looks sideways on me | C |
| - | |
| We both fell in love with one woman she worked in a pub for a spell | I |
| It ain't the best place for an angel but angels ain't better than Nell | I |
| For she was as good as they make 'em and hadn't a notion of ill | J |
| It's long years and years since we parted and seems I'm in love with her still | J |
| But Jack was the handsomest fellow I saw how the thing had to be | C |
| He got the best wife on the diggings and now he looks sideways on me | C |
| - | |
| I left him I just couldn't stand it I knew it was better to part | K |
| I couldn't look on at the wedding with a pain like a knife at my heart | K |
| I never said nothing to no one we didn't whack out all the gold | A |
| I wanted my mate to be happy without my own yarn being told | A |
| So I went to the coast by the steamer and now I'm the bloke that you see | C |
| He told me to go to the whar it seems he looks sideways on me | C |
| - | |
| There's steps coming down to the whar some other poor bloke on the road | L |
| 'Taint nothing to him to get growled at the boss ain't a bloke that he knowed | L |
| Too dark to make out who's a coming he's crossing the plank at the creek | M |
| The years and the whisky are telling my eyesight begins to get weak | M |
| What's the odds it ain't like me to whimper and all that's gone by had to be | C |
| But the old times came crowding around me to see him look sideways on me | C |
| - | |
| What Jack Why old man you don't mean it You didn't right know it was me | C |
| Well I'm altered it ain't for the better never mind never mind let it be | C |
| O mate the long years since we parted there's a blooming great lump in my throat | N |
| I ain't been as glad mate I tell you since the time that we run from the boat | N |
| You ain't a bit altered you're crying why Jack don't be sorry for me | C |
| I'm that glad that I think I'll go cranky and I thought you looked sideways on me | C |
David Mckee Wright
(1)
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