Battered Bob Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCBDEDE FGFGHIH JKJJFLFL JMJMDNDN FEFEOPOP QRQRHJH FSFSHTHT FUFUV WX OYOYFZFZ FZFZFJFJ

He was working on a station in the Western when I knew himA
And he came from Conongamo up the old surveyors' trackB
And the fellows all admitted that no man in Vic could 'do him 'C
Since he'd smothered Stonewall Menzie also Anderson the blackB
Bob was modelled for a fighter but he'd run to beef a trifleD
For his science every rouseabout was satisfied to vouchE
And Red Fogarty advised us he delivered like a rifleD
And his stopping well beside him Harry Sallars was a slouchE
-
Not a man of us had met him till he settled on the stationF
This was early in the Sixties what we call the good old daysG
And it's cheerfully admitted Robert owed his reputationF
To a crippled jaw a broken nose and eyes that looked both waysG
We were certain on the face of it our guess was not an errorH
Every feature of his phiz was marked his chin was pulled askewI
And The Critic passed the office 'Bet your buttons he's a terrorH
That's the man who hammered Kelly on The Creek in Fifty two '-
-
Bob was not a shrinking blossom and he held the first impressionsJ
By his subsequent admissions to the ringers and the mugsK
And he let himself be tickled into casual confessionsJ
Of his battles with the bruisers and the scientific pugsJ
How he'd mangled Matty Hardy was his earliest narrationF
He'd completely flummoxed Kitchen and had made the climate hotL
For Maloney Fee and Curran It was quite a consolationF
When he graciously informed us that he hadn't licked the lotL
-
The arrival of the Wonder gave a spurt to local scienceJ
And we had an exhibition every evening in the weekM
For the lightest joke was answered in the lingo of defianceJ
And our blood was cast like water on the grasses by the creekM
Every fellow but the stranger had his scrap or rough and tumbleD
No one thought of looking ugly at the slugger Battered BobN
And whene'er the boys addressed him 'twas in language choice and humbleD
Though they ached to see him beaten none was anxious for the jobN
-
How we honoured Bob and yielded to his later informationF
Let him lead in all the arguments and gently run the rancheE
And a very small potato was the owner of the stationF
By the man who slaughtered Melody and fought a draw with BlancheE
Battered Bob became our champion our boss and by degrees heO
Sent his fame down to the Wannon and right up to Spooner's GapP
And he scooped the honours smiling and he held them just as easyO
For we'd never seen him shape yet and he hadn't fought a tapP
-
We'd a cook whose name was Han Cat he was short and fat and yellowQ
Just a common ugly Chinky with a never ending smileR
Bob was careful to avoid the corns of any other fellowQ
But he filled Han Cat with sorrow and he whaled him all the whileR
Han Cat groaned and bore it meekly and we didn't care to figureH
In the antics of the Champion or his little private rowsJ
Robert said 'I like a native and I'll liquor with a niggerH
But I hate the skin and colour of these sanguinary Chows '-
-
On a certain Sunday morning Robert slyly cut a sectionF
Off the pig tail of the pagan 'twas Han's glory and his prideS
But the trouble that came after is his saddest recollectionF
And the boys were so disgusted that they very nearly diedS
Han Cat wept a while and then he turned and scowled as black as thunderH
And he cursed the grinning spoiler till he had to stop for breathT
When he shaped up like a Christian and he waltzed into the WonderH
We arranged a ring and waited for the heathen's sudden deathT
-
Oh the sorrow of that Sunday Oh the shame and degradationF
The chaps were simply paralyzed and everyone was dumbU
For the heathen pushed the battle in the fashion of our nationF
And he countered in a way that made the Wonder fairly humU
'Bob is fooling Han ' we murmured 'he'll surprise him in a minuteV
Soon he'll rise to this occasion and display his proper form '-
But alas we'd nursed a viper for our pug was never in itW
And he couldn't battle well enough to keep the Pagan warmX
-
Han Cat beat our battered champion beat the conqueror of MenzieO
And he towed him round the paddock like a dummy stuffed with hairY
And we never stirred to interfere and stop the Chinky's frenzyO
When he jumped upon the Wonder in a manner most unfairY
You must fancy all our sorrow and our shame and indignationF
For pen can never never tell how horrified we feltZ
In the morning Little Finney for the credit of the stationF
Hammered Han in stylish fashion with one fist tucked in his beltZ
-
As for Robert we discussed him in a serious conventionF
And resolved that we were victims of a duffer's awful skiteZ
And we put it up to tar him but he dropped to our intentionF
And he skipped without a character for Hamilton that nightZ
There's a moral boys Don't think a mangled boko is a tokenF
That a fellow is a fighter as a simple thing of courseJ
Like Battered Bob he may have had his features bent and brokenF
Through his carelessness when drunk in being walked on by a horseJ

Edward Dyson



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