Stop-and-see Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABABCDED FGFHIJIJ KDKDLMNM DODOPQPQ ERERJSJS ETETPLPL UHUHVWVW XRXRJI DYDYEZEZI'm stewing in a brick built town | A |
My coat is quite a stylish cut | B |
And morn and even up and down | A |
I travel in a common rut | B |
But as the city sounds recede | C |
In dreamy moods I sometimes see | D |
A vision of a busy lead | E |
And hear its voices calling me | D |
- | |
My flaccid muscles seem to tweak | F |
To feel the windlass pall and strain | G |
To shake the cradle by the creek | F |
And puddle at the 'tom' again | H |
I'd gladly sling this musty shop | I |
To see the sluicing waters flow | J |
A pile of tucker dirt on top | I |
And simply Lord knows what below | J |
- | |
'Twas lightly left 'tis lately mourned | K |
The tent life up at Stop and See | D |
When shirts with yellow clay adorned | K |
Were badges of nobility | D |
When Sunday's best was Monday's wear | L |
And Bennett gave us verse and book | M |
Poor Dick a crude philosopher | N |
But bless his heart a clever cook | M |
- | |
An easy life we lived and free | D |
The wash was only ten weight stuff | O |
The 'bottom' dry and soft at knee | D |
With Hope to help us 'twas enough | O |
Then none could say us ay or nay | P |
Did we agree to slave or smoke | Q |
The pan was ready with the pay | P |
E'en though the graft was half in joke | Q |
- | |
'Twas good when 'spell oh ' had been said | E |
To watch the white smoke curl and cling | R |
Against the gravel roof o'erhead | E |
The candles dimly flickering | R |
And circled with a yellow glow | J |
To sprawl upon the broken reef | S |
And pensively to pull and blow | J |
The fragrant incense from the leaf | S |
- | |
And where the creek ran by our tent | E |
Or lingered through embowered ponds | T |
In dusky nooks that held a scent | E |
Of musk amid the drooping fronds | T |
It was a pleasant task to lay | P |
The dish within the stream and there | L |
To puddle off the pug and clay | P |
And pan the gleaming prospect bare | L |
- | |
Oft in the strange deceit of dreams | U |
I swirl the old tin dish again | H |
And Wondee's rippling water seems | U |
To cool my weary limbs as then | H |
And down the hill side bare and dry | V |
A digger's chorus faintly comes | W |
And mingles with the lullaby | V |
Of locusts in the drowsy gums | W |
- | |
The barrels rattle on their stands | X |
And in the shaft the nail kegs swing | R |
The short sharp strokes of practised hands | X |
Are making pick and anvil ring | R |
I hear the splitter's measured blow | J |
The distant knocker rise and drop | I |
The cheery cry 'Look up below ' | - |
The muffled call of 'Heave on top ' | - |
- | |
No piles were made at Stop and See | D |
No nuggets found of giant size | Y |
But looking back it seems to me | D |
That all who laboured there were wise | Y |
For there was freedom void of pride | E |
There hate of forms and shallow arts | Z |
And there were friendships all too wide | E |
For narrow streets and narrow hearts | Z |
Edward Dyson
(1)
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