Loraine Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABBABCC D EEFFGGHHIIFFJJKKLLMM NNFFOOPPQRSSTTMMUUVV WWXXFFDDRRYYMMEEZZUU MMMMA2A2B2B2LD SSC2C2D2D2MMJJB2B2E2 E2F2F2 TTPPG2G2MMH2H2I2I2LL J2J2K2K2H2H2FF SSQQL2L2MMM2M2F2N2O2 O2FFSS MMFFMMLLP2P2VVC2C2SS MMMMMMQ2Q2R2R2H2H2H2 MMS2S2ZZRRH2H2T2T2FF EEC2FThis is the story of one man s soul | A |
The paths are stony and passion is blind | B |
And feet must bleed ere the light we find | B |
The cypher is writ on Life s mighty scroll | A |
And the key is in each man s mind | B |
But who read aright ye have won release | C |
Ye have touched the joy in the heart of Peace | C |
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PART I | D |
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THERE S a bend of the river on Glenbar run | E |
Which the wild duck haunt at the set of sun | E |
And the song of the waters is softened so | F |
That scarcely its current is heard to flow | F |
And the blackfish hide by the shady bank | G |
Neath the sunken logs where the reeds are rank | G |
And the halcyon s mail is an azure gleam | H |
O er the shifting shoals of the silver bream | H |
And the magpies chatter their idle whim | I |
And the wagtails flitter along the brim | I |
And tiny martins with breasts of snow | F |
Keep fluttering restlessly to and fro | F |
And the weeping willows have framed the scene | J |
With the trailing fall of their curtains green | J |
And the grass grows lush on the level leas | K |
Neath the low gnarled boughs of the apple trees | K |
Where the drowsy cattle dream away | L |
The noon tide hours of the summer day | L |
There s a shady nook by the old tree where | M |
The track comes winding from Bendemeer | M |
So faint are the marks of the bridle track | N |
From the old slip rails on the ridge s back | N |
That few can follow the lines I know | F |
But I ride with the shadows of long ago | F |
I am gaunt and gray I am old and worn | O |
But my heart goes back to a radiant morn | O |
When someone waited and watched for me | P |
In the friendly shade of that grand old tree | P |
The winter of Memory brings again | Q |
The summer rapture of passionate pain | R |
And she comes to me with the morning grace | S |
On her sun gold hair and her lily face | S |
And her blue eyes soft with the dreamy light | T |
She stole from the stars of the Southern night | T |
And her slender form like a springtide flower | M |
That sprang from the earth in a magic hour | M |
With the trembling smile and the tender tone | U |
And the welcome glance that were mine alone | U |
And we sit once more as we sat of old | V |
When the future lay in a haze of gold | V |
In the fairy days when the gods have lent | W |
To our lips the silence of heart s content | W |
Ah those were the days of youth s perfect spring | X |
When each wandering wind had a song to sing | X |
When the touch of care and the shade of woe | F |
Were but empty words we could never know | F |
As we rode neath the gum and the box trees high | D |
And our idle laughter went floating by | D |
As we rode o er the leagues of the billowy plain | R |
Where the grass grew green neath the summer rain | R |
And over the hills in the range s heart | Y |
To the fern decked glen where the waters dart | Y |
And we railed at time and the laggard year | M |
Ere a bride would be mistress of Bendemeer | M |
Now the old time feud that was first begun | E |
When the Gordons settled on Glenbar run | E |
It had passed away it was buried deep | Z |
In the quiet graves where our fathers sleep | Z |
And sweet Mary Gordon was left alone | U |
In the quaint old station of rough hewn stone | U |
The maiden whom lovers sought near and far | M |
The stately lily of old Glenbar | M |
Our kinsfolk had hated from year to year | M |
Since the first Loraine came to Bendemeer | M |
They have passed where none can cavil and strive | A2 |
How could she and I keep the feud alive | A2 |
I James Loraine who were better dead | B2 |
Than harm one hair of her gentle head | B2 |
So we made the bond that would bind one day | L |
Glenbar and Bendemeer for aye | D |
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For at last though it left me with saddened face | S |
I was master of all in my father s place | S |
Of the gray old dwelling rambling and wide | C2 |
With the homestead paddocks on either side | C2 |
And the deep verandahs and porches tall | D2 |
Where the vine climbs high on the trellised wall | D2 |
Where the pine and cypress their dark crowns rear | M |
O er the garden the glory of Bendemeer | M |
From whence you can dream o er the tranquil scene | J |
Of the scattered sheep on the lucerne green | J |
And the mighty plain in the sunlight spread | B2 |
With the brown hawk motionless overhead | B2 |
And the stockmen s cottages clustering still | E2 |
On the gentle slope of the station hill | E2 |
And the woolshed gray on the swelling rise | F2 |
Where the creek winds blue neath the bluer skies | F2 |
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And here in the days when our hearts were light | T |
We lived life joyously day and night | T |
For the friend of my soul who was dear to me | P |
As no friend hath been or again can be | P |
Was Oliver Douglas In cloud or shine | G2 |
My heart was his and his heart was mine | G2 |
And we lived like brothers from year to year | M |
And toiled for the honour of Bendemeer | M |
And my life moved on thro a golden haze | H2 |
The splendid glamour of fortunate days | H2 |
What more to a man can the high God send | I2 |
Than the fairest maid and the firmest friend | I2 |
I have read in some poet how Friendship may | L |
Stand strong as a tower in the darkest day | L |
When the lips of Love that were quick to vow | J2 |
Have failed neath the frown upon Fortune s brow | J2 |
What a friend was he without fear or guile | K2 |
With his careless ways and his ready smile | K2 |
With the voice to cheer and the eye to praise | H2 |
And the heart to toil through the hardest days | H2 |
How he won all hearts were they high or low | F |
By the easy charm that I envied so | F |
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For they say in jest I am true to race | S |
The dark Loraines of the haughty face | S |
Awkward and shy and unbending when | Q |
I am full of love for my fellow men | Q |
But I caught at the sunshine he flung about | L2 |
The man to whom all my heart went out | L2 |
Ah how oft at dusk neath the evening star | M |
Have we reined our horses at old Glenbar | M |
And sat in the quaint familiar room | M2 |
Made sweet with the scent of the jasmine bloom | M2 |
Where my soul first saw in her dreamy eyes | F2 |
The lights of the gateways of Paradise | N2 |
How we lingered over our hopes and fears | O2 |
As we planned the course of the coming years | O2 |
Whilst Oliver chatted with easy flow | F |
To Margaret Bruce with the hair of snow | F |
The proud old dame of a proud old race | S |
Who lived for the child with her sister s face | S |
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O the joyous days O the morning air | M |
When the blood was young and the world was air | M |
When from Tara and Westmere and Boradaile | F |
And from Snowdon Hills and from Lilyvale | F |
And from Tallaran and the plains of Scar | M |
All sent down their horses to old Glenbar | M |
From many a station for miles away | L |
Came the happy faces on racing day | L |
Came the big bush buggies fast rolling in | P2 |
With the four in hands and the merry din | P2 |
And if strife was keen in those days of old | V |
Twas for love of sport not for lust of gold | V |
For then each man rode as a man should ride | C2 |
With his honour at stake and the station s pride | C2 |
When every racehorse was sent to race | S |
And each run had a crack for the steeplechase | S |
And I see the last timber loom big and bare | M |
As we held the field with a length to spare | M |
And Douglas crashed past me on Charioteer | M |
The big gray gelding from Bendemeer | M |
But I rode the bay with the tiny star | M |
That had carried the Lily of old Glenbar | M |
And I rode for all that I cared for most | Q2 |
And I collared the gray ere he passed the post | Q2 |
Ah how gaily and lightly our pulses beat | R2 |
As the night went out to the trip of feet | R2 |
And though all men sought her with hope and praise | H2 |
It was I she loved with my awkward ways | H2 |
It was I she loved in the golden days | H2 |
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The drought came down upon Bendemeer | M |
And the grass grew yellow and scant and sere | M |
And the lucerne paddocks were eaten brown | S2 |
And half the trees on the run cut down | S2 |
And we toiled all day midst the dying sheep | Z |
The tottering frames that could scarcely creep | Z |
And the dead by scores lay over the plain | R |
But God seemed deaf for He sent no rain | R |
And whilst Hope stood sounding her funeral knells | H2 |
Who had heart to talk about wedding bells | H2 |
And the drought held on for a three year span | T2 |
And I woke one morning a ruined man | T2 |
Yet Fate smote harder a deadlier blow | F |
For on old Glenbar there was word to go | F |
For the mortgage hung over Glenbar run | E |
And their stock were dead and their credit done | E |
And the bank foreclosed We were cast aside | C2 |
From the homes where our fathers had li | F |
George Essex Evans
(1)
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