A Death In The Bush Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFG HIJK LMNOPQ KRSTPUV PWXYZA2 QB2PC2PPD2 D2C2E2F2G2H2 PI2PJ2K2L2M2K N2O2PP2PPP KD2PQ2R2S2T2 U2V2PW2X2PY2Z2PV PA3B3C3D3PE3OH2PF2 F3G3PPJPH3 I3A3PA2J3K3L3 L3PKPBZM3H2 N3OZA2O3P PP3O T2M3PQ3R3OV2S3T3L3 H2U3V3PPW3X3Y3 KZ3PA4B4Z L2C4D4PE4PR2L2R2KF4P PPYPPPD2KG4C3H4 I4PF3T2 J4PG4PK3H2K4A2

The hut was built of bark and shrunken slabsA
That wore the marks of many rains and showedB
Dry flaws wherein had crept and nestled rotC
Moreover round the bases of the barkD
Were left the tracks of flying forest firesE
As you may see them on the lower boleF
Of every elder of the native woodsG
-
For ere the early settlers came and stockedH
These wilds with sheep and kine the grasses grewI
So that they took the passing pilgrim inJ
And whelmed him like a running sea from sightK
-
And therefore through the fiercer summer monthsL
While all the swamps were rotten while the flatsM
Were baked and broken when the clayey riftsN
Yawned wide half choked with drifted herbage pastO
Spontaneous flames would burst from thence and raceP
Across the prairies all day longQ
-
At nightK
The winds were up and then with four fold speedR
A harsh gigantic growth of smoke and fireS
Would roar along the bottoms in the wakeT
Of fainting flocks of parrots wallaroosP
And 'wildered wild things scattering right and leftU
For safety vague throughout the general gloomV
-
Anon the nearer hillside growing treesP
Would take the surges thus from bough to boughW
Was borne the flaming terror Bole and spireX
Rank after rank now pillared ringed and rolledY
In blinding blaze stood out against the deadZ
Down smothered dark for fifty leagues awayA2
-
For fifty leagues and when the winds were strongQ
For fifty more But in the olden timeB2
These fires were counted as the harbingersP
Of life essential storms since out of smokeC2
And heat there came across the midnight waysP
Abundant comfort with upgathered cloudsP
And runnels babbling of a plenteous fallD2
-
So comes the southern gale at evenfallD2
The swift brick fielder of the local folkC2
About the streets of Sydney when the dustE2
Lies burnt on glaring windows and the menF2
Look forth from doors of drouth and drink the changeG2
With thirsty haste and that most thankful cryH2
Of 'Here it is the cool bright blessed rain '-
-
The hut I say was built of bark and slabsP
And stood the centre of a clearing hemmedI2
By hurdle yards and ancients of the blacksP
These moped about their lazy fires and sangJ2
Wild ditties of the old days with a soundK2
Of sorrow like an everlasting windL2
Which mingled with the echoes of the noonM2
And moaned amongst the noises of the nightK
-
From thence a cattle track with link to linkN2
Ran off against the fish pools to the gapO2
Which sets you face to face with gleaming milesP
Of broad Orara winding in amongstP2
Black barren ridges where the nether spursP
Are fenced about by cotton scrub and grassP
Blue bitten with the salt of many droughtsP
-
'Twas here the shepherd housed him every nightK
And faced the prospect like a patient soulD2
Borne up by some vague hope of better daysP
And God's fine blessing in his faithful wifeQ2
Until the humour of his maladyR2
Took cunning changes from the good to badS2
And laid him lastly on a bed of deathT2
-
Two months thereafter when the summer heatU2
Had roused the serpent from his rotten lairV2
And made a noise of locusts in the boughsP
It came to this that as the blood red sunW2
Of one fierce day of many slanted downX2
Obliquely past the nether jags of peaksP
And gulfs of mist the tardy night came vexedY2
By belted clouds and scuds that wheeled and whirledZ2
To left and right about the brazen cliftsP
Of ridges rigid with a leaden gloomV
-
Then took the cattle to the forest campsP
With vacant terror and the hustled sheepA3
Stood dumb against the hurdles even likeB3
A fallen patch of shadowed mountain snowC3
And ever through the curlew's call afarD3
The storm grew on while round the stinted slabsP
Sharp snaps and hisses came and went and cameE3
The huddled tokens of a mighty blastO
Which ran with an exceeding bitter cryH2
Across the tumbled fragments of the hillsP
And through the sluices of the gorge and glenF2
-
So therefore all about the shepherd's hutF3
That space was mute save when the fastened dogG3
Without a kennel caught a passing glimpseP
Of firelight moving through the lighted chinksP
For then he knew the hints of warmth withinJ
And stood and set his great pathetic eyesP
In wind and wet imploring to be loosedH3
-
Not often now the watcher left the couchI3
Of him she watched since in his fitful sleepA3
His lips would stir to wayward themes and closeP
With bodeful catches Once she moved awayA2
Half deafened by terrific claps and stoopedJ3
And looked without to see a pillar dimK3
Of gathered gusts and fiery rainL3
-
AnonL3
The sick man woke and startled by the noiseP
Stared round the room with dull delirious sightK
At this wild thing and that for through his eyesP
The place took fearful shapes and fever showedB
Strange crosswise lights about his pillow headZ
He catching there at some phantasmic helpM3
Sat upright on the bolster with a cryH2
Of 'Where is Jesus It is bitter cold '-
And then because the thunder calls outsideN3
Were mixed for him with slanders of the pastO
He called his weeping wife by name and saidZ
'Come closer darling We shall speed awayA2
Across the seas and seek some mountain homeO3
Shut in from liars and the wicked wordsP
That track us day and night and night and day '-
So waned the sad refrain And those poor lipsP
Whose latest phrases were for peace grew muteP3
And into everlasting silence passedO
-
As fares a swimmer who hath lost his breathT2
In 'wildering seas afar from any helpM3
Who fronting Death can never realizeP
The dreadful Presence but is prone to clutchQ3
At every weed upon the weltering waveR3
So fared the watcher poring o'er the lastO
Of him she loved with dazed and stupid stareV2
Half conscious of the sudden loss and lackS3
Of all that bound her life but yet withoutT3
The power to take her mighty sorrow inL3
-
Then came a patch or two of starry skyH2
And through a reef of cloven thunder cloudU3
The soft moon looked a patient face beyondV3
The fierce impatient shadows of the slopesP
And the harsh voices of the broken hillsP
A patient face and one which came and wroughtW3
A lovely silence like a silver mistX3
Across the rainy relics of the stormY3
-
For in the breaks and pauses of her lightK
The gale died out in gusts yet evermoreZ3
About the roof tree on the dripping eavesP
The damp wind loitered and a fitful driftA4
Sloped through the silent curtains and athwartB4
The deadZ
-
There when the glare had dropped behindL2
A mighty ridge of gloom the woman turnedC4
And sat in darkness face to face with GodD4
And said 'I know ' she said 'that Thou art wiseP
That when we build and hope and hope and buildE4
And see our best things fall it comes to passP
For evermore that we must turn to TheeR2
And therefore now because I cannot findL2
The faintest token of DivinityR2
In this my latest sorrow let Thy lightK
Inform mine eyes so I may learn to lookF4
On something past the sight which shuts and blindsP
And seems to drive me wholly Lord from Thee '-
-
Now waned the moon beyond complaining depthsP
And as the dawn looked forth from showery woodsP
Whereon had dropped a hint of red and goldY
There went about the crooked cavern eavesP
Low flute like echoes with a noise of wingsP
And waters flying down far hidden fellsP
Then might be seen the solitary owlD2
Perched in the clefts scared at the coming lightK
And staring outward like a sea shelled thingG4
Chased to his cover by some bright fierce foeC3
As at a monster in the middle wasteH4
-
At last the great kingfisher came and calledI4
Across the hollows loud with early whipsP
And lighted laughing on the shepherd's hutF3
And roused the widow from a swoon like deathT2
-
This day and after it was noised abroadJ4
By blacks and straggling horsemen on the roadsP
That he was dead 'who had been sick so long'G4
There flocked a troop from far surrounding runsP
To see their neighbour and to bury himK3
And men who had forgotten how to cryH2
Rough flinty fellows of the native bushK4
Now learned the bitter wayA2

Henry Kendall



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