An Interlude Of Peace - The Fairy West Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: A BCBCDEDEFF BGBGBHBHFF IJIJBKBKFF LMLMLFLFFF LGLGNONOFF A PQPQRQRQFF BEBELSLS DSDSDTDT UVUVDWDW BXBXTYTY BZBZBJBJ A2B2A2B2NTNTTT TC2TC2

IA
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We wrote and sang of a bush we neverB
Had known in youth in the Western landC
Of the dear old homes by the shining riverB
The deep clear creeks and the hills so grandC
The grass waved high on the flat and sidingD
The wild flowers bloomed on the banks so fairE
And younger sons from the North came ridingD
To vine clad homes in the gardens thereE
We wrote and sang and the Lord knows bestF
Oh those dear old songs of the fairy WestF
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We dreamed and sang of the bustling motherB
The brick floored kitchen we saw so clearG
The pranks and jokes of the youngest brotherB
The evening songs of our sisters dearG
The old man dozed in the chimney cornerB
Or smoked and blinked at the cheerful blazeH
Or yarned with a crony old Jack HornerB
Who'd known him back in the Digging DaysH
We worked and sang and the Lord knows bestF
Oh those dear old homes of the fairy WestF
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By tracks that ran 'neath the granite ridgesI
The children played on their way from schoolJ
By the fairy dells and the sapling bridgesI
And stole a swim in the willowed poolJ
And home they flocked with their ceaseless chatterB
Till happy and tired and washed and fedK
The wash came after it doesn't matterB
They said their prayers and they went to bedK
We worked and dreamed and the Lord knows bestF
Oh those dear old ways of the fairy WestF
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We rose at daylight refreshed and heartyL
And drank our tea while the children sleptM
We worked with the zest of a camping partyL
While the morning breeze through the gum trees creptM
We worked till the signal of Breakfast readyL
And ate our fill of the good land's bestF
And Jimmy and Mary and Nell and TeddyL
And all the children were washed and dressedF
Oh those grand old farms of pleasure and restF
In the fairy tales of the Golden WestF
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'Twas a land overflowing with milk and honeyL
And eggs and bacon and butter and beerG
We came to Sydney with whips of moneyL
To see the world about twice a yearG
The girls got married to rich young farmersN
And did no work save to populateO
And we had the pick of the city charmersN
And took our brides to the country straightO
We dreamed and sang and the Lord knows bestF
Oh those dear old dreams of the fairy WestF
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IIA
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I dreamed last night of those days long vanishedP
And buried in bitterness out of sightQ
The scene was gone and the folk were banishedP
And this is the vision I saw last nightQ
It may be false and it may be realR
It may be wrong and it may be rightQ
A sort of set off to the grand idealR
We'll call it A Vision of Sandy BlightQ
We dreamed and sang and you know the restF
The Sandy Blight in the Wondrous WestF
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The daylight comes to the skillion winderB
A hole with never a breath of airE
And never a pane of glass to hinderB
The reek from the pig sty adjacent thereE
The skillion cowers in the daybreak ghostlyL
Criminal like as skillions doS
It is fashioned of bark and bagging mostlyL
And furnished with bark and bagging tooS
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Swiftly too swiftly the light comes creepingD
Round the corners cobweb immeshedS
To the dusty bunk where the boys lie sleepingD
Gummy eyed dirty and unrefreshedS
Huddled like monkeys I'm tired of coiningD
Rhyme to brighten this cheerful layT
A bang on the slabs of the room adjoiningD
Git up Are yer gaunter lay there all dayT
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Three hides of bones in the yard are bailed upU
We called 'em k'yows when my heart was youngV
A pitiful calling where calves are railed upU
A stifling cloud from the powdered dungV
A dusty and sleepy head is boringD
Into the flank of each dusty cowW
Milk dust and burrs in the buckets pouringD
Three skinny youngsters are milkin' nowW
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And rainy weather I would be plainerB
The filthy tail and the plunging hoofX
The worst came out in the home made strainerB
But more came down from the dairy roofX
Seven cows each and the calves are poddiedT
The pigs are fed while the boys can creepY
They've done the work of the able bodiedT
And one sits down in the dust to sleepY
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The skimmin' and scaldin' in loo' warm waterB
And cloudy at that and the churnin' doneZ
The hopeless face of the elder daughterB
The narrowed mind of the elder sonZ
The sulky scowl of the younger brotherB
The morning greeting of you're a foolJ
The rasping voice of the worn out motherB
Now git yer breakfus' an' git ter schoolJ
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Three miles to the school house and often more inA2
The sparser districts it makes me sickB2
Mountins and rivers and parsin' and drorin'A2
Readin' and writin' and 'rithmeticB2
Sewin' an' singin' and objeck lessinsN
Spellin' dicktashin' home lessins tooT
A bit of relegin for all these blessin'sN
And home in a hurry to milk the CooT
We slaved and sang and the Lord knows bestT
Oh those dear old homes of the fairy WestT
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P S I was in Yewklid the day I finishedT
Me edyercashun in those times dimC2
My younger brother cleared out to QueenslandT
'Twas mountains and rivers that finished himC2

Henry Lawson



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