Constable M-carty-s Investigations Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABACDEDE CFCFGHGH GIGIJKLK GMGNGOGO PQPQCNCN PRPRPGPG GGGGPCPC GSGSCCCC CTCTGGGG GGGGCPCP GGGGGNGN GCGCCUCU GGGGGSGS

Most unpleasantly adjacent to the haunts of lower ordersA
Stood a terrace in the city when the current year beganB
And a notice indicated there were vacancies for boardersA
In the middle house and lodgings for a single gentlemanC
Now a singular observer could have seen but few attractionsD
Whether in the house or missus or the notice or the streetE
But at last there came a lodger whose appearances and actionsD
Puzzled Constable M Carty the policeman on the beatE
-
He the single gent was wasted almost to emaciationC
And his features were the palest that M Carty ever sawF
And these indications pointing to a past of dissipationC
Greatly strengthened the suspicions of the agent of the lawF
He the lodger hang the pronoun seemed to like the stormy weatherG
When the elements in battle kept it up a little lateH
Yet he d wander in the moonlight when the stars were close togetherG
Taking ghostly consolation in a visionary stateH
-
He would walk the streets at midnight when the storm king raised his bannerG
Walk without his old umbrella wave his arms above his headI
Or he d fold them tight and mutter in a wild disjointed mannerG
While the town was wrapped in slumber and he should have been in bedI
Said the constable on duty Shure Oi wonther phwat his trade isJ
And the constable would watch him from the shadow of a wallK
But he never picked a pocket and he ne er accosted ladiesL
And the constable was puzzled what to make of him at allK
-
Now M Carty had arrested more than one notorious dodgerG
He had heard of men afflicted with the strangest kind of fadsM
But he couldn t fix the station or the business of the lodgerG
Who at times would chum with cadgers and at other times with cadsN
And the constable would often stand and wonder how the goryG
Sheol the stranger got his living for he loafed the time awayO
And he often sought a hillock when the sun went down in gloryG
Just as if he was a mourner at the burial of the dayO
-
Mac had noticed that the lodger did a mighty lot of smokingP
And could stow away a long un never winking so he couldQ
And M Carty once at midnight came upon the lodger pokingP
Round about suspicious alleys where the common houses stoodQ
Yet the constable had seen him in a class above suspicionC
Seen him welcomed with effusion by a dozen toney gentsN
Seen him driving in the buggy of a rising politicianC
Thro the gateway of the member s toney private residenceN
-
And the constable off duty had observed the lodger slippingP
Down a lane to where the river opened on the ocean wideR
Where he d stand for hours gazing at the distant anchor d shippingP
But he never took his coat off so it wasn t suicideR
For the constable had noticed that a man who s filled with loathingP
For his selfish fellow creatures and the evil things that beG
Will for some mysterious reason shed a portion of his clothingP
Ere he takes his first and final plunge into eternityG
-
And M Carty once at midnight be it said to his abasementG
Left his beat and climbed a railing of considerable heightG
Just to watch the lodger s shadow on the curtain of his casementG
While the little room was lighted in the listening hours of nightG
Now at first the shadow hinted that the substance sat inditingP
Now it indicated toothache or the headache and againC
Twould exaggerate the gestures of a dipsomaniac fightingP
Those original conceptions of a whisky sodden brainC
-
Then the constable retreating scratched his head and muttered SorraG
Wan of me can undershtand it But Oi ll keep me oi on himS
Divil take him and his tantrums he s a lunatic begorraG
Or if he was up to mischief he d be sure to douse the glimS
But M Carty wasn t easy for he had a vague suspicionC
That a skame was being plotted and he thought the matter downC
Till his mind was pretty certain that the business was seditionC
And the man in league with others sought to overthrow the CrownC
-
But in spite of observation Mac received no informationC
And was forced to stay inactive being puzzled for a chargeT
That the lodger was a madman seemed the only explanationC
Tho the house would scarcely harbour such a lunatic at largeT
His appearance failed to warrant apprehension as a vagrantG
Tho twas getting very shabby as the constable could seeG
But M Carty in the meantime hoped to catch him in a flagrantG
Breach of peace or the intention to commit a felonyG
-
For digression there is leisure and it is the writer s pleasureG
Just to pause a while and ponder on a painful legal factG
Being forced to say in sorrow and a line of doubtful measureG
That there s nothing so elastic as the cruel Vagrant ActG
Now M Carty knew his duty and was brave as any lionC
But he dreaded being landed in an influential bogP
As the chances were he would be if the man he had his eye onC
Was a person of importance who was travelling incogP
-
Want of sleep and over worry seemed to tell upon M CartyG
He was thirsty more than ever but his appetite resignedG
He was previously reckoned as a jolly chap and heartyG
But the mystery was lying like a mountain on his mindG
Tho he tried his best he couldn t get a hold upon the lodgerG
For the latter s antecedents weren t known to the policeN
They considered that the devil was a dark and artful dodgerG
Who was scheming under cover for the downfall of the peaceN
-
Twas a simple explanation though M Carty didn t know itG
Which with half his penetration he might easily have seenC
For the object of his dangerous suspicions was a poetG
Who was not so widely famous as he thought he should have beenC
And the constable grew thinner till one morning little dhraminC
Av the sword of revelation that was leapin from its sheathU
He alighted on some verses in the columns of the FraymanC
Wid the christian name an surname av the lodger onderneathU
-
Now M Carty and the poet are as brother is to brotherG
Or at least as brothers should be and they very often meetG
On the lonely block at midnight and they wink at one anotherG
Disappearing down the by way of a shanty in the streetG
And the poet s name you re asking well the ground is very tenderG
You must wait until the public put the gilt upon the nameS
Till a glorious sorrow drowning and perhaps a final benderG
Heralds his triumphant entrance to the thunder halls of FameS

Henry Lawson



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