Faces In The Street Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: AABBCBB DDBBEBB FFBBGBB HHBBIBB JJBBKBB LLBBMBB NNNNJNN OONNNNN PQNNRNN SSNNFNN P NNTNN UUNNENN VVNNWNN

They lie the men who tell us in a loud decisive toneA
That want is here a stranger and that misery's unknownA
For where the nearest suburb and the city proper meetB
My window sill is level with the faces in the streetB
Drifting past drifting pastC
To the beat of weary feetB
While I sorrow for the owners of those faces in the streetB
-
And cause I have to sorrow in a land so young and fairD
To see upon those faces stamped the marks of Want and CareD
I look in vain for traces of the fresh and fair and sweetB
In sallow sunken faces that are drifting through the streetB
Drifting on drifting onE
To the scrape of restless feetB
I can sorrow for the owners of the faces in the streetB
-
In hours before the dawning dims the starlight in the skyF
The wan and weary faces first begin to trickle byF
Increasing as the moments hurry on with morning feetB
Till like a pallid river flow the faces in the streetB
Flowing in flowing inG
To the beat of hurried feetB
Ah I sorrow for the owners of those faces in the streetB
-
The human river dwindles when 'tis past the hour of eightH
Its waves go flowing faster in the fear of being lateH
But slowly drag the moments whilst beneath the dust and heatB
The city grinds the owners of the faces in the streetB
Grinding body grinding soulI
Yielding scarce enough to eatB
Oh I sorrow for the owners of the faces in the streetB
-
And then the only faces till the sun is sinking downJ
Are those of outside toilers and the idlers of the townJ
Save here and there a face that seems a stranger in the streetB
Tells of the city's unemployed upon his weary beatB
Drifting round drifting roundK
To the tread of listless feetB
Ah My heart aches for the owner of that sad face in the streetB
-
And when the hours on lagging feet have slowly dragged awayL
And sickly yellow gaslights rise to mock the going dayL
Then flowing past my window like a tide in its retreatB
Again I see the pallid stream of faces in the streetB
Ebbing out ebbing outM
To the drag of tired feetB
While my heart is aching dumbly for the faces in the streetB
-
And now all blurred and smirched with vice the day's sad pages endN
For while the short large hours' toward the longer small hours' trendN
With smiles that mock the wearer and with words that half entreatN
Delilah pleads for custom at the corner of the streetN
Sinking down sinking downJ
Battered wreck by tempests beatN
A dreadful thankless trade is hers that Woman of the StreetN
-
But ah to dreader things than these our fair young city comesO
For in its heart are growing thick the filthy dens and slumsO
Where human forms shall rot away in sties for swine unmeetN
And ghostly faces shall be seen unfit for any streetN
Rotting out rotting outN
For the lack of air and meatN
In dens of vice and horror that are hidden from the streetN
-
I wonder would the apathy of wealthy men endureP
Were all their windows level with the faces of the PoorQ
Ah Mammon's slaves your knees shall knock your hearts in terror beatN
When God demands a reason for the sorrows of the streetN
The wrong things and the bad thingsR
And the sad things that we meetN
In the filthy lane and alley and the cruel heartless streetN
-
I left the dreadful corner where the steps are never stillS
And sought another window overlooking gorge and hillS
But when the night came dreary with the driving rain and sleetN
They haunted me the shadows of those faces in the streetN
Flitting by flitting byF
Flitting by with noiseless feetN
And with cheeks but little paler than the real ones in the streetN
-
Once I cried Oh God Almighty if Thy might doth still endureP
Now show me in a vision for the wrongs of Earth a cure '-
And lo with shops all shuttered I beheld a city's streetN
And in the warning distance heard the tramp of many feetN
Coming near coming nearT
To a drum's dull distant beatN
And soon I saw the army that was marching down the streetN
-
Then like a swollen river that has broken bank and wallU
The human flood came pouring with the red flags over allU
And kindled eyes all blazing bright with revolution's heatN
And flashing swords reflecting rigid faces in the streetN
Pouring on pouring onE
To a drum's loud threatening beatN
And the war hymns and the cheering of the people in the streetN
-
And so it must be while the world goes rolling round its courseV
The warning pen shall write in vain the warning voice grow hoarseV
But not until a city feels Red Revolution's feetN
Shall its sad people miss awhile the terrors of the streetN
The dreadful everlasting strifeW
For scarcely clothes and meatN
In that pent track of living death the city's cruel streetN

Henry Lawson



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