Lily Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABABCDED FGFGHIHI JKJKLLLL MNMNLOLO NPNPLNLN QRQRLGLG LSLSTUTU RVRVGWGW XLYLZSZS GA2GA2LTLT LB2LB2LC2LC2 GLGLLLLL THTHB2LB2L LD2LD2NZNZ E2F2E2F2NLNL G2H2G2H2GLGL I2J2NJ2LB2LB2 NK2NK2G2L2G2L2 E2NE2NM2M2N2M2 B2LNLLA2LA2 LNLNLLLL LO2LO2P2LP2L LLLLQ2J2Q2K2 LLLLR2S2R2S2 B2T2NT2I2LI2L G2U2NU2U2K2U2J2 LLLLGLGL

I scorn the man a fool at mostA
And ignorant and blindB
Who loves to go about and boastA
He understands mankindB
I thought I had that knowledge tooC
And boasted it with prideD
But since I ve learned that human heartsE
Cannot be classifiedD
-
In days when I was young and wildF
I had no vanityG
I always thought when women smiledF
That they were fooling meG
I was content to let them foolH
And let them deem I caredI
For tutored in a narrow schoolH
I held myself preparedI
-
But Lily had a pretty faceJ
And great blue Irish eyesK
And she was fair as any raceJ
Beneath the Northern skiesK
The sweetest voice I ever heardL
Although it was unschooledL
So for a season I preferredL
By Lily to be fooledL
-
A friend embittered all my lifeM
With careless words of hisN
He said I d never win a wifeM
With such an ugly phizN
I laughed the loudest at the witL
Though loud the laughter rungO
So be it to his credit writL
He never knew it stungO
-
As far as human nature goesN
The cynic I would teachP
That fruit s not always sour to thoseN
For whom none hangs in reachP
I only gazed as captives mightL
Gaze through their prison barsN
Fair women seemed to me as brightL
Though far away as starsN
-
And Lily was to me a starQ
As fair as those aboveR
As beautiful but just as farQ
From my revengeful loveR
The love I bore was not exemptL
From hate if this might beG
I hated her for that contemptL
I thought she had for meG
-
The sour grapes are often sweetL
To lips that cannot touchS
And it is soothing to repeatL
It does not matter muchS
But O to think that fruit so dearT
To me in manhood s primeU
Though seeming far was clustered nearT
And red ripe all the timeU
-
My fault perhaps in Heav n aboveR
May not be deemed a sinV
I never thought that she would loveR
Or I d the power to winV
And even now it puzzles meG
The butt of station chaffW
For I was plain as man could beG
And awkward as a calfW
-
I would have liked to break the bowX
That Lily never bentL
I thought she d only laugh to knowY
How well her shafts were sentL
If my contempt had power to gallZ
Or careless sneers to touchS
The heart that loved me after allZ
She must have suffered muchS
-
Ah I was blind and could not seeG
The plain things in my wayA2
When Lily s mistress twitted meG
About the wedding dayA2
I answered with a careless wordL
And half unconscious sneerT
I never thought that Lily heardL
Nor dreamed that she was nearT
-
We talked of other things and jokedL
Till tongues began to tireB2
Then I and Lily s master smokedL
Our pipes beside the fireB2
The day wore on and then she broughtL
The kettle to the hobC2
And as she turned to go I thoughtL
I heard a stifled sobC2
-
I spoke she never answered meG
I sneered I ll not forgetL
Above all things I hate to seeG
A woman in a petL
Those cruel words that were the lastL
That Lily ever heardL
I ve heard them shrieking in the blastL
And twittered by the birdL
-
Deep in the creek that wandered nearT
There lay a grassy poolH
Neath oaks that sighed through all the yearT
And kept the water coolH
The stars that pierced the reedy bowerB2
Made water lilies brightL
And underneath her sister flowerB2
Our Lily slept that nightL
-
She d brought a pole the pool to soundL
It must have tried her strengthD2
We found it lying on the groundL
And wet for half its lengthD2
We found it there upon the grassN
But ah it was not allZ
An open prayer book lay alasN
Beside poor Lily s shawlZ
-
We drew her out and laid her downE2
Upon a granite ledgeF2
The water from her dripping gownE2
Went trickling o er the edgeF2
Like drops into a pool of fearsN
I saw the crystals dartL
Or one by one like scalding tearsN
That plash upon the heartL
-
The circles died upon the shoreG2
The frogs began to croakH2
The wind that passed to list once moreG2
Went sighing through the oakH2
The oak that seemed to say to meG
I think I hear it yetL
Above all things I hate to seeG
A woman in a petL
-
The blackest thoughts are swift to fillI2
The evil minds of menJ2
I knew the meaning of the looksN
They bent upon me thenJ2
And then I did as cowards doL
I vanished like a curB2
For many years I never knewL
Where they had buried herB2
-
But drawn by that same power that bringsN
The slayer to the slainK2
Or driven like the bird that wingsN
Against the storm in vainK2
I journeyed from another shoreG2
Across the weary waveL2
And wandered by the creek once moreG2
And sought for Lily s graveL2
-
I rode across the ridges brownE2
And through a rocky passN
And took the track that led me downE2
To great white flats of grassN
I passed the homestead s skeletonM2
That rotted in the sunM2
And by the broken stockyards onN2
The long deserted runM2
-
Whole beds of reeds were covered o erB2
With coats of yellow mudL
And all along the creek I sawN
The traces of a floodL
I reached the place where Lily diedL
The banks were washed awayA2
Before me on the other sideL
There rose a wall of clayA2
-
I saw a thing that seemed a weedL
Outgrowing from the faceN
I stood and marvelled that a seedL
Had grown in such a placeN
I climbed the bank and with a rodL
I pushed the weed aboutL
And from the dry and crumbling sodL
I saw a skull roll outL
-
I started back from where I stoodL
For she was buried thereO2
I d seen the coffin s rotting woodL
The weed was Lily s hairO2
They d laid her in the rushes dankP2
Upon a sandy bendL
The floods had washed away the bankP2
And reached the coffin s endL
-
Ah coward heart and conscience tooL
Did I reclaim the deadL
Ah no I did as cowards doL
A second time I fledL
And still I see the flying formQ2
I see myself againJ2
A madman riding through the stormQ2
With terror in his brainK2
-
That night the rain in torrents dashedL
The sky seemed flushed with bloodL
And here and there the she oaks crashedL
Beneath the yellow floodL
And still I see the murderous skyR2
That never seems to changeS2
And hear the flood go growling byR2
That thundered from the rangeS2
-
My inner sight as years went o erB2
Grew sharp instead of dullT2
And nearly every night I sawN
The coffin and the skullT2
Three ghastly things unaltered stillI2
I knew would haunt my nightL
I knew would fill my dreams untilI2
I buried them from sightL
-
I journeyed to the creek once moreG2
When five long years had flownU2
And buried in the sand I sawN
A piece of fashioned stoneU2
And bit by bit and bone by boneU2
In those long years of rainK2
The cruel creek had claimed its ownU2
And buried it againJ2
-
I clambered down the bank and kneltL
And scraped away the sandL
And graven on the stone I feltL
Her name beneath my handL
And in the she oak over meG
The wind was sneering yetL
Above all things I hate to seeG
A woman in a petL

Henry Lawson



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