Marshall's Mate Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABB CCDDEEFF C GGHHI JJBBKK LLMMNN OOFFMM PQQRRF BBJJCC SSTTUU JJJJQQQQVVWW| You almost heard the surface bake and saw the gum leaves turn | A |
| You could have watched the grass scorch brown had there been grass to burn | A |
| In such a drought the strongest heart might well grow faint and weak | B |
| 'Twould frighten Satan to his home not far from Dingo Creek | B |
| - | |
| The tanks went dry on Ninety Mile as tanks go dry out back | C |
| The Half Way Spring had failed at last when Marshall missed the track | C |
| Beneath a dead tree on the plain we saw a pack horse reel | D |
| Too blind to see there was no shade and too done up to feel | D |
| And charcoaled on the canvas bag twas written pretty clear | E |
| We read the message Marshall wrote It said I'm taken queer | E |
| I'm somewhere off of Deadman's Track half blind and nearly dead | F |
| Find Crowbar get him sobered up and follow back ' it said | F |
| - | |
| Let Mitchell go to Bandicoot You'll find him there ' said Mack | C |
| I'll start the chaps from Starving Steers and take the dry holes back ' | - |
| We tramped till dark and tried to track the pack horse on the sands | G |
| And just at daylight Crowbar came with Milroy's station hands | G |
| His cheeks were drawn his face was white but he was sober then | H |
| In times of trouble fire and flood 'twas Crowbar led the men | H |
| Spread out as widely as you can each side the track ' said he | I |
| The first to find him make a smoke that all the rest can see ' | - |
| - | |
| We took the track and followed back where Crowbar followed fate | J |
| We found a dead man in the scrub but 'twas not Crowbar's mate | J |
| The station hands from Starving Steers were searching all the week | B |
| But never news of Marshall's fate came back to Dingo Creek | B |
| And no one save the spirit of the sand waste fierce and lone | K |
| Knew where Jack Marshall crawled to die but Crowbar might have known | K |
| - | |
| He'd scarcely closed his quiet eyes or drawn a sleeping breath | L |
| They say that Crowbar slept no more until he slept in death | L |
| A careless roving scamp that loved to laugh and drink and joke | M |
| But no man saw him smile again and no one saw him smoke | M |
| And when we spelled at night he'd lie with eyes still open wide | N |
| And watch the stars as if they'd point the place where Marshall died | N |
| - | |
| The search was made as searches are and often made in vain | O |
| And on the seventh day we saw a smoke across the plain | O |
| We left the track and followed back 'twas Crowbar still that led | F |
| And when his horse gave out at last he walked and ran ahead | F |
| We reached the place and turned again dragged back and no man spoke | M |
| It was a bush fire in the scrubs that made the cursed smoke | M |
| And when we gave it best at last he said I'LL see it through ' | - |
| Although he knew we'd done as much as mortal men could do | P |
| I'll not I won't give up ' he said his hand pressed to his brow | Q |
| My God the cursed flies and ants they might be at him now | Q |
| I'll see it so in twenty years 'twill haunt me all my life | R |
| I could not face his sister and I could not face his wife | R |
| It's no use talking to me now I'm going back ' he said | F |
| I'm going back to find him and I will alive or dead ' | - |
| - | |
| - | |
| - | |
| He packed his horse with water and provisions for a week | B |
| And then at sunset crossed the plain away from Dingo Creek | B |
| We watched him tramp beside the horse till we as it grew late | J |
| Could not tell which was Bonypart and which was Marshall's mate | J |
| The dam went dry at Dingo Creek and we were driven back | C |
| And none dared face the Ninety Mile when Crowbar took the track | C |
| - | |
| They saw him at Dead Camel and along the Dry Hole Creeks | S |
| There came a day when none had heard of Marshall's mate for weeks | S |
| They'd seen him at No Sunday he called at Starving Steers | T |
| There came a time when none had heard of Marshall's mate for years | T |
| They found old Bonypart at last picked clean by hungry crows | U |
| But no one knew how Crowbar died the soul of Marshall knows | U |
| - | |
| And now way out on Dingo Creek when winter days are late | J |
| The bushmen talk of Crowbar's ghost what's looking for his mate' | J |
| For let the fools indulge their mirth and let the wise men doubt | J |
| The soul of Crowbar and his mate have travelled further out | J |
| Beyond the furthest two rail fence Colanne and Nevertire | Q |
| Beyond the furthest rabbit proof barbed wire and common wire | Q |
| Beyond the furthest Gov'ment' tank and past the furthest bore | Q |
| The Never Never No Man's Land No More and Nevermore | Q |
| Beyond the Land o' Break o' Day and Sunset and the Dawn | V |
| The soul of Marshall and the soul of Marshall's mate have gone | V |
| Unto that Loving Laughing Land where life is fresh and clean | W |
| Where the rivers flow all summer and the grass is always green | W |
Henry Lawson
(1)
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