Since Then Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCAB DEDDE FGFFG HIHHI JKJJK LMLLM NONNO PQPPQ RSRES TUT U AVAVV WBWWB XYXXY ZEZZE VWVVW A2VB2A2V

I met Jack Ellis in town to dayA
Jack Ellis my old mate JackB
Ten years ago from the CastlereaghC
We carried our swags together awayA
To the Never Again Out BackB
-
But times have altered since those old daysD
And the times have changed the menE
Ah well there's little to blame or praiseD
Jack Ellis and I have tramped long waysD
On different tracks since thenE
-
His hat was battered his coat was greenF
The toes of his boots were throughG
But the pride was his It was I felt meanF
I wished that my collar was not so cleanF
Nor the clothes I wore so newG
-
He saw me first and he knew 'twas IH
The holiday swell he metI
Why have we no faith in each other Ah whyH
He made as though he would pass me byH
For he thought that I might forgetI
-
He ought to have known me better than thatJ
By the tracks we tramped far outK
The sweltering scrub and the blazing flatJ
When the heat came down through each old felt hatJ
In the hell born western droughtK
-
The cheques we made and the shanty spreesL
The camps in the great blind scrubM
The long wet tramps when the plains were seasL
And the oracles worked in days like theseL
For rum and tobacco and grubM
-
Could I forget how we struck the sameN
Old tale' in the nearer WestO
When the first great test of our friendship cameN
But well there's little to praise or blameN
If our mateship stood the testO
-
Heads ' he laughed but his face was sternP
Tails ' and a friendly oathQ
We loved her fair we had much to learnP
And each was stabbed to the heart in turnP
By the girl who loved us bothQ
-
Or the last day lost on the lignum plainR
When I staggered half blind half deadS
With a burning throat and a tortured brainR
And the tank when we came to the track againE
Was seventeen miles aheadS
-
Then life seemed finished then death beganT
As down in the dust I sankU
But he stuck to his mate as a bushman canT
Till I heard him saying Bear up old man '-
In the shade by the mulga tankU
-
-
-
He took my hand in a distant wayA
I thought how we parted lastV
And we seemed like men who have nought to sayA
And who meet Good day' and who part Good day'V
Who never have shared the pastV
-
I asked him in for a drink with meW
Jack Ellis my old mate JackB
But his manner no longer was careless and freeW
He followed but not with the grin that heW
Wore always in days Out BackB
-
I tried to live in the past once moreX
Or the present and past combineY
But the days between I could not ignoreX
I couldn't help notice the clothes he woreX
And he couldn't but notice mineY
-
He placed his glass on the polished barZ
And he wouldn't fill up againE
For he is prouder than most men areZ
Jack Ellis and I have tramped too farZ
On different tracks since thenE
-
He said that he had a mate to meetV
And I'll see you again ' said heW
Then he hurried away through the crowded streetV
And the rattle of buses and scrape of feetV
Seemed suddenly loud to meW
-
And I almost wished that the time were comeA2
When less will be left to FateV
When boys will start on the track from homeB2
With equal chances and no old chumA2
Have more or less than his mateV

Henry Lawson



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