The Bush Fire Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABB CCDD EEFF GGHH IIJJ KKLL MMMM NNMM OOPP QQLL RRII OOSSAh better the thud of the deadly gun and the crash of the bursting shell | A |
Than the terrible silence where drought is fought out there in the western hell | A |
And better the rattle of rifles near or the thunder on deck at sea | B |
Than the sound most hellish of all to hear of a fire where it should not be | B |
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On the runs to the west of the Dingo Scrubs there was drought and ruin and death | C |
And the sandstorm came from the dread north east with the blast of a furnace breath | C |
Till at last one day at the fierce sunrise a boundary rider woke | D |
And saw in the place of the distant haze a curtain of light blue smoke | D |
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There is saddling up by the cockey s hut and out in the station yard | E |
And away to the north north east north west the bushmen are riding hard | E |
The pickets are out and many a scout and many a mulga wire | F |
While Bill and Jim with their faces grim are riding to meet the fire | F |
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It roars for days in the hopeless scrubs and across where the ground seems bare | G |
With a cackle and hiss like the hissing of snakes the fire is travelling there | G |
Till at last exhausted by sleeplessness and the terrible toil and heat | H |
The squatter is crying My God the wool and the farmer My God the wheat | H |
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But there comes a drunkard who reels as he rides with the news from the roadside pub | I |
Pat Murphy the cockey cut off by the fire way back in the Dingo Scrub | I |
Let the wheat and the woolshed go to Well they do as each great heart bids | J |
They are riding a race for the Dingo Scrub for Pat and his wife and kids | J |
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And who is leading the race with death An ill matched three you ll allow | K |
Flash Jim the breaker and Boozing Bill who is riding steadily now | K |
And Constable Dunn of the Mounted Police is riding between the two | L |
He wants Flash Jim but the job can wait till they get the Murphys through | L |
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As they strike the track through the blazing scrub the trooper is heard to shout | M |
We ll take them on to the Two mile Tank if we cannot bring them out | M |
A half mile more and the rest rein back retreating half choked halfblind | M |
And the three are gone from the sight of men and the bush fire roars behind | M |
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The Bushman wiped the tears of smoke and like Bushmen wept and swore | N |
Poor Bill will be wanting his drink to night as never he did before | N |
And Dunn was the best in the whole damned force says a client of Dunn s with pride | M |
I reckon he ll serve his summons on Jim when they get to the other side | M |
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It is daylight again and the fire is past and the black scrub silent and grim | O |
Except for the blaze of an old dead tree or the crash of a falling limb | O |
And the Bushmen are riding again on the run with hearts and with eyes that fill | P |
To look for the bodies of Constable Dunn Flash Jim and Boozing Bill | P |
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They are found in the mud of the Two mile Tank where a fiend might scarce survive | Q |
But the Bushmen gather from words they hear that the bodies are much alive | Q |
There is Swearing Pat with his grey beard singed and his language of lurid hue | L |
And his tough old wife and his half baked kids and the three who dragged them through | L |
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Old Pat is deploring his burnt out home and his wife the climate warm | R |
And Jim the loss of his favourite horse and Dunn his uniform | R |
And Boozing Bill with a raging thirst is cursing the Dingo Scrub | I |
He ll only ask for the loan of a flask and a lift to the nearest pub | I |
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Flash Jim the Breaker is lying low blue paper is after him | O |
And Dunn the trooper is riding his rounds with a blind eye out for Jim | O |
And Boozing Bill is fighting D Ts in the township of Sudden Jerk | S |
When they re wanted again in the Dingo Scrubs they ll be there to do the work | S |
Henry Lawson
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