The Captain Of The Push Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: AABBCC DDCCEE FFGHII CCJJKK LLMMAA CCNAC AAOOP AAFF AAQQR SSFFAA TTUUVV CWWA

As the night was falling slowly down on city town and bushA
From a slum in Jones's Alley sloped the Captain of the PushA
And he scowled towards the North and he scowled towards the SouthB
As he hooked his little finger in the corners of his mouthB
Then his whistle loud and shrill woke the echoes of the Rocks'C
And a dozen ghouls came sloping round the corners of the blocksC
-
There was nought to rouse their anger yet the oath that each one sworeD
Seemed less fit for publication than the one that went beforeD
For they spoke the gutter language with the easy flow that comesC
Only to the men whose childhood knew the brothels and the slumsC
Then they spat in turns and halted and the one that came behindE
Spitting fiercely on the pavement called on Heaven to strike him blindE
-
Let us first describe the captain bottle shouldered pale and thinF
For he was the beau ideal of a Sydney larrikinF
E'en his hat was most suggestive of the city where we liveG
With a gallows tilt that no one save a larrikin can giveH
And the coat a little shorter than the writer would desireI
Showed a more or less uncertain portion of his strange attireI
-
That which tailors know as trousers' known by him as bloomin' bags'C
Hanging loosely from his person swept with tattered ends the flagsC
And he had a pointed sternpost to the boots that peeped belowJ
Which he laced up from the centre of the nail of his great toeJ
And he wore his shirt uncollar'd and the tie correctly wrongK
But I think his vest was shorter than should be in one so longK
-
And the captain crooked his finger at a stranger on the kerbL
Whom he qualified politely with an adjective and verbL
And he begged the Gory Bleeders that they wouldn't interruptM
Till he gave an introduction it was painfully abruptM
Here's the bleedin' push me covey here's a something from the bushA
Strike me dead he wants to join us ' said the captain of the pushA
-
Said the stranger I am nothing but a bushy and a dunceC
But I read about the Bleeders in the WEEKLY GASBAG onceC
Sitting lonely in the humpy when the wind began to whooshN
How I longed to share the dangers and the pleasures of the pushA
Gosh I hate the swells and good 'uns I could burn 'em in their bedsC
I am with you if you'll have me and I'll break their blazing heads '-
-
Now look here ' exclaimed the captain to the stranger from the bushA
Now look here suppose a feller was to split upon the pushA
Would you lay for him and fetch him even if the traps were roundO
Would you lay him out and kick him to a jelly on the groundO
Would you jump upon the nameless kill or cripple him or bothP
Speak or else I'll SPEAK ' The stranger answered My kerlonial oath '-
-
Now look here ' exclaimed the captain to the stranger from the bushA
Now look here suppose the Bleeders let you come and join the pushA
Would you smash a bleedin' bobby if you got the blank aloneF
Would you break a swell or Chinkie split his garret with a stoneF
Would you have a moll to keep yer like to swear off work for good '-
Yes my oath ' replied the stranger My kerlonial oath I would '-
-
Now look here ' exclaimed the captain to the stranger from the bushA
Now look here before the Bleeders let yer come and join the pushA
You must prove that you're a blazer you must prove that you have gritQ
Worthy of a Gory Bleeder you must show your form a bitQ
Take a rock and smash that winder ' and the stranger nothing lothR
Took the rock and smash They only muttered My kerlonial oath '-
-
So they swore him in and found him sure of aim and light of heelS
And his only fault if any lay in his excessive zealS
He was good at throwing metal but we chronicle with painF
That he jumped upon a victim damaging the watch and chainF
Ere the Bleeders had secured them yet the captain of the pushA
Swore a dozen oaths in favour of the stranger from the bushA
-
Late next morn the captain rising hoarse and thirsty from his lairT
Called the newly feather'd Bleeder but the stranger wasn't thereT
Quickly going through the pockets of his bloomin' bags ' he learnedU
That the stranger had been through him for the stuff his moll' had earnedU
And the language that he muttered I should scarcely like to tellV
Stars and notes of exclamation blank and dash will do as wellV
-
In the night the captain's signal woke the echoes of the Rocks '-
Brought the Gory Bleeders sloping thro' the shadows of the blocksC
And they swore the stranger's action was a blood escaping shameW
While they waited for the nameless but the nameless never cameW
And the Bleeders soon forgot him but the captain of the pushA
Still is laying' round in ballast for the nameless from the bush '-

Henry Lawson



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