The Fairy West Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCBCDEDEFF BGBGBHBHFF IJIJBKBKFF LMLMLFLFFF LGLGNONOFF APQPQRQRQFF BEBELSLS DSDSDTDT UVUVDWDW BXBXTYTY BZBZBJBJ A2B2A2B2NTNTTT TC2TC2| I | A |
| We wrote and sang of a bush we never | B |
| Had known in youth in the Western land | C |
| Of the dear old homes by the shining river | B |
| The deep clear creeks and the hills so grand | C |
| The grass waved high on the flat and siding | D |
| The wild flowers bloomed on the banks so fair | E |
| And younger sons from the North came riding | D |
| To vine clad homes in the gardens there | E |
| We wrote and sang and the Lord knows best | F |
| Oh those dear old songs of the fairy West | F |
| - | |
| We dreamed and sang of the bustling mother | B |
| The brick floored kitchen we saw so clear | G |
| The pranks and jokes of the youngest brother | B |
| The evening songs of our sisters dear | G |
| The old man dozed in the chimney corner | B |
| Or smoked and blinked at the cheerful blaze | H |
| Or yarned with a crony old Jack Horner | B |
| Who d known him back in the Digging Days | H |
| We worked and sang and the Lord knows best | F |
| Oh those dear old homes of the fairy West | F |
| - | |
| By tracks that ran neath the granite ridges | I |
| The children played on their way from school | J |
| By the fairy dells and the sapling bridges | I |
| And stole a swim in the willowed pool | J |
| And home they flocked with their ceaseless chatter | B |
| Till happy and tired and washed and fed | K |
| The wash came after it doesn t matter | B |
| They said their prayers and they went to bed | K |
| We worked and dreamed and the Lord knows best | F |
| Oh those dear old ways of the fairy West | F |
| - | |
| We rose at daylight refreshed and hearty | L |
| And drank our tea while the children slept | M |
| We worked with the zest of a camping party | L |
| While the morning breeze through the gum trees crept | M |
| We worked till the signal of Breakfast ready | L |
| And ate our fill of the good land s best | F |
| And Jimmy and Mary and Nell and Teddy | L |
| And all the children were washed and dressed | F |
| Oh those grand old farms of pleasure and rest | F |
| In the fairy tales of the Golden West | F |
| - | |
| Twas a land overflowing with milk and honey | L |
| And eggs and bacon and butter and beer | G |
| We came to Sydney with whips of money | L |
| To see the world about twice a year | G |
| The girls got married to rich young farmers | N |
| And did no work save to populate | O |
| And we had the pick of the city charmers | N |
| And took our brides to the country straight | O |
| We dreamed and sang and the Lord knows best | F |
| Oh those dear old dreams of the fairy West | F |
| - | |
| - | |
| II | A |
| I dreamed last night of those days long vanished | P |
| And buried in bitterness out of sight | Q |
| The scene was gone and the folk were banished | P |
| And this is the vision I saw last night | Q |
| It may be false and it may be real | R |
| It may be wrong and it may be right | Q |
| A sort of set off to the grand ideal | R |
| We ll call it A Vision of Sandy Blight | Q |
| We dreamed and sang and you know the rest | F |
| The Sandy Blight in the Wondrous West | F |
| - | |
| The daylight comes to the skillion winder | B |
| A hole with never a breath of air | E |
| And never a pane of glass to hinder | B |
| The reek from the pig sty adjacent there | E |
| The skillion cowers in the daybreak ghostly | L |
| Criminal like as skillions do | S |
| It is fashioned of bark and bagging mostly | L |
| And furnished with bark and bagging too | S |
| - | |
| Swiftly too swiftly the light comes creeping | D |
| Round the corners cobweb immeshed | S |
| To the dusty bunk where the boys lie sleeping | D |
| Gummy eyed dirty and unrefreshed | S |
| Huddled like monkeys I m tired of coining | D |
| Rhyme to brighten this cheerful lay | T |
| A bang on the slabs of the room adjoining | D |
| Git up Are yer gaunter lay there all day | T |
| - | |
| Three hides of bones in the yard are bailed up | U |
| We called em k yows when my heart was young | V |
| A pitiful calling where calves are railed up | U |
| A stifling cloud from the powdered dung | V |
| A dusty and sleepy head is boring | D |
| Into the flank of each dusty cow | W |
| Milk dust and burrs in the buckets pouring | D |
| Three skinny youngsters are milkin now | W |
| - | |
| And rainy weather I would be plainer | B |
| The filthy tail and the plunging hoof | X |
| The worst came out in the home made strainer | B |
| But more came down from the dairy roof | X |
| Seven cows each and the calves are poddied | T |
| The pigs are fed while the boys can creep | Y |
| They ve done the work of the able bodied | T |
| And one sits down in the dust to sleep | Y |
| - | |
| The skimmin and scaldin in loo warm water | B |
| And cloudy at that and the churnin done | Z |
| The hopeless face of the elder daughter | B |
| The narrowed mind of the elder son | Z |
| The sulky scowl of the younger brother | B |
| The morning greeting of you re a fool | J |
| The rasping voice of the worn out mother | B |
| Now git yer breakfus an git ter school | J |
| - | |
| Three miles to the school house and often more in | A2 |
| The sparser districts it makes me sick | B2 |
| Mountins and rivers and parsin and drorin | A2 |
| Readin and writin and rithmetic | B2 |
| Sewin an singin and objeck lessins | N |
| Spellin dicktashin home lessins too | T |
| A bit of relegin for all these blessin s | N |
| And home in a hurry to milk the Coo | T |
| We slaved and sang and the Lord knows best | T |
| Oh those dear old homes of the fairy West | T |
| - | |
| P S I was in Yewklid the day I finished | T |
| Me edyercashun in those times dim | C2 |
| My younger brother cleared out to Queensland | T |
| Twas mountains and rivers that finished him | C2 |
Henry Lawson
(1)
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About The Fairy West
The Fairy West is a poem by Henry Lawson. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
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