The Fight At Eureka Stockade Poem Rhyme Scheme

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Was I at Eureka His figure was drawn to a youthful height	A
And a flood of proud recollections made the fire in his grey eyes bright	A
With pleasure they lighted and glisten'd tho' the digger was grizzled and old	B
And we gathered about him and listen'd while the tale of Eureka he told	B
	-
Ah those were the days said the digger twas a glorious life that we led	C
When fortunes were dug up and lost in a day in the whirl of the years that are dead	C
But there's many a veteran now in the land old knights of the pick and the spade	D
Who could tell you in language far stronger than mine 'bout the fight at Eureka Stockade	D
	-
We were all of us young on the diggings in days when the nation had birth	E
Light hearted and careless and happy and the flower of all nations on earth	E
But we would have been peaceful an' quiet if the law had but let us alone	F
And the fight let them call it a riot was due to no fault of our own	F
	-
The creed of our rulers was narrow they ruled with a merciless hand	D
For the mark of the cursed broad arrow was deep in the heart of the land	D
They treated us worse than the negroes were treated in slavery's day	D
And justice was not for the diggers as shown by the Bently affray	G
	-
P'r'aps Bently was wrong If he wasn't the bloodthirsty villain they said	D
He was one of the jackals that gather where the carcass of labour is laid	D
'Twas b'lieved that he murdered a digger and they let him off scot free as well	H
And the beacon o' battle was lighted on the night that we burnt his hotel	H
	-
You may talk as you like but the facts are the same as you've often been told	D
And how could we pay when the license cost more than the worth of the gold	D
We heard in the sunlight the clanking o' chains in the hillocks of clay	D
And our mates they were rounded like cattle an' handcuffed an' driven away	D
	-
The troopers were most of them new chums with many a gentleman's son	I
And ridin' on horseback was easy and hunting the diggers was fun	I
Why many poor devils who came from the vessel in rags and down heeled	D
Were copped if they hadn't their license before they set foot on the field	D
	-
But they roused the hot blood that was in us and the cry came to roll up at last	D
And I tell you that something had got to be done when the diggers rolled up in the past	D
Yet they say that in spite o' the talkin' it all might have ended in smoke	J
But just at the point o' the crisis the voice of a quiet man spoke	J
	-
We have said all our say and it's useless you must fight or be slaves ' said the voice	K
If it's fight and you're wanting a leader I will lead to the end take your choice '	-
I looked it was Pete Peter Lalor who stood with his face to the skies	L
But his figure seemed nobler and taller and brighter the light of his eyes	L
	-
The blood to his forehead was rushin' as hot as the words from his mouth	M
He had come from the wrongs of the old land to see those same wrongs in the South	M
The wrongs that had followed our flight from the land where the life of the worker was spoiled	D
Still tyranny followed no wonder the blood of the Irishman boiled	D
	-
And true to his promise they found him the mates who are vanished or dead	D
Who gathered for justice around him with the flag of the diggers o'erhead	D
When the people are cold and unb'lieving when the hands of the tyrants are strong	N
You must sacrifice life for the people before they'll come down on the wrong	N
	-
I'd a mate on the diggings a lad curly headed an' blue eyed an' white	D
And the diggers said I was his father an' well p'r'aps the diggers were right	D
I forbade him to stir from the tent made him swear on the book he'd obey	D
But he followed me in in the darkness and was shot on Eureka that day	D
	-
Down down with the tyrant an' bully ' these were the last words from his mouth	M
As he caught up a broken pick handle and struck for the Flag of the South	M
An' let it in sorrow be written the worst of this terrible strife	O
'Twas under the Banner of Britain' came the bullet that ended his life	O
	-
I struck then I struck then for vengeance When I saw him lie dead in the dirt	D
And the blood that came oozing like water had darkened the red of his shirt	D
I caught up the weapon he dropped an' I struck with the strength of my hate	D
Until I fell wounded an' senseless half dead by the side of my mate'	D
	-
Surprised in the grey o' the morning half armed and the Barricade bad	D
A battle o' twenty five minutes was long 'gainst the odds that they had	D
But the light o' the morning was deadened an' the smoke drifted far o'er the town	P
An' the clay o' Eureka was reddened ere the flag o' the diggers came down	P
	-
But it rose in the hands of the people an' high in the breezes it tost	D
And our mates only died for a cause that was won by the battle they lost	D
When the people are selfish and narrow when the hands of the tyrants are strong	N
You must sacrifice life for the public before they come down on a wrong	N
	-
It is thirty six years this December December the first since we made	D
The first stand 'gainst the wrongs of old countries that day in Eureka Stockade	D
But the lies and the follies and shams of the North have all landed since then	Q
An' it's pretty near time that you lifted the flag of Eureka again	Q
	-
You boast of your progress an' thump empty thunder from out of your drums	R
While two of your marvellous cities' are reeking with alleys an' slums	R
An' the landsharks an' robbers an' idlers an' Yes I had best draw it mild	D
But whenever I think o' Eureka my talking is apt to run wild	D
	-
Even now in my tent when I'm dreaming I'll spring from my bunk strike a light	D
And feel for my boots an' revolver for the diggers' march past in the night	D
An' the faces an' forms of old mates an' old comrades go driftin' along	N
With a band in the front of 'em playing the tune of an old battle song	N

Henry Lawson

The Fight At Eureka Stockade Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

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