The Men Who Live It Down Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCCDDEE FGCC HHCC IIJJ IICC| I have sinned like others blindly without thought and without fear | A |
| And my best friends say it kindly You should go away from here | B |
| Shall I fly the paltry spirit of a narrow little town | C |
| While the battle drums are beating for the men who live it down | C |
| Down the street where all men know me I can walk with level eyes | D |
| They believe the lies about me they can sneer but I despise | D |
| From my black and bitter childhood from my dull and joyless youth | E |
| It is I who it is I who I and Christ who know the truth | E |
| - | |
| I have sinned but as a man might like a man I ll rise again | F |
| From long nights of mental torture from long days of care and pain | G |
| Pass me by with eyes averted with a shrug or with a frown | C |
| But their heads shall bow in ashes long ere my head shall go down | C |
| - | |
| Ah the curs who dare not trespass quick to sneer and quick to blame | H |
| But the wider world is kinder it takes long to damn a name | H |
| There s a heart that s worth a million and a head that s worth a crown | C |
| And the flash of bright eyes sometimes for the men who live it down | C |
| - | |
| There s a hand grip close and silent firm in trust and sympathy | I |
| Sends the old thrill through my being sends the old hopes up in me | I |
| There is one who ll stand beside me when the screen is round my bed | J |
| And the godly pass their stricture on the sinner who is dead | J |
| - | |
| When the crape is round my picture and my mad wild spirit s free | I |
| And you realise how little you have ever known of me | I |
| When the worst is said and printed by the coward and the clown | C |
| Then I trust a friend might answer There lies one who lived it down | C |
Henry Lawson
(1)
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