The Song Of A Prison Poem Rhyme Scheme

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Now this is the song of a prison a song of a gaol or jug	A
A ballad of quod or of chokey the ultimate home of the mug	A
The yard where the Foolish are drafted Hell s school where the harmless are taught	B
For the big beast never is captured and the great thief never is caught	C
A song of the trollop s victim and the dealer in doubtful eggs	D
And a song of the man who was ruined by the lie with a thousand legs	D
A song of suspected persons and rouge and vagabond pals	E
And of persons beyond suspicion the habitual criminals	F
	-
Tis a song of the weary warders whom prisoners call the screws	G
A class of men who I fancy would cleave to the Evening News	G
They look after their treasures sadly By the screw of their keys they are known	H
And they screw them many times daily before they draw their own	H
	-
It is written on paper pilfered from the prison printery	I
With a stolen stump of a pencil that a felon smuggled for me	J
And he d have got twenty four hours in the cells if he had been caught	C
With bread to eat and water to drink and plenty of food for thought	B
	-
And I paid in chews of tobacco from one who is in for life	K
But he is a decent fellow he only murdered his wife	K
He is cherub like jolly good natured and frank as the skies above	L
And his Christian name is Joseph and his other ye gods is Love	L
	-
The Governor knows and the Deputy and all of the warders know	M
Once a week and on Sunday we sit in a sinful row	M
And bargain for chews of tobacco under the cover of prayer	I
And the harmless Anglican chaplain is the only innocent there	I
	-
Staircase and doors of iron no sign of a plank or brick	N
Ceilings and floors of sandstone and the cell walls two feet thick	N
Cell like a large sized coffin or a small sized tomb and white	O
And it strikes a chill to the backbone on the warmest summer night	O
	-
For fifteen hours they leave you to brood in the gloom and cold	P
On the cheats that you should have cheated and the lies that you should have told	P
On the money that would release you you lent to many a friend	Q
And the many a generous action you suffered for in the end	Q
	-
Grey daylight follows softly the heartless electric light	O
That printed the bars of the window on the wall of the cell all night	O
The darkness has vanished hushing when there is nothing to hush	R
And I think of the old grey daylight on the teamster s camp in the bush	S
	-
I think of the low bark homestead the yard and the sinister bail	T
And the shed in a hole in the gully a pigsty compared with gaol	T
The drought and the rows and the nagging the hill where a flat grave is	U
The gaol of my boyhood as dreadful and barren and grey as this	V
	-
We rise at six when the bell rings and roll up our blankets neat	W
Then we pace the cell till seven brain dulled and with leaden feet	W
Bolts clank and the iron doors open light floods from an iron barred arch	X
And we start with a start galvanic at the passionless Left Quick march	X
	-
Down the crooked and winding staircase in the great wrong angular well	T
Like the crooked stairs that of late years we have stumbled down to Hell	T
We empty the tubs and muster with the prison slouch and tread	Y
And we take to the cells our breakfast of hominy and of bread	Y
	-
The church in its squat round tower with Christ in His thorny wreath	Z
The reception house is below it so the gates of Hell are beneath	Z
Where sinners are clad and numbered when hope for a while has	A2
And above us the gilded rooster that crowed when Peter lied	B2
	-
What avail is the prayer of the abbess Or the raving of Cock eyed Liz	U
The holy hermit in his cell or the Holy Terror in his	U
Brothers and sisters of Heaven seen through the bars in a wall	T
As we see the uncaught sinners and God have mercy on all	T

Henry Lawson

The Song Of A Prison Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

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