The Vagabond Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCBDEDE FGFGHBHB BIBIJKJK LMLMBNBO PQPQRORO STSTUVUV JBJBWXWX YZYZA2BGB QB2QB2C2D2C2D2 E2F2E2F2G2H2G2H2 JC2JC2C2I2C2J2 C2K2C2K2 JL2JL2C2M2C2M2 AI2AI2KBKBWhite handkerchiefs wave from the short black pier | A |
As we glide to the grand old sea | B |
But the song of my heart is for none to hear | C |
If one of them waves for me | B |
A roving roaming life is mine | D |
Ever by field or flood | E |
For not far back in my father's line | D |
Was a dash of the Gipsy blood | E |
- | |
Flax and tussock and fern | F |
Gum and mulga and sand | G |
Reef and palm but my fancies turn | F |
Ever away from land | G |
Strange wild cities in ancient state | H |
Range and river and tree | B |
Snow and ice But my star of fate | H |
Is ever across the sea | B |
- | |
A god like ride on a thundering sea | B |
When all but the stars are blind | I |
A desperate race from Eternity | B |
With a gale and a half behind | I |
A jovial spree in the cabin at night | J |
A song on the rolling deck | K |
A lark ashore with the ships in sight | J |
Till a wreck goes down with a wreck | K |
- | |
A smoke and a yarn on the deck by day | L |
When life is a waking dream | M |
And care and trouble so far away | L |
That out of your life they seem | M |
A roving spirit in sympathy | B |
Who has travelled the whole world o'er | N |
My heart forgets in a week at sea | B |
The trouble of years on shore | O |
- | |
A rolling stone 'tis a saw for slaves | P |
Philosophy false as old | Q |
Wear out or break 'neath the feet of knaves | P |
Or rot in your bed of mould | Q |
But I'D rather trust to the darkest skies | R |
And the wildest seas that roar | O |
Or die where the stars of Nations rise | R |
In the stormy clouds of war | O |
- | |
Cleave to your country home and friends | S |
Die in a sordid strife | T |
You can count your friends on your finger ends | S |
In the critical hours of life | T |
Sacrifice all for the family's sake | U |
Bow to their selfish rule | V |
Slave till your big soft heart they break | U |
The heart of the family fool | V |
- | |
Domestic quarrels and family spite | J |
And your Native Land may be | B |
Controlled by custom but come what might | J |
The rest of the world for me | B |
I'd sail with money or sail without | W |
If your love be forced from home | X |
And you dare enough and your heart be stout | W |
The world is your own to roam | X |
- | |
I've never a love that can sting my pride | Y |
Nor a friend to prove untrue | Z |
For I leave my love ere the turning tide | Y |
And my friends are all too new | Z |
The curse of the Powers on a peace like ours | A2 |
With its greed and its treachery | B |
A stranger's hand and a stranger land | G |
And the rest of the world for me | B |
- | |
But why be bitter The world is cold | Q |
To one with a frozen heart | B2 |
New friends are often so like the old | Q |
They seem of the past a part | B2 |
As a better part of the past appears | C2 |
When enemies parted long | D2 |
Are come together in kinder years | C2 |
With their better nature strong | D2 |
- | |
I had a friend ere my first ship sailed | E2 |
A friend that I never deserved | F2 |
For the selfish strain in my blood prevailed | E2 |
As soon as my turn was served | F2 |
And the memory haunts my heart with shame | G2 |
Or rather the pride that's there | H2 |
In different guises but soul the same | G2 |
I meet him everywhere | H2 |
- | |
I had a chum When the times were tight | J |
We starved in Australian scrubs | C2 |
We froze together in parks at night | J |
And laughed together in pubs | C2 |
And I often hear a laugh like his | C2 |
From a sense of humour keen | I2 |
And catch a glimpse in a passing phiz | C2 |
Of his broad good humoured grin | J2 |
- | |
And I had a love 'twas a love to prize | C2 |
But I never went back again | K2 |
I have seen the light of her kind brown eyes | C2 |
In many a face since then | K2 |
- | |
- | |
- | |
The sailors say 'twill be rough to night | J |
As they fasten the hatches down | L2 |
The south is black and the bar is white | J |
And the drifting smoke is brown | L2 |
The gold has gone from the western haze | C2 |
The sea birds circle and swarm | M2 |
But we shall have plenty of sunny days | C2 |
And little enough of storm | M2 |
- | |
The hill is hiding the short black pier | A |
As the last white signal's seen | I2 |
The points run in and the houses veer | A |
And the great bluff stands between | I2 |
So darkness swallows each far white speck | K |
On many a wharf and quay | B |
The night comes down on a restless deck | K |
Grim cliffs and The Open Sea | B |
Henry Lawson
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
Write your comment about The Vagabond poem by Henry Lawson
Best Poems of Henry Lawson