The Wolf And Shepherds. A Fable Poem Rhyme Scheme

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Laws as we read in ancient sages	A
Have been like cobwebs in all ages	B
Cobwebs for little flies are spread	C
And laws for little folks are made	D
But if an insect of renown	E
Hornet or beetle wasp or drone	F
Be caught in quest of sport or plunder	G
The flimsy fetter flies in sunder	G
Your simile perhaps may please one	H
With whom wit holds the place of reason	H
But can you prove that this in fact is	A
Agreeable to life and practice	I
Then hear what in his simple way	J
Old sop told me t' other day	J
In days of yore but which is very odd	K
Our author mentions not the period	L
We mortal men less given to speeches	B
Allow'd the beasts sometimes to teach us	I
But now we all are prattlers grown	F
And suffer no voice but our own	F
With us no beast has leave to speak	M
Although his honest heart should break	N
'Tis true your asses and your apes	O
And other brutes in human shapes	O
And that thing made of sound and show	P
Which mortals have misnamed a beau	P
But in the language of the sky	Q
Is call'd a two legg'd butterfly	Q
Will make your very heartstrings ache	N
With loud and everlasting clack	R
And beat your auditory drum	S
Till you grow deaf or they grow dumb	S
But to our story we return	T
'Twas early on a Summer morn	U
A Wolf forsook the mountain den	V
And issued hungry on the plain	W
Full many a stream and lawn he past	X
And reach'd a winding vale at last	X
Where from a hollow rock he spied	Y
The shepherds drest in flowery pride	Y
Garlands were strew'd and all was gay	J
To celebrate a holiday	J
The merry tabor's gamesome sound	Z
Provoked the sprightly dance around	Z
Hard by a rural board was rear'd	A2
On which in fair array appear'd	A2
The peach the apple and the raisin	B2
And all the fruitage of the season	H
But more distinguish'd than the rest	C2
Was seen a wether ready drest	C2
That smoking recent from the flame	D2
Diffused a stomach rousing steam	E2
Our Wolf could not endure the sight	C2
Courageous grew his appetite	C2
His entrails groan'd with tenfold pain	W
He lick'd his lips and lick'd again	V
At last with lightning in his eyes	F2
He bounces forth and fiercely cries	F2
'Shepherds I am not given to scolding	G2
But now my spleen I cannot hold in	B2
By Jove such scandalous oppression	H
Would put an elephant in passion	H
You who your flocks as you pretend	C2
By wholesome laws from harm defend	C2
Which make it death for any beast	C2
How much soe'er by hunger press'd	C2
To seize a sheep by force or stealth	H2
For sheep have right to life and health	H2
Can you commit uncheck'd by shame	D2
What in a beast so much you blame	D2
What is a law if those who make it	C2
Become the forwardest to break it	C2
The case is plain you would reserve	I2
All to yourselves while others starve	J2
Such laws from base self interest spring	G2
Not from the reason of the thing '	K2
He was proceeding when a swain	W
Burst out 'And dares a wolf arraign	W
His betters and condemn their measures	L2
And contradict their wills and pleasures	L2
We have establish'd laws 'tis true	M2
But laws are made for such as you	M2
Know sirrah in its very nature	G
A law can't reach the legislature	G
For laws without a sanction join'd	C2
As all men know can never bind	C2
But sanctions reach not us the makers	L2
For who dares punish us though breakers	L2
'Tis therefore plain beyond denial	N2
That laws were ne'er design'd to tie all	O2
But those whom sanctions reach alone	F
We stand accountable to none	H
Besides 'tis evident that seeing	G2
Laws from the great derive their being	G2
They as in duty bound should love	P2
The great in whom they live and move	Q2
And humbly yield to their desires	L2
'Tis just what gratitude requires	L2
What suckling dandled on the lap	R2
Would tear away its mother's pap	R2
But hold Why deign I to dispute	C2
With such a scoundrel of a brute	C2
Logic is lost upon a knave	S2
Let action prove the law our slave '	K2
An angry nod his will declared	C2
To his gruff yeoman of the guard	C2
The full fed mongrels train'd to ravage	T2
Fly to devour the shaggy savage	U2
The beast had now no time to lose	V2
In chopping logic with his foes	W2
'This argument ' quoth he 'has force	X2
And swiftness is my sole resource '	K2
He said and left the swains their prey	J
And to the mountains scour'd away	J

James Beattie

The Wolf And Shepherds. A Fable Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

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