A Brisbane Reverie Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AAA BBB CCC DDEFFF GGG HHH III JJJ FFF KKK LL L MNM OOO PPP QQQ RRR SSS QQQ TTT UUU FFFVVV WWW| As I sit beside my little study window looking down | A |
| From the heights of contemplation attic front upon the town | A |
| Attic front per week with board of course a sov'reign and a crown | A |
| - | |
| As I sit these sad digressions though are much to be deplored | B |
| In my lonely little attic it is all I can afford | B |
| And I should have mentioned washing not included in the board | B |
| - | |
| As I sit these wild parentheses my very soul abhors | C |
| High above the ills of life its petty rumours paltry wars | C |
| The attic back is cheaper but it wants a chest of drawers | C |
| - | |
| In the purpling light of half past six before the stars are met | D |
| While the stricken sun clings fondly to his royal mantle yet | D |
| Dying glorious on the hill tops in reluctant violet | E |
| Just the time that favours vision blissful moments that unbar | F |
| The inner sight assisted by a very mild cigar | F |
| To behold the things that are not side by side with those that are | F |
| - | |
| Just the very light and very time that suit the bard's complaint | G |
| When through present past and future roams his soul without restraint | G |
| When no clearer are the things that are than are the things that ain't | G |
| - | |
| With a dual apperception metaphysical profound | H |
| Past and present running parallel I scan the scene around | H |
| Were there two of us the attic front would only be a pound | H |
| - | |
| Beneath mine eyes the buried past arises from the tomb | I |
| Not cadaverous or ghostly but in all its living bloom | I |
| I would rather pay the odds than have a partner in my room | I |
| - | |
| How the complex now contrasteth with the elemental then | J |
| Tide of change outflowing flow of ink outstripping stride of pen | J |
| Unless it were but no they only take in single men | J |
| - | |
| Where trackless wilderness lay wide a hundred ages through | F |
| I can see a man with papers from my attic point of view | F |
| Who for gath'ring house assessments gets a very decent screw | F |
| - | |
| Where forest contiguity assuaged the summer heats | K |
| It is now an argued question when the City Council meets | K |
| If we mightn't buy a tree or two to shade the glaring streets | K |
| - | |
| Where no sound announced the flight of time not even crow of cock | L |
| I can see the gun that stuns the town with monitory shock | L |
| - | |
| And a son of that same weapon hired to shoot at one o'clock | L |
| - | |
| Where the kangaroo gave hops the old man fleetest of the fleet | M |
| Mrs Pursy gives a hop to night to all the town's lite | N |
| But her old man cannot hop because of bunions on his feet | M |
| - | |
| Where the emu at its own sweet will went wandering all the day | O |
| And left its bill prints on whate'er came handy in its way | O |
| There are printed bills that advertise The Emu for the Bay | O |
| - | |
| Where of old with awful mysteries and diabolic din | P |
| They kippered adolescents in the presence of their kin | P |
| There's a grocer selling herrings kippered half a crown per tin | P |
| - | |
| Where the savage only used his club to supplement his fist | Q |
| The white man uses his for friendly intercourse and whist | Q |
| Not to mention sherry port bordeaux et cetera see list | Q |
| - | |
| Where dress was at a discount or at most a modest fall | R |
| Rise Criterion Cosmopolitan and City Clothing Hall | R |
| And neither men nor women count for much the dress is all | R |
| - | |
| Where a bride's trousseau consisted of an extra coat of grease | S |
| And Nature gave the pair a suit of glossy black apiece | S |
| Now the matrimonial outfit is a perfect golden fleece | S |
| - | |
| Where lorn widows wore the knee joints of the late lamented dead | Q |
| We have dashing wives who wear their living husbands' joints instead | Q |
| Yea their vitals for embellishment of bosom neck and head | Q |
| - | |
| Where the blacks ignoring livers lived according to their wills | T |
| Nor knew that flesh is heir to quite a lexicon of ills | T |
| Five white chemists in one street grow rich through antibilious pills | T |
| - | |
| Where the only bell was the bell bird's note now many mingling bells | U |
| Make Catholic the trembling air as famed George Eliot tells | U |
| Of another town somewhere between more northern parallels | U |
| - | |
| But in case the name of Catholic offend protesting ear | F |
| Let Wesleyan or Baptist be interpolated here | F |
| Or that bells make Presbyterian the trembling atmosphere | F |
| Where the savage learned no love from earth nor from the shining frame | V |
| And merely feared the devil under some outlandish name | V |
| There are heaps of Britishers whose creed is very much the same | V |
| - | |
| Where the gin was black methinks'tis time the bard were shutting up | W |
| The bell is ringing for the non inebriating cup | W |
| And even attic bards must have their little bite and sup | W |
James Brunton Stephens
(1)
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