Drought And Doctrine Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABB CCDD EEFF FFGG HHII JJII KKLL MMNNOOFF PP QR SSTT NNFF UUVV WWXX FFYY FFZZ A2A2FF BBB2B2 TTC2C2 CCU U| Come take the tenner doctor yes I know the bill says five | A |
| But it ain't as if you'd merely kep' our little 'un alive | A |
| Man you saved the mother's reason when you saved that babby's life | B |
| An' it's thanks to you I ha'n't a ravin' idiot for a wife | B |
| - | |
| Let me tell you all the story an' if then you think it strange | C |
| That I'd like to fee ye extry why I'll take the bloomin' change | C |
| If yer bill had said a hundred I'm a poor man doc an' yet | D |
| I'd 'a' slaved till I had squared it ay an' still been in yer debt | D |
| - | |
| Well you see the wife's got notions on a heap o' things that ain't | E |
| To be handled by a man as don't pretend to be a saint | E |
| So I minds the cultivation smokes my pipe an' makes no stir | F |
| An' religion an' such p'ints I lays entirely on to her | F |
| - | |
| Now she's got it fixed within her that if children die afore | F |
| They've been sprinkled by the parson they've no show for evermore | F |
| An' though they're spared the pitchforks an' the brim stun' an' the smoke | G |
| They ain't allowed to mix up there with other little folk | G |
| - | |
| So when our last began to pine an' lost his pretty smile | H |
| An' not a parson to be had within a hunder mile | H |
| For though there is a chapel down at Bluegrass Creek you know | I |
| The clargy's there on dooty only thrice a year or so | I |
| - | |
| Well when our yet unchristen'd mite grew limp an' thin an' pale | J |
| It would 'a' cut you to the heart to hear the mother wail | J |
| About her unregenerate babe an' how if it should go | I |
| 'Twould have no chance with them as had their registers to show | I |
| - | |
| Then awful quiet she grew an' hadn't spoken for a week | K |
| When in came brother Bill one day with news from Bluegrass Creek | K |
| I seen says he a notice on the chapel railin' tied | L |
| They'll have service there this evenin' can the youngster stand the ride | L |
| - | |
| For we can't have parson here if it be true as I've heard say | M |
| There's a dyin' man as wants him more'n twenty mile away | M |
| So He hadn't time to finish ere the child was out of bed | N |
| With a shawl about its body an' a hood upon its head | N |
| Saddle up the missus said I did her biddin' like a bird | O |
| Perhaps I thought it foolish but I never said a word | O |
| For though I have a vote in what the kids eat drink or wear | F |
| Their sperritual requirements are entirely her affair | F |
| - | |
| We started on our two hours' ride beneath a burnin' sun | P |
| With Aunt Sal and Bill for sureties to renounce the Evil One | P |
| - | |
| An' a bottle in Sal's basket that was labelled Fine Old Tom | Q |
| Held the water that regeneration was to follow from | R |
| - | |
| For Bluegrass Creek was dry as Bill that very day had found | S |
| An' not a sup o' water to be had for miles around | S |
| So to make salvation sartin for the babby's little soul | T |
| We had filled a dead marine sir at the fam'ly waterhole | T |
| - | |
| Which every forty rods or so Sal raised it to her head | N |
| An' took a snifter just enough to wet her lips she said | N |
| Whereby it came to pass that when we reached the chapel door | F |
| There was only what would serve the job an' deuce a dribble more | F |
| - | |
| The service had begun we didn't like to carry in | U |
| A vessel with so evident a carritur for gin | U |
| So we left it in the porch an ' havin' done our level best | V |
| Went an' owned to bein' mis'rable offenders with the rest | V |
| - | |
| An' nigh upon the finish when the parson had been told | W |
| That a lamb was waitin' there to be admitted to the fold | W |
| Rememberin' the needful I gets up an' quietly slips | X |
| To the porch to see a swagsman with our bottle at his lips | X |
| - | |
| Such a faintness came all over me you might have then an' there | F |
| Knocked me down sir with a feather or tied me with a hair | F |
| Doc I couldn't speak nor move an' though I caught the beggar's eye | Y |
| With a wink he turned the bottle bottom up an' drank it dry | Y |
| - | |
| An' then he flung it from him bein' suddintly aware | F |
| That the label on't was merely a deloosion an' a snare | F |
| An' the crash cut short the people in the middle of A men | Z |
| An' all the congregation heard him holler Sold again | Z |
| - | |
| So that christ'nin' was a failure every water flask was drained | A2 |
| Ev'n the monkey in the vestry not a blessed drop contained | A2 |
| An' the parson in a hurry cantered off upon his mare | F |
| Leaving baby unregenerate an' missus in despair | F |
| - | |
| That night the child grew worse but all my care was for the wife | B |
| I feared more for her reason than for that wee spark o' life | B |
| But you know the rest how Providence contrived that very night | B2 |
| That a doctor should come cadgin' at our shanty for a light | B2 |
| - | |
| Baby Oh he's chirpy thank ye been baptized his name is Bill | T |
| It's weeks an' weeks since parson came an' put him through the mill | T |
| An' his mother's mighty vain upon the subjick of his weight | C2 |
| An' reg'lar cook a hoop about his sperritual state | C2 |
| - | |
| So now you'll take the tenner Oh confound the bloomin' change | C |
| Lord had Billy died but doctor don't you think it summut strange | C |
| That them as keeps the Gate would have refused to let him in | U |
| - | |
| Because a fool mistook a drop of Adam's ale for gin | U |
James Brunton Stephens
(1)
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