In A 'bus Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABBCCCC DDECCECCCCCC FGFHHF CCIJKI LMFBBF NN IBBI IIBCCB OOCCCC IIKNNK PPBQIB PPIBBI PPPRRP BBI PPI CCIBBI IIFFFF QQCPPC IIBCCB| A SPRING CONTRAST | A |
| A quarter of a century agone | B |
| Just such a face as this upon me shone | B |
| And in a 'bus too | C |
| And then as now it was the warm springtide | C |
| And then as now there was no soul inside | C |
| Excepting us two | C |
| - | |
| There are the same blue eyes the delicate nose | D |
| Same rosebud mouth and cheeks of blushful rose | D |
| Same chin bewitching | E |
| Same throat of sheeny white and perfect mould | C |
| Same light brown hair with scattered threads of gold | C |
| The brown enriching | E |
| Ah how this present beauty's counterpart | C |
| Woke instant tumult in my fluttering heart | C |
| Pain pleasure blended | C |
| Yet this one is as beautiful as that | C |
| Dear me why don't my heart go pit a pat | C |
| Now as it then did | C |
| - | |
| One glance of those bright eyes and all was o'er | F |
| I wished to die at least I cared no more | G |
| For life without her | F |
| These glancing on me now are quite as fair | H |
| Yet strange to say I do not seem to care | H |
| One bit about her | F |
| - | |
| I wished I were a glove upon that hand | C |
| The eardrop in her ear the zone that spanned | C |
| Her waist so trimly | I |
| And now in view of equal charms the bliss | J |
| Of such astounding metamorphosis | K |
| I see but dimly | I |
| - | |
| Well I recall the mad desire to hear | L |
| Her name who turned the common atmosphere | M |
| To heavenly ether | F |
| Why is it that I do not now as then | B |
| Care twopence if the name be M or N | B |
| Or both or neither | F |
| - | |
| Well I remember how I longed to pay | N |
| Her fare or in some other lordly way | N |
| - | |
| Impress her duly | I |
| Why is it then though not less generous grown | B |
| I'm better pleased this nymph should pay her own | B |
| Than mulct yours truly | I |
| - | |
| And how quick soaring hope as quickly fell | I |
| When I descried a military swell | I |
| Her brooch portrayed in | B |
| Why is it then 'twould leave me undistressed | C |
| If a whole regiment adorned the breast | C |
| Of this fair maiden | B |
| - | |
| And how my anguish when she drew her glove | O |
| And showed the plain gold sign of wedded love | O |
| Refused assuagement | C |
| Why is it that I do not care a jot | C |
| If this one wears such fateful ring or not | C |
| Plain or engagement | C |
| - | |
| Is it because my taste hath changed its style | I |
| And now prefers in place of Venus' smile | I |
| The frown of Pallas | K |
| Ah no Minerva too has lost her sway | N |
| I met her antitype this very day | N |
| And felt quite callous | K |
| - | |
| Is it the climate Ah if vernal airs | P |
| Incline the heart to amorous affairs | P |
| This Austral season | B |
| Should stir in every vein when beauty's by | Q |
| The throb of lusty youth Oh no the cli | I |
| mate's not the reason | B |
| - | |
| Is it the place Still no this threepenny 'bus | P |
| Is much the same as rolled the twain of us | P |
| Through Piccadilly | I |
| And fitter place when all is said and done | B |
| There could not be for bussing Pass the pun | B |
| I know it's silly | I |
| - | |
| Is it that I have learned their sweetest smiles | P |
| And airs and graces are but wanton wiles | P |
| And mere pretences | P |
| Or is it that the naked eye of youth | R |
| Sees all through glamour while I see the truth | R |
| Through convex lenses | P |
| - | |
| But wherefore beat about the bush old man | B |
| You know that you can give if any can | B |
| Reasons in plenty | I |
| - | |
| Must I then own it 'Tis because because | P |
| I am not quite not quite the man I was | P |
| At five and twenty | I |
| - | |
| An empty socket shows where passion burned | C |
| My sense of beauty now alas has turned | C |
| Pure intellectual | I |
| And to arouse a tumult in the brain | B |
| Or thrill the system with delicious pain | B |
| Quite ineffectual | I |
| - | |
| So I may gaze on her and gaze my fill | I |
| D'ye know I think I'm somewhat human still | I |
| I like her rather | F |
| But oh how things are changed from what they were | F |
| For all she is so fair I feel to her | F |
| Just like a father | F |
| - | |
| She dowers me with a smile from lip and eye | Q |
| And while I wonder what she meaneth by | Q |
| The sweet bestowment | C |
| Please pass my fare comes from her beauteous lips | P |
| And as I take the coin our finger tips | P |
| Meet for a moment | C |
| - | |
| A thrill A thrill I do declare a thrill | I |
| Upon my honour I believe I'm still | I |
| Intensely human | B |
| I pause and ponder what I mean to do | C |
| Methinks I'd better scuttle home unto | C |
| My own old woman | B |
James Brunton Stephens
(1)
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