Marsupial Bill Poem Rhyme Scheme

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James Brunton Stephens

Marsupial Bill Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

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	A
IT was the time when geese despond	B
And turkeys make their wills	C
The time when Christians to a man	D
Forgive each other's bills	C
It was the time when Christmas glee	E
The heart of childhood fills	C
	-
	-
Alas that when the changing year	F
Brings round the blessed day	B
The hearts of little Queensland boys	G
Wax keen to hunt and slay	B
As if the chime of Christmas time	H
Were but a call to prey	B
	-
	-
Alas that when our dwellings teem	I
With comfits and with toys	G
When bat and ball and wicket call	J
To yet sublimer joys	G
Whatever can't be caught and killed	B
Is stale to certain boys	G
	-
	-
Strange that with such instructive things	K
From which to pick and choose	L
With moral books and puzzle maps	M
That teach while they amuse	L
Some boys can find no pleasure save	N
In killing kangaroos	L
	-
	-
Where Quart Pot Creek to Severn's stream	I
	-
Its mighty tribute rolls	O
There stands a town the happiest town	P
I think betwixt the poles	O
And all around is holy ground	B
In fact it's full of holes	O
	-
	-
And there or thereabouts there dwelt	B
Still dwells for aught I know	Q
A little boy whose moral tone	R
Was lamentably low	Q
A shocking scamp with just a speck	S
Of good in embryo	Q
	-
	-
His name was Bill To wallabies	T
He bore an evil will	U
All things that hop on hinder legs	V
His function was to kill	U
And from his show of scalps he won	W
The name Marsupial Bill	U
	-
	-
His face and form were pinched and lean	X
And dim his youthful eye	Y
'Tis well that growing Queensland boys	G
Should know the reason why	Y
My little lads 'twas all along	Z
Of smoking on the sly	Y
	-
	-
Through this was William small and lean	X
Through this his eye was dim	A2
Nor biceps rose on nerveless arm	B2
Nor calf on nether limb	A2
Ye growing boys and hobbledehoys	G
Be warned by me and him	A2
	-
	-
His elevated shoulders stood	B
But little way apart	B
	-
His elbow joints Oh poor avail	C2
Of mere descriptive art	B
I would I had an artist man	D
To show them William's carte	B
	-
	-
And should you ask how such a one	W
A mighty hunter grew	D2
So many flying does outsped	B
So many boomers slow	Q
Bill owned a canine mate to which	E2
His victories were due	B
	-
	-
A brute so complex that he set	B
The fancy all agog	F2
Of breed that ne'er found name in ex	G
hibition catalogue	G2
Oh would I had an artist man	D
To show them William's dog	G2
	-
	-
On Christmas eve at set of sun	W
A hollow tree he sought	B
A match a scratch a puff and Bill	U
Was lost in smoke and thought	B
And all his battles o'er again	H2
In fervid fancy fought	B
	-
	-
No ha'penny thing no penny thing	I2
No thing of common clay	B
Such brilliant memories evoked	B
With hopes as bright as they	B
It was his father's Sunday pipe	J2
That Bill had stolen away	B
	-
	-
For many a time and oft had he	E
Admired the wondrous bowl	K2
The stem the mouthpiece and the tout	B
	-
Ensemble of the whole	K2
Until desire of it had grown	R
A portion of his soul	K2
	-
	-
Until desire o'ergrew the fear	F
Of kick or cuff or stripe	J2
That eve when Bill stepped forth from home	L2
The guilty scheme was ripe	J2
His right hand trouser leg concealed	B
His father's Sunday pipe	J2
	-
	-
And now within a heaven of smoke	M2
Against the tree he leant	B
The while the mellow influence	G
Through all his vitals went	B
And for the first time in his life	N2
He knew what meerschaum meant	B
	-
	-
So subtly stole the influence	G
His inmost being through	B
He did not mark the sudden bark	O2
That signalled kangaroo	B
Nor noted that his constant mate	B
Had vanished from his view	B
	-
	-
His mind and eye were on the pipe	J2
And he had just begun	W
To count how many scalps would go	Q
To purchase such a one	W
When turning round his head he saw	G
Against the setting sun	W
	-
	-
A Boomer and as when the waves	G
Close o'er a drowning head	B
Sudden the whole forgotten past	B
Before the soul lies spread	B
	-
And all the charge sheet of a life	N2
In one brief glance is read	B
	-
	-
Ev'n so in instant tumult thronged	B
About his wildered mind	B
A thousand shapes of wounded things	G
Of every size and kind	B
And some were scalped and some were maimed	B
And some were docked behind	B
	-
	-
The kangaroo the wallaroo	B
The wallaby was there	B
The 'possum jabbered in its fright	B
Sore wept the native bear	B
The stricken paddamelon moaned	B
Its ineffectual prayer	B
The battered 'guana fixed on him	A2
Its dull remonstrant stare	B
While tail less lizards swarmed and crawled	B
About him everywhere	B
And limbless frogs denounced him with	P2
The croaking of despair	B
And tortured bats with ghostly wings	G
Clung to his stiffened hair	B
But suddenly the vision passed	B
And Bill became aware	B
That he was in the Boomer's arms	G
And bounding through the air	B
	-
	-
Hop hop they went o'er broken wilds	G
Where stacked in many a mound	B
The hoards of clay embedded ore	B
Rose grimly all around	B
Unheeding miners' rights they jumped	B
A claim at every bound	B
	-
	-
Then on o'er wastes so very bare	B
That even stripping ceased	B
	-
And as they neared the hill countrie	B
The frightful pace increased	B
Nor granite slope nor timbered ridge	Q2
Told on the tireless beast	B
The sun went down the full orbed moon	R2
Came swimming up the East	B
Nor yet the old man slackened speed	B
Nor yet his prey released	B
	-
	-
Still on and on till from a cliff	S2
A sentry challenged near	B
Though what the challenge or reply	Y
No mortal man may hear	B
We only know that for a sign	T2
Each drooped his dexter ear	B
	-
	-
Whate'er it meant the old man checked	B
His onward course thereat	B
Dropped Bill and dragged him by the wrists	G
A cross a wooded flat	B
To where the KANGAROO GEMOT	B
In full assembly sat	B
	-
	-
Ringed by the fathers of the tribe	U2
Surrounded yet alone	R
The Bossaroo superbly posed	B
Upon a granite throne	R
A very old old man who had	B
Four generations known	R
	-
	-
Upon his mournful eye the woes	G
Of all his race were writ	B
Yet age and sorrow had not dimmed	B
His majesty a whit	B
And oh his metatarsal bones	G
Displayed the real grit	B
	-
	-
	-
Nor unattended sat the sires	G
Behind them crouched their mates	G
Nor kangaroos alone composed	B
The Congress of the States	G
But all proscribed marsupial breeds	G
Had sent their delegates	G
	-
	-
Lo at a signal from the boss	G
The serried ring gave way	B
And through an opening in the throng	Z
The captor dragged his prey	B
Bowed to the chair then called to aid	B
A strapping M L A	V2
	-
	-
And thus betwixt a double guard	B
The prisoner found his place	G
And all around were wrathful eyes	G
Without a gleam of grace	G
One wild concatenated scowl	W2
Was focussed in his face	G
	-
	-
Now hitherto poor Bill had been	X2
As dumb as dumb could be	E
But at that pandemoniac scowl	W2
His struggling tongue got free	E
He lifted up his voice and cried	B
Oh please it wasn't me	E
	-
	-
A tumult rose but with a sign	T2
The boss the riot checked	B
Then cleared his throat and bade the guard	B
The prisoner's clothes inspect	B
Ay ay Sir came the prompt reply	Y
Or words to that effect	B
	-
	-
They spake the language that was heard	B
	-
While yet the world was young	Y2
And he who knows it knows all speech	Z2
That out of it hath sprung	Y2
With compliments to Dr Hearn	A3
It was the Aryan tongue	Y2
	-
	-
And should you ask how Bill was up	B3
To every word they said	B
And how such antiquated lore	B
Had got into his head	B
'Twas his pre natal memory	E
That served him in such stead	B
	-
	-
They searched the prisoner's clothes and first	B
They brought the pipe to view	B
For though it is a mystery	E
To me as well as you	B
It is a solemn fact that Bill	U
Had stuck to it all through	B
	-
	-
Then one by one his poor effects	G
Were collared by his guards	G
Peach stones fig chew a catapult	B
A greasy pack of cards	G
A half cut cake of cavendish	C3
Prime quality Gaujard's	G
	-
	-
But when from out a leathern sheath	D3
A blood stained knife they drew	B
All round the court from hand to hand	B
They passed it in review	B
Each sniffed the blade in turn and each	Z2
In turn said Kangaroo	B
	-
	-
And last a printed document	B
Their simple souls perplexed	B
	-
Each eyed the paper learnedly	U
And passed it to the next	B
But not an Aryan of them all	U
Could even guess the text	B
	-
	-
At length they summoned to their aid	B
An old and learn d clerk	E3
Who as tradition told had been	X2
With Noah in	X2