To My Old Friend, William Leachman Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABB CCDD EEEE FFCC GGDD HHF AAEE II E JJKK LLMM AAFF FAA CCFF FFFF CCNN| Fer forty year and better you have been a friend to me | A |
| Through days of sore afflictions and dire adversity | A |
| You allus had a kind word of counsul to impart | B |
| Which was like a healin' 'intment to the sorrow of my hart | B |
| - | |
| When I burried my first womern William Leachman it was you | C |
| Had the only consolation that I could listen to | C |
| Fer I knowed you had gone through it and had rallied from the blow | D |
| And when you said I'd do the same I knowed you'd ort to know | D |
| - | |
| But that time I'll long remember how I wundered here and thare | E |
| Through the settin' room and kitchen and out in the open air | E |
| And the snowflakes whirlin' whirlin' and the fields a frozen glare | E |
| And the neghbors' sleds and wagons congergatin' ev'rywhare | E |
| - | |
| I turned my eyes to'rds heaven but the sun was hid away | F |
| I turned my eyes to'rds earth again but all was cold and gray | F |
| And the clock like ice a crackin' clickt the icy hours in two | C |
| And my eyes'd never thawed out ef it hadn't been fer you | C |
| - | |
| We set thare by the smoke house me and you out thare alone | G |
| Me a thinkin' you a talkin' in a soothin' undertone | G |
| You a talkin' me a thinkin' of the summers long ago | D |
| And a writin' 'Marthy Marthy' with my finger in the snow | D |
| - | |
| William Leachman I can see you jest as plane as I could then | H |
| And your hand is on my shoulder and you rouse me up again | H |
| And I see the tears a drippin' from your own eyes as you say | F |
| 'Be rickonciled and bear it we but linger fer a day ' | - |
| - | |
| At the last Old Settlers' Meetin' we went j'intly you and me | A |
| Your hosses and my wagon as you wanted it to be | A |
| And sence I can remember from the time we've neghbored here | E |
| In all sich friendly actions you have double done your sheer | E |
| - | |
| It was better than the meetin' too that nine mile talk we had | I |
| Of the times when we first settled here and travel was so bad | I |
| When we had to go on hoss back and sometimes on 'Shanks's mare ' | - |
| And 'blaze' a road fer them behind that had to travel thare | E |
| - | |
| And now we was a trottin' 'long a level gravel pike | J |
| In a big two hoss road wagon jest as easy as you like | J |
| Two of us on the front seat and our wimmern folks behind | K |
| A settin' in theyr Winsor cheers in perfect peace of mind | K |
| - | |
| And we pinted out old landmarks nearly faded out of sight | L |
| Thare they ust to rob the stage coach thare Gash Morgan had the fight | L |
| With the old stag deer that pronged him how he battled fer his life | M |
| And lived to prove the story by the handle of his knife | M |
| - | |
| Thare the first griss mill was put up in the Settlement and we | A |
| Had tuck our grindin' to it in the Fall of Forty three | A |
| When we tuck our rifles with us techin' elbows all the way | F |
| And a stickin' right together ev'ry minute night and day | F |
| - | |
| Thare ust to stand the tavern that they called the 'Travelers' Rest ' | - |
| And thare beyent the covered bridge 'The Counter fitters' Nest' | F |
| Whare they claimed the house was ha'nted that a man was murdered thare | A |
| And burried underneath the floor er 'round the place somewhare | A |
| - | |
| And the old Plank road they laid along in Fifty one er two | C |
| You know we talked about the times when that old road was new | C |
| How 'Uncle Sam' put down that road and never taxed the State | F |
| Was a problem don't you rickollect we couldn't dim onstrate | F |
| - | |
| Ways was devius William Leachman that me and you has past | F |
| But as I found you true at first I find you true at last | F |
| And now the time's a comin' mighty nigh our jurney's end | F |
| I want to throw wide open all my soul to you my friend | F |
| - | |
| With the stren'th of all my bein' and the heat of hart and brane | C |
| And ev'ry livin' drop of blood in artery and vane | C |
| I love you and respect you and I venerate your name | N |
| Fer the name of William Leachman and True Manhood's jest the same | N |
James Whitcomb Riley
(1)
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