An Old Vagabond Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABB CCDEFFGGHHIIJJKKLLMM NNO PP| HE was old and alone and he sat on a stone to rest for awhile from the road | A |
| His beard was white and his eye was bright and his wrinkles overflowed | A |
| With a mild content at the way life went and I closed the book on my knee | B |
| 'I will venture a look in this living book ' I thought as he greeted me | B |
| - | |
| And I said ' My friend have you time to spend to tell me what makes you glad ' | - |
| 'Oh ay my lad ' with a smile 'I'm glad that I'm old yet am never sad ' | - |
| - | |
| 'But why ' said I and his merry eye made answer as much as his tongue | C |
| 'Because ' said he 'I am poor and free who was rich and a slave when young | C |
| There is naught but age can allay the rage of the passions that rule men's lives | D |
| And a man to be free must a poor man be for unhappy is he who thrives | E |
| He fears for his ventures his rents and debentures his crops and his son and his wife | F |
| His dignity's slighted when he's not invited he fears every day of his life | F |
| But the man who is poor and by age has grown sure that there are no surprises in years | G |
| Who knows that to have is no joy nor to save and who opens his eyes and his ears | G |
| To the world as it is and the part of it his and who says They are happy these birds | H |
| Yet they live day by day in improvident way improvident What were the words | H |
| Of the Teacher who taught that the field lilies brought the lesson of life to a man | I |
| Can we better the thing that is school less or sing more of love than the nightingale can | I |
| See that rabbit what feature in that pretty creature needs science or culture or care | J |
| Send this dog to a college and stuff him with knowledge will it add to the warmth of his hair | J |
| Why should mankind apart turn from Nature to Art and declare the exchange better planned | K |
| I prefer to trust God for my living than plod for my bread at a master's hand | K |
| A man's higher being is knowing and seeing not having and toiling for more | L |
| In the senses and soul is the joy of control not in pride or luxurious store | L |
| Yet my needs are the same as the kingling's whose name is a terror to thousands some bread | M |
| Some water and milk I can do without silk some wool and a roof for my head | M |
| What more is possest that will stand the grim test of death's verdict What riches remain | N |
| To give joy at the last all the vanities past Ay ay that's the word they are vain | N |
| And vexatious of spirit to all who inherit belief in the world and its ways | O |
| And so old and alone sitting here on a stone I smile with the birds at the days ' | - |
| - | |
| And I thanked him and went to my study head bent where I laid down my book on its shelf | P |
| And that day all the page that I read was my age and my wants and my joys and myself | P |
John Boyle O'reilly
(1)
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