The Old Carrier Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEF GGHHIIJJKK LLMMKKNNKK OOKKPPQQKK RRSSTTUUKK VVWWXXYYKK ZZRRA2A2B2VKK KKC2C2RRA2A2KK D2D2E2E2F2F2G2G2KK UUH2H2GGOOKK I2I2J2J2I2I2KKKKOld Lucia who for many years walked back and forth every day and in | A |
all weathers between Azzano and Menaggio a distance of six miles | B |
bearing merchandise of all sorts in a basket on her back fell to the | C |
ground exhausted as she was nearing her poor home on Christmas Eve | D |
She died next morning at the age of seventy three At the time she | E |
fell she was carrying a load of nearly one hundred pounds | F |
- | |
Patient toiler on the road | G |
Bending 'neath your heavy load | G |
Worn and furrowed is your face | H |
Slow and tremulous your pace | H |
Yet you still pursue your way | I |
Bearing burdens day by day | I |
With the same pathetic smile | J |
Over many a weary mile | J |
As you bravely come and go | K |
To and from Menaggio | K |
- | |
Snowy white your scanty hair | L |
Crowns a forehead seamed with care | L |
And a look of suffering lies | M |
In your clear blue wistful eyes | M |
While your thin and ashen cheek | K |
Tells the tale you will not speak | K |
Of a lodging dark and old | N |
And a hearth so bare and cold | N |
That you often hungry go | K |
To and from Menaggio | K |
- | |
Never know you days of rest | O |
Ceaseless is your humble quest | O |
Of the pittance that you ask | K |
For your arduous daily task | K |
Every morning sees your form | P |
Pass through sunshine or through storm | P |
Every evening hears your feet | Q |
Trudging up the darkened street | Q |
For your gait is always slow | K |
Coming from Menaggio | K |
- | |
Once your dull eyes gleamed with light | R |
Once those arms were round and white | R |
And the feet now roughly shod | S |
Lightly danced upon the sod | S |
As to womanhood you grew | T |
And a lover's rapture knew | T |
For you once were fair 'tis said | U |
Early wooed and early wed | U |
And your husband long ago | K |
Died in old Menaggio | K |
- | |
Children Aye but not one cares | V |
How the poor old mother fares | V |
You must struggle on alone | W |
They have children of their own | W |
And for them devoid of shame | X |
All your scanty earnings claim | X |
Can you walk Then go you must | Y |
Plodding on through rain and dust | Y |
Summer heat and winter's snow | K |
To and from Menaggio | K |
- | |
Christmas Eve Through glistening green | Z |
Gleams a merry festive scene | Z |
Trees with candles burning bright | R |
Wake in children's hearts delight | R |
Where such peace and comfort reign | A2 |
None observes the window pane | A2 |
Where your wan face sadly peers | B2 |
Through a mist of falling tears | V |
At a joy you never know | K |
Carrier from Menaggio | K |
- | |
Much that makes those children gay | K |
You have brought them day by day | K |
Thankful that you thus could earn | C2 |
Wood to make your hearthstone burn | C2 |
Not for you such food and light | R |
Clothing warm and candles bright | R |
You are grateful if you gain | A2 |
Bread to stifle hunger's pain | A2 |
Ah it was not always so | K |
In old time Menaggio | K |
- | |
- | |
- | |
She has turned to climb the hill | D2 |
Stay why lies she there so still | D2 |
Have her old limbs failed at last | E2 |
In the chilling wintry blast | E2 |
Since for threescore years and ten | F2 |
She has done the work of men | F2 |
'Tis not strange that she should fall | G2 |
Weak and helpless by the wall | G2 |
Nevermore to come and go | K |
To and from Menaggio | K |
- | |
Gently lift her old gray head | U |
Bear her homeward She is dead | U |
Fallen like a faithful horse | H2 |
At the limit of its course | H2 |
Fallen on the stony road | G |
Uncomplaining 'neath her load | G |
And the heart within her breast | O |
For the first time finds its rest | O |
Rest that it could never know | K |
Coming from Menaggio | K |
- | |
Sound again O Christmas bells | I2 |
Peace on Earth your song foretells | I2 |
It has come in truth to one | J2 |
Whose long pilgrimage is done | J2 |
Merciful her quick release | I2 |
Blessed her eternal peace | I2 |
Yet I know that day by day | K |
As she no more comes my way | K |
I shall miss her as I go | K |
To and from Menaggio | K |
John L. Stoddard
(1)
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