Brahm Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: AAABCCDEEEF GGGFHHHFFFFFF IIIFJJJFJJFFFFF KKLLMMFFNNJJJJJJFFFF OOPPQQRRSSTTUU FFJJVVWWJJXX YYZA2JJJJB2B2 C2C2YYD2E2YYFFFJJFFF F JJF2F2FA2A2A2F2FSSF G2B2FFFF H2H2H2H2H2FJJF TTTTTFI2I2I2F JJJFZZZZZZZZZZZFJ2J2 J2FJJJJF YYYYFK2K2YYFSSFJJJJF

A spectral film that came and wentA
In its elusive way gave ventA
In some unreal words which meantA
'I think therefore I am 'B
That phantasm only thought it thoughtC
A vain conception crudely wroughtC
An egotistic shamD
Which brings us up against the factE
By Chunder's attestation backedE
There is no Substance Thought nor ActE
Nothing exists but BrahmF
-
This quaint contraption here belowG
Is not a magic shadow showG
Where phantom figures come and goG
As held by old KhayyamF
A show has time and space enoughH
But here we only have such stuffH
As dreams are made of mental fluffH
And visionary flamF
Throughout the universal schemeF
Be sure things tare not what they seemF
To quote a well known psalmF
They're only whimsies of a dreamF
A transient dream of BrahmF
-
All through the cycles of the PastI
At which Notation stands aghastI
He has subsisted first and lastI
Lone functionless and calmF
Nothing extraneous can obtrudeJ
Upon his Sabbath quietudeJ
Or discompose his tranquil moodJ
For nothing is but BrahmF
'The Past and Present here uniteJ
Beneath Time's flowing tide' to citeJ
A Bard of Uncle SamF
For Time stretched out in aeons dimF
To Apprehension's very rimF
Is insignificant to himF
A Bagetelle to BrahmF
-
For once in his negation deepK
He somehow chanced to drop asleepK
And through that forty wings there ranL
A flitting dream So time beganL
He dreamed this stellar lens of oursM
Which mocks at telescopic powersM
Innumerable suns sublimeF
At furious speed yet keeping timeF
And so remote that to the eyeN
They look like fixtures in the skyN
But that's a trifle Round aboutJ
A million light years further outJ
The wisps of nebular portendJ
Sidereal schemes without an endJ
And this is no poetic flightJ
Nor idiotic blatherskiteJ
Nor what is termed a cramF
However vast these plans may seemF
They're only figments of a dreamF
A trifling dream of BrahmF
-
He dreamed our System's fiery gasO
Condensing into solid massO
And during several billion yearsP
Evolving planetary spheresP
But take this globe alone to proveQ
How things have moved or seemed to moveQ
He dreamed some pulpy form of lifeR
Mutation slow and savage strifeR
With Nature's forces all in playS
And Darwin's system under wayS
While bits of hide and tufts of hairT
For countless centuries fill'd the airT
And only those were left aliveU
Whose fitness caused them to surviveU
-
Monsters that lived in Gulfs of slimeF
With names that balk and baffle rhymeF
Prodigious sloths whose daily foodJ
Was half a ton of leaves and woodJ
Grim saurians of terrific strengthV
A quarter of a mile in lengthV
Unsightly bats with twelve foot wingsW
And endless tribes of fearsome thingsW
Cull'd down in point of fact so fitJ
That they should thrive in Sheol's pitJ
And breathe its exhalations thickX
Holding their own with Ancient NickX
-
-
And so while ocean bottoms roseY
To stand awhile as high plateausY
And mountains sank beneath the mainZ
To rise time after time againA2
And rocks were formed and strata rentJ
And Polar ice caps came and wentJ
And geological ages pass'dJ
Each an improvement on the lastJ
And on the wrinkled crust of earthB2
More decent forms of life had birthB2
-
Man was evolved a product queerC2
A breed that it would pay to sheerC2
And which it might be safe to sayY
Has reached a higher stage to dayY
Since restless generations goneD2
Have passed a few ideas onE2
But bear in mind this human raceY
Diverse in colour smell and faceY
These off shoots from the simian stemF
The Sons of Japheth and of ShemF
The progeny of HamF
With mongrel races that infestJ
The isles and mainlands east and westJ
From Chili to SiamF
Are less than ripples in a streamF
They're only ripples on a dreamF
Namely the dream of BRAHMF
-
Even that race divinely nursedJ
Which for its virtues has been cursedJ
And booted into seven times sevenF2
By every nation under HeavenF2
The seed of AbrahamF
And those brave lions in their denA2
Each one a match for aliens tenA2
With fist or rifle bat or penA2
I mean God's modest EnglishmenF2
Whose very fog is balmF
These are less tangible withalS
Than shadowy rabbits on the wallS
Nothing exists but BRAHMF
-
Our swarming brethren of the NorthG2
Whatever you may judge them worthB2
Sling Muck and Soogoo RamF
Are fantoids like yourself and meF
Though differing somewhat in degreeF
Nothing exists but BRAHMF
-
That Fatman dining at his clubH2
On costly wet and sumptuous grubH2
The pilgrims in the roadside pubH2
The washerwoman at her tubH2
And Jacky in his native scrubH2
On bandicoot and yamF
Are momentary sports of thoughtJ
That flicker out and come to noughtJ
In this brief dream of BRAHMF
-
Illusion in the very airT
If such an envelope were thereT
And things that seem to claim your careT
Your Wife with her untidy hairT
And Grandma in her easy chairT
And baby in the pramF
Are all a visionary crewI2
Which fact need never worry youI2
For you're an apparition tooI2
Nothing exists but BRAHMF
-
But flies are in the ointment sweetJ
And jumpers in the cheese we eatJ
And maggots in the treacherous meatJ
And mildew on the jamF
That is to say we might complainZ
Of many a kink in things mundaneZ
Of barbarisms that still remainZ
For instance 'Sport' imposing painZ
Monarchial 'loyalty' inaneZ
The gnats at which the Wowsers strainZ
The camels that they entertainZ
Sectarian bigotry insaneZ
The ruthless quest of sordid gainZ
A sad perennial stream of baneZ
Which only in a sense profaneZ
We're competent to damF
The feckless poet's cult of grogJ2
The idle bummer's cadge for progJ2
The stern official's odious 'gog'J2
The flunkey's meek SalaamF
Such provocations daily metJ
And grounds of meddlesome regretJ
Shall find their panacea yetJ
With ratling promptitude you betJ
In this same dream of BRAHMF
-
Unquestionably no one knowsY
The likely period of his dozeY
But this we know that when he wakesY
We vanish in a brace of shakesY
Without dismay or qualmF
The earth the sun and every starK2
Shall vanish like the freaks they areK2
The corn and oil the flower and grassY
The fig and vine shall simply passY
The eucalypt and palmF
The microbe small the ponderous whaleS
The greyhound swift the tardy snailS
The lion and the lambF
The sand and granite quartz and schistJ
Shall vanish like a so called mistJ
Which the fictitious sun has kiss'dJ
Of course they never did existJ
NOTHING EXISTS BUT BRAHMF

Joseph Furphy



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