The Ballad Of The Brand Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCC DDEEFFGG HHIIJJKKLL MMNNDD OOPPQQRR SSTMUUVVWW XXYYZZA2A2 B2B2WWBB UUC2C2D2D2BB YYE2E2F2F2G2G2H2H2 I2I2WWD2D2BB J2J2D2D2BBD2D2K2K2F2 F2IIL2L2 BBD2D2M2M2N2N2'Twas up in a land long famed for gold where women were far and rare | A |
Tellus the smith had taken to wife a maiden amazingly fair | A |
Tellus the brawny worker in iron hairy and heavy of hand | B |
Saw her and loved her and bore her away from the tribe of a Southern land | B |
Deeming her worthy to queen his home and mother him little ones | C |
That the name of Tellus the master smith might live in his stalwart sons | C |
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Now there was little of law in the land and evil doings were rife | D |
And every man who joyed in his home guarded the fame of his wife | D |
For there were those of the silver tongue and the honeyed art to beguile | E |
Who would cozen the heart from a woman's breast and damn her soul with a smile | E |
And there were women too quick to heed a look or a whispered word | F |
And once in a while a man was slain and the ire of the King was stirred | F |
So far and wide he proclaimed his wrath and this was the law he willed | G |
That whosoever killeth a man even shall he be killed | G |
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Now Tellus the smith he trusted his wife his heart was empty of fear | H |
High on the hill was the gleam of their hearth a beacon of love and cheer | H |
High on the hill they builded their bower where the broom and the bracken meet | I |
Under a grave of oaks it was hushed and drowsily sweet | I |
Here he enshrined her his dearest saint his idol the light of his eye | J |
Her kisses rested upon his lips as brushes a butterfly | J |
The weight of her arms around his neck was light as the thistle down | K |
And sweetly she studied to win his smile and gently she mocked his frown | K |
And when at the close of the dusty day his clangorous toil was done | L |
She hastened to meet him down the way all lit by the amber sun | L |
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Their dove cot gleamed in the golden light a temple of stainless love | M |
Like the hanging cup of a big blue flower was the topaz sky above | M |
The roses and lilies yearned to her as swift through their throng she pressed | N |
A little white fragile fluttering thing that lay like a child on his breast | N |
Then the heart of Tellus the smith was proud and sang for the joy of life | D |
And there in the bronzing summertide he thanked the gods for his wife | D |
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Now there was one called Philo a scribe a man of exquisite grace | O |
Carved like the god Apollo in limb fair as Adonis in face | O |
Eager and winning in manner full of such radiant charm | P |
Womenkind fought for his favor and loved to their uttermost harm | P |
Such was his craft and his knowledge such was his skill at the game | Q |
Never was woman could flout him so be he plotted her shame | Q |
And so he drank deep of pleasure and then it fell on a day | R |
He gazed on the wife of Tellus and marked her out for his prey | R |
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Tellus the smith was merry and the time of the year it was June | S |
So he said to his stalwart helpers Shut down the forge at noon | S |
Go ye and joy in the sunshine rest in the coolth of the grove | T |
Drift on the dreamy river every man with his love | M |
Then to himself Oh Beloved sweet will be your surprise | U |
To day will we sport like children laugh in each other's eyes | U |
Weave gay garlands of poppies crown each other with flowers | V |
Pull plump carp from the lilies rifle the ferny bowers | V |
To day with feasting and gladness the wine of Cyprus will flow | W |
To day is the day we were wedded only a twelvemonth ago | W |
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The larks trilled high in the heavens his heart was lyric with joy | X |
He plucked a posy of lilies he sped like a love sick boy | X |
He stole up the velvety pathway his cottage was sunsteeped and still | Y |
Vines honeysuckled the window softly he peeped o'er the sill | Y |
The lilies dropped from his fingers devils were choking his breath | Z |
Rigid with horror he stiffened ghastly his face was as death | Z |
Like a nun whose faith in the Virgin is met with a prurient jibe | A2 |
He shrank 'twas the wife of his bosom in the arms of Philo the scribe | A2 |
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Tellus went back to his smithy he reeled like a drunken man | B2 |
His heart was riven with anguish his brain was brooding a plan | B2 |
Straight to his anvil he hurried started his furnace aglow | W |
Heated his iron and shaped it with savage and masterful blow | W |
Sparks showered over and round him swiftly under his hand | B |
There at last it was finished a hideous and infamous Brand | B |
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That night the wife of his bosom the light of joy in her eyes | U |
Kissed him with words of rapture but he knew that her words were lies | U |
Never was she so beguiling never so merry of speech | C2 |
For passion ripens a woman as the sunshine ripens a peach | C2 |
He clenched his teeth into silence he yielded up to her lure | D2 |
Though he knew that her breasts were heaving from the fire of her paramour | D2 |
To morrow he said to morrow he wove her hair in a strand | B |
Twisted it round his fingers and smiled as he thought of the Brand | B |
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The morrow was come and Tellus swiftly stole up the hill | Y |
Butterflies drowsed in the noon heat coverts were sunsteeped and still | Y |
Softly he padded the pathway unto the porch and within | E2 |
Heard he the low laugh of dalliance heard he the rapture of sin | E2 |
Knew he her eyes were mystic with light that no man should see | F2 |
No man kindle and joy in no man on earth save he | F2 |
And never for him would it kindle The bloodlust surged in his brain | G2 |
Through the senseless stone could he see them wanton and warily fain | G2 |
Horrible Heaven he sought for gained it and gloried and fell | H2 |
Oh it was sudden headlong into the nethermost hell | H2 |
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Was this he Tellus this marble Tellus not dreaming a dream | I2 |
Ah sharp edged as a javelin was that a woman's scream | I2 |
Was it a door that shattered shell like under his blow | W |
Was it his saint that strumpet dishevelled and cowering low | W |
Was it her lover that wild thing that twisted and gouged and tore | D2 |
Was it a man he was crushing whose head he beat on the floor | D2 |
Laughing the while at its weakness till sudden he stayed his hand | B |
Through the red ring of his madness flamed the thought of the Brand | B |
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Then bound he the naked Philo with thongs that cut in the flesh | J2 |
And the wife of his bosom fear frantic he gagged with a silken mesh | J2 |
Choking her screams into silence bound her down by the hair | D2 |
Dragged her lover unto her under her frenzied stare | D2 |
In the heat of the hearth fire embers he heated the hideous Brand | B |
Twisting her fingers open he forced its haft in her hand | B |
He pressed it downward and downward she felt the living flesh sear | D2 |
She saw the throe of her lover she heard the scream of his fear | D2 |
Once twice and thrice he forced her heedless of prayer and shriek | K2 |
Once on the forehead of Philo twice in the soft of his cheek | K2 |
Then for the thing was finished he said to the woman See | F2 |
How you have branded your lover Now will I let him go free | F2 |
He severed the thongs that bound him laughing Revenge is sweet | I |
And Philo sobbing in anguish feebly rose to his feet | I |
The man who was fair as Apollo god like in woman's sight | L2 |
Hideous now as a satyr fled to the pity of night | L2 |
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Then came they before the Judgment Seat and thus spoke the Lord of the Land | B |
He who seeketh his neighbor's wife shall suffer the doom of the Brand | B |
Brutish and bold on his brow be it stamped deep in his cheek let it sear | D2 |
That every man may look on his shame and shudder and sicken and fear | D2 |
He shall hear their mock in the market place their fleering jibe at the feast | M2 |
He shall seek the caves and the shroud of night and the fellowship of the beast | M2 |
Outcast forever from homes of men far and far shall he roam | N2 |
Such be the doom sadder than death of him who shameth a home | N2 |
Robert Service
(1)
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