The Ballad Of Touch-the-button Nell Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDDEE FFGGHH IIJJ HHJJ KKHH LLJJ MMNN AAHH OOPP QQPP RRSS TTUU HHVV KKLL EEUU JJWW XXYY ZZPP A2A2JJ B2B2C2C2 D2D2PP KKE2E2 F2F2HH

Beyond the Rocking Bridge it lies the burg of evil fameA
The huts where hive and swarm and thrive the sisterhood of shameA
Through all the night each cabin light goes out and then goes inB
A blood red heliograph of lust a semaphore of sinB
From Dawson Town soft skulking down each lewdster seeks his mateC
And glad and bad kimono clad the wanton women waitC
The Klondike gossips to the moon and sinners o'er its barsD
Each silent hill is dark and chill and chill the patient starsD
Yet hark upon the Rocking Bridge a bacchanalian stepE
A whispered Come the skirl of some hell raking demirepE
-
-
-
They gave a dance in Lousetown and the Tenderloin was thereF
The girls were fresh and frolicsome and nearly all were fairF
They flaunted on their back the spoil of half a dozen townsG
And some they blazed in gems of price and some wore Paris gownsG
The voting was divided as to who might be the belleH
But all opined the winsomest was Touch the Button NellH
-
Among the merry mob of men was one who did not danceI
But watched the light fantastic with a sour sullen glanceI
They saw his white teeth gleam they saw his thick lips twitchJ
They knew him for the giant Slav one Riley DooleyvitchJ
-
Oh Riley Dooleyvitch come forth quoth Touch the Button NellH
And dance a step or two with me the music's simply swellH
He crushed her in his mighty arms a meek beguiling witchJ
With you oh Nell I'd dance to hell said Riley DooleyvitchJ
-
He waltzed her up he waltzed her down he waltzed her round the hallK
His heart was putty in her hands his very soul was thrallK
As Antony of old succumbed to Cleopatra's spellH
So Riley Dooleyvitch bowed down to Touch the Button NellH
-
And do you love me true she cried I love you as my lifeL
How can you prove your love she sighed I beg you be my wifeL
I stake big pay up Hunker way some day I be so richJ
I make you shine in satins fine said Riley DooleyvitchJ
-
Some day you'll be so rich she mocked that old pipe dream don't goM
Who gets an option on this kid must have some coin to showM
You work your ground When Spring comes round our wedding bells will ringN
I'm on the square and I'll take care of all the gold you bringN
-
So Riley Dooleyvitch went back and worked upon his claimA
He ditched and drifted sunk and stoped with one unswerving aimA
And when his poke of raw moose hide with dust began to swellH
He bought and laid it at the feet of Touch the Button NellH
-
-
-
Now like all others of her ilk the lady had a friendO
And what she made my way of trade she gave to him to spendO
To stake him in a poker game or pay his bar room scoreP
He was a pimp from Paris and his name was Lew LamoreP
-
And so as Dooleyvitch went forth and worked as he was bidQ
And wrested from the frozen muck the yellow stuff it hidQ
And brought it to his Lady Nell she gave him love galoreP
But handed over all her gains to festive Lew LamoreP
-
-
-
A year had gone a weary year of strain and bloody sweatR
Of pain and hurt in dark and dirt of fear that she forgetR
He sought once more her cabin door I've laboured like a beastS
But now dear one the time has come to go before the priestS
-
I've brought you gold a hundred fold I'll bring you bye and byeT
But oh I want you want you bad I want you till I dieT
Come quit this life with evil rife we'll joy while yet we canU
I may not wed with you she said I love another manU
-
I love him and I hate him so He holds me in a spellH
He beats me see my bruis egrave d brest he makes my life a hellH
He bleeds me as by sin and shame I earn my daily breadV
Oh cruel Fate I cannot mate till Lew Lamore is deadV
-
-
-
The long lean flume streaked down the hill five hundred feet of fallK
The waters in the dam above chafed at their prison wallK
They surged and swept they churned and leapt with savage glee and strifeL
With spray and spume the dizzy flume thrilled like a thing of lifeL
-
We must be free the waters cried and scurried down the slopeE
No power can hold us back they roared and hurried in their hopeE
Into a mighty pipe they plunged like maddened steers they ranU
And crashed out through a shard of steel to serve the will of ManU
-
And there by hydraulicking his ground beside a bedrock ditchJ
With eye aflame and savage aim was Riley DooleyvitchJ
In long hip boots and overalls and dingy denim shirtW
Behind a giant monitor he pounded at the dirtW
-
A steely shaft of water shot and smote the face of clayX
It burrowed in the frozen muck and scooped the dirt awayX
It gored the gravel from its bed it bellowed like a bullY
It hurled the heavy rock aloft like heaps of fleecy woolY
-
Strength of a hundred men was there resistess might and skillZ
And only Riley Dooleyvitch to swing it at his willZ
He played it up he played it down nigh deafened by its roarP
'Til suddenly he raised his eyes and there stood Lew LamoreP
-
Pig eyed and heavy jowled he stood and puffed a big cigarA2
As cool as though he ruled the roost in some Montmartre barA2
He seemed to say I've got a cinch a double diamond hitchJ
I'll skin this Muscovitish oaf this Riley DooleyvitchJ
-
He shouted Stop ze water gun it stun me Sacr eacute damnB2
I like to make one beezness deal you know ze man I amB2
Zat leetle girl she loves me so I tell you what I doC2
You geeve to me zees claim Jeecrize I geeve zat girl to youC2
-
I'll see you damned says Dooleyvitch but e'er he checked his tongueD2
It may have been an accident the little Giant swungD2
Swift as a lightning flash it swung until it plumply boreP
And met with an obstruction in the shape of Lew lamoreP
-
It caught him up and spun him round and tossed him like a ballK
It played and pawed him in the air before it let him fallK
Then just to show what it could do with savage rend and thudE2
It ripped the entrails from his spine and dropped him in the mudE2
-
They gathered up the broken bones and sadly in a sackF2
They bore to town the last remains of Lew Lamore the macqueF2
And would you hear the full details of how it all befellH
Ask Missis Riley Dooleyvitch late Touch the Button NellH

Robert Service



Rate:
(1)



Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme

Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation


Write your comment about The Ballad Of Touch-the-button Nell poem by Robert Service


 

Recent Interactions*

This poem was read 2 times,

This poem was added to the favorite list by 0 members,

This poem was voted by 0 members.

(* Interactions only in the last 7 days)

New Poems

Popular Poets