The Nostomaniac Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABB CDCDEFEF GHGHIDID JKJKLMLM NONOPQPQ MRMRJSJS MPMPGTUT JDJDVDVD WDWDJXJX DDBB| On the ragged edge of the world I'll roam | A |
| And the home of the wolf shall be my home | A |
| And a bunch of bones on the boundless snows | B |
| The end of my trail who knows who knows | B |
| - | |
| I'm dreaming to night in the fire glow alone in my study tower | C |
| My books battalioned around me my Kipling flat on my knee | D |
| But I'm not in the mood for reading I haven't moved for an hour | C |
| Body and brain I'm weary weary the heart of me | D |
| Weary of crushing a longing it's little I understand | E |
| For I thought that my trail was ended I thought I had earned my rest | F |
| But oh it's stronger than life is the call of the hearthless land | E |
| And I turn to the North in my trouble as a child to the mother breast | F |
| - | |
| Here in my den it's quiet the sea wind taps on the pane | G |
| There's comfort and ease and plenty the smile of the South is sweet | H |
| All that a man might long for fight for and seek in vain | G |
| Pictures and books and music pleasure my last retreat | H |
| Peace I thought I had gained it I swore that my tale was told | I |
| By my hair that is grey I swore it by my eyes that are slow to see | D |
| Yet what does it all avail me to night to night as of old | I |
| Out of the dark I hear it the Northland calling to me | D |
| - | |
| And I'm daring a rampageous river that runs the devil knows where | J |
| My hand is athrill on the paddle the birch bark bounds like a bird | K |
| Hark to the rumble of rapids Here in my morris chair | J |
| Eager and tense I'm straining isn't it most absurd | K |
| Now in the churn and the lather foam that hisses and stings | L |
| Leap I keyed for the struggle fury and fume and roar | M |
| Rocks are spitting like hell cats Oh it's a sport for kings | L |
| Life on a twist of the paddle there's my Kim on the floor | M |
| - | |
| How I thrill and I vision Then my camp of a night | N |
| Red and gold of the fire glow net afloat in the stream | O |
| Scent of the pines and silence little pal pipe alight | N |
| Body a purr with pleasure sleep untroubled of dream | O |
| Banquet of paystreak bacon moment of joy divine | P |
| When the bannock is hot and gluey and the teapot's nearing the boil | Q |
| Never was wolf so hungry stomach cleaving to spine | P |
| Ha there's my servant calling says that dinner will spoil | Q |
| - | |
| What do I want with dinner Can I eat any more | M |
| Can I sleep as I used to Oh I abhor this life | R |
| Give me the Great Uncertain the Barren Land for a floor | M |
| The Milky Way for a roof beam splendour and space and strife | R |
| Something to fight and die for the limpid Lake of the Bear | J |
| The Empire of Empty Bellies the dunes where the Dogribs dwell | S |
| Big things real things live things here on my morris chair | J |
| How I ache for the Northland Dinner and servants Hell | S |
| - | |
| Am I too old I wonder Can I take one trip more | M |
| Go to the granite ribbed valleys flooded with sunset wine | P |
| Peaks that pierce the aurora rivers I must explore | M |
| Lakes of a thousand islands millioning hordes of the Pine | P |
| Do they not miss me I wonder valley and peak and plain | G |
| Whispering each to the other Many a moon has passed | T |
| Where has he gone our lover Will he come back again | U |
| Star with his fires our tundra leave us his bones at last | T |
| - | |
| Yes I'll go back to the Northland back to the way of the bear | J |
| Back to the muskeg and mountain back to the ice leaguered sea | D |
| Old am I what does it matter Nothing I would not dare | J |
| Give me a trail to conquer Oh it is meat to me | D |
| I will go back to the Northland feeble and blind and lame | V |
| Sup with the sunny eyed Husky eat moose nose with the Cree | D |
| Play with the Yellow knife bastards boasting my blood and my name | V |
| I will go back to the Northland for the Northland is calling to me | D |
| - | |
| Then give to me paddle and whiplash and give to me tumpline and gun | W |
| Give to me salt and tobacco flour and a gunny of tea | D |
| Take me up over the Circle under the flamboyant sun | W |
| Turn me foot loose like a savage that is the finish of me | D |
| I know the trail I am seeking it's up by the Lake of the Bear | J |
| It's down by the Arctic Barrens it's over to Hudson's Bay | X |
| Maybe I'll get there maybe death is set by a hair | J |
| Hark it's the Northland calling now must I go away | X |
| - | |
| Go to the Wild that waits for me | D |
| Go where the moose and the musk ox be | D |
| Go to the wolf and the secret snows | B |
| Go to my fate who knows who knows | B |
Robert Service
(1)
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