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

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Beyond the Rocking Bridge it lies the burg of evil fame	A
The huts where hive and swarm and thrive the sisterhood of shame	A
Through all the night each cabin light goes out and then goes in	B
A blood red heliograph of lust a semaphore of sin	B
From Dawson Town soft skulking down each lewdster seeks his mate	C
And glad and bad kimono clad the wanton women wait	C
The Klondike gossips to the moon and sinners o'er its bars	D
Each silent hill is dark and chill and chill the patient stars	D
Yet hark upon the Rocking Bridge a bacchanalian step	E
A whispered Come the skirl of some hell raking demirep	E
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They gave a dance in Lousetown and the Tenderloin was there	F
The girls were fresh and frolicsome and nearly all were fair	F
They flaunted on their back the spoil of half a dozen towns	G
And some they blazed in gems of price and some wore Paris gowns	G
The voting was divided as to who might be the belle	H
But all opined the winsomest was Touch the Button Nell	H
	-
Among the merry mob of men was one who did not dance	I
But watched the light fantastic with a sour sullen glance	I
They saw his white teeth gleam they saw his thick lips twitch	J
They knew him for the giant Slav one Riley Dooleyvitch	J
	-
Oh Riley Dooleyvitch come forth quoth Touch the Button Nell	H
And dance a step or two with me the music's simply swell	H
He crushed her in his mighty arms a meek beguiling witch	J
With you oh Nell I'd dance to hell said Riley Dooleyvitch	J
	-
He waltzed her up he waltzed her down he waltzed her round the hall	K
His heart was putty in her hands his very soul was thrall	K
As Antony of old succumbed to Cleopatra's spell	H
So Riley Dooleyvitch bowed down to Touch the Button Nell	H
	-
And do you love me true she cried I love you as my life	L
How can you prove your love she sighed I beg you be my wife	L
I stake big pay up Hunker way some day I be so rich	J
I make you shine in satins fine said Riley Dooleyvitch	J
	-
Some day you'll be so rich she mocked that old pipe dream don't go	M
Who gets an option on this kid must have some coin to show	M
You work your ground When Spring comes round our wedding bells will ring	N
I'm on the square and I'll take care of all the gold you bring	N
	-
So Riley Dooleyvitch went back and worked upon his claim	A
He ditched and drifted sunk and stoped with one unswerving aim	A
And when his poke of raw moose hide with dust began to swell	H
He bought and laid it at the feet of Touch the Button Nell	H
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Now like all others of her ilk the lady had a friend	O
And what she made my way of trade she gave to him to spend	O
To stake him in a poker game or pay his bar room score	P
He was a pimp from Paris and his name was Lew Lamore	P
	-
And so as Dooleyvitch went forth and worked as he was bid	Q
And wrested from the frozen muck the yellow stuff it hid	Q
And brought it to his Lady Nell she gave him love galore	P
But handed over all her gains to festive Lew Lamore	P
	-
	-
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A year had gone a weary year of strain and bloody sweat	R
Of pain and hurt in dark and dirt of fear that she forget	R
He sought once more her cabin door I've laboured like a beast	S
But now dear one the time has come to go before the priest	S
	-
I've brought you gold a hundred fold I'll bring you bye and bye	T
But oh I want you want you bad I want you till I die	T
Come quit this life with evil rife we'll joy while yet we can	U
I may not wed with you she said I love another man	U
	-
I love him and I hate him so He holds me in a spell	H
He beats me see my bruis egrave d brest he makes my life a hell	H
He bleeds me as by sin and shame I earn my daily bread	V
Oh cruel Fate I cannot mate till Lew Lamore is dead	V
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The long lean flume streaked down the hill five hundred feet of fall	K
The waters in the dam above chafed at their prison wall	K
They surged and swept they churned and leapt with savage glee and strife	L
With spray and spume the dizzy flume thrilled like a thing of life	L
	-
We must be free the waters cried and scurried down the slope	E
No power can hold us back they roared and hurried in their hope	E
Into a mighty pipe they plunged like maddened steers they ran	U
And crashed out through a shard of steel to serve the will of Man	U
	-
And there by hydraulicking his ground beside a bedrock ditch	J
With eye aflame and savage aim was Riley Dooleyvitch	J
In long hip boots and overalls and dingy denim shirt	W
Behind a giant monitor he pounded at the dirt	W
	-
A steely shaft of water shot and smote the face of clay	X
It burrowed in the frozen muck and scooped the dirt away	X
It gored the gravel from its bed it bellowed like a bull	Y
It hurled the heavy rock aloft like heaps of fleecy wool	Y
	-
Strength of a hundred men was there resistess might and skill	Z
And only Riley Dooleyvitch to swing it at his will	Z
He played it up he played it down nigh deafened by its roar	P
'Til suddenly he raised his eyes and there stood Lew Lamore	P
	-
Pig eyed and heavy jowled he stood and puffed a big cigar	A2
As cool as though he ruled the roost in some Montmartre bar	A2
He seemed to say I've got a cinch a double diamond hitch	J
I'll skin this Muscovitish oaf this Riley Dooleyvitch	J
	-
He shouted Stop ze water gun it stun me Sacr eacute damn	B2
I like to make one beezness deal you know ze man I am	B2
Zat leetle girl she loves me so I tell you what I do	C2
You geeve to me zees claim Jeecrize I geeve zat girl to you	C2
	-
I'll see you damned says Dooleyvitch but e'er he checked his tongue	D2
It may have been an accident the little Giant swung	D2
Swift as a lightning flash it swung until it plumply bore	P
And met with an obstruction in the shape of Lew lamore	P
	-
It caught him up and spun him round and tossed him like a ball	K
It played and pawed him in the air before it let him fall	K
Then just to show what it could do with savage rend and thud	E2
It ripped the entrails from his spine and dropped him in the mud	E2
	-
They gathered up the broken bones and sadly in a sack	F2
They bore to town the last remains of Lew Lamore the macque	F2
And would you hear the full details of how it all befell	H
Ask Missis Riley Dooleyvitch late Touch the Button Nell	H

Robert William Service

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

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