The Man From Athabaska Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABABB CDCED AFAFF BGBGG CHIIH GHGHH GBGBB JEJEE GGGGG GGGGG GFCBF KEKEBEOh the wife she tried to tell me that 'twas nothing but the thrumming | A |
Of a wood pecker a rapping on the hollow of a tree | B |
And she thought that I was fooling when I said it was the drumming | A |
Of the mustering of legions and 'twas calling unto me | B |
'Twas calling me to pull my freight and hop across the sea | B |
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And a mending of my fish nets sure I started up in wonder | C |
For I heard a savage roaring and 'twas coming from afar | D |
Oh the wife she tried to tell me that 'twas only summer thunder | C |
And she laughed a bit sarcastic when I told her it was War | E |
'Twas the chariots of battle where the mighty armies are | D |
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Then down the lake came Half breed Tom with russet sail a flying | A |
And the word he said was War again so what was I to do | F |
Oh the dogs they took to howling and the missis took to crying | A |
As I flung my silver foxes in the little birch canoe | F |
Yes the old girl stood a blubbing till an island hid the view | F |
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Says the factor Mike you're crazy They have soldier men a plenty | B |
You're as grizzled as a badger and you're sixty year or so | G |
But I haven't missed a scrap says I since I was one and twenty | B |
And shall I miss the biggest You can bet your whiskers no | G |
So I sold my furs and started and that's eighteen months ago | G |
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For I joined the Foreign Legion and they put me for a starter | C |
In the trenches of the Argonne with the Boche a step away | H |
And the partner on my right hand was an apache from Montmartre | I |
On my left there was a millionaire from Pittsburg U S A | I |
Poor fellow They collected him in bits the other day | H |
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But I'm sprier than a chipmunk save a touch of the lumbago | G |
And they calls me Old Methoosalah and blagues' me all the day | H |
I'm their exhibition sniper and they work me like a Dago | G |
And laugh to see me plug a Boche a half a mile away | H |
Oh I hold the highest record in the regiment they say | H |
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And at night they gather round me and I tell them of my roaming | G |
In the Country of the Crepuscule beside the Frozen Sea | B |
Where the musk ox runs unchallenged and the cariboo goes homing | G |
And they sit like little children just as quiet as can be | B |
Men of every crime and colour how they harken unto me | B |
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And I tell them of the Furland of the tumpline and the paddle | J |
Of secret rivers loitering that no one will explore | E |
And I tell them of the ranges of the pack strap and the saddle | J |
And they fill their pipes in silence and their eyes beseech for more | E |
While above the star shells fizzle and the high explosives roar | E |
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And I tell of lakes fish haunted where the big bull moose are calling | G |
And forests still as sepulchres with never trail or track | G |
And valleys packed with purple gloom and mountain peaks appalling | G |
And I tell them of my cabin on the shore at Fond du Lac | G |
And I find myself a thinking Sure I wish that I was back | G |
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So I brag of bear and beaver while the batteries are roaring | G |
And the fellows on the firing steps are blazing at the foe | G |
And I yarn of fur and feather when the marmites' are a soaring | G |
And they listen to my stories seven poilus' in a row | G |
Seven lean and lousy poilus with their cigarettes aglow | G |
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And I tell them when it's over how I'll hike for Athabaska | G |
And those seven greasy poilus they are crazy to go too | F |
And I'll give the wife the pickle tub I promised and I'll ask her | C |
The price of mink and marten and the run of cariboo | B |
And I'll get my traps in order and I'll start to work anew | F |
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For I've had my fill of fighting and I've seen a nation scattered | K |
And an army swung to slaughter and a river red with gore | E |
And a city all a smoulder and as if it really mattered | K |
For the lake is yonder dreaming and my cabin's on the shore | E |
And the dogs are leaping madly and the wife is singing gladly | B |
And I'll rest in Athabaska and I'll leave it nevermore | E |
Robert William Service
(1)
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