Steelhead Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFEGDEEHEIEJKEDL KMNDOEPPEQDEERSBTUVW EXEYEEBZ A2B2BEEDEC2C2DD2E2F2 G2YB H2I2I2 G2EULJ2EEEK2DDL2M2 G2EEYDEN2LO2P2| The sky was cold December blue with great tumbling clouds | A |
| and the little river | B |
| Ran full but clear A bare legged girl | C |
| in a red jersey was wading | D |
| in it holding a five tined | E |
| Hay fork at her head's height suddenly she darted it down like | F |
| a heron's beak and panting hard | E |
| Leaned on the shaft looking down passionately her gipsy lean | G |
| face then stooped and dipping | D |
| One arm to the little breasts she drew up her catch great hammered | E |
| silver steelhead with the tines through it | E |
| And the fingers of her left hand hooked in its | H |
| gills her slender body | E |
| Rocked with its writhing She took it to the near bank | I |
| And was dropping it behind a log when someone said | E |
| Quietly 'I guess I've got you Vina ' Who gasped and looked up | J |
| At a young horseman half hidden in the willow bushes | K |
| She'd been too intent to notice him and said 'My God | E |
| I thought it was the game warden ' 'Worse ' he said smiling | D |
| 'This river's ours | L |
| You can't get near it without crossing our fences | K |
| Besides that you mustn't spear 'em and three four you | M |
| little bitch | N |
| That's the fifth fish ' She answered with her gipsy face 'Take | D |
| half o' them honey I loved the fun ' | O |
| He looked up and down her taper legs red with cold and said | E |
| fiercely 'Your fun | P |
| To kill them and leave them rotting ' 'Honey let me have one | P |
| o' them ' she answered | E |
| 'You take the rest ' He shook his blond head 'You'll have to pay | Q |
| a terrible fine ' She answered laughing | D |
| 'Don't worry you wouldn't tell on me ' He dismounted and | E |
| tied the bridle to a bough saying 'Nobody would | E |
| I know a lovely place deep in the willows full of warm grass | R |
| safe as a house | S |
| Where you can pay it ' Her body seemed to grow narrower | B |
| suddenly both hands at her throat and the cold thighs | T |
| Pressed close together while she stared at his face it was beautiful | U |
| long heavy lidded eyes like a girl's | V |
| 'I can't do that honey I ' she said shivering 'your wife | W |
| would kill me ' He hardened his eyes and said | E |
| 'Let that alone ' 'Oh ' she answered the little red hands came | X |
| down from her breast and faintly | E |
| Reached toward him her head lifting he saw the artery on the | Y |
| lit side of her throat flutter like a bird | E |
| And said 'You'll be sick with cold Vina ' flung off his coat | E |
| And folded her in it with his warmth in it and carried her | B |
| To that island in the willows | Z |
| - | |
| He warmed her bruised feet in | A2 |
| his hands | B2 |
| She paid her fine for spearing fish and another | B |
| For taking more than the legal limit and would willingly | E |
| Have paid a third for trespassing he sighed and said | E |
| 'You'll owe me that I'm afraid somebody might come looking | D |
| for me | E |
| Or my colt break his bridle ' She moaned like a dove 'Oh Oh | C2 |
| Oh Oh | C2 |
| You are beautiful Hugh ' They returned to the stream bank | D |
| There | D2 |
| While Vina put on her shoes they were like a small boy's all | E2 |
| stubbed and shapeless young Flodden strung the five fish | F2 |
| On a willow rod through the red gills and slung them | G2 |
| To his saddle horn He led the horse and walked with Vina | Y |
| going part way home with her | B |
| - | |
| Toward the canyon sea mouth | H2 |
| The water spread wide and shoal fingering through many channels | I2 |
| down a broad flood bed and a mob of sea gulls | I2 |
| Screamed at each other Vina said 'That's a horrible thing ' | - |
| 'What ' 'What the birds do They're worse than I am ' | - |
| When Flodden returned alone he rode down and watched them | G2 |
| He saw that one of the thousand steelhead | E |
| Which irresistible nature herded up stream to the spawning gravel | U |
| in the mountain the river headwaters | L |
| Had wandered into a shallow finger of the current and was | J2 |
| forced over on his flank sculling uneasily | E |
| In three inches of water instantly a gaunt herring gull hovered | E |
| and dropped to gouge the exposed | E |
| Eye with her beak the great fish writhing flopping over in his | K2 |
| anguish another gull's beak | D |
| Took the other eye Their prey was then at their mercy writhing | D |
| blind soon stranded and the screaming mob | L2 |
| Covered him | M2 |
| - | |
| Young Flodden rode into them and drove them | G2 |
| up he found the torn steelhead | E |
| Still slowly and ceremoniously striking the sand with his tail and | E |
| a bloody eye socket under the | Y |
| Pavilion of wings They cast a cold shadow on the air a fleeting | D |
| sense of fortune's iniquities why should | E |
| Hugh Flodden be young and happy mounted on a good horse | N2 |
| And have had another girl besides his dear wife while others | L |
| have to endure blindness and death | O2 |
| Pain and disease misery old age God knows what worse | P2 |
Robinson Jeffers
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
About Steelhead
Steelhead is a poem by Robinson Jeffers. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
Write your comment about Steelhead poem by Robinson Jeffers
Best Poems of Robinson Jeffers