Akbar's Bridge Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABB CCD EEFF GDHH IAA JJKL MMNN OOP IIQQ AARR SS H MMA TT| Jelaludin Muhammed Akbar Guardian of Mankind | A |
| Moved his standards out of Delhi to Jaunpore of lower Hind | A |
| Where a mosque was to be builded and a lovelier ne'er was planned | B |
| And Munim Khan his Viceroy slid the drawings 'neath his hand | B |
| - | |
| High as Hope upsheered her towers to the promised Heavens above | C |
| Deep as Faith and dark as Judgment her unplumbed foundations dove | C |
| Wide as Mercy white as moonlight stretched her fore courts to the dawn | D |
| And Akbar gave commandment 'Let it rise as it is drawn ' | - |
| - | |
| Then he wearied the mood moving of the men and things he ruled | E |
| And he walked beside the Goomti while the flaming sunset cooled | E |
| Simply without mark or ensign singly without guard or guide | F |
| And he heard an angry woman screeching by the riverside | F |
| - | |
| 'Twas the Widow of the Potter a virago feared and known | G |
| In haste to cross the ferry but the ferry man had gone | D |
| So she cursed him and his office and hearing Akbar's tread | H |
| She was very old and darkling turned her wrath upon his head | H |
| - | |
| But he answered being Akbar 'Suffer me to scull you o'er ' | - |
| Called her 'Mother ' stowed her bundles worked the clumsy scow from shore | I |
| Till they grounded on a sand bank and the Widow loosed her mind | A |
| And the stars stole out and chuckled at the Guardian of Mankind | A |
| - | |
| 'Oh most impotent of bunglers Oh my daughter's daughter's brood | J |
| Waiting hungry on the threshold for I cannot bring their food | J |
| Till a fool has learned his business at their virtuous grandam's cost | K |
| And a greater fool our Viceroy trifles while her name is lost | L |
| - | |
| 'Munim Khan that Sire of Asses sees me daily come and go | M |
| As it suits a drunken boatman or this ox who cannot row | M |
| Munim Khan the Owl's Own Uncle Munim Khan the Capon's seed | N |
| Must build a mosque to Allah when a bridge is all we need | N |
| - | |
| 'Eighty years I eat oppression and extortion and delays | O |
| Snake and crocodile and fever flood and drouth beset my ways | O |
| But Munim Khan must tax us for his mosque whate'er befall | P |
| Allah knowing May He hear me that a bridge would save us all ' | - |
| - | |
| While she stormed that other laboured and when they touched the shore | I |
| Laughing brought her on his shoulder to her hovel's very door | I |
| But his mirth renewed her anger for she thought he mocked the weak | Q |
| So she scored him with her talons drawing blood on either cheek | Q |
| - | |
| Jelaludin Muhammed Akbar Guardian of Mankind | A |
| Spoke with Munim Khan his Viceroy ere the midnight stars declined | A |
| Girt and sworded robed and jewelled but on either cheek appeared | R |
| Four shameless scratches running from the turban to the beard | R |
| - | |
| 'Allah burn all Potters' Widows Yet since this same night was young | S |
| One has shown me by sure token there was wisdom on her tongue | S |
| Yes I ferried her for hire Yes ' he pointed 'I was paid ' | - |
| And he told the tale rehearsing all the Widow did and said | H |
| - | |
| And he ended 'Sire of Asses Capon Owl's Own Uncle know | M |
| I most impotent of bunglers I this ox who cannot row | M |
| I Jelaludin Muhammed Akbar Guardian of Mankind | A |
| Bid thee build the hag her bridge and put our mosque from out thy mind ' | - |
| - | |
| So 'twas built and Allah blessed it and through earthquake flood and sword | T |
| Still the bridge his Viceroy builded throws her arch o'er Akbar's Ford | T |
Rudyard Kipling
(1)
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