The Ballad Of Ahmed Shah Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCC DDEECCFFGGDDHH ACIIJ FFK EEDD CFFK LLMMNNOOACECPPDDFFKK DDQQCCPPCCRRCC DDHHRR NNCCDD DDCACCDSSThis is the ballad of Ahmed Shah | A |
Dealer in tats in the Sudder Bazar | B |
By the gate that leads to the Gold Minar | C |
How he was done by a youth from Morar | C |
- | |
Ahmed Shah was a man of peace | D |
His beard and turban were thick with grease | D |
His paunch was huge and his speech was slow | E |
And he swindled the subalterns high and low | E |
Scores of subalterns came to try | C |
The tats that he sold and remained to buy | C |
Scores of subalterns later on | F |
Found that their flashiest mounts were 'gone' | F |
Some in the front and some behind | G |
Some were roarers and some went blind | G |
Scores of subalterns over their 'weeds' | D |
Cursed old Ahmed and all his deeds | D |
But Ahmed Shah in his gully sat still | H |
And ever he fashioned a Little Black Pill | H |
- | |
Yet a judgement was brewing for Ahmed Shah | A |
Like a witches cauldron in far Morar | C |
And the youth that brewed it has eyes of blue | I |
And his cheek was beardless and boundless too | I |
Softly he mused o'er a trichi thick | J |
'By the Beard of the Prophet I've got the trick ' | - |
Then he rose from his chair with an artless grin | F |
And called the Battery Sergeant in | F |
'Sergeant' he said 'Hasst aught for me | K |
In the way of a 'caster' with lots of gee ' | - |
The sergeant pondered and answered slow | E |
'There's a red roan gelding that's bound to go | E |
At the next Committee 'E ain't no use | D |
Excep' for kickin' recruits to the deuce | D |
'E's chained in the sick lines ' | - |
The subaltern's brow | C |
Was puckered with thought for a moment Then | F |
The sergeant was richer by rupees ten | F |
'When the next Committee sits' quoth he | K |
'O Sergeant buy up that brute for me ' | - |
- | |
So the plot was laid and the long weeks passed | L |
And the red road gelding was duly cast | L |
They led him in chains to the subaltern's stall | M |
And gave him his gram' through a hole in the wall | M |
The subaltern mixed it When morning came | N |
The red road gelding was strangely tame | N |
He bit not nor kicked nor essayed to slay | O |
And he and the sub went north that day | O |
Till they came to the gully of Ahmed Shah | A |
The man and the horse from far Morar | C |
The subaltern stated his funds were low | E |
And he came mehrbani to 'sell karo' | C |
Then Ahmed Shah with his eyes agog | P |
Broke the Tenth Command in the decalogue | P |
For the roan was a monster in size and thews | D |
And stood over sixteen hand in his shoes | D |
'Sahib kitna mangta ' With brow serene | F |
The subaltern softly answered 'Teen' | F |
He haggled an hour that dealer thrifty | K |
Till the price was lowered to do sow fifty | K |
And the money was paid in greasy rupees | D |
While the red roan gelding drowsed at his ease | D |
The subaltern left him and Ahmed smiled | Q |
'By Allah how mad is this pink faced child | Q |
I will stuff that ghorah with attah and goor | C |
And sell him again to some English soor | C |
For a clear eight fifty ' and e'en as he spoke | P |
The devil they'd drugged in the red roan woke | P |
Then the head ropes snapped and the heel ropes drew | C |
And the stallions squealed as the roan went through | C |
And the syces ran as men run for life | R |
And the yard was troubled with equine strife | R |
Till the berserk rage of the beat was o'er | C |
And he dropped to slumber at Ahmed's door | C |
- | |
Then a veil was lifted from Ahmed's eyes | D |
And he raised the eyelids and punched the thighs | D |
Felt the tense pulse slacken the muscles still | H |
And fathomed the Trcik of the Opium Pill | H |
His own old dodge that had brought him pelf | R |
Had the subaltern turned against himself | R |
- | |
Did he swear though his three best tats were lame | N |
And half of the city would hear of his shame | N |
Did he seek the law courts With downcast eye | C |
He hailed an ekka that jingled by | C |
And drove to the station where filled with peace | D |
The subaltern counted the greasy rupees | D |
- | |
What passed between them I cannot say | D |
The subaltern turns the question away | D |
With an innocent laugh but the men of Morar | C |
Say he still gets ponies from Ahmed Shah | A |
Ponies to bet on but not to buy | C |
Weeds to look at but devils to fly | C |
And once in a while comes a tiny pill box | D |
The Doctor abets him Whenever I'm able | S |
I plunge to my last clean shirt on their stable | S |
Rudyard Kipling
(1)
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