The Galley-slave Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABB CCDD EEFF GGHH IIHH JJKK LLME AANN OOPP BBQQ RRSS PPEE| Oh gallant was our galley from her caren steering wheel | A |
| To her figurehead of silver and her beak of hammered steel | A |
| The leg bar chafed the ankle and we gasped for cooler air | B |
| But no galley on the waters with our galley could compare | B |
| - | |
| Our bulkheads bulged with cotton and our masts were stepped in gold | C |
| We ran a mighty merchandise of niggers in the hold | C |
| The white foam spun behind us and the black shark swam below | D |
| As we gripped the kicking sweep head and we made the galley go | D |
| - | |
| It was merry in the galley for we revelled now and then | E |
| If they wore us down like cattle faith we fought and loved like men | E |
| As we snatched her through the water so we snatched a minute's bliss | F |
| And the mutter of the dying never spoiled the lover's kiss | F |
| - | |
| Our women and our children toiled beside us in the dark | G |
| They died we filed their fetters and we heaved them to the shark | G |
| We heaved them to the fishes but so fast the galley sped | H |
| We had only time to envy for we could not mourn our dead | H |
| - | |
| Bear witness once my comrades what a hard bit gang were we | I |
| The servants of the sweep head but the masters of the sea | I |
| By the heands that drove her forward as she plunged and yawed and sheered | H |
| Woman Man or god or Devil was there anything we feared | H |
| - | |
| Was it storm Our fathers faced it and a wilder never blew | J |
| Earth that waited for the wreckage watched the galley struggle through | J |
| Burning noon or choking midnight Sickness Sorrow Parting Death | K |
| Nay our very babes would mock you had they time for idle breath | K |
| - | |
| But to day I leave the galley and another takes my place | L |
| There's my name upon the deck beam let it stand a little space | L |
| I am free to watch my messmates beating out to open main | M |
| Free of all that Life can offer save to handle sweep again | E |
| - | |
| By the brand upon my shoulder by the gall of clinging steel | A |
| By the welt the whips have left me by the scars that never heal | A |
| By eyes grown old with staring through the sunwash on the brine | N |
| I am paid in full for service Would that service still were mine | N |
| - | |
| f times and seasons and of woe the years bring forth | O |
| Of our galley swamped and shattered in the rollers of the North | O |
| When the niggers break the hatches and the decks are gay with gore | P |
| And a craven hearted pilot crams her crashing on the shore | P |
| - | |
| She will need no half mast signal minute gun or rocket flare | B |
| When the cry for help goes seaward she will find her servants there | B |
| Battered chain gangs of the orlop grizzled drafts of years gone by | Q |
| To the bench that broke their manhood they shall lash themselves and die | Q |
| - | |
| Hale and crippled young and aged paid deserted shipped away | R |
| Palace cot and lazaretto shall make up the tale that day | R |
| When the skies are black above them and the decks ablaze beneath | S |
| And the top men clear the raffle with their clasp knives in their teeth | S |
| - | |
| It may be that Fate will give me life and leave to row once more | P |
| Set some strong man free for fighting as I take awhile his oar | P |
| But to day I leave the galley Shall I curse her service then | E |
| God be thanked Whate'er comes after I have lived and toiled with Men | E |
Rudyard Kipling
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