The Lost Heir Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABC DDDEFFFEGGGHIIIHJJJK J LGMGGNFNGOGOPQRQSTUT VWGWTGTGFTGTWAGAXGAG YZGZA2WB2YTAVAC2WAWD 2TE2TAAGADFF2FDAGAZW GWG2FFFTTH2ATFI2TI2A VTVGGTGJ2K2GK2TAI2AT FTFTI2GI2GL2J2L2FTTT I2GGGGTM2TFZTZJ2YAY

'Oh where and oh whereA
Is my bonny laddie gone 'B
Old SongC
-
-
One day as I was going byD
That part of Holborn christened HighD
I heard a loud and sodden cryD
That chill'd my very bloodE
And lo from out a dirty alleyF
Where pigs and Irish wont to rallyF
I saw a crazy woman sallyF
Bedaub'd with grease and mudE
She turn'd her East she turn'd her WestG
Staring like Pythoness possestG
With streaming hair and heaving breastG
As one stark mad with griefH
This way and that she wildly ranI
Jostling with woman and with manI
Her right hand held a frying panI
The left a lump of beefH
At last her frenzy seemed to reachJ
A point just capable of speechJ
And with a tone almost a screechJ
As wild as ocean bird'sK
Or female Banter mov'd to preachJ
She gave her 'sorrow words '-
-
'O Lord O dear my heart will break I shallL
go stick stark staring wildG
Has ever a one seen anything about the streetsM
like a crying lost looking childG
Lawk help me I don't know where to look or toG
run if I only knew which wayN
A Child as is lost about London Streets and especiallyF
Seven Dials is a needle in a bottle of hayN
I am all in a quiver get out of my sight do youG
wretch you little Kitty M'NabO
You promised to have half an eye to him youG
know you did you dirty deceitful young drabO
The last time as ever I see him poor thingP
was with my own blessed Motherly eyesQ
Sitting as good as gold in the gutterR
a playing at making little dirt piesQ
I wonder he left the court where he was better offS
than all the other young boysT
With two bricks an old shoe nine oyster shellsU
and a dead kitten by way of toysT
When his father comes home and he always comes homeV
as sure as ever the clock strikes oneW
He'll be rampant he will at his child being lostG
and the beef and the inguns not doneW
La bless you good folks mind your own consarnsT
and don't be making a mob in the streetG
O Sergeant M'Farlane you have not come acrossT
my poor little boy have you in your beatG
Do good people move on don't stand staring at meF
like a parcel of stupid stuck pigsT
Saints forbid but he's p'r'aps been inviggledG
away up a court for the sake of his clothesT
He'd a very good jacket for certainW
for I bought it myself for a shilling one day in Rag FairA
And his trowsers considering not very much patch'dG
and red plush they was once his Father'A
His shirt it's very lucky I'd got washing in the tubX
or that might have gone with the restG
But he'd got on a very good pinaforeA
with only two slits and a burn on the breastG
He'd a goodish sort of hat If the crown was sew'd inY
and not quite so much jagg'd at the brimZ
With one shoe on and the other shoe is a bootG
and not a fit and you'll know by that if it's himZ
Except being so well dress'd my mind would misgiveA2
some old beggar woman in want of an orphanW
Had borrow'd the child to go a begging withB2
but I'd rather see him laid out in his coffinY
Do good people move on such a rabble of boysT
I'll break every bone of 'em I come nearA
Go home you're spilling the porter go homeV
Tommy Jones go along home with your beerA
This day is the sorrowfullest day of my lifeC2
ever since my name was Betty MorganW
Them vile Savoyards they lost him once beforeA
all along of following a Monkey and an OrganW
O my Billy my head will turn right round ifD2
he's got kiddynapp'd with them ItaliansT
They'll make him a plaster parish image boyE2
they will the outlandish tatterdemallionsT
Billy where are you Billy I'm as hoarse as a crowA
with screaming for ye you young sorrowA
And shan't have half a voice no more I shan'tG
for crying fresh herrings to morrowA
O Billy you're bursting my heart in two and myD
life won't be of no more vallyF
If I'm to see other folk's darlins and none ofF2
mine playing like angels in our alleyF
And what shall I do but cry out my eyes when ID
looks at the old three legged chairA
As Billy used to make coaches and horses of andG
there ain't no Billy thereA
I would run all the wide world over to find himZ
if I only know'd where to runW
Little Murphy now I remember was once lostG
for a month through stealing a penny bunW
The Lord forbid of any child of mineG2
I think it would kill me railyF
To find my Bill holdin up his littleF
innocent hand at the Old BaileyF
For though I say it as oughtn't yet I will sayT
you may search for miles and milesesT
And not find one better brought upH2
and more pretty behaved from one end to t'otherA
of St Giles'sT
And if I called him a beauty it's no lie but onlyF
as a Mother ought to speakI2
You never set eyes on a more handsomer faceT
only it hasn't been washed for a weekI2
As for hair tho' it's red it's the most nicest hairA
when I've time to just show it the combV
I'll owe 'em five pounds and a blessing besidesT
as will only bring him safe and sound homeV
He's blue eyes and not to be call'd a squintG
though a little cast he's certainly gotG
And his nose is still a good un tho' the bridge isT
broke by his falling on a pewter pint potG
He's got the most elegant wide mouth in theJ2
world and very large teeth for his ageK2
And quite as fit as Mrs Murdockson's child toG
play Cupid on the Drury Lane StageK2
And then he has got such dear winning waysT
but O I never never shall see him no moreA
O dear to think of losing him just after nussingI2
him back from death's doorA
Only the very last month when the windfallsT
hang 'em was at twenty a pennyF
And the threepence he'd got by grottoing wasT
spent in plums and sixty for a child is too manyF
And the Cholera man came and whitewash'd usT
all and drat him made a seize of our hogI2
It's no use to send the Crier to cry him aboutG
he's such a blunderin drunken old dogI2
The last time he was fetched to find a lost childG
he was guzzling with his bell at the CrownL2
And went and cried a boy instead of a girl for aJ2
distracted Mother and Father about TownL2
Billy where are you Billy I say come BillyF
come home to your best of MothersT
I'm scared when I think of them Cabroleys theyT
drive so they'd run over their own Sisters and BrothersT
Or may be he's stole by some chimbly sweepingI2
wretch to stick fast in narrow flues and what notG
And be poked up behind with a picked pointedG
pole when the soot has ketch'd and the chimbly's red hotG
Oh I'd give the whole wide world if the worldG
was mine to clap my two longin eyes on his faceT
For he's my darlin of darlins and if he don't soonM2
come back you'll see me drop stone dead on the placeT
I only wish I'd got him safe in these two MotherlyF
arms and wouldn't I hug him and kiss himZ
Lauk I never knew what a precious he wasT
but a child don't not feel like a child till you miss himZ
Why there he is Punch and Judy hunting theJ2
young wretch it's that Billy as sartin as sinY
But let me get him home with a good grip of his hairA
and I'm blest if he shall have a whole bone in his skinY

Thomas Hood



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