The Bechuana Boy Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABABAACC AAAADDEA FGFAHHIJ KLKLMMAA NONOAAAA APAPQQRR RARARRAA SASATUAA AAAAAAVV WIWIXXAA YZYZAAA2A2 ALALZZRR VAVAAAAA B2AB2APPAA AC2AC2WWIJ AAAAD2D2KK E2AE2AAAOO AF2AF2G2G2C2A H2C2H2 AALLI sat at noontide in my tent | A |
And looked across the Desert dun | B |
Beneath the cloudless firmament | A |
Far gleaming in the sun | B |
When from the bosom of the waste | A |
A swarthy Stripling came in haste | A |
With foot unshod and naked limb | C |
And a tame springbok followed him | C |
- | |
With open aspect frank yet bland | A |
And with a modest mien he stood | A |
Caressing with a gentle hand | A |
That beast of gentle brood | A |
Then meekly gazing in my face | D |
Said in the language of his race | D |
With smiling look yet pensive tone | E |
quot Stranger I'm in the world alone quot | A |
- | |
quot Poor boy quot I said quot thy native home | F |
Lies far beyond the Stormberg blue | G |
Why hast thou left it boy to roam | F |
This desolate Karroo quot | A |
His face grew sadder while I spoke | H |
The smile forsook it and he broke | H |
Short silence with a sob like sigh | I |
And told his hapless history | J |
- | |
quot I have no home quot replied the boy | K |
quot The Bergenaars by night they came | L |
And raised their wolfish howl of joy | K |
While o'er our huts the flame | L |
Resistless rushed and aye their yell | M |
Pealed louder as our warriors fell | M |
In helpless heaps beneath their shot | A |
One living man they left us not | A |
- | |
quot The slaughter o'er they gave the slain | N |
To feast the foul beaked birds of prey | O |
And with our herds across the plain | N |
They hurried us away | O |
The widowed mothers and their brood | A |
Oft in despair for drink and food | A |
We vainly cried they heeded not | A |
But with sharp lash the captive smote | A |
- | |
quot Three days we tracked that dreary wild | A |
Where thirst and anguish pressed us sore | P |
And many a mother and her child | A |
Lay down to rise no more | P |
Behind us on the desert brown | Q |
We saw the vultures swooping down | Q |
And heard as the grim night was falling | R |
The wolf to his gorged comrade calling | R |
- | |
quot At length we heard a river sounding | R |
'Midst that dry and dismal land | A |
And like a troop of wild deer bounding | R |
We hurried to its strand | A |
Among the maddened cattle rushing | R |
The crowd behind still forward pushing | R |
Till in the flood our limbs were drenched | A |
And the fierce rage of thirst was quenched | A |
- | |
quot Hoarse roaring dark the broad Gareep | S |
In turbid streams was sweeping fast | A |
Huge sea cows in its eddies deep | S |
Loud snorting as we passed | A |
But that relentless robber clan | T |
Right through those waters wild and wan | U |
Drove on like sheep our wearied band | A |
Some never reached the farther strand | A |
- | |
quot All shivering from the foaming flood | A |
We stood upon the stranger's ground | A |
When with proud looks and gestures rude | A |
The White Men gathered round | A |
And there like cattle from the fold | A |
By Christians we were bought and sold | A |
'Midst laughter loud and looks of scorn | V |
And roughly from each other torn | V |
- | |
quot My Mother's scream so long and shrill | W |
My little Sister's wailing cry | I |
In dreams I often hear them still | W |
Rose wildly to the sky | I |
A tiger's heart came to me then | X |
And fiercely on those ruthless men | X |
I sprang Alas dashed on the sand | A |
Bleeding they bound me foot and hand | A |
- | |
quot Away away on prancing steeds | Y |
The stout man stealers blithely go | Z |
Through long low valleys fringed with reeds | Y |
O'er mountains capped with snow | Z |
Each with his captive far and fast | A |
Until yon rock bound ridge we passed | A |
And distant stripes of cultured soil | A2 |
Bespoke the land of tears and toil | A2 |
- | |
quot And tears and toil have been my lot | A |
Since I the White Man's thrall became | L |
And sorer griefs I wish forgot | A |
Harsh blows and scorn and shame | L |
Oh Englishman thou ne'er canst know | Z |
The injured bondman's bitter woe | Z |
When round his breast like scorpions cling | R |
Black thoughts that madden while they sting | R |
- | |
quot Yet this hard fate I might have borne | V |
And taught in time my soul to bend | A |
Had my sad yearning heart forlorn | V |
But found a single friend | A |
My race extinct or far removed | A |
The Boor's rough brood I could have loved | A |
But each to whom my bosom turned | A |
Even like a hound the black boy spurned | A |
- | |
quot While friendless thus my master's flocks | B2 |
I tended on the upland waste | A |
It chanced this fawn leapt from the rocks | B2 |
By wolfish wild dogs chased | A |
I rescued it though wounded sore | P |
And dabbled in its mother's gore | P |
And nursed it in a cavern wild | A |
Until it loved me like a child | A |
- | |
quot Gently I nursed it for I thought | A |
Its hapless fate so like to mine | C2 |
By good Ut ko it was brought | A |
To bid me not repine | C2 |
Since in this world of wrong and ill | W |
One creature lived that loved me still | W |
Although its dark and dazzling eye | I |
Beamed not with human sympathy | J |
- | |
quot Thus lived I a lone orphan lad | A |
My task the proud Boor's flocks to tend | A |
And this poor fawn was all I had | A |
To love or call my friend | A |
When suddenly with haughty look | D2 |
And taunting words that tyrant took | D2 |
My playmate for his pampered boy | K |
Who envied me my only joy | K |
- | |
quot High swelled my heart But when a star | E2 |
Of midnight gleamed I softly led | A |
My bounding favourite forth and far | E2 |
Into the Desert fled | A |
And here from human kind exiled | A |
Three moons on roots and berries wild | A |
I've fared and braved the beasts of prey | O |
To 'scape from spoilers worse than they | O |
- | |
quot But yester morn a Bushman brought | A |
The tidings that thy tents were near | F2 |
And now with hasty foot I've sought | A |
Thy presence void of fear | F2 |
Because they say O English Chief | G2 |
Thou scornest not the Captive's grief | G2 |
Then let me serve thee as thine own | C2 |
For I am in the world alone quot | A |
- | |
Such was Marossi's touching tale | H2 |
Our breasts they were not made of stone | C2 |
His words his winning looks prevail | H2 |
We took him for our own ' | - |
And One with woman's gentle art | A |
Unlocked the fountains of his heart | A |
And love gushed forth till he became | L |
Her Child in every thing but name | L |
Thomas Pringle
(1)
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