The Blind Rower Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABBACDCD EFGGGFFE HAIAIA JHJKK LFMCNFCCCNLOFMMFAAA BBPQPRSTTSBUUQR IIOOVWAKK CXBABXAAAnd since he rowed his father home | A |
His hand has never touched an oar | B |
All day he wanders on the shore | B |
And hearkens to the swishing foam | A |
Though blind from birth he still could row | C |
As well as any lad with sight | D |
And knew strange things that none may know | C |
Save those who live without the light | D |
- | |
When they put out that Summer eve | E |
To sink the lobster pots at sea | F |
The sun was crimson in the sky | G |
And not a breath was in the sky | G |
The brooding thunder laden sky | G |
That heavily and wearily | F |
Weighed down upon the waveless sea | F |
That scarcely seamed to heave | E |
- | |
The pots were safely sunk and then | H |
The father gave the word for home | A |
He took the tiller in his hand | I |
And in hi s heart already home | A |
He brought her nose round towards the land | I |
To steer her straight for home | A |
- | |
He never spoke | J |
Nor stirred again | H |
A sudden stroke | J |
And he lay dead | K |
With staring eyes and lips off lead | K |
- | |
The son rowed on and nothing feared | L |
And sometimes merrily | F |
He lifted up his voice and sang | M |
Both high and low | C |
And loud and sweet | N |
For he was ever gay at sea | F |
And ever glad to row | C |
And rowed as only blind men row | C |
And little did the blind lad know | C |
That death was at his feet | N |
For still he thought his father steered | L |
Nor knew that he was all alone | O |
With death upon the open sea | F |
So merrily he rowed and sang | M |
And strangely on the silence rang | M |
That lonely melody | F |
As through the livid brooding gloam | A |
By rock and reef he rowed for home | A |
The blind man rowed the dead man home | A |
- | |
But as they neared the shore | B |
He rested on his oar | B |
And wondering that his father kept | P |
So very quiet in the stern | Q |
He laughed and asked him if he slept | P |
And vowed he heard him snore just now | R |
Though when his father spoke no word | S |
A sudden fear upon him came | T |
And crying on his father's name | T |
With flinching heart he heard | S |
The water lapping on the shore | B |
And all his blood ran cold to feel | U |
The shingle grate beneath the keel | U |
And stretching over towards the stern | Q |
His knuckle touched the dead man's brow | R |
- | |
But help was near at hand | I |
And safe he came to land | I |
Though none has ever known | O |
How he rowed in alone | O |
And never touched a reef | V |
Some say they saw the dead man steer | W |
The dead man steer the blind man home | A |
Though when they found him dead | K |
His hand was cold as lead | K |
- | |
So ever restless to and fro | C |
In every sort of weather | X |
The blind lad wanders on the shore | B |
And hearkens to the foam | A |
His hand has never touched an oar | B |
Since they came home together | X |
The blind who rowed his father home | A |
The dear who steered his blind son home | A |
Wilfrid Wilson Gibson
(1)
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