The Dancing Seal Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: AABCDBDCEEFGGFFGHHIJ KKLL MMGAGANNOOP PDDGGGLLOOL PGQQQPGRSSTRGGUT UVWXWXVC UOCYDYUUOOYD

When we were building Skua LightA
The first men who had lived a nightA
Upon that deep sea IsleB
As soon as chisel touched the stoneC
The friendly seals would come ashoreD
And sit and watch us all the whileB
As though they'd not seen men beforeD
And so poor beasts had never knownC
Men had the heart to do them harmE
They'd little cause to feel alarmE
With us for we were glad to findF
Some friendliness in that strange seaG
Only too pleaed to let them beG
And sit as long as they'd a mindF
To watch us for their eyes were kindF
Like women's eyes it seemed to meG
So hour on hour they sat I thinkH
They liked to hear the chisels clinkH
And when the boy sang loud and clearI
They scrambled closer in to hearJ
And if he whistled sweet and shrillK
The queer beasts shuffled nearer stillK
But every sleek and sheeny skinL
Was mad to hear his violinL
-
When work all over for the dayM
He'd take his fiddle down and playM
His merry tunes beside the seaG
Their eyes grew brighter and more brightA
And burned and twinkled merrilyG
And as I watched them one still nightA
And saw their eager sparkling eyesN
I felt those lively seals would riseN
Some shiny night ere he could knowO
And dance about him heel and toeO
Unto the fiddle's headdy tuneP
-
And at the rising of the moonP
Half daft I took my stand beforeD
A young seal lying on the shoreD
And called on her to dance with meG
And it seemed hardly strange when sheG
Stood up before me suddenlyG
And shed her black and sheeny skinL
And smiled all eager to beginL
And I was dancing heel and toeO
With a young maiden white as snowO
Unto a crazy violinL
-
We danced beneath the dancing moonP
All night beside the dancing seaG
With tripping toes and skipping heelsQ
And all about us friendly sealsQ
Like Christian folk were dancing reelsQ
Unto the fiddle's endless tuneP
That kept on spinning merrilyG
As though it never meant to stopR
And never once the snow white maidS
A moment stayedS
To take a breathT
Though I was fit to dropR
And while those wild eyes challenged meG
I knew as well as well could beG
I must keep step with that young girlU
Though we should dance to deathT
-
Then with a skirlU
The fiddle brokeV
The moon went outW
The sea stopped deadX
And in a twinkling all the routW
Of dancing folk had fledX
And in the chill bleak dawn I wokeV
Upon the naked rock aloneC
-
They've brought me far from Skua IsleU
I laugh to think they do not knowO
That as all day I chip the stoneC
Among my fellows here inlandY
I smell the sea wrack on the shoreD
And see her snowy tossing handY
And meet again her merry smileU
And dream I'm dancing all the whileU
I'm dancing ever heel and toeO
With a seal maiden white as snowO
On that moonshiny Island strandY
For ever and for evermoreD

Wilfrid Wilson Gibson



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