Over The Hill To The Poor-house. Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A A ABB CCDD EEFF AAGG HHAA IIJJ KKLL AAMM NNOO PPAA QQII RRSS S TTDD UVWW NNXX YYDD RRII ZZA2B2 C2C2BB FFSS YY Y AAOver the hill to the poor house I'm trudgin' my weary way | A |
- | |
OVER THE HILL TO THE POOR HOUSE I'M TRUDGIN' MY WEARY WAY | A |
- | |
I a woman of seventy and only a trifle gray | A |
I who am smart an' chipper for all the years I've told | B |
As many another woman that's only half as old | B |
- | |
Over the hill to the poor house I can't quite make it clear | C |
Over the hill to the poor house it seems so horrid queer | C |
Many a step I've taken a toilin' to and fro | D |
But this is a sort of journey I never thought to go | D |
- | |
What is the use of heapin' on me a pauper's shame | E |
Am I lazy or crazy am I blind or lame | E |
True I am not so supple nor yet so awful stout | F |
But charity ain't no favor if one can live without | F |
- | |
I am willin' and anxious an' ready any day | A |
To work for a decent livin' an' pay my honest way | A |
For I can earn my victuals an' more too I'll be bound | G |
If any body only is willin' to have me round | G |
- | |
Once I was young an' han'some I was upon my soul | H |
Once my cheeks was roses my eyes as black as coal | H |
And I can't remember in them days of hearin' people say | A |
For any kind of a reason that I was in their way | A |
- | |
'Tain't no use of boastin' or talkin' over free | I |
But many a house an' home was open then to me | I |
Many a han'some offer I had from likely men | J |
And nobody ever hinted that I was a burden then | J |
- | |
And when to John I was married sure he was good and smart | K |
But he and all the neighbors would own I done my part | K |
For life was all before me an' I was young an' strong | L |
And I worked the best that I could in tryin' to get along | L |
- | |
And so we worked together and life was hard but gay | A |
With now and then a baby for to cheer us on our way | A |
Till we had half a dozen an' all growed clean an' neat | M |
An' went to school like others an' had enough to eat | M |
- | |
So we worked for the child'rn and raised 'em every one | N |
Worked for 'em summer and winter just as we ought to 've done | N |
Only perhaps we humored 'em which some good folks condemn | O |
But every couple's child'rn's a heap the best to them | O |
- | |
Strange how much we think of our blessed little ones | P |
I'd have died for my daughters I'd have died for my sons | P |
And God he made that rule of love but when we're old and gray | A |
I've noticed it sometimes somehow fails to work the other way | A |
- | |
Strange another thing when our boys an' girls was grown | Q |
And when exceptin' Charley they'd left us there alone | Q |
When John he nearer an' nearer come an' dearer seemed to be | I |
The Lord of Hosts he come one day an' took him away from me | I |
- | |
Still I was bound to struggle an' never to cringe or fall | R |
Still I worked for Charley for Charley was now my all | R |
And Charley was pretty good to me with scarce a word or frown | S |
Till at last he went a courtin' and brought a wife from town | S |
- | |
TILL AT LAST HE WENT A COURTIN' AND BROUGHT A WIFE FROM TOWN | S |
- | |
She was somewhat dressy an' hadn't a pleasant smile | T |
She was quite conceity and carried a heap o' style | T |
But if ever I tried to be friends I did with her I know | D |
But she was hard and proud an' I couldn't make it go | D |
- | |
She had an edication an' that was good for her | U |
But when she twitted me on mine 'twas carryin' things too far | V |
An' I told her once 'fore company an' it almost made her sick | W |
That I never swallowed a grammar or 'et a 'rithmetic | W |
- | |
So 'twas only a few days before the thing was done | N |
They was a family of themselves and I another one | N |
And a very little cottage one family will do | X |
But I never have seen a house that was big enough for two | X |
- | |
An' I never could speak to suit her never could please her eye | Y |
An' it made me independent an' then I didn't try | Y |
But I was terribly staggered an' felt it like a blow | D |
When Charley turned ag'in me an' told me I could go | D |
- | |
I went to live with Susan but Susan's house was small | R |
And she was always a hintin' how snug it was for us all | R |
And what with her husband's sisters and what with child'rn three | I |
'Twas easy to discover that there wasn't room for me | I |
- | |
An' then I went to Thomas the oldest son I've got | Z |
For Thomas's buildings 'd cover the half of an acre lot | Z |
But all the child'rn was on me I couldn't stand their sauce | A2 |
And Thomas said I needn't think I was comin' there to boss | B2 |
- | |
An' then I wrote to Rebecca my girl who lives out West | C2 |
And to Isaac not far from her some twenty miles at best | C2 |
And one of 'em said 'twas too warm there for any one so old | B |
And t'other had an opinion the climate was too cold | B |
- | |
So they have shirked and slighted me an' shifted me about | F |
So they have well nigh soured me an' wore my old heart out | F |
But still I've borne up pretty well an' wasn't much put down | S |
Till Charley went to the poor master an' put me on the town | S |
- | |
Over the hill to the poor house my child'rn dear good by | Y |
Many a night I've watched you when only God was nigh | Y |
- | |
MANY A NIGHT I'VE WATCHED YOU WHEN ONLY GOD WAS NIGH | Y |
- | |
And God 'll judge between us but I will al'ays pray | A |
That you shall never suffer the half I do to day | A |
Will Carleton
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
Previous Poem
Out O' The Fire. Poem>>
Write your comment about Over The Hill To The Poor-house. poem by Will Carleton
Spence: Pity the vacuous children who, having surveyed their own lives' purifying issues as hardships, demand blame nest elsewhere - then throw away their parents as a way to foist it all on them. So do they attest knowing the price of everything, yet grasping the value of nothing.
Best Poems of Will Carleton