The Burdened Ass Poem Rhyme Scheme

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AN ALLEGORY	A
	-
One day as I travelled the highway alone	B
I heard on in front a most dolorous groan	B
And there round the corner a weary old ass	C
Was nuzzling the hedge for a mouthful of grass	C
The load that he carried was piled up so high	D
That it blocked half the road and threatened the sky	D
Indeed of himself I could see but a scrap	E
And expected each minute to see that go snap	E
For beneath all his load I could see but his legs	F
And they were as thin as the thinnest clothes pegs	F
	-
I said O most gentle and innocent beast	G
Say why is your burden so greatly increased	G
Who loads you like this beyond reason and right	H
Is it done for a purpose or just out of spite	H
Is it all your own treasures you have in your pack	I
That crumples your backbone and makes your ribs crack	I
It is really too much for an old ass's back	I
	-
Treasures he groaned through a lump of chewed grass	C
Are they treasures I don't know I'm only the ass	C
That carries whatever they all like to pack	I
On my load without thought of my ribs or my back	I
I know there are heaps of things there that I hate	J
But it's always been so I guess it's my fate	J
And he flicked his long ears and switched his thin tail	K
And rasped his rough neck with a hinder foot nail	K
	-
There are fighting men somewhere up there and some fools	L
And talking men heaps who have quitted their stools	L
To manage the state and direct its affairs	M
And see I suppose that we all get our shares	M
And ladies and lords and their offspring and heirs	M
And their flunkeys and toadies and merchants and wares	M
And parsons and lawyers O heaps in that box	N
And big folk and small folk and all kinds of crocks	N
	-
That mighty big bale Poison that for the people	O
Whatever else lacks they must still have their tipple	O
That's The Trade don't you know that no one can shackle	O
'Vested Int'rests ' they call it and that kind of cackle	O
Why the Bishops themselves dare not tackle the tipple	O
For it props up the church and at times builds a steeple	O
	-
A strangely ingenuous old ass you perceive	P
Whom any shrewd rascal could easily deceive	P
	-
That other big bale What I said fighting things	N
Ammunition and guns and these new things with wings	N
O yes they bulk big but we need them for why	D
If we hadn't as much as the others have why	D
They say we might just as well lie down and die	D
	-
Yon big bale on top Ah that is a big weight	J
And that's just the one of the lot I most hate	J
That's Capital that is and landlords and such	Q
And there seems to me sometimes a bit over much	Q
In that bale But there I'm perhaps wrong again	R
Such matters are outside an old ass's ken	R
	-
My fodder Oh well you see no room for that	S
I pick as I go and no chance to get fat	S
That poison bulks large and the landlords you see	N
And that Capital's heavy as heavy can be	N
Some one's bound to go short and of course that one's ME	N
	-
He kicked up one heel with a snort of disgust	T
And sudden as though by a giant hand thrust	T
The top heavy pack on his lean back revolved	U
Came crashing to earth and in fragments dissolved	U
	-
Much surprised the old ass thus set free from his load	V
Picked out a soft spot in the nice dusty road	V
And laid him down on it and rolled in high glee	N
And as he kicked this way and that said to me	N
	-
Say Man I have never enjoyed such a roll	W
Since the day I was born a silly young foal	W
Seems to me if I'd had half the sense of an ass	N
I'd have long since got rid of that troublesome mass	N
But now that it's down why down it shall stop	X
All my life's been down under but now I'm on top	X
	-
Then he came right side up pranced about on his load	V
And kicked it to pieces all over the road	V
	-
And what all this means I really can't say	N
It may not mean much But again why it may	N

William Arthur Dunkerley (john Oxenham)

The Burdened Ass Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

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