The Salad. By Virgil Poem Rhyme Scheme

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The winter night now well nigh worn away	A
The wakeful cock proclaimed approaching day	A
When Simulus poor tenant of a farm	B
Of narrowest limits heard the shrill alarm	B
Yawned stretched his limbs and anxious to provide	C
Against the pangs of hunger unsupplied	C
By slow degrees his tattered bed forsook	D
And poking in the dark explored the nook	D
Where embers slept with ashes heaped around	C
And with burnt fingers' ends the treasure found	C
It chanced that from a brand beneath his nose	E
Sure proof of latent fire some smoke arose	E
When trimming with a pin the incrusted tow	C
And stooping it towards the coals below	C
He toils with cheeks distended to excite	C
The lingering flame and gains at length a light	C
With prudent heed he spreads his hand before	F
The quivering lamp and opes his granary door	F
Small was his stock but taking for the day	C
A measured stint of twice eight pounds away	C
With these his mill he seeks A shelf at hand	C
Fixt in the wall affords his lamp a stand	C
Then baring both his arms a sleeveless coat	C
He girds the rough exuviae of a goat	C
And with a rubber for that use designed	C
Cleansing his mill within begins to grind	C
Each hand has its employ labouring amain	G
This turns the winch while that supplies the grain	G
The stone revolving rapidly now glows	E
And the bruised corn a mealy current flows	E
While he to make his heavy labour light	C
Tasks oft his left hand to relieve his right	C
And chants with rudest accent to beguile	H
His ceaseless toil as rude a strain the while	H
And now 'Dame Cybale come forth ' he cries	I
But Cybale still slumbering nought replies	I
From Afric she the swain's sole serving maid	C
Whose face and form alike her birth betrayed	C
With woolly locks lips tumid sable skin	G
Wide bosom udders flaccid belly thin	G
Legs slender broad and most misshapen feet	C
Chapped into chinks and parched with solar heat	C
Such summoned oft she came at his command	C
Fresh fuel heaped the sleeping embers fanned	C
And made in haste her simmering skillet steam	J
Replenished newly from the neighbouring stream	J
The labours of the mill performed a sieve	K
The mingled flour and bran must next receive	L
Which shaken oft shoots Ceres through refined	C
And better dressed her husks all left behind	C
This done at once his future plain repast	C
Unleavened on a shaven board he cast	C
The tepid lymph first largely soaked it all	M
Then gathered it with both hands to a ball	M
And spreading it again with both hands wide	C
With sprinkled salt the stiffened mass supplied	C
At length the stubborn substance duly wrought	C
Takes from his palms impressed the shape it ought	C
Becomes an orb and quartered into shares	N
The faithful mark of just division bears	N
Last on his hearth it finds convenient space	O
For Cybale before had swept the place	O
And there with tiles and embers overspread	C
She leaves it reeking in its sultry bed	C
Nor Similus while Vulcan thus alone	G
His part performed proves heedless of his own	G
But sedulous not merely to subdue	C
His hunger but to please his palate too	C
Prepares more savoury food His chimney side	C
Could boast no gammon salted well and dried	C
And hooked behind him but sufficient store	F
Of bundled anise and a cheese it bore	F
A broad round cheese which through its centre strung	P
With a tough broom twig in the corner hung	P
The prudent hero therefore with address	Q
And quick despatch now seeks another mess	Q
Close to his cottage lay a garden ground	C
With reeds and osiers sparely girt around	C
Small was the spot but liberal to produce	R
Nor wanted aught that serves a peasant's use	R
And sometimes even the rich would borrow thence	S
Although its tillage was his sole expense	S
For oft as from his toils abroad he ceased	C
Home bound by weather or some stated feast	C
His debt of culture here he duly paid	C
And only left the plough to wield the spade	C
He knew to give each plant the soil it needs	T
To drill the ground and cover close the seeds	T
And could with ease compel the wanton rill	U
To turn and wind obedient to his will	U
There flourished star wort and the branching beet	C
The sorrel acid and the mallow sweet	C
The skirret and the leek's aspiring kind	C
The noxious poppy quencher of the mind	C
Salubrious sequel of a sumptuous board	C
The lettuce and the long huge bellied gourd	C
But these for none his appetite controlled	C
With stricter sway the thrifty rustic sold	C
With broom twigs neatly bound each kind apart	C
He bore them ever to the public mart	C
Whence laden still but with a lighter load	C
Of each well earned he took his homeward road	C
Expending seldom ere he quitted Rome	V
His gains in flesh meat for a feast at home	V
There at no cost on onions rank and red	C
Or the curled endive's bitter leaf he fed	C
On scallions sliced or with a sensual gust	C
On rockets foul provocatives of lust	C
Nor even shunned with smarting gums to press	Q
Nasturtium pungent face distorting mess	Q
Some such regale now also in his thought	C
With hasty steps his garden ground he sought	C
There delving with his hands he first displaced	C
Four plants of garlick large and rooted fast	C
The tender tops of parsley next he culls	Q
Then the old rue bush shudders as he pulls	Q
And Coriander last to these succeeds	Q
That hands on slightest threads her trembling seeds	Q
Placed near his sprightly fire he now demands	Q
The mortar at his sable servant's hands	Q
When stripping all his garlick first he tore	F
The exterior coats and cast them on the floor	F
Then cast away with like contempt the skin	G
Flimsier concealment of the cloves within	G
These searched and perfect found he one by one	G
Rinsed and disposed within the hollow stone	G
Salt added and a lump of salted cheese	Q
With his injected herbs he covered these	Q
And tucking with his left his tunic tight	C
The garlick bruising first he soon expressed	C
And mixed the various juices of the rest	C
He grinds and by degrees his herbs below	C
Lost in each other their own powers forego	C
Nor wholly green appear nor wholly white	C
His nostrils oft the forceful fume resent	C
He cursed full oft his dinner for its scent	C
Or with wry faces wiping as he spoke	W
The trickling tears cried 'Vengeance on the smoke '	X
The work proceeds not roughly turns he now	G
The pestle but in circles smoothe and slow	C
With cautious hand that grudges what it spills	Q
Some drops of olive oil he next instils	Q
Then vinegar with caution scarcely less	Q
And gathering to a ball the medley mess	Q
Last with two fingers frugally applied	C
Sweeps the small remnant from the mortar's side	C
And thus complete in figure and in kind	C
Obtains at length the Salad he designed	C
And now black Cybale before him stands	Q
The cake drawn newly glowing in her hands	Q
He glad receives it chasing far away	C
All fears of famine for the passing day	C
His legs enclosed in buskins and his head	C
In its tough casque of leather forth he led	C
And yoked his steers a dull obedient pair	Y
Then drove afield and plunged the pointed share	Y

William Cowper

The Salad. By Virgil Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

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