Abd-el-kader At Toulon Or, The Caged Hawk Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABC DDEE AAFF EEEE GGHH FFII JJJJ KKL FFMM NNII EEJJ OOHL| No more thou lithe and long winged hawk of desert life for thee | A |
| No more across the sultry sands shalt thou go swooping free | A |
| Blunt idle talons idle beak with spurning of thy chain | B |
| Shatter against thy cage the wing thou ne'er may'st spread again | C |
| - | |
| Long sitting by their watchfires shall the Kabyles tell the tale | D |
| Of thy dash from Ben Halifa on the fat Metidja vale | D |
| How thou swept'st the desert over bearing down the wild El Riff | E |
| From eastern Beni Salah to western Ouad Shelif | E |
| - | |
| How thy white burnous welit streaming like the storm rack o'er the sea | A |
| When thou rodest in the vanward of the Moorish chivalry | A |
| How thy razzia was a whirlwind thy onset a simoom | F |
| How thy sword sweep was the lightning dealing death from out the gloom | F |
| - | |
| Nor less quick to slay in battle than in peace to spare and save | E |
| Of brave men wisest councillor of wise councillors most brave | E |
| How the eye that flashed destruction could beam gentleness and love | E |
| How lion in thee mated lamb how eagle mated dove | E |
| - | |
| Availed not or steel or shot 'gainst that charmed life secure | G |
| Till cunning France in last resource tossed up the golden lure | G |
| And the carrion buzzards round him stooped faithless to the cast | H |
| And the wild hawk of the desert is caught and caged at last | H |
| - | |
| Weep maidens of Zerifah above the laden loom | F |
| Scar chieftains of Al Elmah your cheeks in grief and gloom | F |
| Sons of the Beni Snazam throw down the useless lance | I |
| And stoop your necks and bare your backs to yoke and scourge of France | I |
| - | |
| Twas not in fight they bore him down he never cried aman | J |
| He never sank his sword before the PRINCE OF FRANGHISTAN | J |
| But with traitors all around him his star upon the wane | J |
| He heard the voice of ALLAH and he would not strive in vain | J |
| - | |
| They gave him what he asked them from king to king he spake | K |
| As one that plighted word and seal not knoweth how to break | K |
| 'Let me pass from out my deserts be't mine own choice where to go | L |
| I brook no fettered life to live a captive and a show ' | - |
| - | |
| And they promised and he trusted them and proud and calm he came | F |
| Upon his black mare riding girt with his sword of fame | F |
| Good steed good sword he rendered both unto the Frankish throng | M |
| He knew them false and fickle but a Prince's word is strong | M |
| - | |
| How have they kept their promise Turned they the vessel's prow | N |
| Unto Acre Alexandria as they have sworn e'en now | N |
| Not so from Oran northwards the white sails gleam and glance | I |
| And the wild hawk of the desert is borne away to France | I |
| - | |
| Where Toulon's white walled lazaret looks southward o'er the wave | E |
| Sits he that trusted in the word a son of Louis gave | E |
| O noble faith of noble heart And was the warning vain | J |
| The text writ by the BOURBON in the blurred black book of Spain | J |
| - | |
| They have need of thee to gaze on they have need of thee to grace | O |
| The triumph of the Prince to gild the pinchbeck of their race | O |
| Words are but wind conditions must be construed by GUIZOT | H |
| Dash out thy heart thou desert hawk ere thou art made a show | L |
William Makepeace Thackeray
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