Old Boy Scout
Robert William Service 1874 – 1958
A bonny bird I found today
Mired in a melt of tar;
Its silky breast was silver-grey,
Its wings were cinnabar.
So still it lay right in the way
Of every passing car.
Yet as I gently sought to pry
It loose, it glared at me;
You would have thought its foe was I,
It pecked so viciously;
So fiercely fought, as soft I sought
From death to set it free.
Its pinions pitifully frail
I wrested from the muck;
I feared the feathers of its tail
Would never come unstuck.
. . . The jewel-bright it flashed in flight -
Oh how I wished it luck!
With happiness my heart was light,
To see how fair it flew;
To do my good deed I delight,
As grey-haired scouts should do;
Yet oh my bright reward's to write
This simple rhyme for you!
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 42 sec read
- 108 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABABAB CDCDXD EFEFGF GHGHGH |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 702 |
Words | 142 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6 |
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"Old Boy Scout" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/32334/old-boy-scout>.
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