The Sliprails and the Spur
The colours of the setting sunWithdrew across the Western land --He raised the sliprails, one by one,And shot them home with trembling hand;Her brown hands clung -- her face grew pale --Ah! quivering chin and eyes that brim! --One quick, fierce kiss across the rail,And, 'Good-bye, Mary!' 'Good-bye, Jim!'
Oh, he rides hard to race the painWho rides from love, who rides from home;But he rides slowly home again,Whose heart has learnt to love and roam.
A hand upon the horse's mane,And one foot in the stirrup set,And, stooping back to kiss again,With 'Good-bye, Mary! don't you fret!When I come back' -- he laughed for her --'We do not know how soon 'twill be;I'll whistle as I round the spur --You let the sliprails down for me.'
She gasped for sudden loss of hope,As, with a backward wave to her,He cantered down the grassy slopeAnd swiftly round the dark'ning spur.Black-pencilled panels standing high,And darkness fading into stars,And blurring fast against the sky,A faint white form beside the bars.
And often at the set of sun,In winter bleak and summer brown,She'd steal across the little run,And shyly let the sliprails down.And listen there when darkness shutThe nearer spur in silence deep;And when they called her from the hutSteal home and cry herself to sleep.
And he rides hard to dull the painWho rides from one that loves him best;And he rides slowly back again,Whose restless heart must rove for rest.
Words in this poem
- clung a.
- Wasted away; shrunken. [Prop. p. p. fr. OE. clingen to wither. See Cling, v. i.]
- fading n.
- An Irish dance; also, the burden of a song.
- shyly adv.
- In a shy or timid manner; not familiarly; with reserve.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Sliprails and the Spur is in the public domain. This text is taken from In the Days When the World Was Wide, and Other Verses, Project Gutenberg ebook #214; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Henry Lawson, The Sliprails and the Spur, in In the Days When the World Was Wide (1896), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #214, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lawson-world-was-wide/the-sliprails-and-the-spur.html, id L23212.
Form and metre
The Sliprails and the Spur is 40 lines in 6 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABABCDCD, complete in 4 of its 6 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABABCDCD sunA · landB · oneA · handB · paleC · brimD · railC · jimD
- 2 ABAB painA · homeB · againA · roamB
- 3 ABABCDCD maneA · setB · againA · fretB · herC · beD · spurC · meD
- 4 ABABCDCD hopeA · herB · slopeA · spurB · highC · starsD · skyC · barsD
- 5 ABABCDCD sunA · brownB · runA · downB · shutC · deepD · hutC · sleepD
- 6 ABAB painA · bestB · againA · restB
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| The colours of the setting sun | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Withdrew across the Western land -- | 8 | ˘/˘/·/˘· |
| He raised the sliprails, one by one, | 8 | ········ |
| And shot them home with trembling hand; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Her brown hands clung -- her face grew pale -- | 8 | ········ |
| Ah! quivering chin and eyes that brim! -- | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| One quick, fierce kiss across the rail, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| And, 'Good-bye, Mary!' 'Good-bye, Jim!' | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Oh, he rides hard to race the pain | 8 | ········ |
| Who rides from love, who rides from home; | 8 | ········ |
| But he rides slowly home again, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Whose heart has learnt to love and roam. | 8 | ········ |
| A hand upon the horse's mane, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And one foot in the stirrup set, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And, stooping back to kiss again, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| With 'Good-bye, Mary! don't you fret! | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| When I come back' -- he laughed for her -- | 8 | ········ |
| 'We do not know how soon 'twill be; | 8 | ········ |
| I'll whistle as I round the spur -- | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| You let the sliprails down for me.' | 8 | ········ |
| She gasped for sudden loss of hope, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| As, with a backward wave to her, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| He cantered down the grassy slope | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And swiftly round the dark'ning spur. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Black-pencilled panels standing high, | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| And darkness fading into stars, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| And blurring fast against the sky, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| A faint white form beside the bars. | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| And often at the set of sun, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| In winter bleak and summer brown, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| She'd steal across the little run, | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| And shyly let the sliprails down. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And listen there when darkness shut | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The nearer spur in silence deep; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And when they called her from the hut | 8 | ········ |
| Steal home and cry herself to sleep. | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| And he rides hard to dull the pain | 8 | ········ |
| Who rides from one that loves him best; | 8 | ········ |
| And he rides slowly back again, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Whose restless heart must rove for rest. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.