Schizophrenic
Robert William Service 1874 – 1958
Each morning as I catch my bus,
A-fearing I'll be late,
I think: there are in all of us
Two folks quite separate;
As one I greet the office staff
With grim, official mien;
The other's when I belly-laugh,
And Home Sweet Home's the scene.
I've half a hundred men to boss,
And take my job to heart;
You'll never find me at a loss,
So well I play my part.
My voice is hard, my eye is cold,
My mouth is grimly set;
They all consider me, I'm told,
A "bloody martinet."
But when I reach my home at night
I'm happy as a boy;
My kiddies kiss me with delight,
And dance a jig of joy.
I slip into my oldest cloths,
My lines of care uncrease;
I mow the lawn, unhook the hose,
And glow with garden peace.
It's then I wonder which I am,
the boss with hard-boiled eye,
Or just the gay don't care-a-damn
Go-lucky garden guy?
Am I the starchy front who rants
As round his weight he throws,
or just old Pop with patchy pants,
Who sings and sniffs a rose?
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 14, 2023
- 59 sec read
- 55 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABABCDCD XEXEFXFB GHGHXAIX JKJKAIXI |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 913 |
Words | 191 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8 |
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"Schizophrenic" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 10 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/32421/schizophrenic>.
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