I don't really like rhyme in present-day poetry, but this is definitely one of the better rhyming poems I've read on here in a while. I felt like the first stanza was the best, and towards the end it kind of slips into a ye olde world mode of speech that is one of my pet hates in poetry. No one talks like that anymore* and it always strikes me as annoyingly contrived. Also, you do know your syllable stress is totally off in places, right? If that's intentional, I really don't think it works - just makes it look like you're tried to write a formally tight poem and fucked it up. But you say this is just an excercise, and I'd definitely read more of your stuff if you posted it.
* Except Havelock.
