Billy Khaki Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABABACDC EFEFEGEG HIJIKLML KNONPQNQ ERRKQKQ KNKNKQQ STUTVWQW AQQQXYKY KQQQQLKL EFEFEGEGMarching somewhat out of order | A |
when the band is cock a hoop | B |
There's a lilting kind of magic in the swagger | A |
of the troop | B |
Swinging all aboard the steamer with her | A |
nose toward the sea | C |
What is calling Billy Khaki that you're foot | D |
ing it so free | C |
- | |
Though his lines are none too level | E |
And he lacks a bit of style | F |
And he's swanking like the devil | E |
Where the women wave and smile | F |
He will answer with a rifle | E |
Trim and true from stock to bore | G |
Where the comrades crouch and stifle | E |
In the reeking pit of war | G |
- | |
What is calling Billy Khaki There is | H |
thunder down the sky | I |
And the merry magpie bugle splits the morn | J |
ing with its cry | I |
While your feet are beating rhythms up the | K |
dusty hills and down | L |
And the drums are all a talking in the hollow | M |
of the town | L |
- | |
Billy Khaki is't the splendor of the song the | K |
kiddies sing | N |
Or the whipping of the flags aloft that sets | O |
your heart a swing | N |
Is't the cheering like a paean of the toss | P |
ing teeming crowds | Q |
Or the boom of distant cannon flatly bumping | N |
on the clouds | Q |
- | |
What's calling calling Billy 'Tis the rattle | E |
far away | R |
Of the cavalry at gallop and artillery in play | R |
'Tis the great gun's fierce concussion and the | K |
smell of seven hells | Q |
When the long ranks go to pieces in the | K |
sneezing of the shells | Q |
- | |
But your eyes are laughing Billy and a | K |
ribald song you sing | N |
While the old men sit and tell us war it is a | K |
ghastly thing | N |
When the swift machines are busy and the | K |
grim squat fortress nocks | Q |
At your bolts as vain as eggs of gulls that spatter on the rocks | Q |
- | |
When the horses sweep upon you to complete | S |
a sudden rout | T |
Or in fire and smoke and fury some brave | U |
regiment goes out | T |
War is cruel Bill and ugly But full well | V |
you know the rest | W |
Yet your heart is for the battle and your face | Q |
is to the west | W |
- | |
For if war is beastly Billy you can picture | A |
something worse | Q |
There's the wrecking of an empire and its | Q |
broken people's curse | Q |
There are nations reft of freedom and of hope | X |
and kindly mirth | Y |
And the shadow of an evil black upon the | K |
bitter earth | Y |
- | |
So we know what's calling Billy 'Tis the | K |
spirit of our race | Q |
And its stir is in your pulses and its light is | Q |
on your face | Q |
As you march with clipping boot heels | Q |
through the piping howling town | L |
To uphold the land we live in and to pull a | K |
tyrant down | L |
- | |
Thou his lines are none too level | E |
And he's not a whale for style | F |
And he's swanking like the devil | E |
When the women wave and smile | F |
He will answer with a rifle | E |
Trim and true from stuck to bore | G |
When the comrades sit and stifle | E |
In the smoking pit of war | G |
Edward George Dyson
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