A Fantasy Of War Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCDDEEFFGHIIIJKK L MMMNNMMOOOPP QQRFFFFSSQ TTTUUFFF V TTWWXXYYZZA2A2JJB2B2 B2B2SSC2C2C2 D2D2E2E2F2F2G2G2F2F2 H2H2 I2 YYY J2J2J2 K2K2K2 L2M2L2L2 N2N2N2N2| From Australia | A |
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| OH tell me God of Battles Oh say what is to come | B |
| The King is in his trenches the millionaire at home | C |
| The Kaiser with his toiling troops the Czar is at the front | D |
| Oh Tell me God of Battles Who bears the battle s brunt | D |
| The Queen knits socks for soldiers the Empress does the same | E |
| And know no more than peasant girls which nation is to blame | E |
| The wounded live to fight again or live to slave for bread | F |
| The Slain have graves above the Slain the Dead are with the Dead | F |
| The widowed young shall wed or not the widowed old remain | G |
| And all the nations of the world prepare for war again | H |
| But ere that time shall be O God say what shall here befall | I |
| Ten millions at the battle fronts and we re five millions all | I |
| The world You made was wide O God the world we made is small | I |
| We toiled not as our fathers toiled for | J |
| Sport was all our boast | K |
| And so we built our cities Lord like warts upon the coast | K |
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| From Europe | L |
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| The seer stood on the mountain side the witch was in her cave | M |
| The gipsy with his caravan the sailor on the wave | M |
| The sophist in his easy chair with ne er a soul to save | M |
| The factory slaves went forth to slave the peasant to the field | N |
| The women worked in winter there for one tenth of the yield | N |
| The village Granny nursed their babes to give them time to slave | M |
| The child was in the cradle and the grandsire in his grave | M |
| The rich man slumbered in his chair full fed with wine and meat | O |
| The lady in her carriage sat the harlot walked the street | O |
| With paint upon her cheek and neck through winter s snow and sleet | O |
| We saw the pride of Wealth go mad and Misery increase | P |
| And still the God of Gods was dumb and all the world was Peace | P |
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| The wizard on the mountain side he drew a rasping breath | Q |
| For he was old and near to life as he was near to death | Q |
| And he looked out and saw the star they saw at Nazareth | R |
| Two thousand years have passed he said A thousand years he said | F |
| A hundred years have passed he said and lo the star is red | F |
| The time has come at last he said and bowed his hoary head | F |
| He laid him on the mountain side and so the seer was dead | F |
| And so the Eastern Star was red and it was red indeed | S |
| We saw the Red Star in the South but we took little heed | S |
| The Prophet in his garret starved or drank himself to death | Q |
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| The witch was mumbling in her hole before the dawn was grey | T |
| The witch she took a crooked stick and prodded in the clay | T |
| She doddered round and mumbled round as is the beldame s way | T |
| Four children shall be born she said four children at a birth | U |
| Four children of a peasant brood and what shall come on earth | U |
| Four of the poorest peasantry that Europe knows she said | F |
| And all the nations of the world shall count their gory dead | F |
| The babes are born in Italy and all the world is red | F |
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| The Ship | V |
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| The world You gave was wide O Lord and wars were far away | T |
| The goal was just as near O Lord to morrow or to day | T |
| The tree You grew was stout and sound to carve the plank and keel | W |
| And when the darkness hid the sky Your hand was on the wheel | W |
| The pine You grew was straight and tall to fashion spar and mast | X |
| Our sails and gear from flax and hemp were stout and firm and fast | X |
| You gave the metal from the mine and taught the carpenter | Y |
| To fasten plank and rib and beam and sheath and iron her | Y |
| The world You made was wide O Lord with signs on sea and sky | Z |
| And all the stars were true O Lord you gave to steer her by | Z |
| More graceful than the albatross upon the morning breeze | A2 |
| Ah me she was the fairest thing that ever sailed the seas | A2 |
| And when the madness of mankind burns out at last in war | J |
| The world may yet behold the day she ll sail the seas once more | J |
| We were not satisfied O Lord we were not satisfied | B2 |
| We stole Your electricity to fortify our pride | B2 |
| You gave the horse to draw our loads You gave the horse to ride | B2 |
| But we must fly above the Alps and race beneath the tide | B2 |
| We searched in sacred places for the things we did not need | S |
| Your anger shook our cities down and yet we took no heed | S |
| We robbed the water and the air to give us energy | C2 |
| As we d exhaust Thy secret store of electricity | C2 |
| The day may come and such a day when we shall need all three | C2 |
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| And lest Thou shouldst not understand our various ways and whys | D2 |
| We cut Thy trees for paper Lord where on to print our lies | D2 |
| We sent the grand Titanic forth for pleasure gold and show | E2 |
| And all her skeletons of wealth and jewels lie below | E2 |
| For fame or curiosity for pride and greed or trade | F2 |
| We sought to know all things and make all things that Thou hast made | F2 |
| From Pole to Pole we sought to speak and Heaven s powers employ | G2 |
| Our cruisers feverishly seek such language to destroy | G2 |
| We shaped all things for war and now the Sister Nations wade | F2 |
| Knee deep in white man s blood to wreck all things that we have made | F2 |
| For in the rottenness of Peace worse than this bitter strife | H2 |
| We murdered the Humanity and Poetry of Life | H2 |
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| The Bells and the Child | I2 |
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| The gongs are in the temple the bells are in the tower | Y |
| The tom tom in the jungle and the town clock tells the hour | Y |
| And all Thy feathered kind at morn have testified Thy power | Y |
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| Did ever statesman save a land or science save a soul | J2 |
| Did ever Tower of Babel stand or war drums cease to roll | J2 |
| Or wedding bells to ring O Lord or requiems to toll | J2 |
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| Did ever child in cradle laid born of a healthy race | K2 |
| Cease for an hour all unafraid to testify Thy grace | K2 |
| That shook its rattle from its bed in its proud father s face | K2 |
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| Cathedral bells must cease awhile because of Pride and Sin | L2 |
| That never failed a wedding morn that hailed a king and queen | M2 |
| Or failed to peal for victory that brave men died to win | L2 |
| Or failed to ring the Old Year out and ring the New Year in | L2 |
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| The world You made was wide O God O God tis narrow now | N2 |
| And all its ways must run with blood for we knew more than Thou | N2 |
| And millions perish at the guns or rot beside the plough | N2 |
| For we knew more than Thou | N2 |
Henry Lawson
(1)
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