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 N2N2N2N2From 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
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