Booth's Drum Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCC DEFGGHF IIFFDDDFFF JJKKLLMMM NNOOEEEEE GGPPQQQ MMLLRRSS EETTDD UPVPWFWFD

They were ratty they were hooted by the meanest and the leastA
When they woke the Drum of Glory long ago in London EastA
They were often mobbed by hoodlums they were few but unafraidB
And their Lassies were insulted but they banged the drum and prayedB
Prayed in public for the sinners prayed in private for releaseC
Till they saved some brawny lumpers then they banged the drum in peaceC
Saved some prize fighter and burglars and they banged the drum in peaceC
-
Booth's DrumD
He was hook nosed he was scrawnyE
He was nothing of a DonF
And his business ways seemed YiddishG
And his speeches kid or kiddishG
And we doubted his convictionsH
But his drum is going onF
-
Oh they drummed it ever onward with old Blood and Fire unfurledI
And they drummed it ever outward to the corners of the worldI
Till they banged the drum in Greenland and they banged in IspahanF
And they banged it round to India and China and JapanF
And they banged it through the Islands where each seasoned Son of RumD
Took them for new fangled Jim Jams when he heard the Army DrumD
For a bran' new brand of Horrors when he saw the Army comeD
So they banged it in the desert and they banged in the snowF
They'd have banged the Drum to Mecca with the shadow of a showF
But Mohammed cut their heads off so they had to let it goF
-
Somewhere in the early eighties they had banged the drum to BourkeJ
Where the job of fighting Satan was white hot and dusty workJ
Oh the Local Lass was withered in the heat that bakes and glaresK
And we sent her food and firewood but took small heed of her prayersK
We were blasphemous and beery we were free from Creed or CareL
Till they sent their prettiest Lassies and they broke our centre thereL
So that moderately sober we could stand to hear them singM
And we'd chaff their Testifiers and throw quids into the ringM
Never less than bobs or dollars sometimes quids into the ringM
-
They have stormed our sinful cities banged for all that they were worthN
From Port Darwin to Port Melbourne and from Sydney round to PerthN
We'd no need for them or woman when we were all right and wellO
But they took us out of prison and they took us out of HellO
And they helped our fallen sisters who went down for such as weE
And our widows and our orphans in distress and povertyE
And neglected wives and children of the worst of us that beE
And they made us fit for Glory or another Glorious SpreeE
So I rather think there's something that is up to you or meE
-
Oh the Blindness of the Future Ah we never reckoned muchG
That they'd beat the quids we gave them into bayonets and suchG
That the coin would be devoted when our world was looking blueP
To another kind of orphan wife or child or widow tooP
But the times have changed a sudden and the past is very dimQ
They Have Found a Real Devil and They're Going After HimQ
With a Bible and a Rifle they are going after himQ
-
For the old Salvation Army and their Country and their KingM
They are marching to the trenches shouting Comrades Let us SingM
They'll find foreign Army soldiers here and there and everywhereL
Who will speak their tongue and help them And they'll surely breathe a prayerL
For the Spy before they shoot him and another when he's stillR
And they're going to fire a volley in the Land of Kaiser BillR
But when all is done and quiet as before they march awayS
They will kneel about their banner saying Brethren Let us prayS
-
They have long used army rank terms and oh say what it shall beE
When a few come back the real thing and when one comes back V CE
They will bang the drum at Crow's Nest they will bang it on the ShoreT
They will bang the drum in Kent street as they never banged beforeT
And At Last they'll frighten Satan from the Mansion and the SlumD
He'll have never heard till that time such a Banging of the DrumD
-
He was lonely with his thousandsU
Lonely in his household tooP
For his children had desertedV
And his captains not a fewP
He was old and white and feebleW
And his sight was nearly goneF
And he could not see his peopleW
But his drum is rolling onF
Booth's DrumD

Henry Lawson



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