Captain Von Esson Of The -sebastopol� Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCAA DDEE FFGG HHII HHAA AAAA HHHH AAJJ AAKK AAFF LLMM HHII

Of his beauty or stature or colour of hair I hadn t the slightest hintA
But he comes to me as a little man with a scrubby beard and a squintA
With a heart somewhere if it wasn t there and an Irish terrier noseB
With a bark or a yelp for his friends and his crew and a bull dog grip for his foesB
The Japs had taken a permanent fort at the price of ten thousand sonsC
And they shelled the ships in the harbour there with their landed naval gunsC
Through sand bags laid on the upper deck the shells went through with a wheltA
And some because of ballistic curve out under the armoured beltA
-
Till each was sunk that the Russians left while the buildings reeled with the shockD
Save the last of the Russian ships of war the Sebastopol in dockD
And this is the reason told in a line why there is a tale to tellE
The Sebastopol had a man for boss and a crew that knew it wellE
-
He rousted them out from the dens ashore and they didn t engage in prayerF
For dear men pray when the fight is done and there wasn t a cheap man thereF
He rooted the dock hands out when crouched in deadly fear of the JapG
But they stood in greater immediate fear of Von Esson s squint and his yapG
-
She groped her way in the gathering dusk out under the time dulled dinH
And nothing was heard save a whispered word and the laugh of a Russian FinnH
He took her out from the harbour trap where the shells came down like hailI
For a chance to fight for the Wrong or Right round under the Lizard s TailI
-
My fathers came from the North my friends when there was a world to winH
And something hints of the Northern Wolf in the laugh of a Russian FinnH
A sailor he was with gorilla arms and a mighty hairy chestA
T was a laugh of love for his captain man and a laugh of hate for the restA
-
There is neither the time nor the space to tell of the deeds that those Russians didA
Three days on the toppling lid of hell like an ill made cauldron s lidA
The breathless pause ere the flashlight fell where the creeping foe was hidA
The blood streaked decks and the grunt or yell when the stricken slipped and slidA
-
The faces white in a sudden light and the ghostly dying grinH
The great relief when the silence broke and they revelled in Hell s own dinH
The blinding flash and the stunning crash strained ears strained eyes dry skinH
The short sharp yelp of that captain man and the laugh of the Russian FinnH
-
T was not for Cause nor for Liberty Religion or Glory or LandA
He fought for love of a captain man he could crush with his big right handA
Till five torpedo boats round her lay in the mud the slush and the oozeJ
She sent them down for the Old Greek Church with the whole of their monkey crewsJ
-
But the last one gave her a last thrust home and left by a friendly tideA
She lay like a man on his elbow raised with a hand on her wounded sideA
She was left to be called for later on with a solid bank beneathK
The Japs were short of torpedo boats and they d had enough of her teethK
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But safe from the landed naval guns and the last torpedo boatA
Von Esson worked with his squint and bark till he got his vessel afloatA
He d marked her a grave with his level eye where the open sea was fairF
And he steered her out to the deep water and he grimly sank her thereF
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It s oh for a chance when a man of men must live the living lieL
For a chance to live as a man might live and die as a man might dieL
When one is a slave to paltry things in a life that never can changeM
It s oh for a cause and a decent gun and a hundred rounds and the rangeM
-
The boats slipped in in the gathering dusk and under the time dulled dinH
And vanished from us to a yap of command and the grunt of a Russian FinnH
But somewhere down in a seamen s den maybe perhaps within hailI
There s a drunken rabble of sailor men and a Finn that tells a taleI

Henry Lawson



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