The Famine In Ireland Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIDD JJKKLLLLMMNNOOPPQQRR S SLLTTUUVVLLWWXXYIRRZ A2LL| They shall not perish Not if help can save | A |
| Our hunger stricken brethren from the grave | A |
| They shall not perish With no impious breath | B |
| We vow that Love shall stronger prove than Death | B |
| Say not 'Tis vain to strive against the Hand | C |
| That writeth Judgment o'er a mourning land | C |
| Say not 'Tis Heav'n that worketh good or ill | D |
| And if our brother die it is God's will | D |
| Say not if He is pleased to hide His face | E |
| 'Tis ours and theirs to wait returning grace | E |
| Nor listless into prayerful chambers creep | F |
| And be content to weep with those who weep | F |
| Say not that Nature but fulfils her plan | G |
| Through righteous retribution teaching man | G |
| Nor round your easy acquiescence draw | H |
| The curtain of inexorable Law | H |
| Say rather We are now the hands of God | I |
| To pour our fruits upon their fruitless sod | I |
| Say rather We are God's incarnate Will | D |
| To feed His lambs His children's mouths to fill | D |
| And in our very plenty read the sign | J |
| That we are chos'n as instruments Divine | J |
| Say rather if His face be darkened there | K |
| 'Tis ours to light the darkness of despair | K |
| And through the tears that dim their sorrowing eyes | L |
| Show God reflected from our happier skies | L |
| And what though Nature in her changelessness | L |
| Works out her ends through cycles of distress | L |
| We too are Nature and enthroned above | M |
| All other law we own the Law of Love | M |
| Therefore they shall not perish Oh sad Isle | N |
| Endure thy burden yet a little while | N |
| Yea but a little while for bounteous Heaven | O |
| The lightning for our messenger hath given | O |
| To flash from cape to cape o'er ocean's bed | P |
| The word that for thy need becometh bread | P |
| Oh grief worn father gazing on the soil | Q |
| That mocks thy husbandry whose fruitless toil | Q |
| Provides no answer to the children's cry | R |
| Who turn'st aside lest thou should'st see them die | R |
| Lo God hath not forsaken ev'n thy least | S |
| - | |
| Turn yet again Help cometh from the East | S |
| Oh drooping mother bowed with hopeless cares | L |
| That labour lightens not nor tears nor prayers | L |
| Who spread'st ev'n now before thy famished brood | T |
| The scanty remnant of unwholesome food | T |
| Once more let hope awake within thy breast | U |
| Be of good cheer Help cometh from the West | U |
| Ye little ones whose raiment rent and old | V |
| Scarce hides the forms that tremble in the cold | V |
| Whose play is silenced all whose frolic wiles | L |
| Are turned to weariness whose sunny smiles | L |
| Have vanished from the hunger wasted mouth | W |
| Be warmed and fed Help cometh from the South | W |
| Say we too much Nay less than this would shame | X |
| Alike our hearts our honour and our name | X |
| Nothing too much while Famine stalks abroad | Y |
| And Winter grips the shivering lambs of God | I |
| Nothing too much while weeping kindred cry | R |
| To happier kindred Save us or we die | R |
| Nothing too much while we whose bread is sure | Z |
| Have hearts to pity hands to help the poor | A2 |
| And eyes in Ireland's hour of need to see | L |
| Queensland's Australia's opportunity | L |
James Brunton Stephens
(1)
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