The Patriot's Game Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABBCCDDBB DDEF AGGHIJH DDKDDL ADFDE MNON POPO EQEQ HRHS TI J FUFU FVFV FDFD OWW DD DD XX OO OO OO YY OO BB ZH OOI | A |
TEAR down the crape from the column Let the shaft stand white and fair | B |
Be silent the wailing music there is no death in the air | B |
We come not in plaint or sorrow no tears may dim our sight | C |
We dare not weep o'er the epitaph we have not dared to write | C |
Come hither with glowing faces the sire the youth and the child | D |
This grave is a shrine for reverent hearts and hands that are undefiled | D |
Its ashes are inspiration it giveth us strength to bear | B |
And sweepeth away dissension and nerveth the will to dare | B |
- | |
In the midst of the tombs a Gravestone and written thereon no word | D |
And behold at the head of the grave a gibbet a torch and a sword | D |
And the people kneel by the gibbet and pray by the nameless stone | E |
For the torch to be lit and the name to be writ and the sword's red work to be done | F |
- | |
- | |
II | A |
With pride and not with grief | G |
We lay this century leaf | G |
Upon the tomb with hearts that do not falter | H |
A few brief toiling years | I |
Since fell the nation's tears | J |
And lo the patriot's gibbet is an altar | H |
- | |
The people that are blest | D |
Have him they love the best | D |
To mount the martyr's scaffold when they need him | K |
And vain the cords that bind | D |
While the nation's steadfast mind | D |
Like the needle to the pole is true to freedom | L |
- | |
- | |
III | A |
Three powers there are that dominate the world | D |
Fraud Force and Right and two oppress the one | F |
The bolts of Fraud and Force like twins are hurled | D |
Against them ever standeth Right alone | E |
- | |
Cyclopian strokes the brutal allies give | M |
Their fetters massive and their dungeon walls | N |
Beneath their yoke weak nations cease to live | O |
And valiant Right itself defenseless falls | N |
- | |
Defaced is law and justice slain at birth | P |
Good men are broken malefactors thrive | O |
But when the tyrants tower o'er the earth | P |
Behind their wheels strong right is still alive | O |
- | |
Alive like seed that God's own hand has sown | E |
Like seed that lieth in the lowly furrow | Q |
But springs to life when wintry winds are blown | E |
To day the earth is gray 'tis green to morrow | Q |
- | |
The roots strike deep despite the rulers' power | H |
The plant grows strong with summer sun and rain | R |
Till autumn bursts the deep red hearted flower | H |
And freedom marches to the front again | S |
- | |
While slept the right and reigned the dual wrong | T |
Unchanged unchecked for half a thousand years | I |
In tears of blood we cried 'O Lord how long ' | - |
And even God seemed deaf to Erin's tears | J |
- | |
But when she lay all weak and bruised and broken | F |
Her white limbs seared with cruel chain and thorn | U |
As bursts the cloud the lightning word was spoken | F |
God's seed took root His crop of men was born | U |
- | |
With one deep breath began the land's progression | F |
On every field the seeds of freedom fell | V |
Burke Grattan Flood and Curran in the session | F |
Fitzgerald Sheares and Emmet in the cell | V |
- | |
Such teachers soon aroused the dormant nation | F |
Such sacrifice insured the endless fight | D |
The voice of Grattan smote wrong's domination | F |
The death of Emmet sealed the cause of right | D |
- | |
- | |
IV | O |
Richest of gifts to a nation Death with the living crown | W |
Type of ideal manhood to the people's heart brought down | W |
- | |
Fount of the hopes we cherish test of the things we do | D |
Gorgon's face for the traitor talisman for the true | D |
- | |
Sweet is the love of a woman and sweet is the kiss of a child | D |
Sweet is the tender strength and the bravery of the mild | D |
- | |
But sweeter than all for embracing all is the young life's peerless price | X |
The young heart laid on the altar as a nation's sacrifice | X |
- | |
How can the debt be canceled Prayers and tears we may give | O |
But how recall the anguish of hearts that have ceased to live | O |
- | |
Flushed with the pride of genius filled with the strength of life | O |
Thrilled with delicious passion for her who would be his wife | O |
- | |
This was the heart he offered the upright life he gave | O |
This is the silent sermon of the patriot's nameless grave | O |
- | |
Shrine of a nation's honor stone left blank for a name | Y |
Light on the dark horizon to guide us clear from shame | Y |
- | |
Chord struck deep with the keynote telling us what can save | O |
'A nation among the nations ' or forever a nameless grave | O |
- | |
Such is the will of the martyr the burden we still must bear | B |
But even from death he reaches the legacy to share | B |
- | |
He teaches the secret of manhood the watchword of those who aspire | Z |
That men must follow freedom though it lead through blood and fire | H |
- | |
That sacrifice is the bitter draught which freemen still mast quaff | O |
That every patriotic life is the patriot's epitaph | O |
John Boyle O'reilly
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
Write your comment about The Patriot's Game poem by John Boyle O'reilly
Best Poems of John Boyle O'reilly