The Two Armies Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH IJIJ KLKL MNMN OPOP QRQR STST UVUV| As Life's unending column pours | A |
| Two marshalled hosts are seen | B |
| Two armies on the trampled shores | A |
| That Death flows black between | B |
| - | |
| One marches to the drum beat's roll | C |
| The wide mouthed clarion's bray | D |
| And bears upon a crimson scroll | C |
| Our glory is to slay | D |
| - | |
| One moves in silence by the stream | E |
| With sad yet watchful eyes | F |
| Calm as the patient planet's gleam | E |
| That walks the clouded skies | F |
| - | |
| Along its front no sabres shine | G |
| No blood red pennons wave | H |
| Its banner bears the single line | G |
| Our duty is to save | H |
| - | |
| For those no death bed's lingering shade | I |
| At Honor's trumpet call | J |
| With knitted brow and lifted blade | I |
| In Glory's arms they fall | J |
| - | |
| For these no clashing falchions bright | K |
| No stirring battle cry | L |
| The bloodless stabber calls by night | K |
| Each answers Here am I | L |
| - | |
| For those the sculptor's laurelled bust | M |
| The builder's marble piles | N |
| The anthems pealing oer their dust | M |
| Through long cathedral aisles | N |
| - | |
| For these the blossom sprinkled turf | O |
| That floods the lonely graves | P |
| When Spring rolls in her sea green surf | O |
| In flowery foaming waves | P |
| - | |
| Two paths lead upward from below | Q |
| And angels wait above | R |
| Who count each burning life drop's flow | Q |
| Each falling tear of Love | R |
| - | |
| Though from the Hero's bleeding breast | S |
| Her pulses Freedom drew | T |
| Though the white lilies in her crest | S |
| Sprang from that scarlet dew | T |
| - | |
| While Valor's haughty champions wait | U |
| Till all their scars are shown | V |
| Love walks unchallenged through the gate | U |
| To sit beside the Throne | V |
Oliver Wendell Holmes
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
Write your comment about The Two Armies poem by Oliver Wendell Holmes
Best Poems of Oliver Wendell Holmes