The Veteran Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDD EEFFGGHH IIJJGGGG KKLLGGMN OOPPQQGG| Underneath the autumn sky | A |
| Haltingly the lines go by | A |
| Ah would steps were blithe and gay | B |
| As when first they marched away | B |
| Smile on lip and curl on brow | C |
| Only white faced gray beards now | C |
| Standing on life's outer verge | D |
| E'en the marches sound a dirge | D |
| - | |
| Blow you bugles play you fife | E |
| Rattle drums for dearest life | E |
| Let the flags wave freely so | F |
| As the marching legions go | F |
| Shout hurrah and laugh and jest | G |
| This is memory at its best | G |
| Did you notice at your quip | H |
| That old comrade's quivering lip | H |
| - | |
| Ah I see them as they come | I |
| Stumbling with the rumbling drum | I |
| But a sight more sad to me | J |
| E'en than these ranks could be | J |
| Was that one with cane upraised | G |
| Who stood by and gazed and gazed | G |
| Trembling solemn lips compressed | G |
| Longing to be with the rest | G |
| - | |
| Did he dream of old alarms | K |
| As he stood presented arms | K |
| Did he think of field and camp | L |
| And the unremitting tramp | L |
| Mile on mile the lonely guard | G |
| When he kept his midnight ward | G |
| Did he dream of wounds and scars | M |
| In that bitter war of wars | N |
| - | |
| What of that He stood and stands | O |
| In my memory trembling hands | O |
| Whitened beard and cane and all | P |
| As if waiting for the call | P |
| Once again To arms my sons | Q |
| And his ears hear far off guns | Q |
| Roll of cannon and the tread | G |
| Of the legions of the Dead | G |
Paul Laurence Dunbar
(1)
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