The Ballad Of Soulful Sam Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AAABB CCDD EFGG CCHH AAII JAJAA EEKB LLMM NNOO GGPP QQGG RRSS SSII NNNN| You want me to tell you a story a yarn of the firin' line | A |
| Of our thin red kharki 'eroes out there where the bullets whine | A |
| Out there where the bombs are bustin' | A |
| and the cannons like 'ell doors slam | B |
| Just order another drink boys and I'll tell you of Soulful Sam | B |
| - | |
| Oh Sam he was never 'ilarious though I've 'ad some mates as was wus | C |
| He 'adn't C B on his programme he never was known to cuss | C |
| For a card or a skirt or a beer mug he 'adn't a friendly word | D |
| But when it came down to Scriptures say Wasn't he just a bird | D |
| - | |
| He always 'ad tracts in his pocket the which he would haste to present | E |
| And though the fellers would use them in ways that they never was meant | F |
| I used to read 'em religious and frequent I've been impressed | G |
| By some of them bundles of 'oly dope he carried around in his vest | G |
| - | |
| For I and oh 'ow I shudder at the 'orror the word conveys | C |
| 'Ave been let me whisper it 'oarsely a gambler 'alf of me days | C |
| A gambler you 'ear a gambler It makes me wishful to weep | H |
| And yet 'ow it's true my brethren I'd rather gamble than sleep | H |
| - | |
| I've gambled the 'ole world over from Monte Carlo to Maine | A |
| From Dawson City to Dover from San Francisco to Spain | A |
| Cards They 'ave been me ruin They've taken me pride and me pelf | I |
| And when I'd no one to play with why I'd go and I'd play by meself | I |
| - | |
| And Sam 'e would sit and watch me as I shuffled a greasy deck | J |
| And 'e'd say You're bound to Perdition | A |
| And I'd answer Git off me neck | J |
| And that's 'ow we came to get friendly though built on a different plan | A |
| Me wot's a desprite gambler 'im sich a good young man | A |
| - | |
| But on to me tale Just imagine Darkness The battle front | E |
| The furious 'Uns attackin' Us ones a bearin' the brunt | E |
| Me crouchin' be'ind a sandbag tryin' 'ard to keep calm | K |
| When I 'ears someone singin' a 'ymn toon be'old it is Soulful Sam | B |
| - | |
| Yes right in the crash of the combat in the fury of flash and flame | L |
| 'E was shootin' and singin' serenely as if 'e enjoyed the same | L |
| And there in the 'eat of the battle as the 'ordes of demons attacked | M |
| He dipped down into 'is tunic and 'e 'anded me out a tract | M |
| - | |
| Then a star shell flared and I read it Oh Flee From the Wrath to Come | N |
| Nice cheerful subject I tell yer when you're 'earin' the bullets 'um | N |
| And before I 'ad time to thank 'im just one of them bits of lead | O |
| Comes slingin' along in a 'urry and it 'its my partner Dead | O |
| - | |
| No siree not by a long sight For it plugged 'im 'ard on the chest | G |
| Just where 'e'd tracts for a army corps stowed away in 'is vest | G |
| On its mission of death that bullet 'ustled along and it caved | P |
| A 'ole in them tracts to 'is 'ide boys but the life o' me pal was saved | P |
| - | |
| And there as 'e showed me in triumph and 'orror was chokin' me breath | Q |
| On came another bullet on its 'orrible mission of death | Q |
| On through the night it cavorted seekin' its 'aven of rest | G |
| And it zipped through a crack in the sandbags and it wolloped me bang on the breast | G |
| - | |
| Was I killed do you ask Oh no boys Why am I sittin' 'ere | R |
| Gazin' with mournful vision at a mug long empty of beer | R |
| With a throat as dry as a oh thanky I don't much mind if I do | S |
| Beer with a dash of 'ollands that's my particular brew | S |
| - | |
| Yes that was a terrible moment It 'ammered me 'ard o'er the 'eart | S |
| It bowled me down like a nine pin and I looked for the gore to start | S |
| And I saw in the flash of a moment in that thunder of hate and strife | I |
| Me wretched past like a pitchur the sins of a gambler's life | I |
| - | |
| For I 'ad no tracts to save me to thwart that mad missile's doom | N |
| I 'ad no pious pamphlets to 'elp me to cheat the tomb | N |
| I 'ad no 'oly leaflets to baffle a bullet's aim | N |
| I'd only a deck of cards boys but it seemed to do just the same | N |
Robert Service
(1)
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