The Whistle Of Sandy Mcgraw Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABACDEDEFGFGFCFC HIHIJFJFCCCC FFFFKCKCLDLDIFIFIGIC MNMNIDID OIOIFCFCCDCDCFCFDCDC CMCMDIDIFFFF CCCCYou may talk o' your lutes and your dulcimers fine | A |
Your harps and your tabors and cymbals and a' | B |
But here in the trenches jist gie me for mine | A |
The wee penny whistle o' Sandy McGraw | C |
Oh it's Sandy ma lad will you lilt us a tune | D |
And Sandy is willin' and trillin' like mad | E |
Sae silvery sweet that we a' throng aroun' | D |
And some o' it's gay but the maist o' it's sad | E |
Jist the wee simple airs that sink intae your hert | F |
And grup ye wi' love and wi' longin' for hame | G |
And ye glour like an owl till you're feelin' the stert | F |
O' a tear and you blink wi' a feelin' o' shame | G |
For his song's o' the heather and here in the dirt | F |
You listen and dream o' a land that's sae braw | C |
And he mak's you forget a' the harm and the hurt | F |
For he pipes like a laverock does Sandy McGraw | C |
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At Eepers I mind me when rank upon rank | H |
We rose from the trenches and swept like the gale | I |
Till the rapid fire guns got us fell on the flank | H |
And the murderin' bullets came swishin' like hail | I |
Till a' that were left o' us faltered and broke | J |
Till it seemed for a moment a panicky rout | F |
When shrill through the fume and the flash and the smoke | J |
The wee valiant voice o' a whistle piped out | F |
'The Campbells are Comin' Then into the fray | C |
We bounded wi' bayonets reekin' and raw | C |
And oh we fair revelled in glory that day | C |
Jist thanks to the whistle o' Sandy McGraw | C |
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At Loose it wis after a sconnersome fecht | F |
On the field o' the slain I wis crawlin' aboot | F |
And the rockets were burnin' red holes in the nicht | F |
And the guns they were veciously thunderin' oot | F |
When sudden I heard a bit sound like a sigh | K |
And there in a crump hole a kiltie I saw | C |
Whit ails ye ma lad Are ye woundit says I | K |
I've lost ma wee whustle says Sandy McGraw | C |
'Twas oot by yon bing where we pressed the attack | L |
It drapped frae ma pooch and between noo and dawn | D |
There isna much time so I'm jist crawlin' back | L |
Ye're daft man I telt him but Sandy wis gone | D |
Weel I waited a wee then I crawled oot masel | I |
And the big stuff wis gorin' and roarin' around | F |
And I seemed tae be under the oxter o' hell | I |
And Creation wis crackin' tae bits by the sound | F |
And I says in ma mind Gang ye back ye auld fule | I |
When I thrilled tae a note that wis saucy and sma' | G |
And there in a crater collected and cool | I |
Wi' his wee penny whistle wis Sandy McGraw | C |
Ay there he wis playin' as gleg as could be | M |
And listenin' hard wis a spectacled Boche | N |
Then Sandy turned roon' and he noddit tae me | M |
And he says Dinna blab on me Sergeant McTosh | N |
The auld chap is deein' He likes me tae play | I |
It's makin' him happy Jist see his een shine | D |
And thrillin' and sweet in the hert o' the fray | I |
Wee Sandy wis playin' The Watch on the Rhine | D |
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The last scene o' a' 'twas the day that we took | O |
That bit o' black ruin they ca' Labbiesell | I |
It seemed the hale hillside jist shivered and shook | O |
And the red skies were roarin' and spewin' oot shell | I |
And the Sergeants were cursin' tae keep us in hand | F |
And hard on the leash we were strainin' like dugs | C |
When upward we shot at the word o' command | F |
And the bullets were dingin' their songs in oor lugs | C |
And onward we swept wi' a yell and a cheer | C |
And a' wis destruction confusion and din | D |
And we knew that the trench o' the Boches wis near | C |
And it seemed jist the safest bit hole tae be in | D |
So we a' tumbled doon and the Boches were there | C |
And they held up their hands and they yelled Kamarad | F |
And I merched aff wi' ten wi' their palms in the air | C |
And my I wis prood like and my I wis glad | F |
And I thocht if ma lassie could see me jist then | D |
When sudden I sobered at somethin' I saw | C |
And I stopped and I stared and I halted ma men | D |
For there on a stretcher wis Sandy McGraw | C |
Weel he looks in ma face jist as game as ye please | C |
Ye ken hoo I hate tae be workin' says he | M |
But noo I can play in the street for bawbees | C |
Wi' baith o' ma legs taken aff at the knee | M |
And though I could see he wis rackit wi' pain | D |
He reached for his whistle and stertit tae play | I |
And quaverin' sweet wis the pensive refrain | D |
The floors o' the forest are a' wede away | I |
Then sudden he stoppit Man wis it no grand | F |
Hoo we took a' them trenches He shakit his heid | F |
I'll no play nae mair feebly doon frae his hand | F |
Slipped the wee penny whistle and Sandy wis deid | F |
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And so you may talk o' your Steinways and Strads | C |
Your wonderful organs and brasses sae braw | C |
But oot in the trenches jist gie me ma lads | C |
Yon wee penny whistle o' Sandy McGraw | C |
Robert Service
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