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 NNNNYou 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 William Service
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
Write your comment about The Ballad Of Soulful Sam poem by Robert William Service
Best Poems of Robert William Service