The Soldier Of Fortune Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABABCDCDABEF GHGHIJIJKLKLMNMN OPOPQRQRSTSTUVUVWXWX YNYN HZHZYA2YA2OA2OA2A2A2 A2A2B2C2B2X D2CD2CE2JE2J YIY SIS| 'Deny your God ' they ringed me with their spears | A |
| Blood crazed were they and reeking from the strife | B |
| Hell hot their hate and venom fanged their sneers | A |
| And one man spat on me and nursed a knife | B |
| And there was I sore wounded and alone | C |
| I the last living of my slaughtered band | D |
| Oh sinister the sky and cold as stone | C |
| In one red laugh of horror reeled the land | D |
| And dazed and desperate I faced their spears | A |
| And like a flame out leaped that naked knife | B |
| And like a serpent stung their bitter jeers | E |
| 'Deny your God and we will give you life ' | F |
| - | |
| Deny my God Oh life was very sweet | G |
| And it is hard in youth and hope to die | H |
| And there my comrades dear lay at my feet | G |
| And in that blear of blood soon must I lie | H |
| And yet I almost laughed it seemed so odd | I |
| For long and long had I not vainly tried | J |
| To reason out and body forth my God | I |
| And prayed for light and doubted and denied | J |
| Denied the Being I could not conceive | K |
| Denied a life to be beyond the grave | L |
| And now they ask me who do not believe | K |
| Just to deny to voice my doubt to save | L |
| This life of mine that sings so in the sun | M |
| The bloom of youth yet red upon my cheek | N |
| My only life O fools 'tis easy done | M |
| I will deny and yet I do not speak | N |
| - | |
| 'Deny your God ' their spears are all agleam | O |
| And I can see their eyes with blood lust shine | P |
| Their snarling voices shrill into a scream | O |
| And mad to slay they quiver for the sign | P |
| Deny my God yes I could do it well | Q |
| Yet if I did what of my race my name | R |
| How they would spit on me these dogs of hell | Q |
| Spurn me and put on me the brand of shame | R |
| A white man's honour what of that I say | S |
| Shall these black curs cry 'Coward' in my face | T |
| They who would perish for their gods of clay | S |
| Shall I defile my country and my race | T |
| My country what's my country to me now | U |
| Soldier of Fortune free and far I roam | V |
| All men are brothers in my heart I vow | U |
| The wide and wondrous world is all my home | V |
| My country reverent of her splendid Dead | W |
| Her heroes proud her martyrs pierced with pain | X |
| For me her puissant blood was vainly shed | W |
| For me her drums of battle beat in vain | X |
| And free I fare half heedless of her fate | Y |
| No faith no flag I owe then why not seek | N |
| This last loop hole of life Why hesitate | Y |
| I will deny and yet I do not speak | N |
| - | |
| 'Deny your God ' their spears are poised on high | H |
| And tense and terrible they wait the word | Z |
| And dark and darker glooms the dreary sky | H |
| And in that hush of horror no thing stirred | Z |
| Then through the ringing terror and sheer hate | Y |
| Leaped there a vision to me Oh how far | A2 |
| A face Her face through all my stormy fate | Y |
| A joy a strength a glory and a star | A2 |
| Beneath the pines where lonely camp fires gleam | O |
| In seas forlorn amid the deserts drear | A2 |
| How I had gladdened to that face of dream | O |
| And never never had it seemed so dear | A2 |
| O silken hair that veils the sunny brow | A2 |
| O eyes of grey so tender and so true | A2 |
| O lips of smiling sweetness must I now | A2 |
| For ever and for ever go from you | A2 |
| Ah yes I must for if I do this thing | B2 |
| How can I look into your face again | C2 |
| Knowing you think me more than half a king | B2 |
| I with my craven heart my honour slain | X |
| - | |
| No no my mind's made up I gaze above | D2 |
| Into that sky insensate as a stone | C |
| Not for my creed my country but my Love | D2 |
| Will I stand up and meet my death alone | C |
| Then though it be to utter dark I sink | E2 |
| The God that dwells in me is not denied | J |
| 'Best' triumphs over 'Beast' and so I think | E2 |
| Humanity itself is glorified | J |
| - | |
| 'And now my butchers I embrace my fate | Y |
| Come let my heart's blood slake the thirsty sod | I |
| Curst be the life you offer Glut your hate | Y |
| Strike Strike you dogs I'll not deny my God ' | - |
| - | |
| I saw the spears that seemed a leap to slay | S |
| All quiver earthward at the headman's nod | I |
| And in a daze of dream I heard him say | S |
| 'Go set him free who serves so well his God ' | - |
Robert William Service
(1)
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