Dirge Of The Dead Sisters Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABAB CDED FGHG AIAI HJKJ LMHM HNNN HONO ENHN| Who recalls the twilight and the ranged tents in order | A |
| Violet peaks uplifted through the crystal evening air | B |
| And the clink of iron teacups and the piteous noble laughter | A |
| And the faces of the Sisters with the dust upon their hair | B |
| - | |
| Now and not hereafter while the breath is in our nostrils | C |
| Now and not hereafter ere the meaner years go by | D |
| Let us now remember many honourable women | E |
| Such as bade us turn again when we were like to die | D |
| - | |
| Who recalls the morning and the thunder through the foothills | F |
| Tufts of fleecy shrapnel strung along the empty plains | G |
| And the sun scarred Red Cross coaches creeping guarded to the culvert | H |
| And the faces of the Sisters looking gravely from the trains | G |
| - | |
| When the days were torment and the nights were clouded terror | A |
| When the Powers of Darkness had dominion on our soul | I |
| When we fled consuming through the Seven Hells of Fever | A |
| These put out their hands to us and healed and made us whole | I |
| - | |
| Who recalls the midnight by the bridge's wrecked abutment | H |
| Autumn rain that rattled like a Maxim on the tin | J |
| And the lightning dazzled levels and the streaming straining wagons | K |
| And the faces of the Sisters as they bore the wounded in | J |
| - | |
| Till the pain was merciful and stunned us into silence | L |
| When each nerve cried out on God that made the misused clay | M |
| When the Body triumphed and the last poor shame departed | H |
| These abode our agonies and wiped the sweat away | M |
| - | |
| Who recalls the noontide and the funerals through the market | H |
| Blanket hidden bodies flagless followed by the flies | N |
| And the footsore firing party and the dust and stench and staleness | N |
| And the faces of the Sisters and the glory in their eyes | N |
| - | |
| Bold behind the battle in the open camp all hallowed | H |
| Patient wise and mirthful in the ringed and reeking town | O |
| These endured unresting till they rested from their labours | N |
| Little wasted bodies ah so light to lower down | O |
| - | |
| Yet their graves are scattered and their names are clean forgotten | E |
| Earth shall not remember but the Waiting Angel knows | N |
| Them who died at Uitvlugt when the plague was on the city | H |
| Her that fell at Simon's Town' in service on our foes | N |
Rudyard Kipling
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