France Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCC DDEEFFGGHHIIJJ KKLLMNOOPQRSSOO TTUUVVWWXXYYCCOOZZ AABBCCC| Broke to every known mischance lifted over all | A |
| By the light sane joy of life the buckler of the Gaul | A |
| Furious in luxury merciless in toil | B |
| Terrible with strength that draws from her tireless soil | B |
| Strictest judge of her own worth gentlest of man's mind | C |
| First to follow Truth and last to leave old Truths behind | C |
| France beloved of every soul that loves its fellow kind | C |
| - | |
| Ere our birth rememberest thou side by side we lay | D |
| Fretting in the womb of Rome to begin our fray | D |
| Ere men knew our tongues apart our one task was known | E |
| Each to mould the other's fate as he wrought his own | E |
| To this end we stirred mankind till all Earth was ours | F |
| Till our world end strifes begat wayside Thrones and Powers | F |
| Puppets that we made or broke to bar the other's path | G |
| Necessary outpost folk hirelings of our wrath | G |
| To this end we stormed the seas tack for tack and burst | H |
| Through the doorways of new worlds doubtful which was first | H |
| Hand on hilt rememberest thou ready for the blow | I |
| Sure whatever else we met we should meet our foe | I |
| Spurred or balked at every stride by the other's strength | J |
| So we rode the ages down and every ocean's length | J |
| - | |
| Where did you refrain from us or we refrain from you | K |
| Ask the wave that has not watched war between us two | K |
| Others held us for a while but with weaker charms | L |
| These we quitted at the call for each other's arms | L |
| Eager toward the known delight equally we strove | M |
| Each the other's mystery terror need and love | N |
| To each other's open court with our proofs we came | O |
| Where could we find honour else or men to test our claim | O |
| From each other's throat we wrenched valour's last reward | P |
| That extorted word of praise gasped 'twixt lunge and guard | Q |
| In each other's cup we poured mingled blood and tears | R |
| Brutal joys unmeasured hopes intolerable fears | S |
| All that soiled or salted life for a thousand years | S |
| Proved beyond the need of proof matched in every clime | O |
| O Companion we have lived greatly through all time | O |
| - | |
| Yoked in knowledge and remorse now we come to rest | T |
| Laughing at old villainies that Time has turned to jest | T |
| Pardoning old necessities no pardon can efface | U |
| That undying sin we shared in Rouen market place | U |
| Now we watch the new years shape wondering if they hold | V |
| Fiercer lightnings in their heart than we launched of old | V |
| Now we hear new voices rise question boast or gird | W |
| As we raged rememberest thou when our crowds were stirred | W |
| Now we count new keels afloat and new hosts on land | X |
| Massed like ours rememberest thou when our strokes were planned | X |
| We were schooled for dear life's sake to know each other's blade | Y |
| What can Blood and Iron make more than we have made | Y |
| We have learned by keenest use to know each other's mind | C |
| What shall Blood and Iron loose that we cannot bind | C |
| We who swept each other's coast sacked each other's home | O |
| Since the sword of Brennus clashed on the scales at Rome | O |
| Listen count and close again wheeling girth to girth | Z |
| In the linked and steadfast guard set for peace on earth | Z |
| - | |
| Broke to every known mischance lifted over all | A |
| By the light sane joy of life the buckler of the Gaul | A |
| Furious in luxury merciless in toil | B |
| Terrible with strength renewed from a tireless soil | B |
| Strictest judge of her own worth gentlest of man's mind | C |
| First to face the Truth and last to leave old Truths behind | C |
| France beloved of every soul that loves or serves its kind | C |
Rudyard Kipling
(1)
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