The Dykes Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABB CCDD EEFF GGHH IIJJ KKFF LLMM NNOP QQHH RRSS| We have no heart for the fishing we have no hand for the oar | A |
| All that our fathers taught us of old pleases us now no more | A |
| All that our own hearts bid us believe we doubt where we do not deny | B |
| There is no proof in the bread we eat or rest in the toil we ply | B |
| - | |
| Look you our foreshore stretches far through sea gate dyke and groin | C |
| Made land all that our fathers made where the flats and the fairway join | C |
| They forced the sea a sea league back They died and their work stood fast | D |
| We were born to peace in the lee of the dykes but the time of our peace is past | D |
| - | |
| Far off the full tide clambers and slips mouthing and testing all | E |
| Nipping the flanks of the water gates baying along the wall | E |
| Turning the shingle returning the shingle changing the set of the sand | F |
| We are too far from the beach men say to know how the outworks stand | F |
| - | |
| So we come down uneasy to look uneasily pacing the beach | G |
| These are the dykes our fathers made we have never known a breach | G |
| Time and again has the gale blown by and we were not afraid | H |
| Now we come only to look at the dykes at the dykes our fathers made | H |
| - | |
| O er the marsh where the homesteads cower apart the harried sunlight flies | I |
| Shifts and considers wanes and recovers scatters and sickens and dies | I |
| An evil ember bedded in ash a spark blown west by the wind | J |
| We are surrendered to night and the sea the gale and the tide behind | J |
| - | |
| At the bridge of the lower saltings the cattle gather and blare | K |
| Roused by the feet of running men dazed by the lantern glare | K |
| Unbar and let them away for their lives the levels drown as they stand | F |
| Where the flood wash forces the sluices aback and the ditches deliver inland | F |
| - | |
| Ninefold deep to the top of the dykes the galloping breakers stride | L |
| And their overcarried spray is a sea a sea on the landward side | L |
| Coming like stallions they paw with their hooves going they snatch with their teeth | M |
| Till the bents and the furze and the sand are dragged out and the old time hurdles beneath | M |
| - | |
| Bid men gather fuel for fire the tar the oil and the tow | N |
| Flame we shall need not smoke in the dark if the riddled seabanks go | N |
| Bid the ringers watch in the tower who knows how the dawn shall prove | O |
| Each with his rope between his feet and the trembling bells above | P |
| - | |
| Now we can only wait till the day wait and apportion our shame | Q |
| These are the dykes our fathers left but we would not look to the same | Q |
| Time and again were we warned of the dykes time and again we delayed | H |
| Now it may fall we have slain our sons as our fathers we have betrayed | H |
| - | |
| Walking along the wreck of the dykes watching the work of the seas | R |
| These were the dykes our fathers made to our great profit and ease | R |
| But the peace is gone and the profit is gone with the old sure days withdrawn | S |
| That our own houses show as strange when we come back in the dawn | S |
Rudyard Kipling
(1)
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About The Dykes
The Dykes is a poem by Rudyard Kipling. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
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