The Roman Centurion's Song Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BBCC DDEF GGHI JJJJ KKLL JJMM NNOO BBLL| Roman Occupation of Britain A D | A |
| - | |
| - | |
| Legate I had the news last night my cohort ordered home | B |
| By ships to Portus Itius and thence by road to Rome | B |
| I've marched the companies aboard the arms are stowed below | C |
| Now let another take my sword Command me not to go | C |
| - | |
| I've served in Britain forty years from Vectis to the Wall | D |
| I have none other home than this nor any life at all | D |
| Last night I did not understand but now the hour draws near | E |
| That calls me to my native land I feel that land is here | F |
| - | |
| Here where men say my name was made here where my work was done | G |
| Here where my dearest dead are laid my wife my wife and son | G |
| Here where time custom grief and toil age memory service love | H |
| Have rooted me in British soil Ah how can I remove | I |
| - | |
| For me this land that sea these airs those folk and fields surffice | J |
| What purple Southern pomp can match our changeful Northern skies | J |
| Black with December snows unshed or pearled with August haze | J |
| The clanging arch of steel grey March or June's long lighted days | J |
| - | |
| You'll follow widening Rhodanus till vine an olive lean | K |
| Aslant before the sunny breeze that sweeps Nemausus clean | K |
| To Arelate's triple gate but let me linger on | L |
| Here where our stiff necked British oaks confront Euroclydon | L |
| - | |
| You'll take the old Aurelian Road through shore descending pines | J |
| Where blue as any peacock's neck the Tyrrhene Ocean shines | J |
| You'll go where laurel crowns are won but will you e'er forget | M |
| The scent of hawthorn in the sun or bracken in the wet | M |
| - | |
| Let me work here for Britain's sake at any task you will | N |
| A marsh to drain a road to make or native troops to drill | N |
| Some Western camp I know the Pict or granite Border keep | O |
| Mid seas of heather derelict where our old messmates sleep | O |
| - | |
| Legate I come to you in tears My cohort ordered home | B |
| I've served in Britain forty years What should I do in Rome | B |
| Here is my heart my soul my mind the only life I know | L |
| I cannot leave it all behind Command me not to go | L |
Rudyard Kipling
(1)
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