The Canon Of Aughrim Poem Rhyme Scheme

Recent Interactions*

This poem was read 27 times,

This poem was added to the favorite list by 0 members,

This poem was voted by 0 members.

(* Interactions only in the last 7 days)

New Poems

A Simple Gift Of Clarity
by Michael Mcguire
Ring Of Fire
by N. Khanyile
A Disturbing Dream
by Marlon Pitter
Crab Lice
by Marlon Pitter
Biography Of The Anonymous
by Gilbert Sordebabari
Lost In Search Of A Saved Child
by Michael Mcguire
Dark Lens
by Gilbert Sordebabari
The Ship
by Pieter Sanders
Rose Bush
by Aubrie J Chellman
Between Condemning Bad Acts And Doing Bad Things, Which One Is Worse?
by Marlon Pitter

Popular Poets

1. Emily Dickinson(2415 poems)
2. Madison Julius Cawein(1231 poems)
3. Ella Wheeler Wilcox(1136 poems)
4. William Wordsworth(1016 poems)
5. Robert Burns(986 poems)
6. Edgar Albert Guest(945 poems)
7. Thomas Moore(849 poems)
8. Robert Service(831 poems)

You ask me of English honour whether your Nation is just	A
Justice for us is a word divine a name we revere	B
Alas no more than a name a thing laid by in the dust	A
The world shall know it again but not in this month or year	B
	-
Honour Oh no you profane it Justice What words What deeds	C
Look at the suppliant Earth with its living burden of men	D
Here and to Hindostan the nations and kings and creeds	C
Praise your name as a god's the god of their children slain	E
	-
Which of us doubts your justice It is not here in the West	F
After six hundred years of pitiless legal war	G
The sons of our soil are in doubt They know who have borne it best	F
The world is famished for justice You give us a stone your law	H
	-
These are its fruits Yet think you the Ireland where men weep	I
Once was a jubilant land and dear to the Saints of God	J
All you have made it to day is a hell to conquer and keep	I
Yours by the right of the strongest hand the right of the rod	J
	-
History tells the story in signs deep writ on the soil	K
Plain and clear in indelible type both for fools and wise	L
Here is no need of books of any expositor's coil	K
He who runs may read and he may weep who has eyes	L
	-
This is the plain of Aughrim renowned in our Irish story	M
Because of the blood that was shed the last in arms by our sons	N
A fight in battle array with more of grief than of glory	M
Where as a Nation we died to dirge of your English guns	N
	-
So the Chroniclers tell us and turn in silence their page	O
Ending the fighting here I tell you the Chroniclers lie	P
Spite of the hush of the dead the battle from age to age	O
Flames on still through the land and still at men's hands men die	P
	-
Look I will show you the footsteps of those who have died at your hand	Q
Done to death by your law alas and not by the sword	R
Only their work remaining a nations's track in the sand	Q
Ridge and furrow of ancient fields half hid in the sward	R
	-
Step by step they retreated You fenced them out with your Pale	S
Back from township and city and cornland fair by the Sea	M
Waterford Youghal and Wexford you took and the Golden Vale	S
Tears were their portion assigned for you their demesnes in fee	M
	-
Back to the forest and bog They shouldered their spades like men	D
Fought with the wolf and the rock and the hunger which holds the hill	T
Still new homesteads arose where fever lurked in the fen	D
Still your law was a sword that hunted and dogged them still	T
	-
Magistrate landlord bailiff process server and spy	P
These were the dogs of your pack which scented the land's increase	U
Vainly like hares they lay in the forms they had fashioned to die	P
Justice hunted them forth by the hand of the Justice of Peace	U
	-
Look at it closer thus and shading your eyes with your hand	Q
Far as a bird could reach to the utmost edge of the plain	E
What do you see but grass And what do you understand	Q
Cattle that graze on the grass Alas you have looked in vain	E
	-
See with my eyes They are older than yours but more keen in their love	V
See what I saw as a boy in the fields as a priest by the ways	W
See what I saw in anger with angels watching above	V
Hiding their faces for shame in the day of the terrible days	W
	-
Horsemen and footmen and guns They were here I have seen them though some	X
Say that two hundred years have passed since the battle was stilled	Y
Ay and the cry of the wounded drowned by the beat of the drum	X
Did I not hear with my ears how it rose like the wail of a child	Z
	-
I was a student then a boy in the days now forgotten	A2
When for our school house the chapel must serve for our master the priest	B2
Many a Latin theme have I scrawled on the altar rails rotten	A2
Thinking no more of the house of God than the house of the least	B2
	-
Yet we were saints in Aughrim An Eden the plain then stood	C2
Covered with gardens round a happy and holy place	D2
Rich in the generations of those who had shed their blood	E2
Bound to their faith by the martyr's bond and the power of grace	D2
	-
They do us wrong who affirm the Irish people are sad	F2
Sad we are in the lands afar but not in our home	G2
Oh if you knew the gladness with which our people are glad	F2
Well might you grieve for your own the poor in your towns of doom	H2
	-
Here God knows it we hunger But hunger a little is well	I2
Man with full stomach is proud his heart is shut to the poor	J2
Well too is persecution since thus through its sting we rebel	K2
Clinging yet more to our love and our hate in the homes we adore	G
	-
Mine is a mission of peace to save men's souls in the world	L2
Not to make converts to Hell for Ireland's sake even you say	M2
Why should I preach of rebellion and hatred words impotent hurled	L2
Each like a spear from the lips to strike whom it lists in the fray	M2
	-
Hark You shall hear it This parish was mine I remember it all	N2
Tilled in squares like a chess board each house and holding apart	O2
Down where the nettles grow you may mark the line of the wall	N2
Bounding the chapel field where our dead lie heart on heart	O2
	-
It was not the famine killed them God knows in that evil year	B
He pressed us a little hard but he spared us our lives and joy	P2
Only the old and weak were taken The rest stood clear	B
Quit of their debt to Death God struck but not to destroy	P2
	-
The wolves of the world were fiercer The wolves of the world to day	M2
Go in sheep's clothing all with names that the world applauds	Q2
Nobody now draws sword or spear with intent to slay	M2
Death is done with a sigh and mercy tightens the cords	R2
	-
It was a woman did it Her father the lawyer Blake	S2
Purchased the land for a song some say or less for a debt	T2
Owed by the former Lord a broken spendthrift and rake	S2
And left it hers when he died with all he could grip or get	T2
	-
Timothy Blake was not loved He had too much in his heart	O2
Of the law of tenures for love No word men spoke in his praise	W
Yet in his lawyer's way and deeds and titles apart	O2
All were allowed to live who paid their rent in his days	W
	-
Little Miss Blake was his daughter A pink faced school girl she came	U2
First from Dublin city to live in her father's house	V2
She and her dogs and horses unconscious of shame or blame	U2
Who would have guessed her cruel with manners meek as a mouse	V2
	-
Nothing in truth was further or further seemed from her heart	O2
Set as it was on pleasure and undisturbed with pain	E
So she might ride with the hounds when winter brought round its sport	W2
Or angle a trout from the river than war with her fellow men	D
	-
She was fastidious too with her English education	A2
And pained at want and squalor things hard she should understand	Q
The sight of poverty touched the sense of what was due to her station	A2
And still in her earlier years she gave with an open hand	Q
	-
The village was poor to look at a row of houses no more	G
With just four walls and the thatch in holes where the fowls passed through	X2
A shame to us all she averred and her so near to her door	G
She sent us for slates to the quarry and bade us build them anew	X2
	-
The Chapel too was unsightly A Protestant she and yet	T2
Decency needs must be in a house of prayer she said	Y2
Perched on a rising ground in sight of her windows set	T2
Its shapeless walls were her grief She built it a new facade	J
	-
What was it changed her heart God knows I know not Some say	M2
She set her fancy on one above her in rank and pride	Z2
Young Lord Clair at the Castle had danced with her Then one day	M2
Dancing and she were at odds He had taken an English bride	Z2
	-
This or it may be less a foolish word from a friend	A3
A jest repeated to ears already wounded and sore	G
A pang of jealousy roused for the sake of some private end	A3
Or only the greed of gain of more begotten of more	G
	-
These were the days of plenty of prices rising men thought	B3
Still to rise for ever and all were eager to buy	P
Landlord with landlord vied and tenant with tenant bought	C3
Riches make selfish soul	D3

Wilfrid Scawen Blunt

The Canon Of Aughrim Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

About The Canon Of Aughrim

Write your comment about The Canon Of Aughrim poem by Wilfrid Scawen Blunt

Recent Interactions*

New Poems

Popular Poets