Policeman X Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABC DEFGH IJK LMNMO PQRSMM TMQMLU TVWXYMMLLMU TMMMMSSSZA2SU B2SC2LMMTMSMMSS MD2MME2 B2F2G2H2MSI2NMMJ2M LM K2MMSL2K2K2S MML2K2B2K2LLM2 MN2AMO2G2I2P2Q2SSMLR 2 P2MShall it be Peace | A |
A voice within me cried and would not cease | A |
'One man could do it if he would but dare ' | B |
From Policeman X in Bees in Amber | C |
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He did not dare | D |
His swelling pride laid wait | E |
On opportunity then dropped the mask | F |
And tempted Fate cast loaded dice and lost | G |
Nor recked the cost of losing | H |
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Their souls are mine | I |
Their lives were in thy hand | J |
Of thee I do require them | K |
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The Voice so stern and sad thrilled my heart's core | L |
And shook me where I stood | M |
Sharper than sharpest sword it fell on him | N |
Who stood defiant muffle cloaked and helmed | M |
With eyes that burned impatient to be gone | O |
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The fetor of thy grim burnt offerings | P |
Comes up to me in clouds of bitterness | Q |
Thy fell undoings crucify afresh | R |
Thy Lord who died alike for these and thee | S |
Thy works are Death thy spear is in my side | M |
O man O man was it for this I died | M |
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Was it for this | T |
A valiant people harried to the void | M |
Their fruitful fields a burnt out wilderness | Q |
Their prosperous country ravelled into waste | M |
Their smiling land a vast red sepulchre | L |
Thy work | U |
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For this | T |
Black clouds of smoke that vail the sight of heaven | V |
Black piles of stones which yesterday were homes | W |
And raw black heaps which once were villages | X |
Fair towns in ashes spoiled to suage thy spleen | Y |
My temples desecrate My priests out cast | M |
Black ruin everywhere and red a land | M |
All swamped with blood and savaged raw and bare | L |
All sickened with the reek and stench of war | L |
And flung a prey to pestilence and want | M |
Thy work | U |
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For this | T |
Life's fair white flower of manhood in the dust | M |
Ten thousand thousand hearts made desolate | M |
My troubled world a seething pit of hate | M |
My helpless ones the victims of thy lust | M |
The broken maids lift hopeless eyes to Me | S |
The little ones lift handless arms to Me | S |
The tortured women lift white lips to Me | S |
The eyes of murdered white haired sires and dames | Z |
Stare up at Me And the sad anguished eyes | A2 |
Of My dumb beasts in agony | S |
Thy work | U |
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Outrage on outrage thunders to the sky | B2 |
The tale of thy stupendous infamy | S |
Thy slaughterings thy treacheries thy thefts | C2 |
Thy broken pacts thy honour in the mire | L |
Thy poor humanity cast off to sate thy pride | M |
'Twere better thou hadst never lived or died | M |
Ere come to this | T |
Thou art the man The scales were in thy hand | M |
For this vast wrong I hold thy soul in fee | S |
Seek not a scapegoat for thy righteous due | M |
Nor hope to void thy countability | M |
Until thou purge thy pride and turn to Me | S |
As thou hast done so be it unto thee | S |
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The shining eyes so stern and sweet and sad | M |
Searched the hard face for sign of hopeful grace | D2 |
But grace was none Enarmoured in his pride | M |
With brusque salute the other turned and strode | M |
Adown the night of Death and fitful fires | E2 |
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Then as the Master bowed him sorrowing | B2 |
I heard a great Voice pealing through the heavens | F2 |
A Voice that dwarfed earth's thunders to a moan | G2 |
Woe Woe Woe to him by whom this came | H2 |
His house shall unto him be desolate | M |
And to the end of time his name shall be | S |
A byword and reproach in all the lands | I2 |
He rapined And his own shall curse him | N |
For the ruin that he brought | M |
Who without reason draws the sword | M |
By sword shall perish | J2 |
The Lord hath said So be it Lord | M |
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AND AFTER | L |
WHAT | M |
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God grant the sacrifice be not in vain | K2 |
Those valiant souls who set themselves with pride | M |
To hold the Ways and fought and fought and died | M |
They rest with Thee | S |
But to the end of time | L2 |
The virtue of their valiance shall remain | K2 |
To pulse a nobler life through every vein | K2 |
Of our humanity | S |
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No drop of hero blood e'er runs to waste | M |
But springs eternal Fountain pure and chaste | M |
For cleansing of men's souls from earthly grime | L2 |
Life knows no waste The Reaper tolls in vain | K2 |
In vain piles high his grim red harvesting | B2 |
His dread red harvest of the slain | K2 |
God's wondrous husbandry is oft obscure | L |
But without halt or haste its course is sure | L |
And His good grain must die to live again | M2 |
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From this dread sowing grant us harvest Lord | M |
Of Nobler Doing and of Loftier Hope | N2 |
An All Embracing and Enduring Peace | A |
A Bond of States a Pact of Peoples based | M |
On no caprice of royal whim but on | O2 |
Foundation mightier than the mightiest throne | G2 |
The Well Considered Will of All the Lands | I2 |
Therewith a simpler purer larger life | P2 |
Unhampered by the dread of war's alarms | Q2 |
A life attuned to closer touch with Thee | S |
And golden threaded with Thy Charity | S |
A Sweeter Earth a Nearer Heaven a World | M |
As emulous in Peace as once in War | L |
And striving ever upward towards The Goal | R2 |
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So once again through Death shall come New Life | P2 |
And out of Darkness Light | M |
William Arthur Dunkerley (john Oxenham)
(1)
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