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 P2M

Shall it be PeaceA
A voice within me cried and would not ceaseA
'One man could do it if he would but dare 'B
From Policeman X in Bees in AmberC
-
-
He did not dareD
His swelling pride laid waitE
On opportunity then dropped the maskF
And tempted Fate cast loaded dice and lostG
Nor recked the cost of losingH
-
Their souls are mineI
Their lives were in thy handJ
Of thee I do require themK
-
The Voice so stern and sad thrilled my heart's coreL
And shook me where I stoodM
Sharper than sharpest sword it fell on himN
Who stood defiant muffle cloaked and helmedM
With eyes that burned impatient to be goneO
-
The fetor of thy grim burnt offeringsP
Comes up to me in clouds of bitternessQ
Thy fell undoings crucify afreshR
Thy Lord who died alike for these and theeS
Thy works are Death thy spear is in my sideM
O man O man was it for this I diedM
-
Was it for thisT
A valiant people harried to the voidM
Their fruitful fields a burnt out wildernessQ
Their prosperous country ravelled into wasteM
Their smiling land a vast red sepulchreL
Thy workU
-
For thisT
Black clouds of smoke that vail the sight of heavenV
Black piles of stones which yesterday were homesW
And raw black heaps which once were villagesX
Fair towns in ashes spoiled to suage thy spleenY
My temples desecrate My priests out castM
Black ruin everywhere and red a landM
All swamped with blood and savaged raw and bareL
All sickened with the reek and stench of warL
And flung a prey to pestilence and wantM
Thy workU
-
For thisT
Life's fair white flower of manhood in the dustM
Ten thousand thousand hearts made desolateM
My troubled world a seething pit of hateM
My helpless ones the victims of thy lustM
The broken maids lift hopeless eyes to MeS
The little ones lift handless arms to MeS
The tortured women lift white lips to MeS
The eyes of murdered white haired sires and damesZ
Stare up at Me And the sad anguished eyesA2
Of My dumb beasts in agonyS
Thy workU
-
Outrage on outrage thunders to the skyB2
The tale of thy stupendous infamyS
Thy slaughterings thy treacheries thy theftsC2
Thy broken pacts thy honour in the mireL
Thy poor humanity cast off to sate thy prideM
'Twere better thou hadst never lived or diedM
Ere come to thisT
Thou art the man The scales were in thy handM
For this vast wrong I hold thy soul in feeS
Seek not a scapegoat for thy righteous dueM
Nor hope to void thy countabilityM
Until thou purge thy pride and turn to MeS
As thou hast done so be it unto theeS
-
The shining eyes so stern and sweet and sadM
Searched the hard face for sign of hopeful graceD2
But grace was none Enarmoured in his prideM
With brusque salute the other turned and strodeM
Adown the night of Death and fitful firesE2
-
Then as the Master bowed him sorrowingB2
I heard a great Voice pealing through the heavensF2
A Voice that dwarfed earth's thunders to a moanG2
Woe Woe Woe to him by whom this cameH2
His house shall unto him be desolateM
And to the end of time his name shall beS
A byword and reproach in all the landsI2
He rapined And his own shall curse himN
For the ruin that he broughtM
Who without reason draws the swordM
By sword shall perishJ2
The Lord hath said So be it LordM
-
AND AFTERL
WHATM
-
God grant the sacrifice be not in vainK2
Those valiant souls who set themselves with prideM
To hold the Ways and fought and fought and diedM
They rest with TheeS
But to the end of timeL2
The virtue of their valiance shall remainK2
To pulse a nobler life through every veinK2
Of our humanityS
-
No drop of hero blood e'er runs to wasteM
But springs eternal Fountain pure and chasteM
For cleansing of men's souls from earthly grimeL2
Life knows no waste The Reaper tolls in vainK2
In vain piles high his grim red harvestingB2
His dread red harvest of the slainK2
God's wondrous husbandry is oft obscureL
But without halt or haste its course is sureL
And His good grain must die to live againM2
-
From this dread sowing grant us harvest LordM
Of Nobler Doing and of Loftier HopeN2
An All Embracing and Enduring PeaceA
A Bond of States a Pact of Peoples basedM
On no caprice of royal whim but onO2
Foundation mightier than the mightiest throneG2
The Well Considered Will of All the LandsI2
Therewith a simpler purer larger lifeP2
Unhampered by the dread of war's alarmsQ2
A life attuned to closer touch with TheeS
And golden threaded with Thy CharityS
A Sweeter Earth a Nearer Heaven a WorldM
As emulous in Peace as once in WarL
And striving ever upward towards The GoalR2
-
So once again through Death shall come New LifeP2
And out of Darkness LightM

William Arthur Dunkerley (john Oxenham)



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