Messmates
Sir Henry Newbolt 1862 (Bilston, Staffordshire) – 1938 (Kensington, London)
He gave us all a good-bye cheerily
At the first dawn of day;
We dropped him down the side full drearily
When the light died away.
It's a dead dark watch that he's a-keeping there,
And a long, long night that lags a-creeping there,
Where the Trades and the tides roll over him
And the great ships go by.
He's there alone with green seas rocking him
For a thousand miles round;
He's there alone with dumb things mocking him,
And we're homeward bound.
It's a long, lone watch that he's a-keeping there,
And a dead cold night that lags a-creeping there,
While the months and the years roll over him
And the great ships go by.
I wonder if the tramps come near enough
As they thrash to and fro,
And the battle-ships' bells ring clear enough
To be heard down below;
If through all the lone watch that he's a-keeping there,
And the long, cold night that lags a-creeping there,
The voices of the sailor-men shall comfort him
When the great ships go by.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 55 sec read
- 59 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ababccdE dfdfccdE gxgaccde |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 928 |
Words | 178 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8 |
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"Messmates" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 13 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/35141/messmates>.
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