Night Thought

Harry 'Breaker' Harbord Morant 1864 (Bridgwater, Somerset) – 1902 (Pretoria)



The world around is sleeping,
  The stars are bright o'erhead,
The shades of myalls weeping
  Upon the sward are spread;
Among the gloomy pinetops
  The fitful breezes blow,
And their murmurs seem the music
  Of a song of long ago;
Soft, passionate, and wailing
  Is the tender old refrain -
With a yearning unavailing -
  "Will he no come back again?"

The camp-fire sparks are flying
  Up from the pine-log's glow,
The wandering wind is sighing
  That ballad sweet and low;
The drooping branches gleaming
  In the firelight, sway and stir;
And the bushman's brain is dreaming
  Of the song she sang, and her.
And the murmurs of the forest
  Ring home to heart and brain,
As in the pine is chorused
  "Wi11 he no come back again?"

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 27, 2023

39 sec read
151

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABABXCXCADAE ACACAFAFBDBE
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 738
Words 132
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 12, 12

Harry 'Breaker' Harbord Morant

Harry "Breaker" Harbord Morant (born Edwin Henry Murrant, 9 December 1864 – 27 February 1902) was an Anglo-Australian drover, horseman, bush poet and military officer, who was convicted and executed for murder during the Second Anglo-Boer War. While serving with the Bushveldt Carbineers during the Second Anglo-Boer War, Lieutenant Morant was arrested and court-martialed for war crimes—one of the first such prosecutions in British military history. According to military prosecutors, Morant retaliated for the death in combat of his commanding officer with a series of revenge killings against both Boer POWs and many civilian residents of the Northern Transvaal. more…

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    Which poet is known for writing "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night"?
    A William Shakespeare
    B Dylan Thomas
    C Sylvia Plath
    D T.S. Eliot