The Diggers
Leon Gellert 1892 (Australia) – 1977
The diggers are digging, and digging deep,
They’re digging and singing,
And I’m asleep.
They’re digging and singing and swiftly they’re swinging
The flying earth as it falls in a heap.
And some of it scatters and falls on my head;
But the diggers dig on. They can only dig.
They can only sing and their eyes are big,
Their eyes are big and heavy as lead.
They dig and they sing and they think I’m dead
The diggers are digging, and filling the hole.
They’re sighing and singing.
They pray for my soul.
I hear what they say, and from where I am lying,
I hear a new corporal calling the roll.
But the diggers dig on and fill in my bed,
They diggers dig on, and they sweat and they sweat.
They sigh and they sign, and their wyes are wet.
The brown earth clatters and covers my head;
Then I laugh and I laugh, for they think that I’m dead.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 49 sec read
- 125 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABABACDDCC EBEBECFFCC |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 837 |
Words | 165 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 10, 10 |
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"The Diggers" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/25460/the-diggers>.
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