The Last Post

Robert Graves 1895 (Wimbledon) – 1985 (Deià)



The bugler sent a call of high romance—
“Lights out! Lights out!” to the deserted square.
On the thin brazen notes he threw a prayer,
“God, if it’s this for me next time in France…
O spare the phantom bugle as I lie
Dead in the gas and smoke and roar of guns,
Dead in a row with the other broken ones
Lying so stiff and still under the sky,
Jolly young Fusiliers too good to die.”

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 28, 2023

24 sec read
654

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABBACDDCC
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 401
Words 81
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 9

Robert Graves

Robert von Ranke Graves was an English poet, scholar/translator/writer of antiquity specializing in Classical Greece and Rome, novelist and soldier in World War One. more…

All Robert Graves poems | Robert Graves Books

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    "The Last Post" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/31188/the-last-post>.

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