The March Of The Dead



The cruel war was over -- oh, the triumph was so sweet!
    We watched the troops returning, through our tears;
There was triumph, triumph, triumph down the scarlet glittering street,
    And you scarce could hear the music for the cheers.
And you scarce could see the house-tops for the flags that flew between;
    The bells were pealing madly to the sky;
And everyone was shouting for the Soldiers of the Queen,
    And the glory of an age was passing by.

And then there came a shadow, swift and sudden, dark and drear;
    The bells were silent, not an echo stirred.
The flags were drooping sullenly, the men forgot to cheer;
    We waited, and we never spoke a word.
The sky grew darker, darker, till from out the gloomy rack
    There came a voice that checked the heart with dread:
"Tear down, tear down your bunting now, and hang up sable black;
    They are coming -- it's the Army of the Dead."

They were coming, they were coming, gaunt and ghastly, sad and slow;
    They were coming, all the crimson wrecks of pride;
With faces seared, and cheeks red smeared, and haunting eyes of woe,
    And clotted holes the khaki couldn't hide.
Oh, the clammy brow of anguish! the livid, foam-flecked lips!
    The reeling ranks of ruin swept along!
The limb that trailed, the hand that failed, the bloody finger tips!
    And oh, the dreary rhythm of their song!

"They left us on the veldt-side, but we felt we couldn't stop
    On this, our England's crowning festal day;
We're the men of Magersfontein, we're the men of Spion Kop,
    Colenso -- we're the men who had to pay.
We're the men who paid the blood-price. Shall the grave be all our gain?
    You owe us. Long and heavy is the score.
Then cheer us for our glory now, and cheer us for our pain,
    And cheer us as ye never cheered before."

The folks were white and stricken, and each tongue seemed weighted with lead;
    Each heart was clutched in hollow hand of ice;
And every eye was staring at the horror of the dead,
    The pity of the men who paid the price.
They were come, were come to mock us, in the first flush of our peace;
    Through writhing lips their teeth were all agleam;
They were coming in their thousands -- oh, would they never cease!
    I closed my eyes, and then -- it was a dream.

There was triumph, triumph, triumph down the scarlet gleaming street;
    The town was mad; a man was like a boy.
A thousand flags were flaming where the sky and city meet;
    A thousand bells were thundering the joy.
There was music, mirth and sunshine; but some eyes shone with regret;
    And while we stun with cheers our homing braves,
O God, in Thy great mercy, let us nevermore forget
    The graves they left behind, the bitter graves.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 16, 2023

2:28 min read
123

Quick analysis:

Scheme AXAXBCBC DEDEFGFG HIHIJKJK LMLMNDND GOGOPQPQ ARARSTST
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 2,677
Words 490
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8

Robert William Service

Robert William Service was a poet and writer sometimes referred to as the Bard of the Yukon He is best-known for his writings on the Canadian North including the poems The Shooting of Dan McGrew The Law of the Yukon and The Cremation of Sam McGee His writing was so expressive that his readers took him for a hard-bitten old Klondike prospector not the later-arriving bank clerk he actually was Robert William Service was born 16 January 1874 in Preston England but also lived in Scotland before emigrating to Canada in 1894 Service went to the Yukon Territory in 1904 as a bank clerk and became famous for his poems about this region which are mostly in his first two books of poetry He wrote quite a bit of prose as well and worked as a reporter for some time but those writings are not nearly as well known as his poems He travelled around the world quite a bit and narrowly escaped from France at the beginning of the Second World War during which time he lived in Hollywood California He died 11 September 1958 in France Incidentally he played himself in a movie called The Spoilers starring John Wayne and Marlene Dietrich more…

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