The Reprobate's Reply

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



Three droving men, some three weeks sync,
   Sat drinking the Queensland rum;
'Twas four a.m. when twa o' them
   Saw jock M'Phee succumb.

Hech! they were giddy songs he'd sung,
   And the yarns which he'd spun were 'free'! -
For the liquor that nicht had loosed the tongue
   O' gudeman Jock M'Phee.

They taul,t the meenister what befell,
   So he tuk braw Jock to task:-
'Jock, gie me noo an answer true
   To one question I wull ask.

'An' it happened the Laird had stricken ye,
   A reprobate, graceless mon,
Whan ye war a bletherin' yestere'en -
   D'ye ken whare ye wad hae gone?'

'Whare wad I hae gone?' - and Jockie wunk -
   'Dinna ye fash yersel' mair -
For I wad ha' bin too terrible drunk
   To ha' gone anywhere.'

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on May 02, 2023

42 sec read
56

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABXB CDCX XEXE DFFX AGXG
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 714
Words 140
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4

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…

All Harry 'Breaker' Harbord Morant poems | Harry 'Breaker' Harbord Morant Books

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