Equality

John McCrae 1872 (Guelph) – 1918 (Boulogne-sur-Mer)



I saw a King, who spent his life to weave
 Into a nation all his great heart thought,
Unsatisfied until he should achieve
 The grand ideal that his manhood sought;
Yet as he saw the end within his reach,
 Death took the sceptre from his failing hand,
And all men said, "He gave his life to teach
 The task of honour to a sordid land!"
Within his gates I saw, through all those years,
 One at his humble toil with cheery face,
Whom (being dead) the children, half in tears,
 Remembered oft, and missed him from his place.
If he be greater that his people blessed
Than he the children loved, God knoweth best.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

34 sec read
136

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABABCDCDEFGFHH
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 602
Words 117
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14

John McCrae

Lieutenant Colonel John Alexander McCrae, MD was a Canadian poet, physician, author, artist and soldier during World War I, and a surgeon during the Second Battle of Ypres, in Belgium. more…

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