{
 "id": "robert-w-service/the-march-of-the-dead",
 "title": "The March of the Dead",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "Robert W. Service",
 "poet_slug": "robert-w-service",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Songs of a Sourdough",
 "book_slug": "songs-of-a-sourdough",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 25,
 "container": null,
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1907,
  "venue": "Songs of a Sourdough (1907)",
  "note": "First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/songsofsourdoug00serv"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/robert-w-service_songs-of-a-sourdough",
  "file": "poetry.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25546",
   "https://archive.org/details/songsofsourdoug00serv"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-20"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 48,
  "n_stanzas": 6,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 76,
  "max_indent": 1
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "The cruel war was over⁠—oh, the triumph was so sweet!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "We watched the troops returning, through our tears;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "There was triumph, triumph, triumph down the scarlet glittering street,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And you scarce could hear the music for the cheers.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And you scarce could see the housetops for the flags that flew between,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The bells were pealing madly to the sky;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And everyone was shouting for the Soldiers of the Queen,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And the glory of an age was passing by.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And then there came a shadow, swift and sudden, dark and drear;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The bells were silent, not an echo stirred.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The flags were drooping sullenly, the men forgot to cheer;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "We waited, and we never spoke a word.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The sky grew darker, darker, till from out the gloomy rack",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "There came a voice that checked the heart with dread:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "“Tear down, tear down your bunting now, and hang up sable black;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "They are coming⁠—it’s the Army of the Dead.”",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "They were coming, they were coming, gaunt and ghastly, sad and slow;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "They were coming, all the crimson wrecks of pride;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "With faces seared, and cheeks red smeared, and haunting eyes of woe,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And clotted holes the khaki couldn’t hide.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Oh, the clammy brow of anguish! the livid, foam-flecked lips!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The reeling ranks of ruin swept along!",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The limb that trailed, the hand that failed, the bloody fingertips!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And oh, the dreary rhythm of their song!",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“They left us on the veldt-side, but we felt we couldn’t stop,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "On this, our England’s crowning festal day;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "We’re the men of Magersfontein, we’re the men of Spion Kop,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Colenso⁠—we’re the men who had to pay.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "We’re the men who paid the blood-price. Shall the grave be all our gain?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "You owe us. Long and heavy is the score.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Then cheer us for our glory now, and cheer us for our pain,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And cheer us as ye never cheered before.”",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The folks were white and stricken, and each tongue seemed weighed with lead;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Each heart was clutched in hollow hand of ice;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And every eye was staring at the horror of the dead,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The pity of the men who paid the price.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "They were come, were come to mock us, in the first flush of our peace;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Through writhing lips their teeth were all agleam;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "They were coming in their thousands⁠—oh, would they never cease!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I closed my eyes, and then⁠—it was a dream.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "There was triumph, triumph, triumph down the scarlet gleaming street;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The town was mad, a man was like a boy.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "A thousand flags were flaming where the sky and city meet;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A thousand bells were thundering the joy.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "There was music, mirth and sunshine; but some eyes shone with regret:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And while we stun with cheers our homing braves,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "O God, in Thy great mercy, let us nevermore forget",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The graves they left behind, the bitter graves.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ]
 ]
}