A Girl Strike-leader
A Girl Strike-leader
Original Text
Poetry: A Magazine of Verse 5 (Oct. 1914): 23-24.
1A white-faced, stubborn little thing
2Whose years are not quite twenty years;
3Eyes steely now and done with tears,
4Mouth scornful of its suffering --
5The young mouth! -- body virginal
6Beneath the cheap, ill-fitting suit;
7A bearing quaintly resolute;
8A flowering hat, satirical.
9A soul that steps to the sound of the fife
10And banners waving red to war;
11Mystical, knowing scarce wherefore --
Notes
12] Joan: Joan of Arc (1412-31), burnt at the stake by the English at Rouen on May 31 after she followed her voices and led the French successfully in the liberation of Orléans, Troyes, and Reims. Back to Line
Publication Start Year
1914
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
2005
Rhyme
Form