[Brian Watson]

"Harry of Hereford, Lancaster, and Derby,
Stands here for God, his country, and . . ." And what?
"Stands here for God, his Sovereign, and himself,"
Growls Captain Fry who had the play by heart.

*

I am nobody; I have nothing to do with explosions.
I have given my name and my day-clothes up to the nurses
And my history to the anesthetist and my body to surgeons.

*

That was at Barnborough. The tomcat still
Grallochs odd dogs on the quiet,
Will take the head clean off your simple pullet,

*

But she would weep to see today
how on his skin the swart flies move;
the dust upon the paper eye
and the burst stomach like a cave

From The School Play, Merrill; Tulips, Plath; Esther's Tomcat, Hughes; Vergissmeinnicht, Douglas.

A combination of assonance and consonance among three lines registers on the ear like a full rhyme, though no pair of lines rhymes.
- Derby, what, heart
- explosions, nurses, surgeons
- still, quiet, pullet
- today, move, cave