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Moderasaurus Rex
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 33,076
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Poll: Poem
Quote:
Originally posted by bilmore
If the wife should go wrong with a comrade, be loath
To shoot when you catch him -- you'll swing, on my oath! --
Make him take her and keep her: that's Hell for them both,
And you're shut of the curse of a soldier.
Curse, curse, curse of a soldier . . .
When first under fire and you're wishful to duck,
Don't look nor take heed at the man that is struck,
Be thankful you're living, and trust to your luck
And march to your front like a soldier.
Front, front, front like a soldier . . .
When half of your bullets fly wide in the ditch,
Don't call your Martini a cross-eyed old bitch;
She's human as you are -- you treat her as such,
And she'll fight for the young British soldier.
Fight, fight, fight for the soldier . . .
When shaking their bustles like ladies so fine,
The guns of the enemy wheel into line,
Shoot low at the limbers and don't mind the shine,
For noise never startles the soldier.
Start-, start-, startles the soldier . . .
If your officer's dead and the sergeants look white,
Remember it's ruin to run from a fight:
So take open order, lie down, and sit tight,
And wait for supports like a soldier.
Wait, wait, wait like a soldier . . .
When you're wounded and left on Afghanistan's plains,
And the women come out to cut up what remains,
Just roll to your rifle and blow out your brains
And go to your God like a soldier.
Go, go, go like a soldier,
Go, go, go like a soldier,
Go, go, go like a soldier,
So-oldier of the Queen!
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Kipling's poetry improves if you translate it out of the 'orrible Cockney accent. (Hank -- this thought originally George Orwell's.)
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“It was fortunate that so few men acted according to moral principle, because it was so easy to get principles wrong, and a determined person acting on mistaken principles could really do some damage." - Larissa MacFarquhar
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