Hello, Soldier! | Page 3

begin.?It fer us to chiv His Trousers. 'n' to round
the stragglers in.?Cuttin' closest to the raw, 'n' swearin' lovin'
all the way,?Is Artie from Molinga on his neddy, Marshal
Neigh.
We're pursuin' sundry camels turkey-trottin'
anyhow?With the carriage iv an emu 'n' the action iv
a cow,?When a sand dune busts, 'n' belches arf a
million iv the foe.?They uncork a blanky batt'ry, 'n' it's, Allah,
let her go!
We're not stayin' dinner, thank you. Lie
along yer horse 'n' yell,?While the bullets pip yer britches 'n' you
sniff the flue of Hell.?Here it is that Artie takes it good 'n' solid in
the crust,?He dives from out the saddle, 'n' is swallered
in the dust.
I got through 'n' saw them pointin' where the
Marshal faced the band.?He was goin' where we came from, sniffin'
bodies in the sand.?Till he found Rowe snugglin' under, took him
where his pants was slack,?'N' be all the Asiatic gods, he brought his
soldier back!
With a bullet in his buttock, 'n' a drill hole
in his ear,?He dumped Artie down among us. Square
'n' all, how did we cheer!?There's no medals struck fer neddies, but we
rule there orter be,?'N' the pride iv all the Light Horse is old
Marshal Neigh, V.C.
IN HOSPITAL.
IT is thirty moons since I slung me hook
From the job at the hay and corn,?Took me solemn oath, 'n' I straight forsook?All the ways of life, dinkum ways 'n' crook,?'N' the things on which it was good to look
Since the day when a bloke was born.
I was give a gun, 'n' a bay'net bright,
'N' a 'ell of a swag iv work,?N' I dipped my lid to the big pub light,?To the ole push cobbers I give "Good-night!"?Slipped a kiss to 'er, 'n' I wings me flight
For a date with the demon Turk.
Ez we pricked our heel to the skitin' drum.
Square 'n' all, I was gone a mile.?With a perky air, 'n' a 'eart ez glum?Ez a long-dead cod, I was blind 'n' dumb,?Holdin' do the tear that was bound to come
At a word or a friendly smile.
Now I've seen it all, I may come out dead,
But I 'ope never more a fool.?I have scorched, 'n' thirsted, 'n' froze, 'n'
bled,?'N' bin taught the use of the human head,?For when all is done 'n' when all is said,
War's a wonderful sort of school.
I've bin taught to get 'em 'n' never fret,
'N' to sleep without dreamin' when?We have swarmed a slope with the red rain wet;?I 'ave learned a pile, 'n' I'm learnin' yet;?But the thing I've learned that I won't forget
Is a way of not judgin' men.
We was shot down there in a dirty place--
From the mansions 'n' huts we'd come--?'N' of all the welter the 'ardest case?Was a little swine with a dimpled face,?Who a year ago was dispensin' lace
In a Carlton em-por-ee-um.
In the moochin' days of me giddy youth,
When I kidded meself a treat,?I'd have pass him one ez a gooey. 'Strewth?On the track iv Huns, he's a eight-day sleuth,?'N' at tearin' into 'em nail 'n' tooth
He's got Julius Caesar beat!
I ain't proud with him ; 'n' I'm modest, too,
When dividin' a can of swill?With a Algy boy from the wilds iv Kew.?Cos I do not know what the cow will do?When a Fritzy offers to sock me through;
'N' it's good to be livin' still.
There you are, you see! Oh! it makes you sore,
When a bloke you despised at 'ome?In them pifflin' days of the years before?Takes a odds-on chance with the God of War,?'N' he tows you out with his left lung tore,
'N' a crack in his bleedin' dome!
'Twas a lad called Hugh done ez much for
me.?(He has curls 'n' he's fair 'n' slim).?Well, I mind the days in the Port when we?Puts it over Hugh coz we don't agree?With his tone 'n' style, 'n' my foot was free
When the push made a hack of him.
Now he's paid me back. I had struck a snag,
And must creep through the battle spume?All a flamin' age, with a grinnin' jag?In me thigh, for water, or jest a fag.?Like a crippled snake I was forced to drag
Shattered flesh till the crack of doom.
When they saw me he was the one who came.
'N' he give me a raffish grin?'N' a swig. I wasn't so bad that shame?Didn't get me then, for the lad was lame.?They had passed him his, but his 'art was
game.?'N' he coughed ez he brought me in.
I have tackled God on me bended knees,
So He'll save him alive 'n' whole,?For the sake of one who he thinks he sees?When the Nurse's hands bring a kind of ease;?And I thank God, too, for the things like these
That have give me a sort of soul.
There are Percies, Algies, 'n' Claudes I've
met?Who could take it 'n' come agen,?While the bullets flew in a screamin' jet.?What in pain, 'n' death, and in mire 'n' sweat?I 'ave learned from them that I won't forget
Is a way