The Moods of Ginger Mick | Page 5

uv blokes like Ginger Mick -?I sez to them, put sich crook thorts aside,
An' don't lay on the patronage too think.?Orl men is brothers when it comes to lash?An' 'aughty scorn an' Culcher does their lash.
War ain't no giddy garden feete - it's war:
A game that calls up love an' 'atred both.?An' them that shudders at the sight o' gore,
An' shrinks to 'ear a drunken soljer's oath,?Must 'ide be'ind the man wot 'eaves the bricks,?An' thank their Gawd for all their Ginger Micks.
Becos 'e never 'ad the chance to find
The glory o' the world by land an' sea,?Becos the beauty 'idin' in 'is mind
Wus not writ plain fer blokes like you an' me,?They calls 'im crook; but in 'im I 'ave found?Wot makes a man a man the world around.
Be'ind that dile uv 'is, as 'ard as sin,
Wus strange, soft thorts that never yet showed out;?An' down in Spadger's Lane, in dirt an' din,
'E dreamed sich dreams as poits sing about.?'E's 'ad 'is visions uv the Bonzer Tart;?An' stoushed some coot to ease 'is swellin' 'eart.
Lovin' an' fightin' . . . when the tale is told,
That's all there is to it; an' in their way?Them brave an' noble 'ero blokes uv old
Wus Ginger Micks - the crook 'uns uv their day.?Jist let the Call uv Stoush give 'im 'is chance?An' Ginger Mick's the 'ero of Romance.
So Ginger Mick 'e's mizzled to the war;
Joy in 'is 'eart, an' wild dreams in 'is brain;?Gawd 'elp the foe that 'e goes gunnin' for
If tales is true they tell in Spadger's Lane -?Tales that ud fairly freeze the gentle 'earts?Uv them 'oo knits 'is socks - the Culchered Tarts.
IV. THE PUSH
Becos a crook done in a prince, an' narked an Emperor,
An' struck a light that set the world aflame;?Becos the bugles East an' West sooled on the dawgs o' war,
A bloke called Ginger Mick 'as found 'is game -?Found 'is game an' found 'is brothers, 'oo wus strangers in 'is sight, Till they shed their silly clobber an' put on the duds fer fight.
Yes, they've shed their silly clobber an' the other stuff they wore
Fer to 'ide the man beneath it in the past;?An' each man is the clean, straight man 'is Maker meant 'im for, An' each man knows 'is brother man at last.?Shy strangers, till a bugle blast preached 'oly brother'ood; But mateship they 'ave found at last; an' they 'ave found it good.
So the lumper, an' the lawyer, an' the chap 'oo shifted sand,
They are cobbers wiv the cove 'oo drove a quill;?They knut 'oo swung a cane upon the Block, 'e takes the 'and
Uv the coot 'oo swung a pick on Broken 'Ill;?An' Privit Clord Augustus drills wiv Privit Snarky Jim -?They are both Australian soljers, w'ich is good enough fer 'im.
It's good enough fer orl uv 'em, as orl uv 'em 'ave seen
Since they got the same glad clobber next their skins;?An' the bloke 'oo 'olds the boodle an' the coot wivout a bean,
Why, they knock around like little Kharki twins.?An' they got a common lingo, w'ich is growin' mighty thick?Wiv ixpressive contributions frum the stock uv Ginger Mick.
'E 'as struck it fer a moral. Ginger's found 'is game at last,
An' 'e's took to it like ducklin's take to drink;?An' 'is slouchin' an' 'is grouchin' an' 'is loafin' uv the past -
'E's done wiv 'em, an' dumped 'em down the sink.?'E's a bright an' shinin' sample uv a the'ry that I 'old:?That ev'ry 'eart that ever pumped is good fer chunks o' gold.
Ev'ry feller is a gold mine if yeh take an' work 'im right:
It is shinin' on the surface now an' then;?An' there's some is easy sinkin', but there's some wants dynermite,
Fer they looks a 'opeless prospect - yet they're men.?An' Ginger - 'ard-shell Ginger's showin' signs that 'e will pay; But it took a flamin' world-war fer to blarst 'is crust away.
But they took 'im an' they drilled 'im an' they shipped 'im overseas
Wiv a crowd uv blokes 'e never met before.?'E rowed wiv 'em, an' scrapped wiv 'em, an' done some tall C.B.'s,
An' 'e lobbed wiv 'em on Egyp's sandy shore.?Then Pride o' Race lay 'olt on 'im, an' Mick shoves out 'is chest To find 'imself Australian an' blood brothers wiv the rest.
So I gits some reel good readin' in the letter wot 'e sentTho'
the spellin's pretty rotten now an' then.?'I 'ad the joes at first," 'e sez; "but now I'm glad I went,
Fer it's fine to be among reel, livin' men.?An' it's grand to be Australian, an' to say it good an' loud When yeh bump a forrin country wiv sich fellers as our crowd.
"'Struth! I've 'ung around me native land fer close on thirty year,
An' I never knoo wot men me cobbers were:?Never knoo that toffs wus white men till I met 'em