Page:Rudyard Kipling's verse - Inclusive Edition 1885-1918.djvu/505

 I'm cast from the Service, And all I deserve is a shillin' a day.

(Chorus) Shillin' a day, Bloomin' good pay Lucky to touch it, a shillin' a day! Oh, it drives me half crazy to think of the days I Went slap for the Ghazi, my sword at my side, When we rode Hell-for-leather Both squadrons together, That didn't care whether we lived or we died. But it's no use despairin', my wife must go charm' An' me commissairin', the pay-bills to better, So if me you be'old In the wet and the cold, By the Grand Metropold won't you give me a letter?

(Full chorus) Give 'im a letter 'Can't do no better, Late Troop-Sergeant-Major an* runs with a letter! Think what 'e's been, Think what 'e's seen. Think of his pension an'

'M 'ere in a ticky ulster an' a broken billycock 'at, A-layin' on to the sergeant I don't know a gun from a bat; My shirt's doin' duty for jacket, my sock's stickin' out o' my boots, An' I'm learnin' the damned old goose-step along o' the new recruits!