Page:Rudyard Kipling's verse - Inclusive Edition 1885-1918.djvu/509

 INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 491

March! The Devil's none so black as 'e is painted!

Cheer! We'll 'ave some fun before we're put away. 'Alt an' 'and 'er out a woman's gone and fainted!

Cheer! Get on! Gawd 'elp the married men to-day!

Hoi! Come up, you 'ungry beggars, to yer sorrow.

('Ear them say they want their tea, an' want it quick!) You won't have no mind for slingers, 1 not to-morrow

No; you'll put the 'tween-decks stove out, bein' sick!

'Alt! The married kit 'as all to go before us!

'Course it's blocked the bloomin' gangway up again ! Cheer, O cheer the 'Orse Guards watchin' tender o'er us,

Keepin' us since eight this mornin' in the rain!

Stuck in 'eavy marchin'-order, sopped and wringin* Sick, before our time to watch 'er 'eave an' fall,

'Ere's your 'appy 'ome at last, an' stop your singin'. 'Alt! Fall in along the troop-deck! Silence all!

Cheer ! For we'll never live to see no bloomin' victory ! Cheer ! Art we II never live to 'ear the cannon roar ! (One cheer more /)

The jackal an' the kite

y Ave an 'ealthy appetite. An' you'll never see your soldiers any more ! ('//> / Urroar /)

The eagle an' the crow

They are waitin' ever so, An you II never see your soldiers any more ! ('Ip Urroar /)

Yes, the Large Birds o' Prey

They will carry us away, An' you II never see your soldiers any more !

1 Bread soaked in tea.