Page:Rudyard Kipling's verse - Inclusive Edition 1885-1918.djvu/515

 INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 497

THAT DAY

TT GOT beyond all orders an' it got beyond all 'ope;

It got to shammin' wounded an' retirin' from the 'alt. 'Ole companies was lookin' for the nearest road to slope; It were just a bloomin' knock-out an' our fault!

Now there ain't no chorus 'ere to give,

Nor there ain't no band to play; An' I wish I was dead 'fore I done what I did y

Or seen what I seed that day !

We was sick o' bein' punished, an' we let 'em know it, too;

An' a company-commander up an' 'it us with a sword, An* some one shouted "'Ook it!" an' it come to sove-ki-poo,

An' we chucked our rifles from us O my Gawd!

There was thirty dead an' wounded on the ground we

wouldn't keep No, there wasn't more than twenty when the front begun

to go- But, Christ! along the line o' flight they cut us up like sheep, An* that was all we gained by doin' so!

I 'card the knives be'ind me, but I dursn't face my man, Nor I don't know where I went to, 'cause I didn't 'alt to ^see,

Till I 'card a beggar squealin' out for quarter as 'e ran, An' I thought I knew the voice an' it was me!

We was 'idin' under bedsteads more than 'arf a march away: We was lyin' up like rabbits all about the country-side;

An' the Major cursed 'is Maker 'cause 'e'd lived to see that

day, An' the Colonel broke 'is sword acrost, an' cried.