Page:Sassoon, Siegfried - Counter-Attack and Other Poems (1918).djvu/35

 here's my platoon, the lot I had last year, "The war'll be over soon."
 * "What 'opes?"
 * "No bloody fear!"

Then, "Number Seven, 'shun! All present and correct." They're standing in the sun, impassive and erect. Young Gibson with his grin; and Morgan, tired and white; Jordan, who's out to win a D.C.M. some night; And Hughes that's keen on wiring; and Davies ('79), Who always must be firing at the Boche front line. "Old soldiers never die; they simply fide a-why!" That's what they used to sing along the roads last spring; That's what they used to say before the push began; That's where they are to-day, knocked over to a man.