Page:The Five Nations.djvu/230

 THE RETURN

(ALL ARMS)

is declared, an' I return

To 'Ackneystadt, but not the same;

Things 'ave transpired which made me learn

The size and meanin' of the game.

I did no more than others did,

I don't know where the change began;

I started as a average kid,

I finished as a thinkin' man.

If England was what England seems

An' not the England of our dreams,

But only putty, brass, an' paint,

'Ow quick we'd drop 'er! But she ain't!

Before my gappin' mouth could speak

I 'eard it in my comrade's tone;

I saw it on my neighbour's cheek

Before I felt it flush my own. 210