Book: Rhymes of a Red Cross Man

• A Pot Of Tea

  You make it in your mess-tin by the brazier's rosy gleam;
  You watch it cloud, then settle amber clear;

  27 lines
• A Song Of The Sandbags

  No, Bill, I'm not a-spooning out no patriotic tosh
  (The cove be'ind the sandbags ain't a death-or-glory cuss).

  56 lines, 1 comment
• My Foe

  A Belgian Priest-Soldier Speaks;
  GURR! You cochon! Stand and fight!

  102 lines
• A Song Of Winter Weather

  It isn't the foe that we fear;
  It isn't the bullets that whine;

  44 lines, 1 comment
• Pilgrims

  For oh, when the war will be over
     We'll go and we'll look for our dead;

  32 lines
• Afternoon Tea

  As I was saying . . . (No, thank you; I never take cream with my tea;
  Cows weren't allowed in the trenches -- got out of the habit, y'see.)

  82 lines, 1 comment
• On The Wire

  O God, take the sun from the sky!
      It's burning me, scorching me up.

  97 lines, 1 comment
• Bill The Bomber

  The poppies gleamed like bloody pools through cotton-woolly mist;
  The Captain kept a-lookin' at the watch upon his wrist;

  76 lines
• Missis Moriarty's Boy

  Missis Moriarty called last week, and says she to me, says she:
     "Sure the heart of me's broken entirely now -- it's the fortunate woman you are;

  24 lines
• Bill's Grave

  I'm gatherin' flowers by the wayside to lay on the grave of Bill;
  I've sneaked away from the billet, 'cause Jim wouldn't understand;

  36 lines
• My Mate

  I've been sittin' starin', starin' at 'is muddy pair of boots,
     And tryin' to convince meself it's 'im.

  48 lines
• Carry On

  It's easy to fight when everything's right,
     And you're mad with the thrill and the glory;

  48 lines, 1 comment
• Our Hero

  "Flowers, only flowers -- bring me dainty posies,
     Blossoms for forgetfulness," that was all he said;

  32 lines
• Cocotte

  When a girl's sixteen, and as poor as she's pretty,
     And she hasn't a friend and she hasn't a home,

  64 lines
• Milking Time

  There's a drip of honeysuckle in the deep green lane;
  There's old Martin jogging homeward on his worn old wain;

  42 lines
• Faith

  Since all that is was ever bound to be;
     Since grim, eternal laws our Being bind;

  14 lines
• My Bay'nit

  When first I left Blighty they gave me a bay'nit
     And told me it 'ad to be smothered wiv gore;

  36 lines
• Forward

  I've tinkered at my bits of rhymes
  In weary, woeful, waiting times;

  44 lines, 1 comment
• My Job

  I've got a little job on 'and, the time is drawin' nigh;
     At seven by the Captain's watch I'm due to go and do it;

  24 lines
• Funk

  When your marrer bone seems 'oller,
  And you're glad you ain't no taller,

  36 lines
• My Prisoner

  We was in a crump-'ole, 'im and me;
  Fightin' wiv our bayonets was we;

  72 lines
• Going Home

  I'm goin' 'ome to Blighty -- ain't I glad to 'ave the chance!
  I'm loaded up wiv fightin', and I've 'ad my fill o' France;

  24 lines
• Only A Boche

  We brought him in from between the lines: we'd better have let him lie;
  For what's the use of risking one's skin for a tyke that's going to die?

  52 lines
• Grand-Père

  And so when he reached my bed
     The General made a stand:

  24 lines
• Over The Parapet

  All day long when the shells sail over
     I stand at the sandbags and take my chance;

  80 lines, 1 comment
• Jean Desprez

  Oh ye whose hearts are resonant, and ring to War's romance,
  Hear ye the story of a boy, a peasant boy of France;

  96 lines
• Son

  He hurried away, young heart of joy, under our Devon sky!
  And I watched him go, my beautiful boy, and a weary woman was I.

  24 lines
• The Call (France, August 1st, 1914)

      Far and near, high and clear,
      Hark to the call of War!

  40 lines, 1 comment

• By me, right now

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