Poetry

Boots

We're foot - slog - slog - slog - sloggin' over Africa -
Foot - foot - foot - foot - sloggin' over Africa -
(Boots - boots - boots - boots - movin' up an' down again!)
There's no discharge in the war!

Seven - six - eleven - five - nine-an'-twenty mile to-day -
Four - eleven - seventeen - thirty-two the day before -
(Boots - boots - boots - boots - movin' up an' down again!)
There's no discharge in the war!

Don't - don't - on't - don't - look at what's in front of you.
Men - men - men - men - men go mad with watchin' em,
(Boots - boots - boots - boots - movin' up an' down again!)
An' there's no discharge in the war!

Try - try - try - try - to think o' something different -
Oh - my - God - keep - me from goin' lunatic!
(Boots - boots - boots - boots - movin' up an' down again!)
There's no discharge in the war!

Count - count - count - count - the bullets in the bandoliers.
If - your - eyes - drop - they will get atop o' you!
(Boots - boots - boots - boots - movin' up an' down again!)
There's no discharge in the war!

We - can - stick - out - 'unger, thirst, an' weariness,
But - not - not - not - not the chronic sight of 'em -
(Boots - boots - boots - boots - movin' up an' down again!)
An' there's no discharge in the war!

'Taint - so - bad - by - day because o' company,
But night - brings - long - strings - o' forty thousand million
(Boots - boots - boots - boots - movin' up an' down again!)
There's no discharge in the war!

I - 'ave - marched - six - weeks in 'Ell an' certify
It - is - not - fire - devils, dark, or anything,
(Boots - boots - boots - boots - movin' up an' down again!)
An' there's no discharge in the war!

© Robert George Cordery (2005)