We’re foot — slog — slog — slog — sloggin’ over Africa —
Foot — foot — foot — foot — sloggin’ over Africa —
(Boots — boots — boots — boots — movin’ up and 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 and down again!)
There’s no discharge in the war!
Don’t — don’t — don’t — don’t — look at what’s in front of you.
(Boots — boots — boots — boots — movin’ up an’ down again);
Men — men — men — men — men go mad with watchin’ em,
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 and 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 —
Boot — 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,
But boots — boots — boots — boots — movin’ up an’ down again,
An’ there’s no discharge in the war!
Rudyard Kipling
Mr Frank Kelly, Deputy Principal and senior teacher at Lyall Bay School in the nineteen-eighties, liked Kipling, I think. He also thought it was good for us to learn poems by heart. I never did get this one, but I like it very much, nonetheless.