Birds Of Prey

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March! The mud is cakin’ good about our trousies.Front!, eyes front, an’ watch the Colour-casin’s drip.Front! The faces of the women in the ‘ousesAin’t the kind o’ things to take aboard the ship. Cheer! An’ we’ll never march to victory.Cheer! An’ we’ll never live to ‘ear the cannon roar!The Large Birds o’ PreyThey will carry … Read more

Gunga Din

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You may talk o’ gin an’ beer  When you’re quartered safe out ‘ere,  An’ you’re sent to penny-fights an’ Aldershot it;  But if it comes to slaughter  You will do your work on water,           An’ you’ll lick the bloomin’ boots of ‘im that’s got it.  Now in Injia’s sunny clime,  Where I used to spend my time  A-servin’ of ‘Er Majesty the Queen,  Of … Read more

The Power of the Dog

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There is sorrow enough in the natural wayFrom men and women to fill our day;And when we are certain of sorrow in store,Why do we always arrange for more?Brothers and Sisters, I bid you bewareOf giving your heart to a dog to tear. Buy a pup and your money will buyLove unflinching that cannot lie—Perfect … Read more

The Way Through the Woods

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They shut the road through the woods      Seventy years ago.Weather and rain have undone it again,      And now you would never knowThere was once a road through the woods      Before they planted the trees.It is underneath the coppice and heath,      And the thin anemones.      Only the keeper seesThat, where the ring-dove broods,      And the badgers roll at ease,There was once a … Read more

If—

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If you can keep your head when all about you   Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,   But make allowance for their doubting too;If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,   Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies,Or, being hated, don’t give … Read more