Read Online The Happy Warrior by Kerry B. Collison - Free Book Online Page B

leave this foreign land,
    With parting shout on every hand,
    This word I’m sure above the noise,
    Will still be heard by all the boys:
    â€œSayeeda”
    Anon
----

    To a Wooden Cross
    No thought to win a medal, no chance to gain real fame,
    But just to save your comrades — that’s why we sing your name.
    Your riddled coat stands witness, four buried Huns lie near,
    And here’s to you in Glory, for death you had no fear.
    You stormed alone this gun-pit and alone you fell,
    You taught them all a lesson their nearby graves now tell.
    Your Dear Ones must have knowledge, that you did not die in vain,
    For by such deeds of valour, our troops have won this plain.
    Anon
----

    A Tribute
    Dedicated to those who fell whilst holding the “Hill of Jesus” on 22nd July 1942
    To desert desolation has been given
    A sacred symbol, where brave men have striven,
    In sight of Tel el Eisa stand the crosses
    That speak of greater gains that come through losses.
    And He, whose name on yon hill is inscribed,
    He spake of love, greater than which is none,
    Where man forfeited his life in death lay down.
    By those immutable and universal laws
    That bind humanity as one, and thereby cause
    The clash and strife, when greed and selfishness
    Exclude from view the vaster world, where stress
    On things that make us petty and secluded,
    (By little dreams of paltry gains deluded)
    Is but a relic of a passing phase
    That leads onward to more glorious days.
    By those same universal laws, perchance
    We faced a foe, so eager to enhance
    Advantages won in recent rapid rush
    Eastward, and thereby his opponent crush,
    That dreams of domination of the world
    Might to fulfilment be brought nearer, and unfurled
    O’er Egypt and the East the banner borne
    By host whose loyalty to Fatherland was sworn.
    The sudden bursting forth of morning violence
    That July day in nineteen forty two,
    That twenty-second day! Now pride in silence
    Honors. Sorrows doth our pride subdue
    The boom of gun, the whine and crash of shell.
    The crush of mortars, rifles spitting hell,
    Machine guns pouring death on every crest
    Did brave men face, and facing them could jest.
    Though willing be the flesh of gallant men,
    The strongest, bravest spirit is subdued,
    And overwhelming weight of force and fire
    Batters and blasts, as wounded rise again
    To reach a comrade’s side to render aid
    Or to press on in desert’s heat, where shade
    And water are but things to torment those
    Who think and suffer lying near their foes.
    Oft victory comes to us in some disguise
    That mocked faint hearts, perceived but by the wise
    Who perseveres with courage to endure
    And make the fruits of victory secure.
    Awhile the outcome of the awful night
    Seems doubtful, but with break of morning light
    The verdict o’er the conduct could be given —
    Our enemy once more was backward driven.
    The price? Men in the pride and strength of youth
    Preferring death, with loyalty to truth,
    Is that the price must be, which faint heart chills,
    Accept the hazards of their own free wills;
    No cheap bravadoes but a deep sincerity
    Called them from distant shores and homes and love,
    And Tel el Eisa’s crosses of eternity,
    And forgotten as our deed shall prove.
    Chaplain B. C. Archbold
    2/48th Aust. Inf. Batt.
----

    The Rats of Tobruk
    â€œGood morning Rats!” The donkey brayed,
    â€œRats at the end of your tether,
    I heard your nerves are somewhat frayed,
    Shall I snap them altogether?”
    And he called to his birds of prey:
    â€œSwoop low on the British Rats,
    They’re afraid of the light of day,
    They live in caves like bats.”
    So the vultures flocked to the kill
    And they dived on the hospital ships
    And the hospital high on the hill
    And they blew all the wards to bits.
    Full gorged with easy game,
    The vultures flocked once more,
    A hundred plus they came,
    And dived on the shattered shore.
    â€œCrash!” went the big Ack-Ack.
    â€œBang!”