The World’s Wit and Humor: An Encyclopedia in 15 Volumes. 1906.
Nikolay Nekrasov (18211877)The Soldier
From “Who Lives Happily in Russia?”
T
With medals on his breast;
He scarcely lives, but yet he strives
To drink with all the rest.
“A lucky man am I!” he cries,
And thus to prove the fact he tries:
“In what consists a soldier’s luck?
Pray, listen while I tell:
In twenty fights or more I’ve been,
And yet I never fell;
And, what is more, in peaceful times
Full health I never knew.
Yet, all the same, I have contrived
Not to give Death his due.
Also, for sins both great and small,
Full many a time they’ve me
With sticks unmercifully flogged;
Yet I’m alive, you see!”