Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936). Verse: 1885–1918. 1922.
Soldier, Soldier
S
“Why don’t you march with my true love?”
“We’re fresh from off the ship an’ ’e’s, maybe, give the slip,
“An’ you’d best go look for a new love.”
Best go look for a new love,
The dead they cannot rise, an’ you’d better dry your eyes,
An’ you’d best go look for a new love.
“What did you see o’ my true love?”
“I seen ’im serve the Queen in a suit o’ rifle-green,
“An’ you’d best go look for a new love.”
“Did ye see no more o’ my true love?”
“I seen ’im runnin’ by when the shots begun to fly—
“But you’d best go look for a new love.”
“Did aught take ’arm to my true love?”
“I couldn’t see the fight, for the smoke it lay so white—
“And you’d best go look for a new love.”
“I’ll up an’ tend to my true love!”
“’E’s lying on the dead with a bullet through ’is ’ead,
“An’ you’d best go look for a new love.”
“I’ll down an’ die with my true love!”
“The pit we dug’ll ’ide ’im an’ the twenty more beside ’im—
“An’ you’d best go look for a new love.”
“Do you bring no sign from my true love?”
“I bring a lock of ’air that ’e allus used to wear,
“An’ you’d best go look for a new love.”
“O then I know it’s true I’ve lost my true love!”
“An’ I tell you truth again—when you’ve lost the feel o’ pain
“You’d best take me for your new love.”
Best take ’im for a new love,
The dead they cannot rise, an’ you’d better dry your eyes
An’ you’d best take ’im for your new love.