Who knows the thots of mothers who wait,
The days are long as I sit here and knit, The long endless nights bring no rest, Was only a lad, but then he would go, Watching the mail box here by the gate, "Our boys gained, advanced to Meuse, Wait 'till the last before I look at the list, Who knows the thots of mothers who wait, |
I'm gettin' tired of this talk I hear,
I'm gettin' tired of letters you write, I'm gettin' weary of braggerts I've seen, And look how the bloomin' heroes parade, I'm gettin' tired of parades and the like, I'm gettin' disgusted with payday, I'm wishin' for things war made me miss, And the souvenir that I'm bringin' home, |
Oh how long the night-the lonely night
... Oh the stark raving madness of it all, Tomorrow that may or may never come, Oh how long the night, the wan cold night ... The Mothers, wives, sweethearts and all, |
.
Thru Hell's back-road I drive my load, I can hear the groans and death-stricken moans, With never a light to show me the way, I get them back, God alone knows how, As quick as they're out I turn right about, |
List to the tale of the Pirate Gun, 'Twas Armistice night, we'd hunted all
day, Thru the cold wet night, 'neath a mud cressed
knoll, We were mad as hornets and started a hunt When "Bang!" came a shot from
right under our nose, |
"Killed in action," so they say,
My billet was small, but he didn't care, Tho small of stature, he was full of fight, He "fell in action," game to the last, |
Oh to escape the hell of it all, To live once more as I did before, At night when everything's quiet, Will I never forget that hell "O'er There," And there are my two best "Buddies," I can hear the big 'uns screech and scream, Sometimes I think lying here at night, Oh those cursed clinging thots of war, |
De warh is ovah! Lawdy be! Ah didn't min' de guns an noise, We was tramin' wid dem English, The English Sergeant of thereuns, Showed him mah Thompson machine gun, Showed him my bran' new uniform, Me an' him is in de same shack, One day de sun am good en bright, Gets me no bites der whole day long, Ag was finkin' how to get eben, Ah pulls up de line good en harhd, Ah grabs 'at ol' boy 'round de neck, De poor ol' turtle looks et me, Ah takes de turtle up to mah bunk, Et night ah puts 'at nice turtle, 'At- Sergean' he yell loud ernough, De crowd dun' rally roun' de room, "Oh! Ouch! Ouch! what's biting me?" |
Standing here on this transport, And oh how I wisht old pals of mine, "Homeward Bound," my it sounds nice, For many's the time while at the "front," And I for one as I stand here alone, |
.
It's the coming back I hate worst of all,
With empty sleeve and my face a mess, I left these shores not so long ago, For it isn't so hard to go in and fight, To help me forget, don't sympathize, |
Now listen here, old Pal of Mine, Cut my way through oceans of wire, Marched to bands and felt mighty proud, Somehow or other it all seems bare, And that's the bunch I'm sore about, |
.
Buddy of mine, you're wrong, all wrong, Boy, just think of what you've been thru, Think of the knowledge that you gained, Why they expressed to you by attitude, Tho you may not have your share of gold, |
'Spect you never heard 'bout my boy Jim,
You know somehow to Maw and me, Maw an' me knew he'd seen us there, Well, Maw an' me cum home thet night, Why he'd gone when he heard the call, Dear Dad and Maw: The four years here seemed a life-time Dad, Pardon me neighbor, if I dry these tears, |
I'm a lucky son-of-a-gun, I should worry if my feet were bare, I fought the battle of "Old Vin Roo," Whenever the boys felt homesick and blue, I never craved for rank or fame, |
Did you get "over," or stay in
camps, I care not at all were you Captain or cook, So let's "carry on" as buddies again, I have yet to see and so have you, So let's "carry on," you and I, |
.
From St. Mihiel to the Vesle, Thru the night winds wet and dreary, Phantom heroes gather there, By the flitting shadow light, So listen well unto that call |
Now you've finished my book of rhymes, They told me that rhymers and poets, But I felt somehow in my own heart, In my halting and stumbling manner, You gave me the courage to go ahead, |