64490: The Oldest Soldier

<p dir="ltr">The sun shines warm on seven old soldiers<br>Paraded in a row,<br>Perched like starlings on the railings---<br>Give them plug-tobacco!<br>They'll croon you the Oldest-Soldier Song:<br>Of Harry who took a holiday<br>From the sweat of ever thinking for himself<br>Or going his own bloody way.<br>It was arms-drill, guard and kit-inspection,<br>Like dreams of a long train-journey,<br>And the barrack-bed that Harry dossed on<br>Went rockabye, rockabye, rockabye.<br>Harry kept his rifle and brasses clean,<br>But Jesus Christ, what a liar!<br>He won the Military Medal<br>For his coolness under fire.<br>He was never the last on parade<br>Nor the first to volunteer,<br>And when Harry rose to be storeman<br>He seldom had to pay for his beer.<br>Twenty-one years, and out Harry came<br>To be odd-job man, or janitor,<br>Or commissionaire at a picture-house,<br>Or, some say, bully to a whore.<br>But his King and Country calling Harry,<br>He reported again at the Depôt,<br>To perch on this railing like a starling,<br>The oldest soldier of the row.</p>