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C J Dennis - The Boys Out There
Work rating: Low

"Why do they do it? I dunno,"
   Sez Digger Smith. "Yeh got me beat.
Some uv the yarns yeh `ear is true,
An` some is rather umptydoo,
   An` some is -- indiscreet.
But them that don`t get to the crowd,
Them is the ones would make you proud."

With Digger Smith an` other blokes
   `Oo `ave returned it`s much the same:
They`ll talk uv wot they`ve seen an` done
When they`ve been out to `ave their fun;
   But no word uv the game.
On fights an` all the tale uv blood
Their talk, as they remark, is dud.

It`s so with soldiers, I `ave `eard,
   All times. The things they `ave done,
War-mad, with blood before their eyes,
An` their ears wild fightin` cries,
   They ever after shun.
P`r`aps they forget; or find it well
Not to recall too much uv `Ell.

An` when they won`t loose up their talk
   It`s `ard for us to understand
`Ow all those boys we used to know,
Ole Billo, Jim an` Tom an` Joe,
   Done things to beat the band.
We knoo they`d fight; but they`ve became
`Ead ringers at the fightin` game.

Well, wot I`ve `eard from Digger Smith
   An` other soldier blokes like `im
I`ve put together bit by bit,
An` chewed a long time over it;
   An` now I`ve got a dim
An` `azy notion in me `ead
Why they is battlers, born an` bred.

Wot did they know uv war first off,
   When they joined up? Wot did I know
When I was tossed out on me neck
As if I was a shattered wreck
   The time I tried to go?
Flat feet! Me feet `as len`th and brea`th
Enough to kick a `Un to death!

They don`t know nothing, bein` reared
   Out `ere where war `as never spread --
"A land by bloodless conquest won,"
As some son uv a writin` gun
   Sez in a book I read --
They don`t know nix but wot they`re told
At school; an` that sticks till they`re old.

Yeh`ve got to take the kid at school,
   Gettin` `is `ist`ry lesson learned --
Then tales uv Nelson an` uv Drake,
Uv Wellington an` Fightin` Blake.
   `Is little `eart `as burned
To get right out an` `ave a go,
An` sock it into some base foe.

Nothin` but glory fills `is mind;
   The British charge is somethin` grand;
The soldier that `e reads about
Don`t `ave no time for fear an` doubt;
   `E`s the `eroic brand.
So, when the boy gets in the game,
`E jist wades in an` does the same.

Not bein` old `ands at the stunt,
   They simply does as they are told;
But, bein` Aussies -- Spare me days! --
They never thinks uv other ways,
   But does it brave an` bold.
That`s `arf; an` for the other part
Yeh got to go back to the start.

Yeh`ve got to go right back to Dad,
   To Gran`dad and the pioneers,
`Oo packed up all their bag uv tricks
An` come out `ere in fifty-six,
   An` battled thro` the years;
Our Gran`dads; and their women, too,
That `ad the grit to face the new.

It`s that old stock; an`, more than that,
   It`s Bill an` Jim an` ev`ry son
Gettin` three good meat meals a day
An` `eaps uv chance to go an` play
   Out in the bonzer sun.
It`s partly that; but, don`t forget,
When it`s all said, there`s something yet.

There`s something yet; an` there I`m beat.
   Crowds uv these lads I`ve known, but then,
They `ave got somethin` from this war,
Somethin` they never `ad before,
   That makes `em better men.
Better? There`s no word I can get
To name it right. There`s somethin` yet.

We `ear a lot about reward;
   We praise, an` sling the cheers about;
But there was debts we can`t repay
Piled up on us one single day --
   When that first list come out.
There ain`t no way to pay that debt.
Do wot we can - there`s somethin` yet.
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