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Robert W Service - My Mate
Work rating: Medium

I`ve been sittin` starin`, starin` at `is muddy pair of boots,
    And tryin` to convince meself it`s `im.
(Look out there, lad! That sniper — `e`s a dysey when `e shoots;
    `E`ll be layin` of you out the same as Jim.)
Jim as lies there in the dug-out wiv `is blanket round `is `ead,
    To keep `is brains from mixin` wiv the mud;
And `is face as white as putty, and `is overcoat all red,
    Like `e`s spilt a bloomin` paint-pot — but it`s blood.

And I`m tryin` to remember of a time we wasn`t pals.
    `Ow often we`ve played `ookey, `im and me;
And sometimes it was music-`alls, and sometimes it was gals,
    And even there we `ad no disagree.
For when `e copped Mariar Jones, the one I liked the best,
    I shook `is `and and loaned `im `arf a quid;
I saw `im through the parson`s job, I `elped `im make `is nest,
    I even stood god-farther to the kid.

So when the war broke out, sez `e: "Well, wot abaht it, Joe?"
    "Well, wot abaht it, lad?" sez I to `im.
`Is missis made a awful fuss, but `e was mad to go,
    (`E always was `igh-sperrited was Jim).
Well, none of it`s been `eaven, and the most of it`s been `ell,
    But we`ve shared our baccy, and we`ve `alved our bread.
We`d all the luck at Wipers, and we shaved through Noove Chapelle,
    And . . . that snipin` barstard gits `im on the `ead.

Now wot I wants to know is, why it wasn`t me was took?
    I`ve only got meself, `e stands for three.
I`m plainer than a louse, while `e was `andsome as a dook;
    `E always was a better man than me.
`E was goin` `ome next Toosday; `e was `appy as a lark,
    And `e`d just received a letter from `is kid;
And `e struck a match to show me, as we stood there in the dark,
    When . . . that bleedin` bullet got `im on the lid.

`E was killed so awful sudden that `e `adn`t time to die.
    `E sorto jumped, and came down wiv a thud.
Them corpsy-lookin` star-shells kept a-streamin` in the sky,
    And there `e lay like nothin` in the mud.
And there `e lay so quiet wiv no mansard to `is `ead,
    And I`m sick, and blamed if I can understand:
The pots of `alf and `alf we`ve `ad, and zip! like that — `e`s dead,
    Wiv the letter of `is nipper in `is `and.

There`s some as fights for freedom and there`s some as fights for fun,
    But me, my lad, I fights for bleedin` `ate.
You can blame the war and blast it, but I `opes it won`t be done
    Till I gets the bloomin` blood-price for me mate.
It`ll take a bit o` bayonet to level up for Jim;
    Then if I`m spared I think I`ll `ave a bid,
Wiv `er that was Mariar Jones to take the place of `im,
    To sorter be a farther to `is kid.
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