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A Retrospective Spasm [poem, 8 March 1918]

8 April 2014 · Leave a Comment

[Editor: A poem published in Aussie: The Australian Soldiers’ Magazine, no. 3, 8 March 1918.]

A Retrospective Spasm.

One of the Battery “spooks” has been on leave to Paris, where he spent most of his time sunning himself in the smiles of the girls at the Army and Navy Leave Club. His dopiness for days since his return is explained by the subjoined fragment found fluttering about the “O Pip”:—

Away from th’ rack of the front line strafe,
Away from its gloom and din,
Down in the land where life is a laugh,
Right there in the City o’ Sin,
I found a Home and a Better ’Ole,
I found in the dust a pearl —
A gem, gold-set in a jaspar bowl —
The charm of the English girl.

And now I’m back in the firing line,
In the land where life’s no joke,
With haunting echo of Auld Lang Syne —
And a Sentimental Bloke.
I’ve felt the touch of a white, soft hand,
I’ve been for a week at home.
And here in a hole in No Man’s Land
To the girls I pen this “pome.”

And my thoughts go South to the Land o’ Fun,
Where life’s sweet, clean, and free,
For I’ve warmed my soul in glorious Sun
For a week in Gay Paree.
And, straightwire, Digger, you’ll ’ve naught t’ grieve,
Whether Lance-private, Serg’t, or Sub.,
If you spend the whole o’ your Paris Leave
“In the Sun” at th’ Army Leave Club.

The Donks’ Mess Orderly.



Source:
Aussie: The Australian Soldiers’ Magazine, no. 3, 8 March 1918, page 10

Filed Under: poetry Tagged With: Aussie magazine issue 3, Aussie: The Australian Soldiers’ Magazine (source), poem, SourceIACLibrary, year1918

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