Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    'Hello, Soldier!' Khaki Verse
    'Hello, Soldier!' Khaki Verse
    'Hello, Soldier!' Khaki Verse
    Ebook134 pages1 hour

    'Hello, Soldier!' Khaki Verse

    By Edward Dyson

    ()

    Read preview
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArchive Classics
    Release dateNov 27, 2013
    'Hello, Soldier!' Khaki Verse

    Read more from Edward Dyson

    Related to 'Hello, Soldier!' Khaki Verse

    Related ebooks

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      A Refusal To Mourn The Deaths, By Gunfire, Of Three Men In Brooklyn

      Jan 1, 2019

      And at times, didn’t the whole countrytry to break his skin?—Tim Seibles You strike your one good match to watch its bloomand jook, a swan song just before a nightwind comes to snuff it. That’s the kind of dayit’s been. Your Black & Mild, now, useles

      7 min read

    • Article

      Tessa Castro

      Jul 26, 2023

      IN COMPETITION No 295 you were invited to write a poem called Roots. Cherry MacGregor started off in medias res: ‘Has the vine died? My husband had asked,/ As we enjoyed lunch in the garden.’ Another excellent opening came from DM Davis: ‘Roots, oh m

      2 min read

    • Article

      Tessa Castro

      May 3, 2023

      IN COMPETITION No 292 you were invited to write a poem called The Walk. How good and numerous were your entries. Congratulations to those printed below, each of whom wins £25, with the bonus prize of The Chambers Dictionary going to Anthony Young. I'

      2 min read

    • Article

      The Call Of The Wild

      Nov 30, 2020

      The Call Of The Wild
      2 min read

    • Article

      Competition

      Jul 27, 2022

      IN COMPETITION NO 282 you were invited to write a poem with the title Unpacking. Basil Ransome-Davies, in a poem on the wars between sonic (pretty-sounding) and confessional poets, made me laugh with the couplet ‘Confessionals unpack their hearts, /

      2 min read

    • Article

      HERNAN BAS New and Recent Work

      Dec 15, 2018

      HERNAN BAS New and Recent Work
      6 min read

    • Article

      Four Poems

      Sep 4, 2018

      In London. England. Who knows why?Perhaps this rumpled guyFrom central casting or a page of Dickens.He’s taking ordinary usTo haunts of the illustrious,Where even dull pulse quickens. A red felt hat’s dark fingered brim,Food-spotted vest are—him.A mo

      4 min read

    • Article

      Two Poems by Joseph Brodsky

      May 12, 2020

      Two Poems by Joseph Brodsky
      7 min read

    • Article

      How White Supremacists Used Mardi Gras to Enforce Racial Division

      Aug 4, 2020

      The stage is arranged, the Ku-Klux pageant begins. On March 4, 1867, a Monday at 10 am, 2,000 firemen jostle left and right into parade columns on Canal Street, near the levee of the river. Their costume is full dress uniform. Marshals from the Firem

      5 min read

    • Article

      The Island (catullus 64)

      Mar 1, 2022

      Back then the evergreens tumbled downriverfrom the glaze-white runoff to the boot-stirred puddlesof amber young men who fulfilled our destiny,who clambered into ships, on horses, and in wagonspainting the newfound landscapes ours.Our calling was nobl

      9 min read

    • Article

      Hook, Line And Sinker

      Oct 18, 2018

      Hook, Line And Sinker
      4 min read

    • Article

      A Bit Of TLC

      Mar 17, 2022

      Sam Llewellyn sails a 30ft ketch he rescued from dereliction It was a bright, breezy day in the yard. There was the sound of power tools and voices asking other voices to pass the paint, and could they borrow a wrench, and had they finished with the

      3 min read

    • Article

      Spell

      Apr 25, 2018

      Spell
      4 min read

    • Article

      Two Poems

      Jul 1, 2022

      After centuries of deferralto the white sky cloud cover God, who kept me on orange alert,babbling for mercies that were batted away sloppilylike dustballs in the wake of a sock, I turned to the Divine Creatrix,who built the short night, I was convinc

      2 min read

    • Article

      Five Poems

      Jan 1, 2020

      Your daughter returns to youwith three new freckles,the purple stainof a popsicle on her tongue.She gives nothing but what you gleanfrom slimmed features,sneakers gone old, the black holeof a backpack she shrugsoff her shouldersto race, unencumbered,

      2 min read

    • Article

      The End Of The Way

      Feb 22, 2024

      The End Of The Way
      3 min read

    • Article

      1887 Vrc Derby

      Sep 30, 2021

      1887 Vrc Derby
      7 min read

    • Article

      Press-ganged!

      Jun 13, 2019

      Press-ganged!
      3 min read

    • Article

      Press Ganged!

      May 1, 2020

      Press Ganged!
      3 min read

    • Article

      Stop Hating on Adjectives!

      Jun 12, 2019

      A common admonition in creative writing pedagogy is, “Cut as many adjectives as possible.” I propose that this rule springs from mere prejudice. The post Stop Hating on Adjectives! appeared first on The Millions.

      7 min read

    • Article

      Seven Poems

      May 1, 2022

      Seven Poems
      2 min read

    • Article

      Smells Fishy

      Jul 13, 2020

      Smells Fishy
      3 min read

    • Article

      Competition

      Sep 20, 2023

      IN COMPETITION No 297 you were invited to write a poem called Bells. Gail White concluded with a firm couplet: ‘We keep that memory with us like a shield / Against despair: the bells of Finchingfield.’ Other Essex bells inspired Christine Ratcliff. B

      2 min read

    • Article

      Rome: Prince Rogers Nelson Dead

      Mar 1, 2020

      I had stage fright before the baroqueof Rome, afraid some part of mewould get loose in the volutes and the cork-screwedcolumns like the minds of the melancholyarchitects that overshot the human. I was dizzy.I was thirsty. I didn’t know the bodyof wor

      2 min read

    Reviews for 'Hello, Soldier!' Khaki Verse

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      'Hello, Soldier!' Khaki Verse - Edward Dyson

      The Project Gutenberg EBook of 'Hello, Soldier!', by Edward Dyson

      This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net

      Title: 'Hello, Soldier!' Khaki Verse

      Author: Edward Dyson

      Release Date: October 19, 2005 [EBook #16904]

      Language: English

      *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 'HELLO, SOLDIER!' ***

      Produced by Peter O'Connell

      Hello, Soldier!

      Khaki Verse

      by Edward Dyson

         Many of these verse were originally

      printed in the Bulletin, others in Punch,

      The Leader and Melbourne Herald.

      Some few are now published for the first time.

      The paper famine leaving me no option but to print on peculiar paper, not wholly prohibitive or to defer the publication of my verses for an unknown period, the natural longing of a parent to parade his well be- gotten prevails. If my book is unusual and bizarre from a craftman's point of view, I plead the unusual times and extraordinary conditions. Of these times and conditions. I hope Hello Soldier is in some measure characteriastic.—Edward Dyson.

      AUSTRALIA.

      AUSTRALIA, my native land,

         A stirring whisper in your ear—

      'Tis time for you to understand

         Your rating now is A1, dear.

      You've done some rousing things of late.

      That lift you from the simple state

      In which you chose to vegetate.

      The persons so superior,

         Whose patronage no more endures,

      Now have to fire a salvo for

         The glory that is fairly yours.

      At length you need no sort of crutch,

      You stand alone, you're voted much—

      Get busy and behave as such.

      No man from Oskosh, or from Hull,

         Or any other chosen place

      Can rise with a distended skull,

         And cast aspersions in your face.

      You're given all the world to know

      Your proper standing as a foe,

      And hats are off, and rightly so.

      You furnished heroes for the fray,

         Your sterling merit's widely blown

      To all men's satisfaction say,

         Now have you proved it to your own?

      Now have you strength to stand and shine

      In your own light and say, "Divine

      The thing is that I do. It's mine!"

      The cannon's stroke throws customs down

         The black and bottomless abyss,

      And quaking are the gilded crown

         And palsied feet of prejudice.

      The guns have killed, but it is true

      They bring to life things good and new.

      God grant they have awakened you!

      My ears are greedy for the toast

         Of confidence before our guest,

      The loyal song, the manly boast

         Your splendid faith to manifest.

      In works of art and livelihood

      Shirk not the creed, What's ours is good,

      Dread not to have it understood.

      Australia, lift your royal brow,

         And have the courage of our pride,

      Audacity becomes you now,

         Be splendidly self-satisfied,

      No land from lowliness and dearth

      Has won to eminence on earth

      That was not conscious of its worth.

      CONTENTS

      AUSTRALIA BILLY KHAKI AS THE TROOPS WENT THROUGH MARSHAL NEIGH V.C. IN HOSPITAL SISTER ANN BRICKS MUD MICKIE MOLLYNOO JAM WEEPING WILLIE BILLJIM THE CRUSADERS PEACE, BLESSED PEACE THE HAPPY GARDENERS THE GERM JOEY'S JOB THE GIRL I LEFT BEHIND ME HOW HERMAN WON THE CROSS WHEN TOMMY CAME MARCHING HOME HELLO, SOLDIER! THE MORALIST REPAIRED OUT OF KHAKI THE SINGLE-HANDED TEAM BATTLE PASSES THE LETTERS OF THE DEAD BULLETS UNREDEEMED THE LIVING PICTURE THE IMMORTAL STRAIN THE UNBORN THE COMMON MEN THE CHURCH BELLS THE YOUNG LIEUTENANT THE ONE AT HOME THE HAPLESS ARMY

      BILLY KHAKI

      MARCHING somewhat out of order

         when the band is cock-a-hoop,

      There's a lilting kind of magic in the swagger

         of the troop,

      Swinging all aboard the steamer with her

         nose toward the sea.

      What is calling, Billy Khaki, that you're foot-

         ing it so free?

      Though his lines are none too level,

         And he lacks a bit of style.

      And he's swanking like the devil

         Where the women wave and smile,

      He will answer with a rifle

         Trim and true from stock to bore,

      Where the comrades crouch and stifle

         In the reeking pit of war.

      What is calling, Billy Khaki? There is

         thunder down the sky,

      And the merry magpie bugle splits the morn-

         ing with its cry,

      While your feet are beating rhythms up the

         dusty hills and down,

      And the drums are all a-talking in the hollow

         of the town.

      Billy Khaki, is't the splendor of the song the

         kiddies sing,

      Or the whipping of the flags aloft that sets

         your heart a-swing?

      Is't the cheering like a paean of the toss-

         ing, teeming crowds,

      Or the boom of distant cannon flatly bumping

         on the clouds ?

      What's calling, calling, Billy? 'Tis the rattle far away Of the cavalry at gallop and artillery in play; 'Tis the great gun's fierce concussion, and the smell of seven hells When the long ranks go to pieces in the sneezing of the shells.

      But your eyes are laughing, Billy, and a ribald song you sing, While the old men sit and tell us war it is a ghastly thing, When the swift machines are busy and the grim, squat fortress nocks At your bolts as vain as eggs of gulls that spatter on the rocks.

      When the horses sweep upon you to complete

         a sudden rout,

      Or in fire and smoke and fury some brave

         regiment goes out,

      War is cruel, Bill, and ugly. But full well

         you know the rest,

      Yet your heart is for the battle, and your face

         is to

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1