Voices of Silence (19 page)

Authors: Vivien Noakes

BOOK: Voices of Silence

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	is the Navy that’s tied to the shore, They’ve lashings of beer, and provisions galore, How I wish I had joined as a sailor before I came out to Mesopotamia.
	are the orders we get from the Corps, Thank goodness by now we are perfectly sure If issued at three they’ll be cancelled by four – In this land of Mesopotamia.
	are the Postal officials who fail To deliver each week more than half of our mail; If they had their deserts they’d all be in jail Instead of in Mesopotamia.
	’s the Quinine which we take every day To keep the Malarial fever away, Which we’re bound to get sooner or later, they say, If we stop here in Mesopotamia.
	’s for the Rations they give us to eat, For brekker there’s biscuits, for dinner there’s meat, And if we’ve been good we get jam as a treat For our tea in Mesopotamia.
	are supposed to supply The Army with food, we all hope when they die They will go to a spot as hot and as dry As this rotten old Mesopotamia.
	is the Lake know as Um-el-Brahm Which guards our left flank from all possible harm, And waters old G——s barley farm In the middle of Mesopotamia.
	is the Victory won at Dijailah, I heard it first from a pal who’s a sailor Who read it in Reuter on board his Mahola On the Tigris in Mesopotamia.
	stands for Wonder and pain With which we regard the infirm and insane Old …… …….. … ….. this campaign We’re waging in Mesopotamia. [ C ENSORED – E D .]
	are the ’Xtras the Corps say we get, But so far there isn’t a unit I’ve met That has drawn a single one of them yet Since they landed in Mesopotamia.
	is the Yearning we feel every day For a passage to Basrah, and so to Bombay; If we get there we’ll see that we stop right away From this wilderness Mesopotamia.
	I’ve tried very hand, and at last I had hit On a verse which this damnable letter would fit, But the Censor deleted it – every bit Save the last word ‘Mesopotamia.’
	Chahels is really a horrible spot Where there isn’t a drop of drink to be got, Yet here we’re going to be left till we rot In the Middle of Mesopotamia.