The Project Gutenberg EBook of Trench Ballads and Other Verses, by Erwin Clarkson Garrett 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.org Title: Trench Ballads and Other Verses Author: Erwin Clarkson Garrett Release Date: July 31, 2012 [EBook #40379] Language: English Character set encoding: UTF-8 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TRENCH BALLADS AND OTHER VERSES *** Produced by Michael McDermott, from scans obtained at the Internet Archive Trench Ballads and Other Verses Erwin Clarkson Garrett Trench Ballads and Other Verses Portrait of Erwin Clarkson Garrett Trench Ballads and Other Verses By Erwin Clarkson Garrett Author of “Army Ballads and Other Verses” PHILADELPHIA THE JOHN C. WINSTON COMPANY 1919 Copyright, 1919, by The John C. Winston Co. THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF MY FATHER, the late Captain George L. Garrett, of the Union Army, during the Civil War AND TO MY MOTHER, whose lifelong devotion, unselfishness, tenderness and loyalty to me, as to all her family and friends, make this dedication a pleasure and a joy only commensurate with my thought of her. PREFACE I have divided this book into three distinct parts. Part I, Trench Ballads, consists of forty American soldier poems of America’s participation in the World War, 1917-19, based entirely on actual facts and incidents, and almost exclusively on my own personal experiences and observations, when a private in Company G, 16th Infantry, First Division, of the American Expeditionary Forces in France. Part II, Pre-war Poems, consists of three sets of verses written just before the active entry of America in the war, and appertaining to, but not an integral part of, it, and therefore grouped separately. Part III, Other Poems, contains those of a general and non-military character. It is highly desirable the “Notes” at the end of this volume should be consulted, and that it be realized that with few exceptions, all these Trench Ballads were written in France, many scribbled on odd pieces of paper or on old envelopes in the trenches themselves, and consequently, when present locality is intimated, it is always France, that is to say, from the standpoint that I am speaking in and from the seat of operations. For example, when I use the term “over here,” it really means what the people at home in America would call “over there.” Hyperbole or little characteristic anecdotes that really never occurred, except in the brain of an author, I have absolutely shunned, and have endeavored to adhere strictly to “the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth,” and to set forth the vicissitudes; the dangers, joys and tribulations of the army man, and especially the man in the ranks, and more especially the man in the ranks of the Infantry, as these latter formed the actual front-line or combat troops that bore the brunt in this greatest of all wars. Absolute continuity or sequence would seem superfluous, but it will be observed that I have endeavored to maintain it to a certain extent, i.e., by gradually leading from a number of military verses, without any strict inter-relation, to the day of being wounded, then on to several poems concerning the military hospital, and finally bringing the Trench Ballads to a close with those having to do with the returning home of the soldier. My previous book, “Army Ballads and Other Verses,” is the result of my experiences when serving as a private in Companies “L” and “G,” 23rd Infantry and Troop “I,” 5th Cavalry (Regulars), during the Philippine Insurrection of 1899-1902, and if “Army Ballads and Other Verses” is taken in conjunction with this volume, it is my hope together they may prove a fairly comprehensive anthology of the American soldier of recent times. E. C. G. Philadelphia, November 1st, 1919. CONTENTS PART I—TRENCH BALLADS Trenches Barb-Wire Posts Feet Your Gas-Mask Slum and Beef Stew Shell-Fire Mr. Fly The Salvation Army with the A. E. F. Shell-Holes Food Over the Top The Battle Mother Song of the Volunteers of 1917 O. D. Artillery Registering Reciprocity Trucks Mademoiselle The First Division Little Gold Chevrons on My Cuffs A Trip-Wire The Favorite Song Captain Blankburg Little War Mothers Interrupted Chow S. O. S. The Gas-Proof Mule Infantry of the World War The Flowers of France A First-Class Private Birds of Battle Only for You Cooties Old Fusee The Colors of Blighty When Nurse Comes in Charlie Chaplin in Blighty Two Worlds Embarkation Home The Statue of Liberty PART II—PRE-WAR POEMS To France—1917 The Pacifist Battle Hymn of ’17 PART III—OTHER VERSES My Sapphire The Twins On Sending My Book to an English Friend Immortal Keats To a Little Girl God The Golden Day Notes MY COMRADES IN THE RANKS. You chose no easy Service, No safe job, friends of mine, But the mud of the shell-torn, trenches And the foremost battle-line. No camouflage patriotism— Though you had from a wealth to choose But the wicked work of No Man’s Land, Filling a man’s-size shoes. You didn’t say you wouldn’t play If you got no shoulder bars— You even placed your Country Above a general’s stars: For shocking, very shocking, You didn’t give a damn About your “social status,” When you fought for Uncle Sam. Friends of mine, friends of mine, I’ve shared your toil and tears— Your dangers and your little woes, When days were turned to years. I may not make them understand The things that you have done, But God bless you and God keep you— Every blessed mother’s son. PART I. TRENCH BALLADS. TRENCHES. Trenches dripping, wet and cold— Trenches hot and dry— Long, drab, endless trenches Stretching far and nigh. Zigzag, fretted, running sere From the cold North Sea, ’Cross the muddy Flanders plain And vales of Picardy. Through the fields of new, green wheat Filled with poppies red, While abandoned plow-shares show Whence the peasants fled. Past the great cathedral towns, Where each gorgeous spire Torn and tottering, slowly wilts ‘Neath the Vandals’ ire. Hiding in the shadows Of the hills of French Lorraine, And bending south through rugged heights To the land of sun again. Trenches, endless trenches, Shod with high desire— All that man holds more than life, And touched with patriot fire. Trenches, endless trenches, Where tightening draws the cord ’Round the throat of brutal Kultur, And its red and dripping sword. Trenches, endless trenches, Bleached and choked with rain, Could ye speak what tales ye’d tell Of honor, death and pain. Could ye speak, what tales ye’d tell Of shame and golden worth, To the glory and damnation Of the spawn of all the Earth. BARB-WIRE POSTS. Five o ’clock; the shadows fall In mist and gloom and cloud; And No Man’s Land is a sullen waste, Wrapped in a sodden shroud; And the click of Big Mac’s moving foot Is a dangerous noise and loud. Ten o’clock; the wind moans low— Each tree is a phantom gray: And the wired posts are silent ghosts That move with a drunken sway; (But never a gleam in No Man’s Land Till the dawn of another day). Twelve o ‘clock; the heavens yawn Like the mouth of a chasm deep; And see—that isn’t the fence out there— It’s a Boche—and he stoops to creep— I’ll take a shot—oh hell, a post— (Oh God, for a wink o’ sleep). Two o ’clock; the cold wet fog Bears down in dripping banks: Ah, here they come—the dirty hounds— In swinging, serried ranks! Why don’t the automatics start? . . . Or do my eyes play pranks? It doesn’t seem a column now, But just two sneaking there: And one is climbing over, While the other of the pair Is clipping at the wires With exasperating care. (I’m sober as a gray-beard judge I’m calm as the morning dew— I’m wide awake and I’ll stake My eyes with the best of you; But I can’t explain just how or why Posts do the things they do.) Three o’clock; they’re on the move— Well, let the beggars come. . . . A crash — a hush — a spiral shriek— And a noise like a big bass drum— (I hope that Hun shot hasn’t found Our kitchen and the slum). . . . . . . . . . . Five o’clock; the first faint streak Of a leaden dawn lifts gray; And the barb-wire posts are sightless ghosts That swagger, click and sway, And seem to grin, in their blood-stained sin, In a most unpleasant way. FEET. Some say this war was fought and won With gleaming bayonets, That lift and laugh with Death’s own chaff And leave no fond regrets: Some, by the long lean foul-lipped guns Where the first barrages meet, But I, by the poor old weary limping Tired broken feet. Some say this war was fought and won By the crawling, reeking gas; Some, by the flitting birdmen, That dip and pause and pass: Some, by the splitting hand-grenades— But I, I hear the beat Of the poor old faithful worn limping Tired broken feet. Some say the war was fought and won By This or That or Those— But I, by heel and sunken arch And blistered, bleeding toes. Drag on, drag on, oh weary miles, Through mire, slush and sleet, To the glory of the rhythm Of the poor old broken feet. YOUR GAS-MASK. When over your shoulders your “full-field” you fling, And you curse the whole load for a horrible thing, What is it you reach for, as outward you swing? Your gas-mask. If you head for a bath by the small river’s flow— Though only a distance of fifty or so— What is it you carefully grab ere you go? Your gas-mask. When in full marching-order, where mules might suffice, And you count your equipment, each having its price, What is it you feel for and count over twice? Your gas-mask. In morning and afternoon, evening and night— In first or support lines, in sleep or in fight, What is it you cherish and cling to so tight? Your gas-mask. What is it you never leave thoughtless behind? What is it you clutch for with fingers that bind As you sniff that first odor that comes on the wind? Your gas-mask. SLUM AND BEEF STEW. It’s a lot of dirty water And some little dabs of spuds, And dubious hunks of gristly meat And divers other duds. Served up to us in trenches, Our hunger made it good, But elsewhere—when we got it— "We ate it, if we could. And now about the time Josephus Tells his gobs to call Port and Starboard, left and right, We’re ordered, one and all, To most respectfully address Our slum as “beef stew”—Gosh, Methinks the Brains of the Army Has dished-up awful bosh. For slum is slum, and your Tummy-tum Has called it so for aye; As ‘twas when Thotmes III marched north To check the Hittites’ sway. As ‘twas when Cyrus’ doughboys swept Through the Cilician Gates— And as ’twill ever be so long As a weary mess-line waits. So long as Nations fight and eat— Though all don’t feed as well— For the Colonel is Sitting on the World— While we are S. O. L. Perhaps, kind friend, our logic may Strike you as on the bum— But as we’re Pershing’s slum-hounds, We’ll call the damn thing “slum”. SHELL-FIRE. The Hun he taught us Gas and things— But the high explosive shell Was born of the Devil’s mirth And the reddest forge in Hell. Now one hits the village church, And the ancient, wavering wall And the little pointed tower swing And stagger and sway and fall. Now one hits a red-slag roof, And eighty feet on high Towers a monstrous, salmon cloud Against an azure sky. Now one hits in a field of wheat, Fresh planted, fair and green, And a mighty, thundering crater bursts Where abandoned plows careen. Now one nears with spiral shriek And strikes in the long white road, And the Lord ha’ mercy on the Red Cross truck, And its helpless, weary load. Now one comes where you crouching wait In the trench’s far-flung line, And you know there is never shelter against The voice of that deadly whine. Now one pierces the dugout’s roof, And when the foul smokes pass, What once was there a dozen men Is a crimson, clotted mass. In the pale moonlight or the black of night— When the sunset fires flare— In the noontime’s calm, without alarm, The Great Arch Fiend is there, With his frightful cry as he rushes nigh On his errand of despair. MR. FLY. There’s a nice stiff breeze ablowing, Mr. Fly; That keeps from out my trench. The decomposing stench Of a soldier, Boche or French, Mr. Fly. So please run off and play, Mr. Fly. So please run off and play Like a good fly, right away, For I want to sleep today, Mr. Fly. I’m dozing like a bull-finch, Mr. Fly, When you hop me, unaware, And I wake and swat and swear, And you return with thoughtful care, Mr. Fly. Can’t you see I’m very tired, Mr. Fly? That the G. I. Cans don’t bust, And I’ve nibbled on a crust, And deserve a snooze, I trust, Mr. Fly. Do you think it’s square and decent, Mr. Fly, When the Cooties cease to bite, (And there is no sleep at night) That you give me no respite, Mr. Fly? An hour’s calm is with us, Mr. Fly; And the endless battle strain, And the shelling and the rain, Ought to make it very plain, Mr. Fly— That I need a little nap, Mr. Fly. That I do need mighty well Just to sun and rest a spell, And to sleep here where I fell, Mr. Fly. So have a heart, oh have a heart! Mr. Fly. If you’re looking for a fight And you must come ’round and bite, Make your visit in the night, Mr. Fly. THE SALVATION ARMY WITH THE A. E. F. You kept no roped-off rows of chairs Or clubs “For Officers Only,” But you toiled for John Doe when he was Cold, tired, wet and lonely. You didn’t squander millions On soldiers warming benches, But you worked like blazes for the ones That frequented the trenches. You didn’t stick to cast-iron rules Of business most punctilious, And you never treated Private Doe With manner supercilious. You had no boundless backing— But just inside your doors It seemed like, “Feel to home, Bill— Sit down, the place is yours.” Some things we fain remember— Some things we fain forget— But you, oh kindly people, Live in our memory yet. SHELL-HOLES. They’re ugly, jagged, cone-shaped holes That litter up the ground, That ruin all the landscape For miles and miles around. That pock-mark fertile fields of green— That rip the hard French roads, And catch the lumbering trucks at night Agroan beneath their loads. And some of them are little uns The shrill one-pounders plow— About a meter—edge to edge— But large enough, I trow. And some of them nigh twice as broad, And rather more straight down, The “77” Boches’ gift, Of dubious renown. And some of them a dozen feet From rim to ragged rim, And deep enough to hide a horse— A crater, gaunt and grim. And some of them are yellow-black, Where clings the reek of gas, (But here we do not pause to gaze, Nor linger as we pass). And some of them are water-fouled— Or dried and parched and dun; And some of them are newly turned— Fresh blotches ’neath the sun. But all spell red destruction, Blind rage and blinding hate, To them who charge the shell-swept zone Or in the trenches wait. Should we say “all,” or modify Our statement? Any fool Knows that exceptions always rise To prove an iron-clad rule. And so in this case we can name Some shell-holes we have met, The thought of whose engulfing sides Clings in our memory yet. They were the holes we rolled into— When iron or bullet struck— Cursing the cursed Prussian, And blessing our blesséd luck. Oh lovely, beauteous shell-hole, Wherein we helpless lay, A wondrous couch of velvet Ye seemed to us that day. Our blood it stained your cushions A deep and richer red, As shrieking messengers of death Sped harmless overhead. Swept whining in their blood-lust, Hell’s music, bleak and grim, Splitting in rage the edges Of your all-protecting rim. Oh shell-holes, murderous shell-holes, In vales of grass and wheat— On hillside and in forest, In road and village street— Your toll of suffering and death Is flashed to East and West— But tell they of the wounded Ye’ve sheltered in your breast? FOOD. We’ve eaten at the Plaza, at Sherry’s and the Ritz— The Bellevue and the Willard and the Ponce de Leon too. We’ve sampled all the cooking of the Savoy and Meurice, Through a palate-tickling riot that Lucullus never knew. From tables where the Northern Fires greet the coming night— To Raffles out in Singapore and the Palace in Bombay; From Shepheard’s (which means Cairo) to that little hostelry Way down in Trinchinopoly where purring punkahs sway. We’ve traveled north, we’ve traveled south by all routes known to man— We’ve traveled east, we ’ve traveled west by some they scarcely came: From canvasback and terrapin to Russian caviar, From venison to bird-nest soup and curried things and game. We’ve put them all beneath our belt with consummate address: We’ve risen from the laden board and smacked our jowl in glee. With organs sound and healthy we have murdered each menu And left the wreck of good things with a gourmet’s ecstasy. But do you wish to know the feasts that permeated deep— That stirred the very bottom of my stomach to the core? Quisine that brought such wondrous bliss, but satiated not, That saturating satisfied, but still left room for more? The place—a little half deserted town in northern France: The time—a time of carnage, of wanton strife and hate: And I and my battalion on reserve a week or two Till they call us to the Front again to force the hands of Fate. Just from the Commissary, the Salvation or the Y, I’ve got a bar of chocolate, some butter and some cake; A canteen full of milk, and eggs, from the old farmhouse near by, And with this tout ensemble you can see I’m sitting jake. I’ve entered now a peasant’s house—an ancient, kindly dame— Who’s seen me several times before, and knows just what I wish: So the frying-pan is gotten out—the pewter fork and knife— A big bowl and the skillet and a large, substantial dish. And I’m breaking up the bar of chocolate in a mighty bowl (The while the eggs are frying, “Sur le plat, oui, s’il vous plait”), And pouring from my canteen’s gurgling mouth a draught of milk, To expedite proceedings in a purely tactful way. And now the spluttering eggs are done, the chocolate’s hot and rich; I have my feet beneath the board, the pewter weapons near: A hunger from a front-line trench—the stomach of a goat— And a battle-line that’s very far, though still the guns ring clear. And thus, too full for utterance, I gently draw the veil— So leave me, kindly reader, in my joy— And maybe you will understand why other dinners pale, And in comparison with this, appear to clog and cloy. OVER THE TOP. We’ve soldiered many, many moons In this old plugging war, And all the ills and all the thrills, We’ve had ’em o’er and o’er. Shell-fire, G. I. Cans and Gas— Night work in No Man’s Land— And everything that calls for nerve, Endurance, guts and sand. We’ve argued which we liked the worst— Machine-guns, gas or shell. We’ve ruminated carefully— And done it rather well. And after all our resumé And cogitating bull, We’ve reached a clear decision, Most amplified and full:— The greatest time in all the life Of any living man— The mightiest moment of the Game— The proudest, high élan; The thing we came three thousand miles Across the seas to do— “The Day,” the splendid hour That waits for me and you, Arrives—We spring into the wastes Of land, ripped, roweled and barred— The battle-lust in brain and eye— The weary jaw set hard; The rifle gripped in hands of steel, Where, flashing in the sun, Sweep on our blazing bayonets, The terror of the Hun. THE BATTLE MOTHER. Over the sodden trenches— Over the skirmish line— High o’er the hole-torn fields and roads Cometh a face to mine. Under the burning gas attack, And the stench of the bursting shell, We hope we may live for her dear sake— She who would wish us well. (She who has ever cherished us— But when the hour came Choked back the tears of the faithful years, As we left to play the game.) Between the blazing horizons That hammer the long night through, Lapping their tongues of hatred— Fearless she comes to you. And over the roar of battle Where the shrill-voiced shrapnel sings, Shine forth the loving eyes we hold Above all earthly things. A World run mad with slaughter— A charnel-house of blood— But the face of the Battle Mother Above the crimson flood. SONG OF THE VOLUNTEERS OF 1917. The drafted men fought hard and well, The whole big army did, But we prefer the spirit Of the Bayard and the Cid. The drafted men fought hard and well, But when Jack sailed for France, They didn’t have to drag us in By the back of our neck and the seat of our pants. The drafted men fought hard and well, But when it first began, From coast to coast, from Lakes to Gulf, We rose, a single man. The drafted men fought hard and well, But when the days were black, Glad we sprang to the call to front The snarling, charging pack. The red-fanged, savage hounds of hate, In a victor’s drunken might: The unleashed, howling gray hordes Sweeping plain and height. The drafted men fought hard and well, But when the great floes pressed, Came we to break the ice and clear A channel for the rest. The drafted men fought hard and well, But now the thing is o’er, We ’re glad we came the way we came When the Nation rose to war. The drafted men fought hard and well, But now the thing is done, We’re glad we came the time we came In the heyday of the Hun. Shades of Patrick Henry— Of Washington and Hale, God grant we’ve kept the trust—God grant The Old Guard shall not fail. The drafted men fought hard and well, The whole vast army did, But we prefer the spirit Of the Bayard and the Cid. O. D. O. D., it ought to mean Oh Damn, When in the pay of Uncle Sam: But when you hear the soldier blab “O. D.,” it just means Olive Drab. The leggings, breeches and the boots Of Uncle Samuel’s war galoots— The overcoats and jackets too, Confess the selfsame mournful hue. It may be excellent camouflage To try to fool a young barrage; It may not show the bally dirt So much upon your knees and shirt. It may be serviceable and such When you are beating-up the “Dutch;” But from a calm esthetic point, The color’s sadly out-of-joint. A little mud on red or blue May seem quite prominent to you; But put the same upon O. D., And the whole blame thing looks mud to me. But then, it matches trenches well, And things that make you say, Oh Hell For instance, hikes, inspections, drills, And busted arms with C. C. pills. It makes you heave a sigh or two For the good old days of brass and blue; But if it’s fit to beat the “Dutch” I guess it doesn’t matter much. ARTILLERY REGISTERING. They’re shooting shrapnel o’er the trench— My boy. They’re shooting shrapnel o’er the trench, Which means tonight they’ll surely drench These works with shells that burst and stench (And cloy). They’re shooting shrapnel o’er the trench— My lad. It breaks with shrill and tinny sound, And quite promiscuously around It showers metal on the ground (It’s bad). They’re shooting shrapnel o’er the trench— Recruit. So do not stand and stupid stare Till some comes down and parts your hair, But hunt your dugout and beware (To boot). They’re shooting shrapnel o’er the trench— Young man. Which means tonight the gas shells’ thud Will muffled fall like chunks of mud; And th’ blinding, crashing Prince of Blood— The G. I. Can. They’re shooting shrapnel o’er the trench— My child. And ere the dawn is turning gray— You mark the very words I say— There’s going to be hell to pay (High piled). RECIPROCITY. We haven’t been in this large strife So very long to date, But we have learned our answer to The Prussian “Hymn of Hate.” And we are feeding him for pap, As plain as A. B. C, A pretty little ditty known As “Reciprocity.” The Hun he planned for War, red War, By ocean, air and land; And he is getting oodles of The same, to date, in hand. He suddenly sprang poison gas Upon a valiant foe, And now he’s getting gas and gas, And more gas, as you know. He found new tricks and wrinkles for This gory battle game, And now we stoop, no more his dupe, And beat him at the same. He drowned our women in the sea— He ravished where he won— But these were little things we couldn’t Copy from the Hun. His crimson heel lie bade us feel, His lust and pride and scorn— Till, echoing in our weary breasts A righteous hate was born. . . . . Beware the patient man in wrath, The olden proverb saith; And, Spawn of a Kultur nursed in blood— In blood meet ye your death. TRUCKS. Lunging-wild, careening trucks Plunging through the rain, Sweeping down the rainbow road To the sunlit plain. And echoing back with ponderous roar Their cargo’s wild refrain. We’re bowling over the roads of France— White roads. We’re twenty gray tracks in a long, long line, Twisting and rumbling and feeling fine. And some day we’ll roll to the Watch on the Rhine— Joyous loads. But now we’re returning to billets for rest— Earned repose. We’ve been in the trenches for many a week. In rain and in wind and in dugouts that leak. Till we all are so hoarse we scarcely can speak. Goodness knows. Our clothes they are worn and tattered and torn, And mud? My heavens! we have it in our leggings and hair— On breeches and jackets and all that we wear— But we are so happy, we really don’t care— ’Tisn’t blood. It isn’t those long, endless vigils at night, On the rack. It isn’t the fighting and hunger and heat— It isn’t the slush and rheumatics and sleet— It isn’t the once-a-day cold meal we eat In the black. It isn’t the shelling from sun unto sun— Curséd shells: It isn’t the camouflage that you must use If you have to lie down in your trench for a snooze, It isn’t the stenches the Hun corpses choose For their smells. But it’s clean clothes and gasoline-bath and a shave— What a treat! It’s sleeping on elegant straw, and undressed, With never a Toto disturbing your rest; It’s regaining your “pep” and a wonderful zest When you eat. We’re all of us willing, we’re all of us game For the fray: But now we have finished a good hitch, and more, In conducting this large and salubrious war, Do you think we should feel very tearful or sore On this day? So some we are singing and some shoot the bull, And some sleep. (Don’t wake the poor devil, just leave him alone, Though he’s jammed on your foot till it’s dead as a stone), And we rumble through towns on the way to our own, Packed like sheep. And your hand is afingering bills large and small— Francs galore. And you’ve visions of things that your poor stomach begs,