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May 18, 2005
Stolen Shamelessly From Armavirumque
This is why.
Liz and her Ivy-educated, Hamptons-trotting colleagues disapprove of Rudyard Kipling, natch, but reading through the disgraceful comments of the press from today’s White House Press briefing, I couldn’t help thinking of Kipling's poem “Tommy”:Yes, makin’ mock o’ uniforms that guard you while you sleep
Is cheaper than them uniforms, an’ they’re starvation cheap;
An’ hustlin’ drunken soldiers when they’re goin’ large a bit
Is five times better business than paradin’ in full kit.
Then it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ “Tommy, ’ow’s yer soul?”
But it’s “Thin red line of ’eroes” when the drums begin to roll,
The drums begin to roll, my boys, the drums begin to roll,
O it’s “Thin red line of ’eroes” when the drums begin to roll.
Posted by tree hugging sister at May 18, 2005 11:36 AM
Comments
Yeah, they can talk of gin and beer while they're quartered safe out here...
Posted by: Ken Summers at May 18, 2005 02:52 PM
An' you're sent to penny-fights an' Aldershot it;
But when it comes to slaughter
You will do your work on water...
Posted by: tree hugging sister at May 18, 2005 03:12 PM
The line that always gets me is:
But 'e put me safe inside
and just before 'e died,
"I 'ope you liked yer drink" sez Gunga Din
Seriously, I detest nearly all poetry except Kipling.
Posted by: Ken Summers at May 18, 2005 03:34 PM
My favorite has always been the last:
Yes, Din! Din! Din! You Lazarushian-leather Gunga Din! Though I've belted you and flayed you, By the livin' Gawd that made you, You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din!
Kipling is magic.
Posted by: tree hugging sister at May 18, 2005 04:05 PM
I and my well-thumbed copy of "Just So Stories" thank you, Ms. Sister. He is magic.
Posted by: Nightfly at May 18, 2005 05:07 PM
I used to read that book to Ebola, during breaks from reading him the Ring Trilogy.
Posted by: tree hugging sister at May 18, 2005 05:20 PM