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OcchiD'Merc (no login)
Posted Feb 7, 2002 4:40 PM
The grittier side of the Legion of Greiz.
The most effective meter for reading this poem aloud, as I have done on occasion since I first heard the original {by Rudyard Kipling, included below} read aloud some years ago, is for the first four words of each line to be dragged forcefully from your gut, and then the last phrase of each line to come rushing out in one exasperated breath. Think of the speaker as a footsoldier, one of Greiz' mercs, muttering this under his breath as his column marches through the dusty wastes of the Anauroch Desert.
Foot--slog--slog--slog--sloggin' over Anauroch!
Foot--foot--foot--foot--sloggin' over Arreat!
(Boots--boots--boots--boots--movin' up an' down again!)
There's no discharge from Greiz' War!
Seven--six--eleven--five--nine-an'-twenty mile to-day!Four--eleven--seventeen--thirty-two the day before!
(Boots--boots--boots--boots--movin' up an' down again!)
There's no discharge from Greiz' War!
Don't--don't--don't--don't--look into the demon's eyes!
Jab--Jab--Jab--Jab--thrust that pike into his gut!
(Boots--pikes--boots--pikes--movin' up an' down again
There's no discharge from Greiz' War!
Try--try--try--try--to think o' something different!
Oh--Sweet--Light--keep--me from goin' lunatic!
(Pikes--pikes--pikes--pikes--thrusting' in and out again!)
There's no discharge from Greiz' War
Count--the--imps--and--Lightning bugs and Blood Maggots!
If--your--eyes--drop--Ice Spawn get atop o' you!
(Pikes--pikes--pikes--pikes--thrustin' in and out again!)
There's no discharge from Greiz' War
We--can--stick--our--pikes into a Hell Buzzard!
But--not--not--not--stand the chronic sight of those,
Boot--pikes--boots--pikes--movin' up an' down again,
There's no discharge from Greiz' War
'Taint--so--bad--by--day because o' company!
Night--brings--dark--dreams--forty thousand thrustings from
Pikes--pikes--pikes--pikes--harvesting the gore again There's no discharge from Greiz' War!
I--'ave--marched--six--weeks in Hell an' certify
It--is--not--fire--devils, imps, or anything
Boots--pikes--boots--pikes--movin' up an' down again,
There's no discharge from Greiz' War!
The above was a parody of the following excellent Kipling poem, called of course
BOOTS
Columns of Infantry
We're foot--slog--slog--slog--sloggin' over Africa --
Foot--foot--foot--foot--sloggin' over Africa --
(Boots--boots--boots--boots--movin' up an' down again!)
There's no discharge in the war!
Seven--six--eleven--five--nine-an'-twenty mile to-day --
Four--eleven--seventeen--thirty-two the day before --
(Boots--boots--boots--boots--movin' up an' down again!)
There's no discharge in the war!
Don't--don't--don't--don't--look at what's in front of you.
(Boots--boots--boots--boots--movin' up an' down again);
Men--men--men--men--men go mad with watchin' em,
An' there's no discharge in the war!
Try--try--try--try--to think o' something different --
Oh--my--God--keep--me from goin' lunatic!
(Boots--boots--boots--boots--movin' up an' down again!)
There's no discharge in the war!
Count--count--count--count--the bullets in the bandoliers.
If--your--eyes--drop--they will get atop o' you!
(Boots--boots--boots--boots--movin' up an' down again) --
There's no discharge in the war!
We--can--stick--out--'unger, thirst, an' weariness,
But--not--not--not--not the chronic sight of 'em --
Boot--boots--boots--boots--movin' up an' down again,
An' there's no discharge in the war!
'Taint--so--bad--by--day because o' company,
But night--brings--long--strings--o' forty thousand million
Boots--boots--boots--boots--movin' up an' down again.
There's no discharge in the war!
I--'ave--marched--six--weeks in 'Ell an' certify
It--is--not--fire--devils, dark, or anything,
But boots--boots--boots--boots--movin' up an' down again,
An' there's no discharge in the war!
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