Wednesday, July 16, 2014

WLEM AM

Where we fight the good fight.




I sha'n't forgit the night
When I dropped be'ind the fight
With a bullet where my belt-plate should 'a' been.
I was chokin' mad with thirst,  55
An' the man that spied me first
Was our good old grinnin', gruntin' Gunga Din.
  
'E lifted up my 'ead,
An' 'e plugged me where I bled,
An' 'e guv me 'arf-a-pint o' water—green;  60
It was crawlin' an' it stunk,
But of all the drinks I've drunk,
I'm gratefullest to one from Gunga Din.

-Rudyard Kipling

8 comments:

chickelit said...

I haven't kippled in a while, Deborah. Thanks for that!

deborah said...

You're welcome, chick. I adore that poem. I've tried a few times to say it in the accent suggested.

edutcher said...

Thank you, mum.

One of my faves, but the part they read in the movie makes you want to say, "God Save The Queen!".

So I'll meet 'im later on
In the place where 'e is gone—
Where it's always double drill and no canteen;
'E'll be squattin' on the coals
Givin' drink to pore damned souls,
An' I'll get a swig in Hell from Gunga Din!

Din! Din! Din!
You Lazarushian-leather Gunga Din!
Tho' I've belted you an' flayed you,
By the livin' Gawd that made you,
You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din!

deborah said...

Yes, I get you about the British Empire. The last four lines are perfect.

But there are so many great lines. The poem is almost perfect.

"When the sweatin’ troop-train lay

In a sidin’ through the day,

Where the ’eat would make your bloomin’ eyebrows crawl,

We shouted ‘Harry By!’

Till our throats were bricky-dry,

Then we wopped ’im ’cause ’e couldn’t serve us all."

And,

"’E would dot an’ carry one

Till the longest day was done;

An’ ’e didn’t seem to know the use o’ fear.

If we charged or broke or cut,

You could bet your bloomin’ nut,

’E’d be waitin’ fifty paces right flank rear.

Trooper York said...

"Branded" was one of my all time favorite half hour Westerns. It was amazing how much they packed into a half hour. It is pretty interesting that the don't do half hour dramas anymore. Only comedy. Strange.

Trooper York said...

What they did to Jason McCord is exactly what they should do to Obama.

deborah said...

And the opening songs were so much longer back then.

deborah said...

I don't know. A half hour for a drama doesn't seem long enough.