Cells

Rudyard Kipling 1865 (Mumbai) – 1936 (London)



I've a head like a concertina:  I've a tongue like a button-stick:
I've a mouth like an old potato, and I'm more than a little sick,
But I've had my fun o' the Corp'ral's Guard:  I've made the cinders fly,
And I'm here in the Clink for a thundering drink
          and blacking the Corporal's eye.
    With a second-hand overcoat under my head,
    And a beautiful view of the yard,
  O it's pack-drill for me and a fortnight's C.B.
    For "drunk and resisting the Guard!"
    Mad drunk and resisting the Guard --
    'Strewth, but I socked it them hard!
  So it's pack-drill for me and a fortnight's C.B.
    For "drunk and resisting the Guard."
 
I started o' canteen porter, I finished o' canteen beer,
But a dose o' gin that a mate slipped in, it was that that brought me here.
'Twas that and an extry double Guard that rubbed my nose in the dirt;
But I fell away with the Corp'ral's stock
          and the best of the Corp'ral's shirt.
 
I left my cap in a public-house, my boots in the public road,
And Lord knows where, and I don't care, my belt and my tunic goed;
They'll stop my pay, they'll cut away the stripes I used to wear,
But I left my mark on the Corp'ral's face, and I think he'll keep it there!
 
My wife she cries on the barrack-gate, my kid in the barrack-yard,
It ain't that I mind the Ord'ly room -- it's ~that~ that cuts so hard.
I'll take my oath before them both that I will sure abstain,
But as soon as I'm in with a mate and gin, I know I'll do it again!
    With a second-hand overcoat under my head,
    And a beautiful view of the yard,
  Yes, it's pack-drill for me and a fortnight's C.B.
    For "drunk and resisting the Guard!"
    Mad drunk and resisting the Guard --
    'Strewth, but I socked it them hard!
  So it's pack-drill for me and a fortnight's C.B.
    For "drunk and resisting the Guard."

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on May 02, 2023

1:53 min read
202

Quick analysis:

Scheme aabxbCDeDDDED xxfxf xcgg ddxxCDeDDDED
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 1,809
Words 349
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 13, 5, 4, 12

Rudyard Kipling

Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English short-story writer, poet, and novelist chiefly remembered for his tales and poems of British soldiers in India and his tales for children. more…

All Rudyard Kipling poems | Rudyard Kipling Books

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