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(English Irregular discharged)
ME that ’ave been what I’ve been— | |
| Me that ’ave gone where I’ve gone— | |
| Me that ’ave seen what I’ve seen— | |
| ’Ow can I ever take on | |
| With awful old England again, | 5 |
| An’ ’ouses both sides of the street, | |
| And ’edges two sides of the lane, | |
| And the parson an’ gentry between, | |
| An’ touchin’ my ’at when we meet— | |
| Me that ’ave been what I’ve been? | 10 |
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| Me that ’ave watched ’arf a world | |
| ’Eave up all shiny with dew, | |
| Kopje on kop to the sun, | |
| An’ as soon as the mist let ’em through | |
| Our ’elios winkin’ like fun— | 15 |
| Three sides of a ninety-mile square, | |
| Over valleys as big as a shire— | |
| Are ye there? Are ye there? Are ye there? | |
| An’ then the blind drum of our fire … | |
| An’ I’m rollin’ ’is lawns for the Squire, | 20 |
| Me! | |
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| Me that ’ave rode through the dark | |
| Forty mile, often, on end, | |
| Along the Ma’ollisberg Range, | |
| With only the stars for my mark | 25 |
| An’ only the night for my friend, | |
| An’ things runnin’ off as you pass, | |
| An’ things jumpin’ up in the grass, | |
| An’ the silence, the shine an’ the size | |
| Of the ’igh, unexpressible skies— | 30 |
| I am takin’ some letters almost | |
| As much as a mile to the post, | |
| An’ “mind you come back with the change”! | |
| Me! | |
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| Me that saw Barberton took | 35 |
| When we dropped through the clouds on their ’ead, | |
| An’ they ’ove the guns over and fled— | |
| Me that was through Di’mond ’Ill, | |
| An’ Pieters an’ Springs an’ Belfast— | |
| From Dundee to Vereeniging all— | 40 |
| Me that stuck out to the last | |
| (An’ five bloomin’ bars on my chest)— | |
| I am doin’ my Sunday-school best, | |
| By the ’elp of the Squire an’ ’is wife | |
| (Not to mention the ’ousemaid an’ cook), | 45 |
| To come in an’ ’ands up an’ be still, | |
| An’ honestly work for my bread, | |
| My livin’ in that state of life | |
| To which it shall please God to call | |
| Me! | 50 |
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| Me that ’ave followed my trade | |
| In the place where the Lightnin’s are made, | |
| ’Twixt the Rains and the Sun and the Moon— | |
| Me that lay down an’ got up | |
| Three years with the sky for my roof— | 55 |
| That ’ave ridden my ’unger an’ thirst | |
| Six thousand raw mile on the hoof, | |
| With the Vaal and the Orange for cup, | |
| An’ the Brandwater Basin for dish,— | |
| Oh! it’s ’ard to be’ave as they wish | 60 |
| (Too ’ard, an’ a little too soon), | |
| I’ll ’ave to think over it first— | |
| Me! | |
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| I will arise an’ get ’ence;— | |
| I will trek South and make sure | 65 |
| If it’s only my fancy or not | |
| That the sunshine of England is pale, | |
| And the breezes of England are stale, | |
| An’ there’s somethin’ gone small with the lot; | |
| For I know of a sun an’ a wind, | 70 |
| An’ some plains and a mountain be’ind, | |
| An’ some graves by a barb-wire fence; | |
| An’ a Dutchman I’ve fought ’oo might give | |
| Me a job were I ever inclined, | |
| To look in an’ offsaddle an’ live | 75 |
| Where there’s neither a road nor a tree— | |
| But only my Maker an’ me, | |
| And I think it will kill me or cure, | |
| So I think I will go there an’ see. | |
| Me! | 80 |
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