Places > Book of remembrance for Tweeddale > Burgh and Parish of Peebles

BURGH AND PARISH OF PEEBLES. 26l
THE HEART OF A SOLDIER.
Through days and nights that soak and drench,
His cheery songs the hours beguile ;
He charges on the blazing trench
And faces Hades with a smile.
Though some who know his courage high
Have pictured him tight-lipped and stern,
He cocks, in truth, a jovial eye
Upon the whole concern.
If things at times are rather rough,
'Tis not a picnic but a war ;
He finds his troubles quite enough
Without inventing any more.
And, though within his heart he knows
'Tis his to conquer or to fall,
He doesn't strike the hero's pose
Where men are heroes all.
The Teuton foeman, dour and grim,
No longer finds it well to scoff,
But rather dimly envies him
The cheery smile that won't come off.
By no mean fear of death opprest,
In danger still he finds a joy
And keeps within a soldier's breast
The clean heart of a boy!