“The Service Man”

(Boer War, 1899)
(Prelude to “Service Songs” in “The Five Nations”.)

Rudyard Kipling

“TOMMY” you was when it began,
    But now that it is o’er
You shall be called The Service Man
    ’Enceforward, evermore.

Batt’ry, brigade, flank, centre, van,
    Defaulter, Army-corps—
From first to last, The Service Man
    ’Enceforward, evermore.

From ’Allifax to ’Industan,
    From York to Singapore—
’Orse, foot, an’ guns, The Service Man
    ’Enceforward, evermore!

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