Reuben and Other Poems by Robert Leighton |
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DRUMM'D OUT. |
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 | Reuben and Other Poems |  |
222
DRUMM'D OUT.
The never a trade at all had I been,
But as proper a lad as could be seen,
So I 'listed for to serve the Queen
In the Seventy-second Regiment.
But as proper a lad as could be seen,
So I 'listed for to serve the Queen
In the Seventy-second Regiment.
But soon I tired of sodger play,
And being the worse of drink one day,
I cut my stick and ran away
From the Seventy-second Regiment.
And being the worse of drink one day,
I cut my stick and ran away
From the Seventy-second Regiment.
The redcoats had me in a crack,
They gave me fifty on the back,
Which, being my first, was a very small whack
For the Seventy-second Regiment.
They gave me fifty on the back,
Which, being my first, was a very small whack
For the Seventy-second Regiment.
I tried the same game on once more,
But they hauled me back, as they did before,
And they doubled my punishment three times o'er,
Did the Seventy-second Regiment.
But they hauled me back, as they did before,
And they doubled my punishment three times o'er,
Did the Seventy-second Regiment.
Of picking and stealing I had the knack,
And in using my fingers I was not slack,
But soon it became a well-known fac'
In the Seventy-second Regiment.
And in using my fingers I was not slack,
But soon it became a well-known fac'
In the Seventy-second Regiment.
223
Desertion, drink, and thieverie,
They played the hangi-ment with me,
Likewise disgraced her Majestie,
And the Seventy-second Regiment.
They played the hangi-ment with me,
Likewise disgraced her Majestie,
And the Seventy-second Regiment.
They tried the Cat, on my well-tann'd skin,
They tried me with prison discipline;
But they saw that I did not care a pin
For the Seventy-second Regiment.
They tried me with prison discipline;
But they saw that I did not care a pin
For the Seventy-second Regiment.
So the facings off my coat they tore,
And turned it round with the tails before,
Then marched me down to the barrack door,
And kicked me out of the Regiment.
And turned it round with the tails before,
Then marched me down to the barrack door,
And kicked me out of the Regiment.
They played the “Rogue's March” all the way,
On a cracked old fife that would hardly play;
With tootle-teetle-toot, and r-r-r-r-rummy-dummy day
They drumm'd me out of the Regiment.
On a cracked old fife that would hardly play;
With tootle-teetle-toot, and r-r-r-r-rummy-dummy day
They drumm'd me out of the Regiment.
Now the case stands thus, and thus it stands—
I have no trade within my hands,
And live by breaking the ten commands,
Since they drumm'd me out of the Regiment.
I have no trade within my hands,
And live by breaking the ten commands,
Since they drumm'd me out of the Regiment.
I ply my craft both night and day,
I do not fear the face of clay,
The devil himself, or Botany Bay,
Or the Seventy-second Regiment.
I do not fear the face of clay,
The devil himself, or Botany Bay,
Or the Seventy-second Regiment.
| Reuben and Other Poems | |