The Happy Warrior (3 page)

And love took up and changed it to a dream

No whisper then of heartbreak nor of pain;

Oh give me back the good old days of long ago!

C. T. Mealing

14 August 1900

(AWM PR 00752)

Ah, He Kissed Me When He Left Me

Ah, he kissed me when he left me

And he told me to be brave,

“For I go,” he whispered, “Darling

All that's dear to me on earth to save.”

So I stifled down my sobbing

And I listened with a smile

For I knew his country called him

Though my heart should break the while

Chorus: Ah he kissed me when he left me,

His parting words remain

Deep within my bosom, “Dearest

We shall meet again.”

Oh, the sun shines just as brightly

And the world looks just as gay

As on that fatal morning

Which bore my love away

Now, alas, the dust is resting

On that bold and manly brow,

And the heart that beat so proudly

Lieth still and quiet now.

Yes, he fell, his clear voice ringing

Loud to cheer his comrades on,

But now much of you and gladness

Is with him forever gone.

Where now the pine tree rustles

And the southern branches wave,

There my own true love is lying

Low within a soldier's grave.

C. T. Mealing

18 August 1900

(AWM PR 00752)

Untitled

Oh, are she dead and be her gone

And is I left here all alone?

Oh cruel fate you is unkind

To take the fort and leave I behind;

Her never will come home to we

But we will surely go to she!

C. T. Mealing

10 August 1900

(AWM PR 00752)

A Love Poem

'Tis you I love and shall forever

You may change but I shall never

Let separation be our lot,

Dearest Ethel forget me not.

Take this little bunch of flowers

And the ribbon that is around them,

Take them to cheer your lonely heart

And take the boy that bound them.

When rocks and hills divide us

And you no more I see,

Remember dearest Ethyl

'Twas Christy that sent this to thee.

C. T. Mealin

19 December 1900

(AWM PR 00752)

A Love Poem

My dearest Dear my heart's delight,

Don't fret because I am out of sight,

But bear me in your mind for what I write I am sincere

I am still in love [with] you my dear

And as the sand lies on the shore

It's you I love and no one more.

Written by a loving hand and sealed with a kiss

Think of me, Darling, when you are reading this;

Think of me [as] the miles between us lay,

Think of me when far away;

Think of me and love me true

When I am far away from you.

When distance rolls between us shall I forgotten be

Or will you, when far away, fondly remember me?

C. T. Mealing

19 December1900

(AWM PR 00752)

In the Starlight

In the starlight, in the starlight, I am dreaming of the past,

While the soft breezes fan me gently and the time is speeding fast;

I am dreaming of my darling and all thou art to me,

I am longing, I am dreaming, in the starlight by the sea.

In the starlight, in the starlight, once you promised to be true

And my heart is broken for all its faith was placed in you;

Oh, thou false forgetting cruel maiden! Dost thou think of me,

And all the vows we uttered in the starlight by the sea?

C. T. Mealing

27 September1900

(AWM PR 00752)

Untitled

This poem was annotated with the following: – “This poem was put together by a mate of mine and not long after he finished it - he got killed. (signed) Bob”

The Turks thought the Australians

Did not know how to fight

But we soon taught them a lesson

On that awful Sunday night.

We drove them from the ridges

Midst shrapnel, shot and shell,

Our officers were falling

And for us they made it hell;

And on that Monday morning

The sun shone on our heads,

Saw the stretcher-bearers busy

With the wounded and the dead.

They were as thick as rabbits

And so we took a deadly aim,

For the men there in our trenches

Will keep Australia's name.

They fought and fell like heroes

And our rifles getting hot,

For they plainly burnt our fingers

As we fired every shot.

They were using their artillery

But we never had a gun

And the odds they were against us

Yes, they numbered us four to one;

From hill to hill we bounded

And before us they were driven;

There was not a bugle sounded

And not an order given.

Our officers — there's very few

Left in the first, our Brigade —

They fought and fell with hearts so true,

'Twas a gallant charge we made

It's the old British saying

What we've got we'll hold,

And the Turks we still keep slaying

For this country dearly sold.

And when the battle ended

And a roll-call has begun,

And a lot of our young comrades

Lie bleaching in the sun,

There will be some anxious faces

Waiting on Australia's shore,

Watching as the troops come home

For a face they'll see no more.

When they turn away sad-hearted

They all will think the same,

That men that died in Turkey

Helped to make Australia's name.

Pte R. Thompson 1191

D Company 2nd Batt

(AWM PR 85 273)

At Sea

'Tis night.

Across the sea the silver crescent moon

Is slowly sinking, following to rest

Her sister orb. The high-arch'd dome above

Glows with a myriad lesser lights that shine

Upon the track we follow. All is peace

In this our little world, while far away

On Europe's bloody shores Australia's sons

Are giving of their best amid the lust

and tragedy of war. How strange it is

That very soon we too perhaps may be

Enveloped in this dreadful sickening strife!

God knows what's held in store for us, and yet

On such a night as this the joy of life

And love of home and friends, enwrap the heart

In such tranquillity that only those

Who know the Saviour Christ can hope to keep

Throughout these troubled, storm-tossed years of woe.

The agony will pass, thank God, and then

Humanity will rise from out the mire

To better, finer things and thus will come

The glorious kingdom of the Lord, our God.

So we have offered all we have and are

That by our sacrifice mankind shall learn

To live for others is the highest life,

And truest peace is born of truest love.

Sgt Alan J. Kerr

24th Battalion AIF

SS Euripides
May 1915

(AWM 1 DRL 397)

Adieu!

O ye who live

Beneath the splendour of the Southern Cross

In peace we mourn with you the awful loss

Of thousands of our brothers who have shed

Their lifeblood in the world war's stream of red,

A humbler cross its vigil sad now keeps

O'er many a spot where some brave hero sleeps

O ye who love

The beautiful, the true, the pure and sweet

Let not a madman crush beneath his feet

All you hold dear, the music and the art

Of centuries. Be strong and play your part

And show the world that he who will not give

A helping hand has lost the right to live.

O ye who see

Beyond this turmoil and chaotic strife

Beyond this sinful waste of human life

An age of gold wherein mankind shall dwell

In highest heaven instead of deepest hell,

Be not afraid to spread your faith abroad,

But trust to God for strength — He is the Lord.

Sgt Alan J. Kerr

Gallipoli, 16 December 1915

(AWM 1 DRL 397)

Christmas, 1915

'Tis Christmas Eve. In all the camps

There gleam a host of tiny lamps

That make the hill on which I stand

A veritable fairyland.

For friends at home and far away

Have helped us celebrate the day

By sending each and every man

A present of a billycan

Crammed full of wondrous things inside,

You couldn't guess them if you tried.

Tobacco, socks and butterscotch,

And for some lucky chap, a watch;

Tinned cheese, and ham, and bloater-paste,

Sweet biscuits (which we will not waste)

Toothbrushes, chocolate, lanoline,

Bootlaces, cocoa, vaseline,

Stewed fruit, cigars, a Christmas cake,

And writing pad all helped to make

A gift as pleasant to receive

On service as it was to give.

Now the first excitement o'er

And as I listen from the shore,

A wave of song towards me floats

From fairy choirs in fairy boats

Bearing the message of love and praise

And a prayer for purer, better days.

The Spirit of God is hovering there

In the wondrous calm of the still night air,

For the roughest heart has seen again

A vision of peace and goodwill to men.

So here's to you, good friends and true,

And ‘hands across the oceans blue';

We wish you all both far and near:

A happy Christmas, a prosperous New Year!

Sgt Alan J. Kerr

(AWM 1 DRL 397)

The Dardanelles

A Tribute to Our Boys at the Front 

Who said our boys were laggards?

Who called Australia black,

The home of sports and spielers,

From Sydney and way back?

Who taunted us with wanting

Discipline, courage, go?

Who said we were not soldiers,

But just an idle show?

Not Kitchener or Joffre,

Not Hamilton or French;

Not Uncle Sam or Poincaire —

But critics at the bench.

They judged us as rough bushmen,

Who gape like gawking fools

At every bloomin' hustler,

Too raw for rods or schools.

They passed us by as stockmen,

Forgot we learnt to ride

The toughest mounts with hoofs on

When school boys, with a pride

That equalled any leader

Of dauntless cavalry;

Forgot, too, that our shots were

More than ABC

We never missed a target,

Nor failed a pal when down;

For hearts are warm in our land —

What matters to a crown?

Our fathers' blood is in us

The British pioneer!

And those who scorn Australians;

Old Britain's sons must sneer.

Let ev'ry tongue defame us,

Let braggarts scoff and scorn,

We've made a page for history

That never dare be torn.

We've shown our pluck and courage,

We've rung the grim death knells,

At Turkey's gates we thundered

In the famous Dardanelles.

At school we learnt that Turkey

Had built her forts supreme,

And nations looked upon her strength

More than an idle dream.

The Dardanelles was hell's gate,

The world's great monster fort,

Too powerful to be charged at

Or ever to be caught.

Yet our boys braved the monster,

Charged up the flaming mounts,

Unheeding tongues of flame and shell

From iron jaws and founts.

The shells were screaming 'round them,

The flames of hell burst forth ;

But their blood was up and boiling

With a fiery 'vengeful wrath.

They took no thought of danger,

They only saw the heights,

And knew the Turks were hiding

Behind those bursting lights.

“Now for it, boys!” they shouted,

“We'll break their jaws asunder;

Don't have them say Australia let

The British flag go under!”

Nor did they make an idle boast —

They stormed, and charged, and thundered!

Right down the ages will be read

How every nation wondered.

Australia's men had courage,

They were a priceless white men.