Page:Rudyard Kipling's verse - Inclusive Edition 1885-1918.djvu/473

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INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918
455

"FUZZY-WUZZY"

(Soudan Expeditionary Force)

WE'VE fought with many men acrost the seas,
An' some of 'em was brave an' some was not:
The Pay than an' the Zulu an' Burmese;
But the Fuzzy was the finest o' the lot.
We never got a ha'porth's change of 'im:
'E squatted in the scrub an' 'ocked our 'orses,
'E cut our sentries up at Suakim,
An' 'e played the cat an' banjo with our forces.
So 'ere's to you, Fuzzy-Wuzzy, at your 'ome in the
Soudan;
You're a pore benighted 'eathen but a first-class fightin' man;
We gives you your certificate, an' if you want it signed
We'll come an' 'ave a romp with you whenever you're
inclined.

We took our chanst among the Kyber 'ills,
The Boers knocked us silly at a mile,
The Burman give us Irriwaddy chills,
An' a Zulu impi dished us up in style:
But all we ever got from such as they
Was pop to what the Fuzzy made us swaller;
We 'eld our bloomin' own, the papers say,
But man for man the Fuzzy knocked us 'oiler.
Then 'ere's to you, Fuzzy-Wuzzy, .an' the missis and the kid;
Our orders was to break you, an' of course we went an' did.