God A’mighty! Yes, I cheered ’em as I ’eard ’em passin’ by.
Passin’ by; passin’ by; trippin’, failin’, gettin’ nigh.
Gettin’ nearer to the trenches, ’en you ’eard a Tommy cry:
“Don’t forget the Belgian wimmen, nor the little bairns forbye.”
God! I wouldn’t be a German when them men was passin’ by.
Then they gathered us together an’ they sorted out the worst—
Wot they called the “stretcher cases”—and they ’tended to us first,
They was overworked an’ crowded, an’ the Doc ’ud give a sigh—
“Hopeless, that case”—“that one, also”—speakin’ softly, passin’ by.
God! They watched ’im, silent, suff’rin’, watchin’, hopin’—passin’ by.