Many villages they came to,

Villages as like as marbles,

With a little church, a duck pond,

And a local pub, which furnished

Nothing in the world but vin rouge

(“Two vins, please, Miss,” called the Dudshires),

Beer as thin as tissue paper,

And (sometimes) a drop of cognac:

There were bars in which the soldiers

Slept on straw and ate and grumbled,