These are my task. And there are compensations
About the job that field-grey heroes lack.
Although, e.g., there is a dearth of rations,
I'm not the one that goes without his whack;
Nor do the bayonets of inferior nations
Send nervous chills down my retreating back.
Yet sometimes in the small and early watches
I think, "Good Lord! suppose the U-boats fail!
Or our Colossus of the purple blotches
Should let the Allies get him by the tail!