UBIQUE

(Royal Artillery)

THERE
HERE is a word you often see, pronounce it as you

may

"You bike," "you bykwee," "ubbikwe"-alludin' to R. A. It serves 'Orse, Field, an' Garrison as motto for a crest, An' when you've found out all it means I'll tell you 'alf the

rest..

Ubique means the long-range Krupp be'ind the low-range

'ill

Ubique means you'll pick it up an', while you do, stand still. Ubique means you've caught the flash an' timed it by the

sound.

Ubique means five gunners' 'ash before you've loosed a

round.

Ubique means Blue Fuse,' an' make the 'ole to sink the trail. Ubique means stand up an' take the Mauser's 'alf-mile 'ail. Ubique means the crazy team not God nor man can 'old. Ubique means that 'orse's scream which turns your

cold!

innards

Ubique means "Bank, 'Olborn, Bank-a penny all the way"

The soothin', jingle-bump-an'-clank from day to peaceful day.

Ubique means "They've caught De Wet, an' now we sha'n't be long."

Ubique means "I much regret, the beggar's goin' strong!"

Ubique means the tearin' drift where, breech-blocks jammed with mud,

The khaki muzzles duck an' lift across the khaki flood. Ubique means the dancing plain that changes rocks to Boers. Ubique means the mirage again an' shellin' all outdoors.

Ubique means "Entrain at once for Grootdefeatfontein"! Ubique means "Off-load your guns"—at midnight in the rain!

Ubique means "More mounted men. Return all guns

to store."

Ubique means the R. A. M. R. Infantillery Corps!

Ubique means that warnin' grunt the perished linesman knows,

When o'er 'is strung an' sufferin' front the shrapnel sprays 'is foes;

An' as their firin' dies away the 'usky whisper runs

From lips that 'ave n't drunk all day: "The Guns! Thank Gawd, the Guns!"

Extreme, depressed, point-blank or short, end-first or any❜ow, From Colesberg Kop to Quagga's Poort-from Ninety-Nine till now

By what I've 'eard the others tell an' I in spots 'ave seen, There's nothin' this side 'Eaven or 'Ell Ubique does n't mean!

THE RETURN

(All Arms)

PEACE is declared, an' I return

To 'Ackneystadt, but not the same;
Things 'ave transpired which made me learn
The size and meanin' of the game.

I did no more than others did,

I don't know where the change began. I started as a average kid,

I finished as a thinkin' man.

If England was what England seems,
An' not the England of our dreams,
But only putty, brass, an' paint,

'Ow quick we'd drop 'er! But she ain't!

Before my gappin' mouth could speak
I 'eard it in my comrade's tone;
I saw it on my neighbour's cheek
Before I felt it flush my own.
An' last it come to me-not pride,
Nor yet conceit, but on the 'ole
(If such a term may be applied),
The makin's of a bloomin' soul.

Rivers at night that cluck an' jeer,
Plains which the moonshine turns to sea,
Mountains which never let you near,

An' stars to all eternity;

An' the quick-breathin' dark that fills
The 'ollows of the wilderness,

When the wind worries through the 'ills—
These may 'ave taught me more or less.

Towns without people, ten times took,
An' ten times left an' burned at last;
An' starvin' dogs that come to look
For owners when a column passed;
An' quiet, 'omesick talks between

Men, met by night, you never knew
Until-'is face-by shellfire seen-

Once-an' struck off. They taught me too.

The day's lay-out-the mornin' sun
Beneath your 'at-brim as you sight;
The dinner-'ush from noon till one,

An' the full roar that lasts till night;
An' the pore dead that look so old
An' was so young an hour ago,

An' legs tied down before they're cold-
These are the things which make you know.

Also Time runnin' into years—

A thousand Places left be'ind-
An' Men from both two 'emispheres
Discussin' things of every kind;
So much more near than I 'ad known,
So much more great than I 'ad guessed-
An' me, like all the rest, alone—

But reachin' out to all the rest!

So 'ath it come to me-not pride,
Nor yet conceit, but on the 'ole
(If such a term may be applied),

The makin's of a bloomin' soul.
But now, discharged, I fall away
To do with little things again.
Gawd, 'oo knows all I cannot say,
Look after me in Thamesfontein!!

If England was what England seems,
An' not the England of our dreams,

But only putty, brass, an' paint,

'Ow quick we'd chuck 'er! But she ain't!

London.

"CITIES AND THRONES AND POWERS"

CITIES and Thrones and Powers,
Stand in Time's eye,

Almost as long as flowers,
Which daily die:

But, as new buds put forth
To glad new men,

Out of the spent and unconsidered Earth,
The Cities rise again.

This season's Daffodil,

She never hears,

What change, what chance, what chill,

Cut down last year's;

But with bold countenance,
And knowledge small,

Esteems her seven days' continuance,
To be perpetual.

So Time that is o'er-kind,

To all that be,

Ordains us e'en as blind,

As bold as she:

That in our very death,

And burial sure,

Shadow to shadow, well persuaded, saith,
"See how our works endure!”

THE RECALL

I AM the land of their fathers.

In me the virtue stays.

I will bring back my children,
After certain days.