THE PENITENT OF NOOVE

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVIV, Issue 70, 28 February 1916, Page 2

THE PENITENT OF NOOVE

CHAPELLE. The following poem, by Lance-Cor-poral Joseph Lee, 4th Battalion Black Watch, has reached the “Manchester Guardian” from France; “As I lay in the trenches at Noove Chapelle, Where the big guns barked like the Hounds o’ Hell. | Sc/, Ito mysel’, sez Ito mysel’ ; Billy, me boy, here’s the end o’ you—- ■ But if, by good luck, ye should chance J to slip thro’, jYe’ll bid all ye’r evil companions I adieu; I Keep the Lord’s ten Commands—and Lord Kitchener’s two — Sez I to mysel’—at Noove Chapelle. No more women, and no more wine, ;No more hedgin’ to get down the line, No more hoggin’ around like a swine, After Noove Chapelle—sez Ito my- . sel’. .But only the good Cod in Heaven j knows The wayward way that a soldier goes, And He must ha’ left me to walk by mysel’— For three times I’ve fell, since Noove Chapelle. Once at Bethune and twice at Es--1 taires, , The devil gripped hould o’ me un- ' awares—(Yet often and often I’ve prayed me prayers, Since T prayed by mysel’, at Noove Chapelle. ,Well, the Lord above, Who fashioned I the French, May bethink how bewitchin’ is wine I and a wench To a chap that’s been tied for three weeks to a trench, Around Noove Chapelle — that black border o’ Hell. And me throat was dry and the night | was damp, And the rum was raw—and bright j was the lamp!— And—Billy, me boy, ye’r a bit o’ a scamp, That’s the truth to' tell—tho’ I sez it mysel’. iWhat’s worritin’ me isn’t fear that ( they’ll miss l Me out of the ranks in the realm o’ i bliss; It ain’t hope o’ Heaven, nor horror o’ I Hell, But iifct breakin’ the promise, twixt God and mysel’, Made at Noove Chapelle. ,Well, there’s always a way that is I open to men When they gets the knock-out—that’s I get up again ; And sure now, onld Satan ain t yet I counted ten! J’m game for another good bout wi mysel’— As at Noove Chapelle.