“Safe and Well”

Observation Post, Volume 1, Issue 26, 13 November 1942, Page 1

“Safe and Well”

When you’re sucking at your pencil, And don’t know what to say, And you wish' the flaming censor - I Had never seen the light of day,' There always is one “item” That’s considered safe to tell, It doesn’t take much telling, “Dear Pop, I’m safe and well.” 1 - . I The tucker may be very rough, And the water pretty crook, You haven’t tasted XXX Since Wavell took Tobruk, You’ve been before the skipper, For being A.W.L. But take your, pen and write it down “Dear Pop, I’m safe and. well.” You’ve marched o’er rocks and pebbles, And swallowed tons of sand, Till you wonder why the blinkin’ place Is called “The Promised Land The nights are cold .as charity And the days as hot as hell But write the same old message, “Dear Pop, I’m safe and well.” You’ve heard the howl of jackals, And the braying of the donk, iYou’ve bargained with the Arab .For his eggs and fruit and plonk; You’ve lived with sheep and camels' And the everlsating “smell,” But still you write the same words, “Dear Pop, I’m safe and well.” *■ i You’ve heard the Jerry StukEs As they twist and zoom o ’erhead, And it isn’t the best of pastimes -,. To go dodging their lumps of lead. • . As you crouch low in slit trenches ’Mid the hail of shrap and shell You still'find time to drop a line “Dear Pop, I’m safe and well.” There’s an old and anxious father Who stands by the old bush track, Waiting for the mailman with news of his soldier lad, And a smile lights up his careworn face With a joy no word can tell When he reads the old familiar phrase, “Dear Pop, I’m safe and ell.” —Mailed by Ivan Bond, of the 2nd. , N.Z.E.F., to his father in Nelson.