The Big Book of Australia's War Stories by Jim Haynes

Author:Jim Haynes
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Published: 2019-09-25T16:00:00+00:00

TOBRUK

Anonymous

There’s places that I’ve been in

That I didn’t like too well;

Scotland’s far too bloody cold

And Cairo’s hot as hell.

English beer is always warm,

Each place has something crook.

But each is perfect when compared

To the place they call Tobruk.

I’ve seen some dust storms back at home

That made poor housewives work,

But there’s enough inside our shirts

To smother all of Bourke.

Two diggers cleaned their dug-out,

Their blankets out they shook;

Two colonels perished in the dust,

In this place they call Tobruk.

There’s centipedes like pythons,

And there’s countless hordes of fleas;

As big as poodle dogs they are,

All snapping round your knees,

And scorpions like lobsters

Come round to have a look,

There’s lots of bloody livestock

In this place they call Tobruk.

Now there’s militant teetotallers,

Who abhor all kinds of drink.

There’s wives who break good bottles

And pour grog down the sink.

This place would suit them to the ground,

We’ve searched in every nook,

But booze is scarce as hen’s teeth

In this place they call Tobruk.

The shelling’s nice and frequent,

They whistle overhead.

You go into your dug-out

And find shrapnel in your bed;

And when the stukas dive on us

We never stop to look,

We go down our holes like rabbits

In this place they call Tobruk.

Sometimes we go in swimming

And we float about at ease,

The water’s clear as crystal,

There’s a lovely ocean breeze,

Then down comes bloody Herman

And we have to sling our hook;

We dive right to the bottom

In this place they call Tobruk.

I really do not think this place

Was made for me and you,

Let’s leave it to the Arab,

And he knows what he can do.

We’ll leave this god-forsaken place

Without one backward look,

We’ve called it lots of other names,

This place they call Tobruk.

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