Part 2 — WITH APOLOGIES TO KIPLING'S "THE VAMPIRE"

A fool there was, and he made his prayer, (Even as you and I) Tho't he would hold down a colonel's chair, So he came up here to do and dare, But the skipper decided he wasn't there, (Even as you and I). Oh, the days we waste, and the pay we waste, And the work of our hands and feet Belong to the days we did not know, (And now we know we never could know) Enough to stand still at retreat. Oh, the sleep we lost and the weight we lost, And the things we had to eat Can never come back to make us want, (We hope they can't and pray they sha'n't) If they did we'd admit we were beat. The fool was stripped to his foolish hide, (Even as you and I) And they wouldn't let him be rear guide, (So some of him lived, but the most of him died) And he stayed a "rookie" just outside (Even as you and I).