Ballads of Battle/Tommy and Fritz

by Joseph Lee

TOMMY AND FRITZ

He hides behind his sand-bag,
And I stand back o' mine;
And sometimes he bellows, "Hullo, John Bull!"
And I hollers, "German swine!"
And sometimes we both lose our bloomin' rag,
And blaze all along the line.

Sometimes he whistles his 'Ymn of 'Ate,
Or opens his mug to sing,
And when he gives us "Die Wacht am Rhein"
I give 'im "God Save the King";
And then—we" get up the wind" again,
And the bullets begin to ping—
(If we're in luck our machine gun nips
A working squad on the wing.)

Sometimes he shouts, "Tommy, come over!"
And we fellers bawl out, "Fritz,
If yer wants a good warm breakfast,
Walk up and we'll give you fits!"
And sometimes our great guns begin to growl,
And blows his front line to bits.

And when our shrapnel has tore his wire,
And his parapet shows a rent,
We over and pays him a friendly call
With a bayonet—but no harm meant.
And he—well, when he's resuscitate,
He returns us the compliment!

I stand behind my sand-bag,
And he hides back o' his'en;
And, but for our bloomin' uniforms,
We might both be convicts in pris'n;
And sometimes I loves him a little bit—
And sometimes I 'ate like p'ison.

For sometimes I mutters "Belgium,"
Or "Lusitani—a,"
And I slackens my bay'net in its sheath,
And stiffens my lower jaw,
And "An eye for an eye; a tooth for a tooth,"
Is all I know of the Law.

But sometimes when things is quiet,
And the old kindly stars come out,
I stand up behind my sand-bag,
And think, "What's it all about?"
And—tho' I'm a damned sight better nor him,
Yet sometimes I have a doubt,
That if you got under his hide you would see
A bloke with a heart just the same's you and me!