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PRELUDE
(To Departmental Ditties)
I have eaten your bread and salt. I have drunk your water and wine.The deaths ye died I have watched beside, And the lives ye led were mine.
Was there aught that I did not share In vigil or toil or ease,—One joy or woe that I did not know, Dear hearts across the seas?
I have written the tale of our life For a sheltered people's mirth,In jesting guise—but ye are wise, And ye know what the jest is worth.
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