The glory of a soldier—and a soldier's not a saint— <br />Is the way he does his duty without grumbling or complaint; <br />His work's not always pleasant, but he does it rain or shine, <br />And he grabs a bit of glory when he's fighting in the line; <br />But the lesson that he teaches every day to me an' you <br />Is the way to do a duty that we do not like to do. <br /> <br />Any sort o' chap can whistle when his work is mostly fun; <br />A hundred want the pleasant jobs to every sturdy one <br />That'll grab the dreary duty an' the mean an' lowly task, <br />Or the drab an' cheerless service that life often has to ask; <br />But somebody has to do it, an' the test of me an' you <br />Is the way we face the labor that we do not like to do. <br /> <br />Now, it isn't very pleasant standin' guard out in the rain <br />But it's in the line o' duty, an' no soldier will complain, <br />An' there isn't any soldier but what sometimes hates his work <br />When the dress parade is over, an' perhaps he'd like to shirk, <br />But he's there to follow orders, not to pick an' choose his post, <br />An' he sometimes shines the finest at the job he hates the most. <br /> <br />Let's be soldiers in the struggle, let's be loyal through and through; <br />Life is going to give us duties that perhaps we'll hate to do. <br />There'll be little sacrifices that we will not like to make, <br />There'll be many tasks unpleasant that will fall to us to take. <br />An' although we all would rather do the work that brings applause, <br />Let's forget our whims and fancies an' just labor for the cause.<br /><br />Edgar Albert Guest<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/soldierly/
