"Where 'ave you been this week or more, <br />'Aven't seen you about the war'? <br />Thought perhaps you was at the rear <br />Guarding the waggons." "What, us? No fear! <br />Where have we been? Why, bless my heart, <br />Where have we been since the bloomin' start? <br /> Right in the front of the army, <br />Battling day and night! <br /> Right in the front of the army <br />Teaching 'em how to fight!" <br /> Every separate man you see, <br /> Sapper, gunner, and C.I.V., <br /> Every one of 'em seems to be <br /> Right in front of the army! <br />Most of the troops to the camp had gone, <br />When we met with a cow-gun toiling on; <br />And we said to the boys, as they walked her past, <br />"Well, thank goodness, you're here at last!" <br />"Here at last! Why, what d'yer mean? <br />Ain't we just where we've always been? <br /> Right in the front of the army, <br />Battling day and night! <br /> Right in the front of the army, <br />Teaching'em bow to fight!" <br /> Correspondents and Vets in force, <br /> Mounted foot and dismounted horse, <br /> All of them were, as a matter of course, <br /> Right in the front of the army. <br /> <br />Old Lord Roberts will have to mind <br />If ever the enemy get behind; <br />For they'll smash him up with a rear attack, <br />Because his army has got no back! <br />Think of the horrors that might befall <br />An army without any rear at all! <br /> Right in the front of the army, <br />Battling day and night! <br /> Right in the front of the army, <br />Teaching 'em how to fight! <br /> Swede attaches and German counts, <br /> Yeomen (known as De Wet's Remounts), <br /> All of them were, by their own accounts, <br /> Right in the front of the army!<br /><br />Andrew Barton Paterson<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/right-in-front-of-the-army/
