A beastly wind with savage heat Blew from the north with dust, The brazen sun relentlessly Baked skin as red as rust. To scan the near horizon Is to ***** the eyes to squint And a man would **** his brother For a cold beer from a ****.
There’s orders for the gunners To load cannon with coarse shot, To prime them with dry powder And ram them all till hot. To keep the eyes upon the hills And be ready for the call, Because the savages are massing And our backs are to the wall.
Release the carrier pigeon, boy, To recall the horse hussars Because before this day is done Our blood may run in jars For the drums of war are beating And they’re sweeping from the hills And God help the luckless fusilier Who dallies with his skills.
In waves, the savages do run And roar their chant of war, Beat their spears upon hide shield And roll their eyes and more... A wall of pure malevolence Descends upon us large And we gird ourselves for battle And the bugle screams the charge.
Black naked men pour from the earth In hoards of shrieking mad With rolling eyes and streaming hair And rancid breath, so bad. Roaring shot and cannon volley Cut a swathe through flesh, Spear and shrapnel fly opposed And axe and bayonet mesh.
Swearing men are head to head Blood and guts do flow, The agony and roaring triumph As blades trade blow for blow. Good and bad are dying now Their bodies fall like rain, Young cry for their mothers While the older scream in pain.
Blood is running in the sand, Twitching bodies lie, The jagged sound of battle dims As vultures fill the sky. There’s silence with the setting sun As horse hussar arrives Too late, by far, to save the boys Who lay in clouds of flies.