Roman Poems!

[Spedius]

Ave,

Here's another couple for you.

"Ninth Hispana's Marching Song

The Fourteenth asks for glory,
The Twentieth asks for meat;
The Second asks for slippers
To ease its tired feet:

But the Ninth wants none of these things,
It does not fight for gain;
It only asks a pair of feet
To march back home to Spain.

It only asks a pair of hands
To dig a bloody road;
And a pair of bloody shoulders
To lift a bloody load;

It only asks a girl a day
To help the hours to pass,
And a well-shod pair of army boots
To kick the Second's arse!

Legion's Marching Song

When you join the Legion, lad,
You get the golden pound;
A sword that's nicely sharp, lad,
And a shield that's nice and round.

You think that heaven has come, lad,
That this is the life for a man;
But you've jumped out of the fire, lad,
And into the frying-pan!

For the bloody pound gets spent, lad.
And the sword's a frightful weight;
You've got to polish that shield, lad,
Till it shines like a silver plate!

Then you start to think of home, lad,
And your mother by the door;
And all you've got is an aching heart,
And a pair of feet red raw!

But you wouldn't change your state, lad,
For Caesar's golden throne;
Once the Legion's got you
You're there till Kingdom Come!"

Source:- "Red Queen, White Queen" by Henry Treece (1911-1966), Savoy Books 1980 see pages 109 & 139

Vale

M.Spedius Corbulo