Rudyard Kipling

«Barrack-Room Ballads». 48. The Instructor. Non-Commissioned Officers of the Line

At times when under cover I ’ave said,
To keep my spirits up an' raise a laugh,
’Earin 'im pass so busy over-’ead –
Old Nickel-Neck, ’oo isn't on the Staff  –
“There’s one above is greater than us all.”

Before ’im I ’ave seen my Colonel fall,
An’ watched ’im write my Captain’s epitaph,
So that a long way off it could be read –
He ’as the knack o’ makin’ men feel small –
Old Whistle Tip, ’oo isn’t on the Staff.

There is no sense in fleein’ (I ’ave fled),
Better go on an’ do the belly-crawl,
An’ ’ope’ ’e’ll ’it some other man instead
Of you ’e seems to ’unt so speshual –
Fitzy van Spitz, ’oo isn’t on the Staff.

An’ thus in mem’ry’s cinematograph,
Now that the show is over, I recall
The peevish voice an’ ’oary mushroom ’ead
Of  ’im we owned was greater than us all,
’Oo give instruction to the quick an’ the dead –
The Shudderin’ Beggar – not upon the Staff!