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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


A SONG OF WINTER WEATHER by ROBERT WILLIAM SERVICE

Poet Analysis

First Line: IT ISN'T THE FOE THAT WE FEAR
Last Line: AND THE MUD.
Subject(s): DEATH; WAR; WINTER; WORLD WAR I; DEAD, THE; FIRST WORLD WAR;

IT isn't the foe that we fear;
It isn't the bullets that whine;
It isn't the business career
Of a shell, or the bust of a mine;
It isn't the snipers who seek
To nip our young hopes in the bud:
No, it isn't the guns,
And it isn't the Huns --
It's the @3mud,
mud,
mud.@1

It isn't the @3melee@1 we mind.
That often is rather good fun.
It isn't the shrapnel we find
Obtrusive when rained by the ton;
It isn't the bounce of the bombs
That gives us a positive pain:
It's the strafing we get
When the weather is wet --
It's the @3rain,
rain,
rain.@1

It isn't because we lack grit
We shrink from the horrors of war.
We don't mind the battle a bit;
In fact that is what we are for;
It isn't the rum-jars and things
Make us wish we were back in the fold:
It's the fingers that freeze
In the boreal breeze --
It's the @3cold,
cold,
cold.@1

Oh, the rain, the mud, and the cold,
The cold, the mud, and the rain;
With weather at zero it's hard for a hero
From language that's rude to refrain.
With porridgy muck to the knees,
With sky that's a-pouring a flood,
Sure the worst of our foes
Are the pains and the woes
Of the @3rain@1,
the @3cold@1,
and the @3mud@1.



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