Home

Still Sisters

Posted by Ewan on March 13, 2009 - 15:35
from the ABC set

Rosie, Rosie, don't you know,
why the Colonel's lady hates you so?
Through his Gandhi glasses 'avant la lentile'
the Pioneer's special correspondent knew
the lack of difference between you two.
The men fight amidst the poppies' scent,
you pine at home and your men in a tent:
in the saloon bar rough and the bistro genteel,
your tears are shed for yourselves, alone -
you'll wish them gone when they come home.

Discuss this piece in the abctales forum


Comments

chuck | March 13, 2009 - 19:26

I'm still very conflicted about Kipling. I can see the glory and the camaraderie etc. loved the Jungle Book and the Just So Stories but the underlying philosophy repels me too in way. My father was ex-Indian Army.....nice enough fellow in his way but we had a basic disagreement around the time of the Suez Crisis that never got resolved.

Ewan | March 16, 2009 - 10:56

Of course, I know what you mean, Chuck. By the time Suez rolled around the sun had already set on the Empire, Eden must have been delusional in the extreme to think he could go it alone without Ike. The time was past. All empires crumble, it's the nature of the beast. All are founded on exploitation of one kind or another.

Anyone who has experienced the military environment knows that everything from Sveijk to Yossarian and then on to Hawkeye and Trapper John knows that the truth is stranger and more ludicrous than fiction.