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The Five Nations, Volume II cover

The Five Nations, Volume II

Chapter 21: THE MARRIED MAN
By Rudyard Kipling
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Poetry

About This Book

A collection of poems presents varied portraits of imperial life, alternating lyric meditations and narrative sketches that examine duty, ceremony, and the costs of military service. Several pieces evoke remote landscapes and the routines of men on outposts or on the march, while others address public memory, faith, and private loss. Voices shift from colloquial to formal, mixing irony, solemnity, and exhortation, with recurring motifs of travel, comradeship, and the tension between patriotic pride and the sorrow or absurdity that accompanies conflict and empire.

THE MARRIED MAN

(RESERVIST OF THE LINE)

The bachelor ’e fights for one
 As joyful as can be;
 But the married man don’t call it fun,
 Because ’e fights for three—
 For ’Im an’ ’Er an’ It
 (An’ Two an’ One makes Three)
 ’E wants to finish ’is little bit,
 An’ ’e wants to go ’ome to ’is tea!
The bachelor pokes up ’is ’ead
 To see if you are gone;
 But the married man lies down instead,
 An’ waits till the sights come on.
 For ’Im an’ ’Er an’ a hit
 (Direct or ricochee)
 ’E wants to finish ’is little bit,
 An’ ’e wants to go ’ome to ’is tea.
The bachelor will miss you clear
 To fight another day;
 But the married man, ’e says ’No fear!’
 ’E wants you out of the way
 Of ’Im an’ ’Er an’ It
 (An’ ’is road to ’is farm or the sea),
 ’E wants to finish ’is little bit,
 An’ ’e wants to go ’ome to ’is tea.
The bachelor ’e fights ’is fight
 An’ stretches out an’ snores;
 But the married man sits up all night—
 For ’e don’t like out o’ doors:
 ’E’ll strain an’ listen an’ peer
 An’ give the first alarm—
 For the sake o’ the breathin’ ’e’s used to ’ear
 An’ the ’ead on the thick of ’is arm.
The bachelor may risk ’is ’ide
 To ’elp you when you’re downed;
 But the married man will wait beside
 Till the ambulance comes round.
 ’E’ll take your ’ome address
 An’ all you’ve time to say,
 Or if ’e sees there’s ’ope, ’e’ll press
 Your art’ry ’alf the day—
For ’Im an’ ’Er an’ It
 (An’ One from Three leaves Two),
 For ’e knows you wanted to finish your bit,
 An’ ’e knows ’oo’s wantin’ you.
 Yes, ’Im an’ ’Er an’ It
 (Our ’oly One in Three),
 We’re all of us anxious to finish our bit,
 An’ we want to get ’ome to our tea!
Yes, It an’ ’Er an’ ’Im,
 Which often makes me think
 The married man must sink or swim
 An’—’e can’t afford to sink!
 Oh ’Im an’ It an’ ’Er
 Since Adam an’ Eve began,
 So I’d rather fight with the bacheler
 An’ be nursed by the married man!