Andrew Wright

An angel in truth, a demon in fiction,
A woman's the greatest of all contradiction,
She's afraid of a beetle, she'll scream at a mouse
But she'll tackle a husband as big as a house,
...

I wonder what she really is, and what her name will be
I often try to picture her as she takes us out to sea,
I don't expect a beauty, as I know there will be few,
But even if she's very old, for us I am sure she'll do,
...

There's a constant and careful collecting,
Of strong brown paper and twine,
There's a special pen nib for directing,
Free flowing and not over fine,
...

There is peas, there is beans, there is carrots too,
There is rich steak, pud, and Irish Stew,
There is cocoa, tea and milk to drink,
There is herring good and salmon pink,
...

There's a boat in the harbour at Hamburg,
Waiting to take you back home,
Back to a land of freedom,
Back to your home sweet home.
...

When next you hear the belfry chime,
Console yourself that you are doing "time",
Throughout the war our fight continues,
Against old man time we direct our sinews,
...

Deep in Devon's heart it lies,
Beside a rippling, brambled stream,
Once mirrored in my waking eyes,
It comes to me again in dream.
...

Now I was unlucky when the Jerrys caught me,
Where the cliffsof St. Valerie sweep down to the sea.

We'd have fought to the last like a dog for a bone,
...

We were captured at St. Valerie,
Surrounded by aircraft and tanks,
There were guns, mortars, machineguns,
Spitting death in the midst of our ranks.
...

In a prison camp in Poland,
With barbed wire around the door,
A soldier with his mess tin,
Went to the cooks for more,
...

Though clouds may blot out the horizon,
And the day oft seems weary and long,
Just think of the dawn of tomorrow,
And cheer up your heart with a song.
...

We've speculated often, as to what will happen when,
Old Churchill's tidied up the war, and we go home again,
Of how the king will greet us, and how the crowds will cheer,
And the nation joins in giving the lads free beer,
...

I've travelled round the world a bit,
On many different paths,
Each passing year has seen my feet,
On many different hearths,
...

I've lost lots of things worthwhile, my pleasure and my gun,
And the days of my capture, pass slowly one by one,
But as I sit in loneliness, each day more plain to see,
My body may be captured, but my heart and mind are free.
...

At evening when in pensive mood, I sit and gaze and think,
Neath heaven's starry firmament, where man knows not the brink,
Where diamond stars hold sway o'er purple skies,
And Rovin's hills are shadowed deep, tis hard to realize,
...

Have you ever wondered what they think,
In Blighty day by day,
Have you ever wondered if they say a prayer,
For you while you are away,
...

Dear friends and pipers a'
I'd like to say a word or twa,
To praise the pipes and pipers braw,
(Tae some they're de'ils)
...

Dear folks at home, for a diversion,
I'm taking this modest excursion,
Into the realms of muse and bard,
Tho' it may prove a little hard,
...

Everything with peace is faced,
Harmful deeds are all displaced,
Hatred with Love is replaced,
For Christmastide is here again.
...

A year before war broke out, I used to think it grand,
To watch the Jerries marching home, behind their poshed up band,
With their sunbrowned skins, and their carefree air, they looked so bright and merry,
That I made up my mind, there and then, to be a bloomin' Jerry,
...