The Men in Blue
When Nurse is pleased, and I’ve been good
And not sat playing with my food
Or smeared the nursery window pane
Or put coal in my luggage train
The thing she always lets me do
Is go to see the men in blue
I used to look in thro’ the gate
But that’s been boarded up of late
But this I do not really mind
For from the railway bank I find
That I can get a splendid view
Of lots and lots of men in blue
When I fall down and cut my knees
Or give my finger such a squeeze
I shut my eyes, and think about
The wounded I’ve seen sitting out
Nurse says if I don’t cry, it’s true
I’m being like the men in blue
And once we saw a funeral go-
There was a band – it went so slow-
It made me feel all queer inside
But oh, I wish, when I have died
That they would only give me, too
A funeral like the men in blue
Sometimes my daddy talks to me
Of battles found on land and sea
By gallant men in days of old
But yet, he says, when all is told
No men our history ever knew
Were braver than our men in blue
He tries to make me understand-
A torch goes on from hand to hand
The men of old kept it alight
And passes it down, still burning bright
And I, when my own turn comes due
Must take it from the men in blue
