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Title: Hiking In The Philippines
Author: W. E. Christian [
More Titles by Christian]
(From a Marine's Diary)
(A ONE-DAY HIKE)
Rise and Shine, the bugle's calling!
Spring up lively from your beds!
Into line we'll soon be falling--
Shake a leg, you sleepy heads!
Better make a hasty toilet,
Like the other fellows do,
For I'll guarantee you'll spoil it,
Long before the day is thru!
Better see the shoes you're wearing
Have a heavy pair of soles;
Or you'll do some awful swearing
When the rocks come thru the holes!
Have your canteen filled and ready
Haversack swung on your belt,
Where it will swing good and steady
And its weight is scarcely felt!
At your breakfast don't you hurry--
Eat another dish of beans;
For you'll need it--don't you worry--
Hiking in the Philippines!
Up the dusty road we've started--
Rout Step--walking at our ease;
Soon the even lines are parted--
All are walking as they please.
Long before the sun has ambled
O'er the green hills on our right,
Far along the road we've rambled
In the early morning light.
Thru the narrow trail we're walking,
Sticking to the narrow path.
Just behind us some are talking,
'Way ahead we hear a laugh.
Now a slender bridge we're crossing,
Over to a "goo-goo" farm--
Where a Carabao is tossing
Up his head, in great alarm.
Here we stop to rest a trifle--
Sip a drop from our canteens.
Gee! It's tough to "pack" a rifle--
Hiking in the Philippines.
'Round the narrow path we're turning;
Tho it's early morning, yet.
Down the sun is fiercely burning--
Bringing out the drops of sweat!
Where the tropic trees are shading
Out the sunlight overhead
Leggings, shoes and all, we're wading
Thru a shallow river-bed.
You can hear the bamboo cracking
Underneath our heavy tread,
While the forest trails we're tackling--
Following, where we are lead.
You have got to be a Hiker
To keep up with these Marines,
Not a big four-flush or piker--
Hiking in the Philippines!
Where the big mangoes are growing,
We have halted--Stacking Arms,
Far away, a rooster's crowing
On one of the native farms.
Under branches of big palm trees,
We are resting easy now--
Welcoming the cooling sea breeze
While we're waiting for our Chow.
Plainest fare is a fiesta
When you've Hiked for half a day;
And a little noon siesta
Helps to pass the time away!
Like a ribbon all unraveled
Starts the line at half past two,
There are new trails to be traveled
Back to old Olongapo!
[The end]
W. E. Christian's poem: Hiking In The Philippines
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