Classic and Contemporary Poetry
PRIVATE HILL, by DOUGLAS MALLOCH Poet's Biography First Line: I jumped right in and I crossed the sea Last Line: It's enough for me that I won the war. Subject(s): Soldiers | ||||||||
I jumped right in and I crossed the sea And I done my bit in the infantry For Freedom's flag and Freedom's shore, The rights of little nations, or Whatever it was we was fightin' for. I wasn't none of your second loots -- I was just the guy that the gunner shoots. For you got to have in a war like that Some privates, too, when the guns rat-tat For the folks to do their shootin' at. The general he got bigger pay But I guess I was needed, in a way; For at half-past four or half-past three In the cold gray dawn when a shell went whee-e The guy it was lookin' for was me. I was Private Hill when I went in, And a private I come out ag'in. I didn't git no croy de gore, But I ain't mad and I ain't sore -- It's enough for me that I won the war. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ALL ARMIES ARE THE SAME by ERNEST HEMINGWAY ABSENT WITH OFFICIAL LEAVE by RANDALL JARRELL PORT OF EMBARKATION by RANDALL JARRELL THE CONFESSION OF ST. JIM-RALPH by DENIS JOHNSON OPERATION MEMORY by DAVID LEHMAN A DIFFERENT WAY by DOUGLAS MALLOCH |
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