<html xmlns:tei="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0"><body><h1 align="center" class="head">Tanks</h1><p class="byline"> O. C. A. CHILD </p><div class="stanza"><p class="line">YES, back at home I used to drive a tram;</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">And Sammy, there, he was a driver, too</p><p class="line">He used to ride his racer--did Sir Sam;</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">While pokey London streets was all I knew.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">But now, His Nibs and I, of equal rank,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Are chummy as the paper and the wall, </p><p class="line">Each tooling of a caterpillar tank,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Each waiting on the blest old bugle call.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Say! Tanks are sport--when you get used to them,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">They're like a blooming railroad, self-contained; </p><p class="line">They lay their tracks, as you might say--pro tern,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">And pick 'em up, and there's good distance gained.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">They roar across rough country like a gale,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">They lean against a house and push it down, </p><p class="line">They're like a baby fortress under sail,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">And antic as a three-ring circus clown.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Sam says they're slow. They may seem so to him--</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">They can't show fancy mile-a-minute stuff, </p><p class="line">But when they charge, in armored fighting trim,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">You bet the Germans find 'em fast enough!</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Now Sam and I are waiting, side by side,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">To steam across von farm-land in the night;</p><p class="line">We'll take their blamed barbed wire in our stride,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">And stamp a German trench line out of sight. </p></div></body></html>

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