<html xmlns:tei="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0"><body><h1 align="center" class="head">When Private Mugrums Parley Voos</h1><p class="byline"> PVT. CHARLES DIVINE <br xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"/><span class="smallcaps">IN The Stars And Stripes, A.E.F., France</span></p><div class="stanza"><p class="line">I CAN count my francs an' santeems--</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">If I've got a basket near--</p><p class="line">An' I speak a wicked "bon jour,"</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">But the verbs are awful queer,</p><p class="line">An' I lose a lot o' pronouns</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">When I try to talk to you, </p><p class="line">For your eyes are so bewitchin' </p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">I forget to parlay voo.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">In your pretty little garden, </p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">With the bench beside the wall, </p><p class="line">An' the sunshine on the asters, </p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">An' the purple phlox so tall, </p><p class="line">I should like to whisper secrets </p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">But my language goes askew--</p><p class="line">With the second person plural</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">For the old familiar "too."</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">In your pretty little garden</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">I could always say "juh tame," </p><p class="line">But it ain't so very subtle, </p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">An' it ain't not quite the same </p><p class="line">As "You've got some dandy earrings,"</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Or "Your eyes are nice an' brown"--</p><p class="line">But my adjectives get manly </p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Right before a lady noun.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Those infinitives perplex me;</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">I can say you're "tray jolee,"</p><p class="line">But beyond that simple statement</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">All my tenses don't agree.</p><p class="line">I can make the Boche "comprenney"</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">When I meet 'em in a trench,</p><p class="line">But the softer things escape me</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">When I try to yap in French.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">In your pretty little garden </p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Darn the idioms that dance </p><p class="line">On your tongue so sweet and rapid,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Ah, they hold me in a trance!</p><p class="line">Though I stutter an' I stammer, </p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">In your garden, on the bench, </p><p class="line">Yet my heart is writin' poems</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">When I talk to you in French. </p></div></body></html> · Great War