Book by George Napier Sprod, 1942-1945 - Part 1

George Sprod
Singapore — .
DEDICATION.
This book is dedicated to "Ti jo"
without whose kind help, Friendly
interest, and unfailing proximity. it
would not have been written.
__________≈≈≈≈≈_____________
George Sprod
c/o Mrs Y.N. Sprod
226 Magill Road
North Kensington
Adelaide
South Australia
__________≈≈≈≈≈_____________
THE DESERTED PUB
by G.N. Sprod.
See cartoon in original document
 

COMMENCED WHILE IN ACTION, FINISHED 20--6-42
THE DESERTED PUB.
LAST NIGHT AS I SAT IN MY DIT-OUT
CONSUMING A DIXIE OF GRUB,

MY MIND DID A COUPLE OF HANDSPRINGS
AN THOUGHT OF O'DONAVAN'S PUB.
__________≈≈≈≈≈_____________
A RAMSHACKLE WOODEN CONSTRUCTION
THE PRIDE OF THE TOWN OF BOOJEE
TO SOME IT'S A JOB FOR THE WRECKER,
IT'S "HOTEL AUSTRALIA" TO ME.
__________≈≈≈≈≈_____________
BEFORE I WENT MADE AND ENLISTED
IT'S BAR WAS A HAVEN OF CHEER,
AROUND IT THE LADS USED TO GATHER
TO ELBOW THEIR WAY TO THE BEER.
__________≈≈≈≈≈_____________
THEY SAY NOW THE OLD TOWN'S
DESERTED
ITS STREETS ARE NEGLECTED AND BARE
WITH MRS. O'DONAVAN'S CLIENTS
BECOMING INCREASINGLY RARE.
__________≈≈≈≈≈_____________
THE COPS HANG IN VAIN ROUND THE
DOORWAY,
See cartoon in original document
TO CATCH PEOPLE DRINKING AT NIGHT
THE OLD FELLOWS DRINK IN THE
DAYTIME
THE LADS HAVE GONE OVER TO FIGHT
__________≈≈≈≈≈_____________
THE JOKES THAT THEY CRACKED TO
EACH OTHER
THEY LAUGH AT IN ALIEN LANDS
THEY'RE HOLDING MACHINE GUNS AND
RIFLES
WHEN ONCE THEY HELD PINTS IN THEIR HANDS
__________≈≈≈≈≈_____________
THEY JOINED AS THEIR FATHERS BEFORE
THEM
FROM RIVER AND VALLEY AND HILL
THEY PUT DOWN THEIR POTS AND THEIR
PLOUGH - SHARES
AND WENT INTO CAMP WITH A WILL.

THEY CAME TO THE COUNTER IN KHAKI
THEY THOUGHT OF THE MONEY THEY'D
SPENT
THEY PLANTED A KISS ON THE
BARMAID
WHO FILLED THEM WITH BEER ERE THEY
WENT
__________≈≈≈≈≈_____________
THE SATURDAY AFTERNOON SCRAMBLE
TODAY IS A THING OF THE PAST
AND BANKRUPT, THE TOWN'S S.P.
BOOKIE
HAS PUT UP HIS SHUTTERS AT LAST.
__________≈≈≈≈≈_____________
THE BRASS COUNTER RAIL IS NOW
EMPTY
WHERE ONCE IT HELD PLENTY OF FEET
AND GONE ARE THE GABARDINE TROUSERS
THAT POLISHED THE OLD WOODEN SEAT
__________≈≈≈≈≈_____________
THE EYES OF THE BARMAID ARE
LISTLESS
HER BEER-MOPPING RAG IS QUITE
DRY
AND ONY A FEW AGED TRAPPERS
HELP THE LONG AFTER NOONS TO GO
BY
THE CLOCK TICKS FORLORNLY
ABOVE HER
THE BEER TRICKLES FORTH WITH A
SIGH
DEJECTED, IT'S GIVEN UP TRYING
TO PLEASE AN APPRECIATIVE EYE
__________≈≈≈≈≈_____________
YOU STRANGERS WHO PAUSE 'NEATH
THE ROOF-TREE
TO SAMPLE THE SCHOONER THAT
CHEERS
JUST THINK OF THE BOYS WHO
ARE FIGHTING
AND THE PUB THEY SUPPORTED FOR
YEARS
__________≈≈≈≈≈_____________
AND THINK OF THE HARDSHIPS
THEY'RE FACING
DESTRUCTION, AND SORROW, AND PAIN
AND THINK OF THE DAY THEY ALL
LONG FOR
TO SET FOOT IN AUSSIE AGAIN.
__________≈≈≈≈≈_____________
SOME DAY THEY'LL LAND BACK IN
THEIR HOME TOWN
TO MOTHERS AND SWEETHEARTS
AND WIVES
 

See cartoon in original document
THEY'LL DASH TO THE PUB FOR A QUICK
ONE
AND STAY THERE THE REST OF THEIR
LIVES
__________≈≈≈≈≈_____________
THE BEER WILL GUSH FORTH LIKE
NIAGARA
THE LAGER WILL SPARKLE WITH GLEE
AND GLASSES SHALL CLINK TO
"AUSTRALIA"
THE HOME OF THE BRAVE AND THE FREE.
See cartoon in original document
THE SONG OF THE
HOME-SICK
GUNNER.
G.N. Sprod
 

THE SONG OF THE
HOMESICK GUNNER
(WRITTEN WHILE IN ACTION, AYER HITAM 24-1-42)
 Rabbits by day and owls by night
Our life is quite exciting,
We eat tinned horse and concrete
slabs —
It's all that keeps us fighting
__________≈≈≈≈≈_____________
All day we lie in the bladey grass,
And when it gets too boring
We fire a couple of rounds or so,
To keep ourselves from snoring.
__________≈≈≈≈≈_____________
A couple of rounds of one-one-nine
The Japs can have with pleasure.
Perhaps some one-one-seven too
To give the cows good measure
__________≈≈≈≈≈_____________
I wish I knew of a shell that'd
cross
four thousand miles of ocean'
I'd be the first to volunteer
To set the thing in motion.
__________≈≈≈≈≈_____________
Slinging myself into the breech
I'd leave my cares behind me,
And if I lobbed in Sydney town
They'd have a job to find me!
See cartoon in original document
ON DYSENTERY.
G.N SPROD
 

ON DYSENTERY
(BUKIT TIMAH 2-5-42)
Incline thine ear towards this
dolorous night
Who with such mien of langour
doth recite
A tale of woe unbounded. Feats
of arms
The pomp, and fag, and fuss of
wars alarms
And tales of stirring deeds he
hath foreswore
Since Nippon hath him chained to
Singapore.
Let's listen then — methinks his
glazèd een
Bespeak a vile distemper of times
seen.
"Some nine times daily needs I
must repair
To ease my SORROWS in the open
air
Where perched on rustic bench
'neath speckled shade
Oft hath my feeble body's dross
been laid
And off beneath the pallid arc
of night
My timorous groans the anxious
stars affright
As swift from adamantine couch
I glide
My anguish in the cloak of dark
to hide
See cartoon in original document
When Phoebus' orb at morning
doth arise
My dull tongue doth the humble
rice despise
And feeds its massy host on tea
I trow
Tasteth like bog, where
decomposing cow
For Fifteen days hath fallen.
Needs I must
 

Eat bread, it straightway turneth
into dust
And as for dainty foods for which
I moan
They are as far from grasping
as that stone
Which secret tomes of alchemy
have told
Turneth the dull-eyed lead
to glistening gold.
The grave physician, with his
sober tread
At morn and evening poketh
in my head
A witche's glass which tells in
numbers bold
The temperature (he saith) or
heat and cold
And haply, where that horned
goblin reigns
The pestilence which burneth in
my veins.
__________≈≈≈≈≈_____________
Full oft must I endure the
brassy laughter
Of so-called mates, who some
diversion after
Do mock at my sad sorrow.
Them I tell
I wish that all the agonies of hell
Should fasten on their entrails
with sharp prongs
See cartoon in original document
Some notion to convey of all the wrongs
The malady doth cause. Then
do I pray
 

A dose they should contract
within the day
__________≈≈≈≈≈_____________
'Tis now I sacrifice the printed
page
The ponderous words of pope,
and prince & sage
And 'e'en the leaves from learned
classics rent
Necessity to grosser use hath
bent
__________≈≈≈≈≈_____________
Now needs I must conclude my
sad recital
I feel an urge, imperative and
vital
Which brooketh not delay -
Good sirs, farewell
I crave forebearance for this
dirge I tell
Perchance when happier days
have come to pass
A toast we'll drink to health
with brimming glass
And joy shall sing on Austral's
sunny shore
In alcoholic strains for evermore
See cartoon in original document
THE POLICE BAND
G.N. SPROD
 

THE POLICE BAND
BUKIT TIMAH 5-6-42
The clock strikes one in
Martin Place
Above the city's rattle.
The office clerks come tumbling out
Like fifty thousand cattle.
__________≈≈≈≈≈_____________
With eager feet they haste along
To Pies and tea repairing,
But faint above the fevered
rush
I hear a brass band blaring
__________≈≈≈≈≈_____________
And soon substantial forms
in blue
With straight and martial bearing
Betray the fact the coppers'
band
Is out to take an airing.
Two thousand eyes are popping
out
A thousand necks are arching,
And every bosom thumps
with pride
To see the Police Band marching.
Left-right, Left-right they
thromp along
With shiny trumpets blowing;
To "HAIL Columbia's" stirring
strains
Down to the park they're going
Down to the park to charm
the crowds
Who use the place for lunching,
To keep in time with champing
Jaws,
And regulate their munching
Perhaps they'll play "Bohemian
Girl"
The "Poet and the Peasant"
(Their repetoire of well-worn tunes
Is neither large nor pleasant)
There wont by any high-brow
airs,
Or jazz, I'll bet a shilling,
But stuff that bands
have played for years
To any-one that's willing
 

Oh, hear the trombones
sturdy strains!
Oh, hark! the strident trumpet
And mark the tuba's burbling
notes,
Produced by Sergeant Crumpet
__________≈≈≈≈≈_____________
The clarinet is large and fat
The cornet long and skinny,
The big drum thumps like
the crack of doom,
The Kettle-drum sounds
tinny
__________≈≈≈≈≈_____________
Away on their melodious
quest
With slow and measured
paces,
They round the bend with
conscious pride,
And red inflated faces
__________≈≈≈≈≈_____________
The theif purloins my lady's pearls
The cut-throat cuts at leisure
But who'd begrudge our gallant
force
It's daily bit of pleasure.
See cartoon in original document
THE GUNNER'S DREAM