The Recruiting Sergeant

[Verse 1]
As I was goin' down the street, feelin' fine and larky-o
A recruitin' sergeant said to me, "Now you'd like fine in kharki-o!
The King he is need o' men, come read his proclamation-o
A life in Flanders for ya then, will be a fine vacation-o"

[Verse 2]
"That may be so" says I to him, "but tell me, Sergeant dearie-o
If I'd a pack stuck on me back do ya think I'd look fine and cheery-o?
You'd make me train and drill until ya had me one of French's-o
It may be warm in Flanders, but it's draughty in the trenches-o"

[Verse 3]
The sergeant swung his wee bit cane, his smile was most provoking-o
He twiddled and twiddled his wee moustache, says he "I know you're joking-o
The sandbags are so nice and 'igh, the wind you'd ne'er feel blowing-o"
But I winked at a cailín passin' by, says I "What if it's snowing-o?"

[Verse 4]
"Yet hail or rain or wind or snow, we're not goin' out to Flanders-o
There's fightin' in Dublin to be done, let your sergeants and commanders go
Let Englishmen for England fight, 'tis just about time they started-o"
I wished the sergeant a jolly good night, and there and then we parted-o