The Man He Killed
First published in Harper’s Weekly (8 November 1902); collected in Time’s Laughingstocks and Other Verses (London: Macmillan, 1909).
‘Had he and I but met
By some old ancient inn,
We should have sat us down to wet
Right many a nipperkin!
‘But ranged as infantry,
And staring face to face,
I shot at him as he at me,
And killed him in his place.
‘I shot him dead because---
Because he was my foe,
Just so: my foe of course he was;
That’s clear enough; although
‘He thought he’d ‘list, perhaps,
Off-hand like---just as I---
Was out of work---had sold his traps---
No other reason why.
‘Yes; quaint and curious war is!
You shoot a fellow down
You’d treat if met where any bar is,
Or help to half-a-crown.’