Classic Poem

The old men sit by the chimney-piece and drink the good red wine
And tell great tales of the soixante-dix to the men from the English line,
And Madame sits in her old armchair and sighs to herself all day —
So Madeleine serves the soldiers in the Green Estaminet.

For Madame wishes the war was won and speaks of a strange disease,
And Pierre is somewhere about Verdun, and Albert on the seas;
Le Patron , 'e is soldat , too, but long time prisonnier —
So Madeleine serves the soldiers in the Green Estaminet.

She creeps downstairs when the black dawn scowls and helps at a neighbor's plow,
She rakes the midden and feeds the fowls and milks the lonely cow,
She mends the holes in the Padre's clothes and keeps his billet gay —
And she also serves the soldiers in the Green Estaminet.

The smoke grows thick and the wine flows free and the great round songs begin,
And Madeleine sings in her heart, maybe, and welcomes the whole world in;
But I know that life is a hard, hard thing, and I know thaTher lips look gray,
Though she smiles as she serves the soldiers in the Green Estaminet.

But many a tired young English lad has learned his lesson there,
To smile and sing when the world looks bad, for, " Monsieur, c'est la guerre; "
Has drunk her honor and made his vow to fight in the same good way
That Madeleine serves the soldiers in the Green Estaminet.

A big shell came on a windy night and half of the old house went,
But half of the old house stands upright, and Mademoiselle's content;
The shells still fall in the Square sometimes, but Madeleine means to stay,
So Madeleine serves the soldiers still in the Green Estaminet.