AND MORE RICE

We talk of great victories won in the west

And of when release comes and those we love best

We listen to hear the most incredible tales

The beatings we get take the wind from our sails

The one thing we're sure of and it's not very nice

At each meal we're fed with nothing but RICE.

 

We scrounge from the swill bins, an undesirable source

But you'll do things like that when you're hungry, of course

Our Officers in charge often wrangle in vain

But the Nips in command, show only disdain

In this situation its like the throw of a dice

But a near damn certainty we'll only get RICE.

 

We seize what we can every day through the wire

But its not very much or what we desire

Who ever thought we would see Brigadiers

Grabbing buns through the bars like Regents Park bears

But its wrong to label such gluttony a vice

When all you get fed with is a bowl of boiled RICE.

 

We've no blankets or clothes and we sleep on the floor

No windows to close and worse still, there's no door

A problem severe and not easy to resolve

Is the one of hygiene and there are others to solve

But who gives a damn for the menace of lice

The one thing that matters is a meal other than RICE.

Anonymous 1942 -1945