Clear the Way

Jimmy Drummond used bad language at school
All the four-letter words, like a drip from a drain.
At six he knew how little children were born
As well he might, since his mother bore nine
Six after her soldier husband left for the wars

Under the motto of the Inniskillings, Clear the way!
When his body returned from England
The authorities told them not to unscrew the lid
To see the remnants of Fuselier Drummond inside,
A chancy hand grenade had left nothing to hide

And Jimmy’s mother was pregnant at the graveside —
Clear the way, and nothing to hide.
Love came to her punctually each springtime,
Settling in the ditch with some laboring man:
“It comes over you, you just have to lie down.”

Her only revenge on her hasty lovers
Was to call each child after its father,
Which the locals admired, and seeing her saunter
To collect the pension of her soldier husband
Trailed by her army of baby Irregulars.

Some of whom made soldiers for foreign wars
Some went to factories in England.
Jimmy Drummond was the eldest and used bad language
At school, as well he might
The motto of all that family being Clear the way!