Claude McKay, "A Recruit on the Corpy" (1912)
An' corpy larn me how fe bum ;
Last night me gie 'm de last-last tup,
Yet now him come an' bring me up.
He'll carry me 'fo' officer,
An' rake up' t'ings fe charge me for ;
An' all because dese couple days
Me couldn' gie 'm de usual raise.
Last night, when it come to roll-call,
Dis corpy couldn' 'ten' at all :
We didn' mek de S.M. see 'm,
But only put things 'traight fe him.
An' we, like big fools, be'n deh fret
Ober de corpy drunk to deaf :
We all treat him so very kin',
Aldough him ha' such dutty min'.
We tek him drunken off de car,
We tek him drunken out de bar,
We wake him drunken 'pon him guard,
An' yet we neber claim reward.
All bad contrary things me do,
Corpy see me an' let me go ;
But 'causen me no ha' a tup,
Fe not'in' 'tall him bring me up.
From Constab Ballads, 1912