Don’t be fooled by the silver in my hair young fellow

Don’t be fooled by the wrinkles around my eyes

It’s obvious I’m older but if you mess with this old soldier

I’ll tell you boy, you’re in for a surprise

Oh, I know I use a walking cane

And my strength and stamina’s not the same

As it was when I was just a boy like you

But I’ve kept myself in damn good shape

Considering my health and age

So I warn you son, be careful what you do,

Oh I see you want my money

Well you know I find that funny

Because you say it like I’m certain to agree

Perhaps because I have a cane

But son please let me explain

You have never met the likes of me

I was with Monty out in Burma

Fought the Japanese and Germans

Learnt to kill in silence and with stealth

Roamed the jungle on my own

Destroyed an ammo dump alone

And killed half a dozen enemy by myself

So do you think that little knife

Will make me fear for my old life?

Why don’t you put the thing away while you still can?

Oh I see you’re not alone

Well I suppose I should have known

It takes a gang of you to rob one poor old man

Well that’s the way that it began

Four young thugs against one old man

With a result that hardly anyone would guess

They’d made no secret of the fact

That I was going to be attacked

If they didn’t get what money I possessed,

But I refused, and so they started

One or two a bit half hearted

And that gave me time to brace against the wall

I pressed in tight to keep me steady

Raised my cane and held it ready

Determined now these boys were going to fall

Now the one that held the knife

Well he deserved to lose his life

For using it to do an old man harm

But he was young and knew no better

Behind his ears could not be wetter

So instead I only broke the young mans arm

Then as he dropped the knife and hollered

I hit him hard behind the collar

And he crumpled to the pavement in a heap

Then the second joined the fray

And I’m really pleased to say

That I also left him sprawled out at my feet,

You see I struck him in the throat

And he went down, that’s all she wrote

Out before he knew that he’d been hit

The third and fourth both came together

But they wished to God they never

When a head came into contact with my stick,

I swung that stick up from the right

Then brought it down with all my might

And it resounded like a close range pistol shot

One somersaulted in his tracks

And landed flat upon his back

While the other stood there rooted to the spot,

Not sure if he should turn and run

After seeing what I’d done

Or do the manly thing and stand and fight

But the fear upon his face

Told me that I was safe

And if I said so much as Boo that he’d take flight,

I said, “I tried to tell your friends

Before they came at me back then

I was a commando in the war, one of the best

Of course they’re not called commandos anymore

The name was changed after the war

These days the unit’s called the S.A.S.

By S.E.Ralph

19-3-2012

Copyright © Steve Ralph 2011