Forty years on
Title
Forty years on
Description
Three verse song (with chorus) recalling the war experiences.
Coverage
Language
Format
One page printed document
Publisher
Rights
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
SEllisEL183959v20021
Transcription
[underlined] FORTY YEARS ON. [/underlined]
Forty years on, when afar and asunder,
Parted are those who are singing to-day,
When you look back, and forgetfully wonder
What you were like in your work and your play,
Then, it may be, there will often come o'er you,
Glimpses of notes like the catch of a song –
Visions of boyhood shall float them before you,
Echoes of dreamland shall bear them along.
Chorus:
Follow up! follow up! follow up! follow up! follow up!
Till the field ring again and again
With the tramp of the twenty-two men.
Solo. Follow up!
Chorus. Follow up!
O, the great days, in the distance enchanted,
Days of fresh air, in the rain and the sun,
How we rejoiced as we struggled and panted –
Hardly believable, forty years on!
How we discoursed of them, one with another,
Auguring triumph, or balancing fate,
Loved the ally with the heart of a brother,
Hated the foe with a playing at hate!
Chorus. Follow up! &c.
Forty years on, growing older and older,
Shorter in wind, as in memory long,
Feeble of foot, and rheumatic of shoulder,
What will it help you that once you were strong?
God give us bases to guard or beleaguer,
Games to play out, whether earnest or fun;
Fights for the fearless and goals for the eager,
Twenty and thirty, and forty years on!
Chorus. Follow up! &c.
Forty years on, when afar and asunder,
Parted are those who are singing to-day,
When you look back, and forgetfully wonder
What you were like in your work and your play,
Then, it may be, there will often come o'er you,
Glimpses of notes like the catch of a song –
Visions of boyhood shall float them before you,
Echoes of dreamland shall bear them along.
Chorus:
Follow up! follow up! follow up! follow up! follow up!
Till the field ring again and again
With the tramp of the twenty-two men.
Solo. Follow up!
Chorus. Follow up!
O, the great days, in the distance enchanted,
Days of fresh air, in the rain and the sun,
How we rejoiced as we struggled and panted –
Hardly believable, forty years on!
How we discoursed of them, one with another,
Auguring triumph, or balancing fate,
Loved the ally with the heart of a brother,
Hated the foe with a playing at hate!
Chorus. Follow up! &c.
Forty years on, growing older and older,
Shorter in wind, as in memory long,
Feeble of foot, and rheumatic of shoulder,
What will it help you that once you were strong?
God give us bases to guard or beleaguer,
Games to play out, whether earnest or fun;
Fights for the fearless and goals for the eager,
Twenty and thirty, and forty years on!
Chorus. Follow up! &c.
Collection
Citation
Edward Ernest Bowen and John Farmer, “Forty years on,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed March 10, 2026, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/collections/document/42768.