28 Years Later: What poem is in the trailers for Danny Boyle's post-apocalyptic sequel - what are the words to 'Boots' by Rudyard Kipling?

The latest trailer for the Danny Boyle post-apocalyptic horror sequel has just been released, months after the first teaser went viral. Everything fans have seen up to this point has set the unsettling tone for the new film, which is set to be the first in a trilogy of follow-up stories to the 2002 original 28 Days Later and its sequel 28 Weeks Later.

One of the most talked-about part of the trailers and teases has been the eerie soundtrack featured the the background. The chilling poem recital has caught the attention of fans, who are waiting to catch the new film in cinemas on June 20.

What poem is in the 28 Years Later trailers?

The poem featured in the trailers is ‘Boots’ by Rudyard Kipling. The poem was first published in 1903 follows the repetitive thoughts of a British soldier who is marching through South Africa during the Second Boer War, detailing the unsettling repetitiveness of war and its horrors.

The specific recording used in the 28 Years Later trailers and teasers so far is the 1915 spoken word recital by actor Taylor Holmes.

Boots is known for its haunting tone, with the US military even reportedly using the recording to train its SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape) students to withstand torture if captured. One person commented on their experience on Reddit, saying: “When I did SERE in 1991, this reading was on loop with Boots and Electric Orgasm by Yoko Ono for pretty much 48 hours while being interrogated, put in “stress positions”, and locked in a tiny box.

“Even when being relatively left alone to “sleep” while sitting on a one legged stool, it played at high volume right outside our 4x4 cells.”

What are the word to Boots by Rudyard Kipling?

We're foot—slog—slog—slog—sloggin' over Africa

Foot—foot—foot—foot—sloggin' over Africa

(Boots—boots—boots—boots—movin' up and down again!)

There's no discharge in the war!

Seven—six—eleven—five—nine-an'-twenty mile to-day

Four—eleven—seventeen—thirty-two the day before --

(Boots—boots—boots—boots—movin' up and down again!)

There's no discharge in the war!

Don't—don't—don't—don't—look at what's in front of you.

(Boots—boots—boots—boots—movin' up an' down again);

Men—men—men—men—men go mad with watchin' em,

An' there's no discharge in the war!

Count—count—count—count—the bullets in the bandoliers.

If—your—eyes—drop—they will get atop o' you!

(Boots—boots—boots—boots—movin' up and down again) --

There's no discharge in the war!

We—can—stick—out—'unger, thirst, an' weariness,

But—not—not—not—not the chronic sight of 'em,

Boots—boots—boots—boots—movin' up an' down again,

An' there's no discharge in the war!

'Taint—so—bad—by—day because o' company,

But night—brings—long—strings—o' forty thousand million

Boots—boots—boots—boots—movin' up an' down again.

There's no discharge in the war!

I—'ave—marched—six—weeks in 'Ell an' certify

It—is—not—fire—devils, dark, or anything,

But boots—boots—boots—boots—movin' up an' down again,

An' there's no discharge in the war!

Try—try—try—try—to think o' something different

Oh—my—God—keep—me from goin' lunatic!

(Boots—boots—boots—boots—movin' up an' down again!)

There's no discharge in the war!