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0 (I6i>'5-I3iej
3
fearoarfi College Xibrarj
BOUGHT WITH MONEY
RECEIVED FROM THE
SALE OF DUPLICATES
RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
INCLUSIVE EDITION
1885-1918
.^f.'-
Books by Rtjdyasd Kipung
ACTICmS AMD RlACnOMS
BivonrooD Boy, Tn
CAPEAOn COOIAOBOUB
CoLucnD Vnsx
Day's Wobx« Tn
DsFAmonrrAL Dimn
AMD Ballads AND Bab-
DivnBrT or CiBATUiB,
FiVB NATIOlft, Tte
FxanceatWax
FioM Sea to Ska
HisToiY OF England, A
, UNCLE Book. The
, UNOLE Book, Second
, usT So SoNO Book
usT So Stoeies
KiPUNo Stoeies and
Poems Eveky Child
Shouid Know
Kipung Bikthday Book,
The
Lite's Handicap: Bbino
Stoeies of Mine Own
People
Light T^t Failed, Tn
Many iNvnmoMS
Naulahka. The (With
Woloott Bskstier)
Plain Talis Fbom the
Hills
Puce of Pook's Hill
RKWABDS AND FaHIES
SeaWahaib
SBVEMSEAS,Tn
SoLDms TteBB, Tbr
Stoby of the Gadsbys,
AND In Black and
White
Song of the Engush, A
Songs Fbom Books
Stalky & Co.
They
Tbafficsand Disooveb-
lES
UNDEB the DEODABS.Tte
Phantom 'Rickshaw,
AND Wee Wilue Win-
With the Night Mail
Yeabs Between, The
!fi
RUDYARD KIPLING'S
VERSE
INCLUSIVE EDITION
!li
1885-1918
GARDEN CITY NEW YORK
DOUBLE DAY, PAGE & COMPANY
1919
:i.a4.i5 .^'.i
^ t
-j>.
o.io^ieeC'MiVi
HARVAID COUI«€ UBWW
MU6IIT FMCm
OUPUCAU ttONEIf
APR 6 ib-iU
COFTRXGRT
1891, 1892, 1893, 1894, 1895, 1896, 1897, l899»
1900, I9OI, 1903, 1904, 1905, 1906, 1907,
1909, i9io» 191 1, 1912, 1913, 1914*
I9I5» »9»6, 19171 1918* i9»9»
BY KUDYARD KIPLING
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
THE VERSES FROM THE FIRST AND SECOND JUNGLE BQ0R8
ARE INCLUDED BY COURTESY OF
THE CENTURY COBiPANY
' /
'z
CONTENTS
Boy Scouts* Patrol Song, A 314
Bridge-Guard in the Karroo 234
British-Roman Song, A 614
Broken Men, The xio
Brookland Road 559
"Brown Bess" 760
Buddha at Kamakura I05
Burial, The 239
Butterflies 697
"By the Hoof of the Wild Goat" 690
Captive, The 598
Carol, A 579
Chant-Pagan 594
Cells . 460
Certain Maxims of Hafiz 68
Chapter Headings
Beast and Man in India 634
Fringes of the Fleet 639
Just-So Stories 669
Kim 637
Life's Handicap 636
Many Inventions 637
Plain Tales from the Hills 573
The Jungle Books 705
The Light That Failed 606
The Naulahka 603
Charm, A 569
Chil's Song 597
Children, The 587
Children's Song, The 642
Choice, The 212
Cholera Camp 500
Christmas in India 61
" Cities and Thrones and Powers'' 554
City of Sleep, The 677
•'Cleared" 259
Coastwise Lights, The X95
Code of Morals, A 13
old Iron 577
Columns 530
Comforters, The 681
Conundrum of the Workshops, The 386
Covenant, The 367
Craftsman, The 400
Cruisers . . , , 161
vi
CX)NTENTS
CdbooSoi^ 568
l>«|Ai 747
DuBfDenrcr 451
Dme'tOuont 737
Dnni Wind, The 75a
DMdICiag,Thc 256
Deatb-Bed^A 3*9^
Dedartdon of London, The 354
Dnficadon from "Barrack Room Ballads" 95
Dnfiadoo — To Soldiers Three 700
Dttp-Set Cables, The 199
Ddaak 7
Deidict, The 170
DwwjrefSjThe 164
Diife of Dead Sisters 249
Drnded Destinies 38
Dwre of Dacca, The 291
Dwdiin the Mcdr.-.-;-, T^c 759
l>Tko,The 352
TatknifThe 513
Eddi's Service 581
EdgehiU Fight 758
EB-Shc!l,The 710
Ei-Dor 417
Ea|lanJ*s Answer 203
^Sli»h Flag. The 252
Epitaphs of the War ... 440
Et Dona Fercntes ... 331
Enrra ind His Gods 388
E»ib Line, The ... 187
EipUnation, The 423
^tf^^Ti:^ "9
'*Wats,The 611
E*iries' Siege, The 587
Eiflofjock Gillespie, The 73
f«maJe of the Species, The 41?
F«t of the Young Men, The 311
EiKThe 401
^«wt,The 93
^«t Chantey, The 183
fViodi,The 567
^WrijThe 216
"EoBow Me •Ome" 507
[ForAUWeHaveandAre" 378
"For to Admire" ' 520
• •
Ml
CONTENTS
Ford o' Kabul River 481
Four Angelsy The 738
France J35
Frankie's Trade 729
French Wars, The 764
"Fuzzy-Wuzzy" 455
GaUey-Slave, The. 84
GaUio's Song 608
Gehazi 377
General Joubert 277
General Summary, A 4
Gentlemen-Rankers 483
Gethsemane IZ2
Giflfen's Debt 90
Gift of the Sea, The 426
Gipsy Trail, The 207
Glory of the Garden, The 769
Gow's Watch 684
Grave of the Hundred Head, The 63
Great-Heart 771
Greek National Anthem, The 107
-fGunga Din 462
Hadramanti 601
Half-Ballad of Waterval 544
Harp Song of the Dane Women 593
"Helen All Alone" 678
Heriot's Ford 727
N Heritage, The 632
Holy War, The 33J
Houses, The 204
Hunting-Song of the Seeonee Pack 734
Hyaenas, The 365
Hymn Before Action 373
If- ... 64s
Imperial Rescript, An 327
In Springtime 89
Instructor, The 537
In the Matter of One Compass 193
In the Neolithic Age 393
Irish Guards, The 224
Islanders, The 347
Jacket, The 511
James I 757
Jester, The 650
Jobson's Amen .... 571
vin
. M
V M
14
CONTENTS
Merchantmen, The ...••• 173
Merrow Down 66a
Mesopotamia J46
ine Sweepers 6913
Miracles, The lOi
Moon of Other Days, The j%
Morning Song of the Jungle 694
Mother-Lodge, The 505
Mother o' Mine 701
Mowgli's Song Against People 703
Mulholland's Contract 145
Municipal 03
My Boy Jack 347
My Father's Chair 753
My Lady's Law 6g$
"My New-Cut Ashlar" 580
•VMy Rival 35
Native Born, The 318
Nativity, A 848
Natural Theology 395
Necessitarian, The 648
New Knighthood, The 590
Norman and Saxon 749
North Sea Patrol, The 731
Nursing Sister, The 699
Old Issue, The 34I
Old Men, The 368
Old Mother Laidinwool 664
Old Song, An 66
Oldest Song, The 181
One Viceroy Resigns 78
Only Son, The 702
Oonts 464
"Our Fathers Also" 61a
"Our Fathers of Old", 631
Our Lady of the Snows 208
Outlaws, The 370
Outsong in the Jungle 591
Overland Mail, The 37
Pagett, M. P 29
Palace, The 438
Pan in Vermont 407
Parade Song of the Camp-Animals 643
Parting of the Columns, The 533
Pharaoh and the Sergeant 226
X
CONTENTS
PAGI
Ruma to the Pacifists 319
Sack of the Gods, The 560
Sacrifice of Er-Heb, The joa
St. Helena Lullaby, A 596
SMpew 494
School Song, A 623
-Guns 458
and the HiUs, The 125
Sea.Wife,The 108
Second Voyage, The 179
Secret of the Machines, The 766
Sefgeant's Weddin', The 509
Senrice Man, The 522
Sestina of the Tramp-Royal loo
Settler, The 242
Seven Watchmen 448
ShiUin'aDay 486
ShiY and the Grasshopper 585
Shut-Eye Sentry, The 516
Sir Richard's Song 564
Smuggler's Song, A 720
Snarleyow" 469
dier, Soldier 457
-Soldier an' Sailor Too" 492
Song at Cock-Crow, A 374
Song in Storm, A 169
Song of Diego Valdez, The 175
Song of Kabir, A 578
Song of the Banjo, The 113
Song of the Cities, The 200
Song of the Dead, The 196
Song of the English, A 194
Song of the Fifth River 640
Song of the Lathes, The 357
Song of the Little Hunter, The 683
Song of the Men's Side 735
Song of the Red War-Boat 691
Song of the Sons, The 200
Song of the White Men, A . . . . : 324
Song of the Wise Children 103
Song of the Women, The 52
Song of Seven Cities, The 660
Song of Travel, A 651
Song to Mithras, A 589
Sons of Martha^ The 436
xu
CONTENTS
Way Through the Woods, The 557
Wet Litany, The 734
What Happened • 17
What the People said 75
When Earth's Last Picture Is Painted 258
"When the Great Ark" 6ao
White Horses 166
White Man's Burden, The 371
Widow at Windsor, The 470
Widow's Party, The 479
Widower, The 680
« Wilful-Missing" 548
Wnners^ The 595
V^hing Caps, The 689
With Drake in the Treves 755
With Scindia to Delhi 286
Young British Soldier, The 474
Young Queen, The 214
Zion 104
RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
INCLUSIVE EDITION
1885-1918
r:
PRELUDE
(To Departmeniai DittUs)
I have eaien your bread and salt.
I have drunk your water and wine.
The deaths ye died I have watched beside^
And the lives ye led were mine.
Was there aught that I did not share
In vigil or toil or eascy —
One joy or woe that I did not know.
Dear hearts across the seas ?
I have written the tale of our life
For a sheltered people's mirth.
In jesting guise — but ye are wise,
And ye know what the jest is worth.
RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
A GENERAL SUMMARY
'\\7'E are very slightly changed
From the semi-apes who ranged
India's prehistoric day;
He that drew the longest bow
Ran his brother down, you know.
As we run men down to-day.
"Dowb," the first of all his race.
Met the Mammoth face to face
On the lake or in the cave:
Stole the steadiest canoe,
Ate the quarry others slew,
Died — and took the finest grave.
When they scratched the reindeer-bone,
Some one made the sketch his own.
Filched it from the artist — then.
Even in those early days.
Won a simple Viceroy's praise
Through the toil of other men.
Ere they hewed the Sphinx's visage
' Favouritism governed kissage.
Even as it does in this age.
Who shall doubt " the secret hid
Under Cheops* pyramid"
Was that the contractor did
Cheops out of several millions?
Or that Joseph's sudden rise
To Comptroller of Supplies
Was a fraud of monstrous size .
On King Pharaoh's swart Civilians?
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918
ThuSy the artless songs I sing
Do not deal with anything
New or never said before.
As it was in the beginning
Is to-day official sinning,
And shall be for evermore!
ARMY HEADQUARTERS
Old it the tong that I sing —
Old as my unpaid bills-—
Old as the chicken that kstmutgars^ bring
Men at dfik-bungalows — old as the Hills.
A HASUERUS JENKINS of the "Operatic Own,"
Was dowered with a tenor voice of superSantieY tone.
His views on equitation were, perhaps, a trifle queer.
He had no seat worth mentioning, but oh! he had an ear.
He clubbed his wretched company a dozen times a day;
He used to quit his charger in a parabolic way;
His method of saluting was the joy of all beholders,
But Ahasuerus Jenkins had a head upon his shoulders.
He took two months at Simla when the year was at the
spring.
And underneath the deodars eternally did sing.
He warbled like a bul-hul^ but particularly at
Cornelia Agrippina, who was musical and fat.
She controlled a humble husband, who, in turn, controlled n
Dept.
Where Cornelia Agrippina's human singing-birds were kept
From April to October on a plump retaining-fee,
Sappliedy of course, per mensem y by the Indian Treasury.
1 Waiters. ' Nightingale.
J .
6 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Cornelia used to sing mth him, and Jenkins used to play;
He praised unblushingly her notes, for he was false as they;
So when the winds of April turned the budding roses brown,
Cornelia told her husband: — ^"Tom, you mustn't send him
down."
They haled him from his regiment, which didn't much regret
him;
They found for him an office-stool, and on that stool they set
him
To play with maps and catalogues three idle hours a day.
And draw his plump retaining-fee — ^which means his double
pay.
Now, ever after dinner, when the coiFee-cups are brought,
Ahasuerus waileth o'er the grand pianoforte;
And, thanks to fair Cornelia, his fame hath waxen great.
And Ahasuerus Jenkins is a Power in the State!
STUDY OF AN ELEVATION, IN INDIAN INK
This ditty is a string of lies.
But — how the deuce did Gubbins rise?
pOTIPHAR GUBBINS, C. E.,
Stands at the top of the tree;
And I muse in my bed on the reasons that led
To the hoisting of Potiphar G.
Potiphar Gubbins, C.E.,
Is seven years junior to Me;
Each bridge that he makes either buckles or breaks.
And his work is as rough as he.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918
Potiphar GubbinSy C.E.,
Is coarse as a chimpanzee;
And I can't understand why you gave him your hand^
Lovely Mehitabel Lee.
Potiphar Gubbins, C.E.,
Is dear to the Powers that Be;
For They bow and They smile in an affable style.
Which is seldom accorded to Me.
Potiphar Gubbins, C.E.,
Is certain as certain can be
Of a highly paid post which is claimed by a host
Of seniors — including Me.
Careless and lazy is he,
Greatly inferior to Me.
\Miat is the spell that you manage so well,
Commonplace Potiphar G. ?
Lovely Mehitabel Lee,
Let me inquire of thee,
Should I have riz to what Potiphar is,
Hadst thou been mated to Me?
DELILAH
We have another Viceroy now, those days are dead and done
Of Delilah Aberyswith and depraved Ulysses Gunne.
J)ELILAH ABERYSWITH was a lady— not too young—
With a perfect taste in dresses and a badly-bitted
tongue,
With a thirst for information, and a greater thirst for praise.
And a little house in Simla in the Prehistoric Days.
8 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
By reason of her marriage to a gentleman in power,
Delilah was acquainted with the gossip of the hour;
And many little secrets^ of the half-official kind,
Were whispered to Delilah, and she bore them all in mind.
She patronised extensively a man, Ulysses Gunne,
Whose mode of earning money was a low and shameful one.
He wrote for certain papers which, as everybody knows.
Is worse than serving in a shop or scaring off the crows.
He praised her "queenly beauty** first; and. later on, he
hinted
At the " vastness of her intellect" iwth compliment unstinted.
He went with her a^riding, and his love for her was sucIl
That he lent her all his horses and — she galled them very
much.
One day, They brewed a secret of a fine financial sort;
It related to Appointments, to a Man and a Report.
Twas almost worth the keeping, — only seven people knew
It —
And Gunne rose up to seek the truth and patiently ensue it.
It was a Viceroy's Secret, but — perhaps the wine was red —
Perhaps an Aged Councillor had lost his aged head —
Perhaps Delilah's eyes were bright — Delilah's whispers
sweet —
The Aged Member told her what 'twere treason to repeat.
Ulysses went a-riding, and they talked of love and flowers;
Ulysses went a-calling, and he called for several hours;
Ulysses went a-waltzing, and Delilah helped him dance —
Ulysses let the waltzes go, and waited for his chance.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 9
Tke summer sun was setting, and the summer air was still.
The couple went a- walking in the shade of Summer Hill.
The wasteful sunset faded out in turkis-green and gold,
Ulynes pleaded softly, and . . . that bad Delilah told 1
Next mom, a startled Empire learnt the all-important news;
Next week, the Aged G>uncillor was shaking in his shoes.
Next month, I met Delilah and she did not show the least
Hesititioa in affirming that Ulysses was a " beast."
We have another Viceroy now, those days are dead and
done —
^i Delilah Aberyswith and most mean Ulysses Gunne!
A LEGEND OF THE FOREIGN OFFICE
This is the reason why Rustum Beg,
Rajah of Kolazai,
Drinketh the " simpkin " ^ and brandy peg,
Maketh the money to fly,
Vaeth a Government, tender and kind,
Also — but this is a detail — blind.
RVJSTUM BEG of Kolazai— slightly backward Native
. State —
^^^ed for a C. S. I.* — so began to sanitate.
r?jilt a Gaol and Hospital — nearly built a City drain —
^ his faithful subjects all thought their ruler was insane.
^^*"^jige departures made he then — yea, Departments
stranger still:
5J^f a dozen Englishmen helped the Rajah with a will,
^^Ikcd of noble aims and high, hinted of a future fine
^^^ the State of Kolazai, on a strictly Western line.
'Champagne. 'The order of the Star of India*
lo RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Rajah Rustum held his peace; lowered octroi dues a half;
Organised a State Police; purified the Civil Staff;
Settled cess and tax afresh in a very liberal way;
Cut temptations of the flesh — also cut the Bukhshi's^ pay;
Roused his Secretariat to a fine Mahratta fury.
By an Order hinting at supervision of dasiuri;^
Turned the State of Kolazai very nearly upside-down;
When the end of May was nigh waited nis achievement's
crown.
Then the Birthday Honours came. Sad to state and sad
to see,
Stood against the Rajah's name nothing more than
Things were lively for a week in the State of Kolazai,
Even now the people speak of that time regretfully.
How he disendowed the Gaol — stopped at once the City
drain;
Turned to beauty fair and frail — got his senses back again;
Doubled taxes, cesses, all; cleared away each new-built
thana;^
Turned the two-lakh Hospital into a superb Zenana;
Heaped upon the Bukhshi Sahib wealth and honours mani-
fold;
Clad himself in Eastern garb — squeezed his people as of old.
Happy, happy Kolazai! Never more will Rustum Beg
Play to catch his Viceroy's eye. He prefers the "simpkin"
peg-
*The Commander in chief. * Bribes. *A Companionship of the cMer
of the Indian Empire. * Police station.
INCLUSIVE EDITION. 1885-1918 n
THE STORY OF URIAH
cbcR were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor."
JACK BARRETT went to Quctta
Because they told him to.
He left his wife at Simla
On three-fourths his monthly screw.
Jack Barrett died at Quetta
Ere the next month's pay he drew.
Jack Barrett went to Quetta.
He didn't understand
The reason of his transfer
From the pleasant mountain-land.
The season was September,
And it killed him out of hand.
Jack Barrett went to Quetta
And there gave up the ghost.
Attempting two men's duty
In that very healthy post;
And Mrs. Barrett mourned for him
Five lively months at most.
Jack Barrett*s bones at Quetta
Enjoy profound repose;
But 1 shouldn't be astonished
If now his spirit knows
The reason of his transfer
From the Himalayan snows.
And, when the Last Great Bugle Call
Adown the Hurnai throbs.
And the last grim joke is entered
In the big black Book of Jobs,
12 RUDYARD KIPLING^S VERSE
And Quetta graveyards give again
Their victims to the air,
I shouldn't like to be the man
Who sent Jack Barrett there.
THE POST THAT FITTED
Though tangled and twisted the course of true knre
This ditty explains,
Xo tangle's so tangled it cannot improve
If the Lover has brains.
p^RE the Steamer bore him Eastward, Sleary was engaged
to marry
An attractive girl at Tunbridge, whom he called "my little
Carrie."
Sleary *s pay was very modest; Sleary was the other way.
Who can cook a two-plate dinner on eight poor rupees a
day?
Long he pondered o'er the question in his scantly furnished
quarters —
Then proposed to Minnie BofFkin, eldest of Judge BofFkin's
daughters.
Certainly an impecunious Subaltern was not a catch.
But the Boffkins knew that Minnie mightn't make another
match.
So they recognised the business and^ to feed and clothe the
bride.
Got him made a Something Something somewhere on the
Bombay side.
Anyhow, the billet carried pay enough for him to many —
As the artless Sleary put it: — "Just the thing for me and
Carrie."
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 13
Did he, therefore, jilt Miss Boffkin — ^impulse of a baser mind ?
No! He started epileptic fits of an appalling kind.
[Of his modus operandi only this much I could gather: —
"Pears's shaving sticks will give you little taste and lots of
lather."]
Frequently in public places his affliction used to smite
Sleary with distressing vigour — always in the BofFkins' sight.
Ere a week was over Minnie weepingly returned his ring.
Told him his "unhappy weakness" stopped all thought of
marrying.
Sleary bore the information with a chastened holy joy, —
Epileptic fits don't matter in Political employ, —
Wired three short words to Carrie — took his ticket, packed
his kit —
Bade farewell to Minnie BofFkin in one last, long, lingering fit.
Four weeks later, Carrie Sleary read — and laughed until she
wept —
Mrs. BofFkin's warning letter on the "wretched epilept." . . .
Year by year, in pious patience, vengeful Mrs. BofFkin sits
Waiting for the Sleary babies to develop Sleary 's fits.
A CODE OF MORALS
Lest you should think this story true
I merely mention I
Evolved it lately. Tis a most
Unmitigated misstatement.
^'OW Jones had left his new-wed bride to keep his house
in order,
And hied away to the Humim Hills above the Afghan border,
To sit on a rock with a heliograph; but ere he left he taught
His wife the working of the Code that sets the miles at
naught.
14 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
And Love had made him very sage, as Nature made her fair
So Cupid and Apollo linked, p^ heliograph, the pair.
At dawn, across the Hurrum Hills, he flashed her couns^
wise —
At e'en, the dying sunset bore her husband's homilies.
He warned her 'gainst seductive youths in scarlet clad an^
gold.
As much as 'gainst the blandishments paternal of the old;
But kept his gravest warnings for (hereby the ditty hangs)
That snowy-haired Lothario, Lieutenant-General Bangs.
'Twas General Bangs, with Aide and Staff, who dttupped oo
the way.
When they beheld a heliograph tempestuously at play.
They thought of Border risings, and of stations sacked and
burnt —
So stopped to take the message down — and this is what they
learnt —
"Dash dot dot dot, dot dash, dot dash dot" twice. The
General swore.
"Was ever General Officer addressed as 'dear' before?
"*My Love,' i* faith! 'My Duck/ Gadzooks! 'My darling
popsy-wop ! *
"Spirit of great Lord W^olseley, who is on that mountain-
top?"
The artless Aide-de-camp was mute; the gilded Staff were
still.
As, dumb with pent-up mirth, they booked that message
from the hill;
For clear as summer lightning-flare, the husband's warning
ran: —
"Don't dance or nde with General Bangs — a most immoral
man."
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 15
(At diwn, across the Humim Hills, he flashed her counsel
Bot, howsoever Love be blind, the world at large hath eyes.)
Hilth damnatory dot and dash he heliographed his wife
Sone interesting details of the General's private life.
The artless Aide-de-camp was mute, the shining Staff were
still,
And red and ever redder grew the General's shaven gill.
And this is what he said at last (his feelings matter not): —
**I think we've tapped a private line. Hi! Threes about
there! Trot!"
All honour unto Bangs, for ne'er did Jones thereafter know
By word or act official who read off that helio.
But the tale is on the Frontier, and from Michni to MooUan
They know the worthy General as "that most immoral
man."
PUBLIC WASTE
Walpole talks of "a man and his price."
List to a ditty queer —
The sale of a Deputy-Acting-Vicc-
Resident-Engineer,
Bought like a bullock, hoof and hide.
By the Little Tin Gods on the Mountain Side,
IIY THE Laws of the Family Circle 'tis written in letters
of brass
That only a Colonel from Chatham can manage the Rail-
ways of State,
of the gold on his breeks, and the subjects wherein
he must pass;
in all matters that deal not with Railways his know-
ledge is great.
i6 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Now Exeter Battleby Tring had laboured from boyhood to eld
On the Lines of the East and the West, and eke of the North
and South;
Many Lines had he built and surveyed — important the posts
which he held;
And the Lords of the Iron Horse were dumb when he opened
his mouth.
Black as the raven his garb, and his heresies jetder still —
Hinting that Railways required lifetimes of study and know-
ledgt —
Never clanked sword by his side — ^Vauban he knew not nor
drill—
Nor was his name on the list of the men who had pasted
through the "College."
Wherefore the Little Tin Gods harried their little tin souls.
Seeing he came not from Chatham, jingled no spurs at his
heels,
Knowing that, nevertheless, was he first on the Government
rolls
For the billet of "Railway Instructor to Little Tin Gods on
Wheels."
Letters not seldom they wrote him, "having the honour to
state,"
It would be better for all men if he were laid on the shelf.
Much would accrue to his bank-book, an he consented to wait
Until the Little Tin Gods built him a berth for himself,
"Special, well paid, and exempt from the Law of the Fifty
and Five,
Even to Ninety and Nine" — these were the terms of the
pact:
Thus did the Little Tin Gods (long may Their Highnesses
thrive!)
Silence his mouth with rupees, keeping their Circle intact;
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 17
Appointing a Colonel from Chatham who managed the
Bhamo State Line
(The which was one mile and one furlong — a guaranteed
twenty-inch gauge).
So Exeter Battleby Tpng consented his claims to resign,
And died, on four thousand a month, in the ninetieth year
of his age!
WHAT HAPPENED
fJURREE CHUNDER MOOKERJEE, pride of Bow
Bazaar,
Owner of a native press, "Barrishter-at-Lar,"
Wated on the Government with a claim to wear
Sabres by the bucketful, rifles by the pair.
Then the Indian Government winked a wicked wink,
Said to Chunder Mookerjee: "Stick to pen and ink.
They are safer implements, but, if you insist,
Wcwill let you carry arms wheresoe'er you list."
Hurrce Chunder Mookerjee sought the gunsmith and
bought the tubes of Lancaster, Ballard, Dean, and Bland,
5^ght a shiny bowie-knife, bought a town-made sword,
ed like a carriage-horse when he went abroad.
^«^ the Indian Government, always keen to please,
^gave permission to horrid men like these —
^ar Mahommed Yusufzai, down to kill or steal,
Ciinibu Singh from Bikaneer, Tantia the Bhil;
£IIar Khan the Marri chief, Jowar Singh the Sikh,
Afiibbce Baksh Punjabi Jat, Abdul Huq Rafiq —
He was a Wahabi; last, little Boh Hla-00
Took advantage of the Act — took a Snider too.
i8 RUDYARD KIPLING^S VERSE
They were unenlightened men, Ballard knew them not.
They procured their swords and guns chiefly on the spot;
And the lore of centuries, plus a hundred fights.
Made them slow to disregard one another's rights.
With a unanimity dear to patriot hearts
All those hairy gentlemen out of fordgn parts
Said: "The good old days are back — ^let us go to war!"
Swaggered down the Grand Trunk Road into Bow Bazaa.
Nubbee Baksh Punjabi Jat found a hide-bound flail;
Chimbu Singh from Bikaneer oiled his Tonk jezail;
Yar Mahommed Yusufzai spat and grinned with glee
As he ground the butcher-knife of the Khyberee.
Jowar Singh the Sikh procured sabre, quoit, and mace,
Abdul Huq, Wahabi, jerked his dagger from its place.
While amid the jungle-grass danced and grinned and jabbe:
Little Boh Hla-oo and cleared his dah-blade from the sa
bard.
What became of Mookerjee? Soothly, who can say?
Yar Mahommed only grins in a nasty way,
Jowar Singh is reticent, Chimbu Singh is mute.
But the belts of all of them simply bulge with loot.
What became of Ballard's guns? Afghans black and grul:
Sell them for their silver weight to the men of Pubbi;
And the shiny bowie-knife and the town-made sword arc
Hanging in a Marri camp just across the Border.
What became of Mookerjee? Ask Mahommed Yar
Prodding Siva's sacred bull down the Bow Bazaar.
Speak to placid Nubbee Baksh — question land and sea —
Ask the Indian Congressmen — only don't ask me!
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 19
THE MAN WHO COULD WRITE
Shun — shun the Bowl! That fatal, facile drink
Has mined many geese who dipped their quills in 't;
Bribe, murder, many, but steer clear of Ink
Save when you write receipts for paid-up bills in 't.
There may be silver in the "blue-black" — all
/ know of is the iron and the gall.
gOANERGES BUTZEN, servant of the Queen,
Is a dismal failure — is a Might-have-been.
In a luckless moment he discovered men
Rise to high position through a ready pen.
Boaneiges Blitzen argued therefore — " I,
With the selfsame weapon, can attain as high."
Only he did not possess when he made the trial.
Wicked wit of C-lv-n, irony of L — 1.
[Men who spar with Government need, to back their blows.
Something more than ordinary journalistic prose.]
Never young Civilian's prospects were so bright.
Till an Indian paper found that he could write:
Never young Civilian's prospects were so dark.
When the wretched Blitzen wrote to make his mark.
Certainly he scored it, bold, and black, and firm,
In that Indian paper — made his seniors squirm.
Quoted office scandals, wrote the tactless truth —
Was there ever known a more misguided youth?
When the Rag he wrote for praised his plucky game,
Boanerges Blitzen felt that this was Fame;
When the men he wrote of shook their heads and swore,
Boanerges Blitzen only wrote the more:
20 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Posed as Young Ithuriel, resolute and grim.
Till he found promotion didn't come to him;
Till he found that reprimands weekly were his lot,
And his many Districts curiously hot.
Till he found his furlough strangely hard to win,
Boanerges Blitzen didn't care a pin:
Then it seemed to dawn on him something wasn't right
Boanerges Blitzen put it down to "spite";
Languished in a District desolate and dry;
Watched the Local Government yearly pass him by;
Wondered where the hitch was; called it most unfair.
That was seven years ago — and he still is there!
t»
PINK DOMINOES
"They are fools who kiss and tell
Wisely has the poet sung.
Man may hold all sorts of posts
If he'll only hold his tongue.
JENNY and Me were engaged, you see,
On the eve of the Fancy Ball;
So a kiss or two was nothing to you
Or any one else at all.
Jenny would go in a domino —
Pretty and pink but warm;
While I attended, clad in a splendid
Austrian uniform.
Now we had arranged, through notes exchanged
Early that afternoon.
At Number Four to waltz no more.
But to sit in the dusk and spoon.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 21
I wish you to see that Jenny and Me
Had barely exchanged our troth;
So a kiss or two was strictly due
By, homy and between us both.
When Three was over, an eager lover,
I fled to the gloom outside;
And a Domino came out also
Whom I took for my future bride.
That is to say, in a casual way,
I slipped my arm around her;
With a kiss or two (which is nothing to you).
And ready to kiss I found her.
She turned her head and the name she said
Was certainly not my own;
But ere I could speak, with a smothered shriek
She fled and left me alone.
Then Jenny came, and I saw with shame
She'd doffed her domino;
And I had embraced an alien waist —
But I did not tell her so.
Next morn I knew that there were two
Dominoes pink, and one
Had cloaked the spouse of Sir Julian Vouse,
Our big Political gun.
Sir J. was old, and her hair was gold.
And her eye was a blue cerulean;
And the name she said when she turned her head
Was not in the least like "Julian."
22 RUDYARD KIPLING^S VERSE
Now wasn't it nice, when want of pice
Forbade us twain to marry,
That old Sir J., in the kindest way.
Made me his Secretorry ?
MUNICIPAL
"Why is my Dbtrict death-rate low?"
Said Binks of Hezabad.
Well, drains, and sewage-outfalls are
My own peculiar fad.
I learnt a lenon once. It ran
Thus," quoth that moat veracious man: —
««
««
«
««
IT WAS an August evening and, in snowy garments clad,
I paid a round of visits in the lines of Hezabad;
When, presently, my Waler saw, and did not like at all,
A Commissariat elephant careering down the Mall.
I couldn't see the driver, and across my mind it rushed
That that Conunissariat elephant had suddenly gone mustb^
I didn't care to meet him, and I couldn't well get down.
So I let the Waler have it, and we headed for the town.
The buggy was a new one and, praise Dykes, it stood the
strain,
Till the Waler jumped a bullock just above the City Drain;
And the next that I remember was a hurricane of squeals.
And the creature making toothpicks of my five-foot patent
wheels.
He seemed to want the owner, so I fled, distraught with fear.
To the Main Drain sewage-outfall while he snorted in my
ear —
Reached the four-foot drain-head safely and, in darkness
and despair,
Felt the brute's proboscis fingering my terror-stiffened hair.
>Mad.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 23
"^lud it trumpet on my shoulder — tried to crawl a little
higher—
^ound the Main Drain sewage outfall blocked, some eight
feet up, with mire;
^d, for twenty reeking minutes. Sir, my very marrow froze,
^ile the trunk was feeling blindly for a purchase on my
toes!
It missed me by a fraction, but my hair was turning grey
Before they called the drivers up and dragged the brute away.
Then I sought the City Elders, and my words were very
plain.
They flushed that four-foot drain-head and — it never choked
again!
You may hold with surface-drainage, and the sun-for-gar-
bage cure.
Till you've been a periwinkle shrinking coyly up a sewer.
/ believe in well-flushed culverts. . . .
This is why the death-rate's small;
And, if you don't believe me, get shikarred^ yourself. That's
all.
THE LAST DEPARTMENT
Twelve hundred million men are spread
About this Earth, and I and You
Wonder, when You and I are dead,
"What will those luckless millions do?"
^"ONE whole or clean," we cry, "or free from stain
Of favour." Wait awhile, till we attain
The Last Department where nor fraud nor fools,
Nor grade nor greed, shall trouble us again.
* Hunted.
24 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Fear, Favour, or Affecdon — ^what are these
To the grim Head who claims our services?
I never knew a wife or interest yet
Delay that pukka step, miscalled '* decease'';
When leave, lonff overdue, none can deny;
When idleness of all Eternity
Becomes our furlough, and the marigold
Our thriftless, bullion-minting Treasury
Transferred to the Eternal Settlement,
Each in his stndt, wood-scantled office pent.
No longer Brown reverses Smith's appeals.
Or Jones records his Minute of Dissent.
And One, long since a pillar of the Gnirt,
As mud between the beams thereof is wrought;
And One who wrote on phosphates for the crops
Is subject-matter of his own Report.
These be the glorious ends whereto we pass —
Let Him who Is, go call on Him who Was;
And He shall see the mallie^ steals the slab
For currie-grinder, and for goats the grass.
A breath of wind, a Border bullet's flight,
A draught of water, or a horse's fright —
The droning of the fat Sheristadar^
Ceases, the punkah stops, and falls the night
For you or Me. Do those who live decline
The step that offers, or their work resign ?
Trust me, To-day's Most Indispensables,
Five hundred men can take your place or mine.
*The cemetery gardener. 'Clerk of the court.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 25
MY RIVAL
I
GO to concert, party, ball —
What profit is in these?
I rit alone against the wall
And strive to look at ease.
The incense that is mine by right
They bum before Her shrine;
And that's because Fm seventeen
And she is forty-nine.
I cannot check my girlish blush.
My colour comes and goes.
I redden to my finger-tips,
And sometimes to my nose.
But She is white where white should be.
And red where red should shine.
The blush that flies at seventeen
Is fixed at forty-nine.
I wish / had her constant cheek:
I wish that I could sing
All sorts of funny little songs,
Not quite the proper thing.
Fm very gauche and very shy.
Her jokes aren't in my line;
And, worst of all, Fm seventeen
While She is forty.-nine.
The young men come, the young men go.
Each pink and white and neat.
She's older than their mothers, but
They grovel at Her feet.
26 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
They walk beside Her
None ever walk by mine;
And that's because I'm seventeen
And She is forty-nine.
She rides with half a dozen men
(She calls them *'boys" and ''mashes'')*
I trot along the Mall alone;
My prettiest frocks and sashes
Don't help to fill my programme-card.
And vainly I repine
From ten to two a.m. Ah me!
Would I were forty-nine.
She calls me "darKng," "pet," and "dear;
And "sweet retiring maid."
I'm always at the back, I know —
She puts me in the shade.
She introduces me to men —
"Cast" lovers, I opine;
For sixty takes to seventeen.
Nineteen to forty-nine.
But even She must older grow
And end Her dancing days.
She can't go on for ever so
At concerts, balls, and plays.
One ray of priceless hope I see
Before my footsteps shine;
Just think, that She'll be eighty-one
When I am forty-nine!
TO THE UNKNOWN GODDESS
\X7'ILL you conquer my heart with your beauty, my soul
going out from afar?
Shall I fall to your hand as a victim of crafty and cautious
shikar ?
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 27
Have I met you and passed you already, unknowing, unthink-
ing, and blind?
Shall I meet you next season at Simla, O sweetest and best
of your kind?
Does the P. and O. bear yoii to meward, or, clad in short
frocks in the West,
Are you growing the charms that shall capture and torture
the heart in my breast?
Will you stay in the Plains till September — my passion as
warm as the day?
Will you bring me to book on the Mountains, or where the
thermantidotes play?
When the light of your eyes shall make pallid the mean lesser
lights I pursue.
And the charm of your presence shall lure me from love of
the gay "thirteen-two"^;
When the "peg"* and the pigskin shall please not; when I
buy me Calcutta-built clothes;
When I quit the Delight of Wild Asses, forswearing the
swearing of oaths;
As a deer to the hand of the hunter when I turn *mid the
gibes of my friends;
When the days of my freedom are numbered, and the life of
the bachelor ends.
Ah, Goddess! child, spinster, or widow — as of old on MarsL
Hill wheii they raised
To the God that they knew not an altar — so I, a young
Pagan, have praised
The Goddess I know not nor worship; yet, if half that men
tell me be true.
You will come in the future, and therefore these verses are
written to you.
* Polo-pony. "Whisky and soda.
28 RUDYARD KIPLING'S
THE RUPAITAT OF OMAR KAL'VIN
lAuovniig for tiie cnncfeooe cwncc prate ana iBf luui CMMptraooPa
ought to rcpfodoce the tente of wbat Sir A tQld dw bbcmm aoaie i
j^^ wfaeii die CfOfciimic&c icnick noni our mconcs two per cniti]
TaOW the New Year, reviving last Year's Debt»
The Thouglitfbl Fisher caketh wide his Net;
So I with begpng Ksh and ready Tongue
Assail all BAen fer idl that I can get.
Imports indeed are gone with all thor
Lo! Salt a Lever that I dare not use.
Nor may I ask the Ullers in Bengal —
Surely my IQth and Kin will not refuse
Pay — and I promise by the Dust of Spring,
Retrenchment. If my promises can bring
Comfort, Ye have Them now a thousand-fold —
By Allah! I will promise Anything ! '
Indeed, indeed, Retrenchment oft before
I swore — but did I mean it when I swore?
And then, and then. We wandered to the Hills,
And so the Little Less became Much More.
Whether at Boileaugunge or Babylon,
I know not how the wretched Thing is done.
The Items of Receipt grow surely small;
The Items of Expense mount one by one.
I cannot help it. What have I to do
With One and Five, or Four, or Three, or Two?
Let Scribes spit Blood and Sulphur as they please.
Or Statesmen call me foolish — Heed not you.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 29
Beboldy I promise — ^Anything You will.
BchoW, I greet you with an empty Till —
Ahl Fellow-Sinners, of your Charity
Seek not the Reason of the Dearth but fill.
^or if I sinned and fell, where lies the Gain
^ Knowledge? Would it ease you of your Pain
To know the tangled Threads of Revenue,
' ravel deeper in a hopeless Skein?
*^Vho hath not Prudence" — ^what was it I said,
^^ Her who paints Her Eyes and tires Her Head,
And jibes and mocks the People in the Street,
'^^^d fawns upon them for Her thriftless Bread?
^^cursed is She of Eve's daughters — She
*^«th cast off Prudence, and Her End shall be
Destruction. . . . Brethren, of your Bounty grant
»me portion of your daily Bread to Me/
PAGETT, M.P.
The toad beneath the harrow knows
Exactly where each tooth-point goes;
The butterfly upon the road
Preaches contentment to that toad.
I^AGETT, M.P., was a liar, and a fluent liar therewith, —
He spoke of the heat of India as "The Asian Solar
Myth";
^amc on a four months* visit, to "study the East" in No-
vember,
*^iul I got him to make an agreement vowing to stay till
September.
30 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
March came in with the koiL Pagett was cool and gay.
Called me a "bloated Brahmin," talked of my "princ
pay."
March went out with the roses. "Where is your hea
said he.
"Coming/' said I to Pagett. " Skittles!" said Pagett, M
April began with the punkah, coolies, and prickly-heat,-
Pagett was dear to mosquitoes, sandflies found him a tre^
He grew speckled and lumpy — hammered, I grieve to sa)
Aryan brothers who fanned him, in an illiberal way.
May set in with a dust-storm, — ^Pagett went down with
sun.
All the delights of the season tickled him one by one.
Imprimis — ten days' "liver" — due to his drinking beer;
Later, a dose of fever — slight, but he called it severe.
Dysent'ry touched him in June, after the Chota Bursat^—
Lowered his portly person — made him yearn to depart.
He didn't call me a " Brahmin," or " bloated," or "overpai
But seemed to think it a wonder that any one ever stayc
July was a trifle unhealthy, — Pagett was ill with fear.
Called it the " Cholera Morbus," hinted that life was deai
He babbled of "Eastern exile," and mentioned his home ¥
tears;
But I hadn't seen my children for close upon seven years.
We reached a hundred and twenty once in the Court at nc
[I've mentioned Pagett was portly] Pagett went oflf ii
swoon.
That was an end to the business. Pagett, the perjured, l
Wth a practical, working knowledge of "Solar Myths'
his head.
' The early rains.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 31
\nd I kughed as I drove from the station, but the mirth died
out on my lips
As I thought of the fools like Pagett who write of their
"Eiutem trips,"
And the sneers of the travelled idiots who duly misgovern
the land,
And I prayed to the Lord to deliver another one into my hand*.
LA NUIT BLANCHE
A much-disceming Public hold
The Singer generally singi
Of peraonal and private things.
And prints and sells his past for gold.
Whatever I may here disclaim.
The very clever folk I sing to
Will most indubitably cling to
Their pet delusion, just the same.
I HAD seen, as dawn was breaking
And I staggered to my rest,
Tara Devi softly shaking
From the Cart Road to the crest.
I had seen the spurs of Jakko
Heave and quiver, swell and sink.
Was it Earthquake or tobacco,
Day of Doom or Night of Drink?
In the full, fresh, fragrant morning
I observed a camel crawl.
Laws of gravitation scorning.
On the ceiling and the wall.
Then I watched a fender walking,
And I heard grey leeches sing.
And a red-hot monkey talking
Did not seem the proper thing.
32 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Then a Creature, skinned and crimson,
Ran about the floor and cried,
And they said I had the "jims" on.
And they dosed me with bromide.
And they locked me in my bedroom —
Me and one wee Blood Red Mouse —
Though I said: — "To give my head room
"You had best unroof the house."
But my words were all unheeded.
Though I told the grave M.D.
That the treatment really needed
Was a dip in open sea
That was lapping just below me.
Smooth as silver, white as snow —
And it took three men to throw me
When I found I could not go.
Half the night I watched the Heavens
Fizz like '8i champagne —
Fly to sixes and to sevens,
Wheel and thunder back again;
And when all was peace and order
Save one planet nailed askew.
Much I wept because my warder
Would not let me set it true.
After frenzied hours of waiting,
When the Earth and Skies were dumb.
Pealed an awful voice dictating
An interminable sum.
Changing to a tangled story —
"What she said you said I said — '
Till the Moon arose in glory,
And I found her . . . in my head;
»»
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 33
Then a Face came, blind and weeping.
And It couldn't wipe Its eyes.
And It muttered I was keeping
Back the moonlight from the skies;
So I patted It for pity.
But It whistled shrill with wrath.
And a huge, black Devil City
Poured its peoples on my path.
So I fled with steps uncertain
On a thousand-year long race.
But the bellying of the curtain
Kept me always in one place,
While the tumult rose and maddened
To the roar of Earth on fire,
Ere it ebbed and sank and saddened
To a whisper tense as wire.
In intolerable stillness
Rose one little, little star.
And it chuckled at my illness.
And it mocked me from afar;
And its brethren came and eyed me.
Called the Universe to aid,
Till I lay, with naught to hide me,
'Neath the Scorn of All Things Made.
Dun and saffron, robed and splendid
Broke the solemn, pitying Day,
And I knew my pains were ended.
And I turned and tried to pray;
But my speech was shattered wholly.
And I wept as children weep.
Till the dawn-wind, softly, slowly.
Brought to burning eyelids sleep.
34 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
THE LOVERS' LITANY
jF YES of grey — a sodden quay,
Driving rain and falling tears.
As the steamer puts to sea
In a parting storm of cheers.
Sing, for Faith and Hope are high —
None so true as you and I —
Sing the Lovers' Litany: —
*^Love like ours can never die J"
Eyes of black — a throbbing keel.
Milky foam to left and right;
Whispered converse near the wheel
In the brilliant tropic night.
Cross that rules the Southern Sky I
Stars that sweep, and turn, and fly
Hear the Lovers' Litany: —
^*Love like ours can never die !**
Eyes of brown — a dusty plain
Split and parched with heat of June*
Flying hoof arid tightened rein.
Hearts that beat the ancient tune.
Side by side the horses fly,
Frame we now the old reply
Of the Lovers' Litany: —
*'Love like ours can never die /"
Eyes of blue — the Simla Hills
Silvered with the moonlight hoar;
Pleading of the waltz that thrills.
Dies and echoes round Benmore.
''Mabeir ''Officers;' ''Goodbye ^
Glamour, wine, and witchery —
On my soul's sincerity,
^^Love like ours can never die /"
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 35
Maidens, of your charity,
Pity my most luckless state.
Four times Cupid's debtor I —
Bankrupt in quadruplicate.
Yet, despite my evil case.
An a maiden showed me grace,
Four-and-forty times would I
Sing the Lovers' Litany: —
^^Love like ours can never die .'"
A BALLAD OF BURIAL
Saini Praxed*s ever was the Church Jor peace.
TF DOWN here I chance to die.
Solemnly I beg you take
All that is left of* I"
To the Hills for old sake's sake.
Pack me very thoroughly
In the ice that used to slake
Pegs I drank when I was dry —
This observe for old sake's sake.
To the railway station hie,
There a single ticket take
For Umballa — goods-train — I
Shall not mind delay or shake.
I shall rest contentedly
Spite of clamour coolies make;
Thus in state and dignity
Send me up for old sake's sake.
RDDYARD KsruitG4i"^tia^
Nest the slecpjr Babu wake,
Book a KaJka van "for four."
Few, I think, will care to make
Journeys with me any more
As dief used to do of yore.
I ihilll need a "special brake" —
Thing I never took before—
Get me one for old sake's sake.
AfiEer t
No hotel will take me in.
And a bullock's b«ck would break
"Neath the tedc and leaden akin.
TongarTopes are frail and thin.
Or, did I a back-seat take,
In a tonga I mi^t Sfrin, —
Do your best for old sake's sake.
After that — your work is done.
Recollect a Padre must
Mourn the dear departed one —
Throw the ashes and the dust.
Don't go down at once. I trust
You will find excuse to "snake
Three days' casual on the bust',"-
Get your fun for old sake's sake.
I could never stand the Plains.
Think of blazing June and May,
Think of those September rains
Yearly till the Judgment Day!
I should never rest in peace,
I should sweat and lie awake.
Rail me then, on my decease.
To the Hills for old sake's sakel
'Three days' leave.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 37
I
THE OVERLAND MAIL
(FooUserviee to tht HilU.)
IN THE name of the Empress of India, make way,
0 Lords of the Jungle, wherever you roam.
The woods arc astir at the close of the day —
We exiles are waiting for letters from Home.
Let the robber retreat — let the tiger turn tail —
In the Name of the Empress, the Overland Mail!
nith I jingle of bells as the dusk gathers in.
He turns to the footpath that heads up the hill —
The t>ags on his back and a cloth round his chin.
And, tucked in his waistbelt, the Post Office bill; —
"Despatched on this date, as received by the rail,
**/^^ runner, two bags of the Overland Mail."
Is the torrent in spate? He must ford it or swim.
Has the rain wrecked the road ? He must climb by the cliff.
Docs the tempest cry halt ? What are tempests to him ?
The service admits not a "but" or an "if."
^^liile the breath's in his mouth, he must bear without fail,
In the Name of the Empress, the Overland Mail.
From aloe to rose-oak, from rose-oak to fir.
From level to upland, from upland to crest,
from rice-field to rock-ridge, from rock-ridge to spur.
Fly the soft-sandalled feet, strains the brawny, brown
chest.
From rail to ravine — to the peak from the vale —
I'Pi up through the night goes the Overland Mail.
38 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
There's a speck on the hillside, a dot on the road —
A jingle of bells on the footpath below —
There's a scuffle above in the monkey's abode —
The world is awake and the clouds are aglow.
For the great Sun himself must attend to the haiI^-
"In the Name of the Empress, the Overland Mail!'
DIVIDED DESTINIES
TT WAS an artless Bandar^ and he danced upon a pine^
And much I wondered how he lived, and where the beast
might dine,
And many many other things, till, o'er my morning smoke,
I slept the sleep of idleness and dreamt that Bandar spoke*
He said : — '' O man of many clothes ! Sad crawler on the lElls •
"Observe, I know not Ranken's shop, nor Ranken's monthlj^
bills!
"I take no heed to trousers or the coats that you call drcs?^
"Nor am I plagued with little cards for little drinks at Mcs9^
"I steal the bunnia's grain at morn, at noon and evendd^
" (For he is fat and I am spare), I roam the mountain-side,
" I follow no man's carriage, and no, never in my life
"Have I flirted at Peliti's with another Bandar* s wife.
"O man of futile fopperies — ^unnecessary wraps;
"I own no ponies in the hills, I drive no tallwheeled traps
" I buy me not twelve-button gloves, 'short-sixes' eke, or rings,
"Nor do I waste at Hamilton's my wealth on 'pretty things.'
" I quarrel with my wife at home, we never fight abroad;
" But Mrs. B. has grasped the fact I am her only lord.
"I never heard of fever — dumps nor debts depress my soul;
"And I pity and despise you!" Here he pouched my break-
fast-roll.
* Monkev.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 39
His hide was very mangey and his face was very red,
And ever and anon he scratched with energy his head.
His manners were not always nice, but how my spirit cried
To be in artless Bandar loose upon the mountain-side!
Sol answered: — "Gentle Bandar^ an inscrutable Decree,
"Mikes thee a gleesome fleasome Thou, and me a wretched
Me.
"Go! Depart in peace, my brother, to thy home amid the
''Yet forget not once a mortal wished to change his lot with
thine."
THE MASQUE OF PLENTY
Alciiairr. — ^The Indian Government being minded to discover the
ttOBomic condition of their lands, sent a Committee to inquire into it; and
•sv thit it was good.
ScEKE.— TA^ wooded heights of Simla. The Incarnation of
the Government of India in the raiment of the Angel of Plenty
ungSy to pianoforte accompaniment: —
"piOW sweet is the shepherd's sweet life!
From the dawn to the even he strays —
He shall follow his sheep all the day
And his tongue shall be filled with praise.
{adagio dim.) Filled with praise!"
(largendo con sp.) Now this is the position,
Go make an inquisition
Into their real condition
As swiftly as ye may.
What is the state of the Nation?
Hi ! get along, get along, get along-
{dim.) Census the byle^ and the ya
Babu,
Set him to file Gazetteers — Gazet
iff) What is the stat*
Interlude, from Nowhere in Pa
Oriental instruments.
Omt cattle reel beneath the yoke th
The earth is iron and the skies are
And faint with fervour of the flam:
The languid hours pass.
The well is dry beneath the village
The young wheat withers ere it r
And belts of blinding sand show en
Where once the river ran.
Pray, brothers, pray, but to no ean
Lift up your hands above the bli]
Look westward — if they please, the
Their mercy with the rain.
Look westward — bears the blue no
lk.T
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 41
Semi-Chorus
By the plumed heads of Kings
Waving high.
Where the tall corn springs
0*er the dead.
If they rust or rot we die.
If they ripen we are fed.
Very mighty is the power of our Kings!
Triumphal return io Simla of the Investigators^ attired ^ter
ihe manner of Dionysus, leading a pet tiger-cub in wreiHths
^ rhubartJeaneSj symbolical of India under medical treat-
ment. They sing: —
Wc have seen, we have written — behold it, the proof of our
manifold toil!
In their hosts they assembled and told it — the tale of the
Sons of the Soil.
Wc have said of the Sickness — ** Where is it ? " — and of Death
— ** It is far from our ken," —
^^ehave paid a particular visit to the affluent children of men.
W'c have trodden the mart and the well-curb — we have
stooped to the bield and the byre;
And the Kjng may the forces of Hell curb for the People
have all they desire!
Castanets and step-dance: —
Oh» the dom^ and the mag and the thakur and the thag^
And the nat and the brinjarccj
And the bunnia and the ryot are as happy and as quiet
^ as plump as they can be!
^«, iliejain and the jat in his stucco-fronted hut,
And the bounding bazugar,
8y the favour of the King, are as fat as anything,
They are — they are — they are!
* A list of various Indian tribes and castes.
42 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Recitative, Government of India, mtk white satin a
and electro-plated harp: —
How beautiful upon the Mountains — in peace reclining,
Thus to be assured that our people are unanimously dir
And though there arc places not so blessed as others in
ural advantages, which, after all, was only to be
pec ted.
Proud and glad are we to congratulate you upon the \
you have thus ably effected.
(Cres.) How be-ewtifiil upon the Mountains!
Hired Band, brasses onty,/ull chorus: —
God bless the Squire
And all his rich relations
Who teach us poor people
We eat our proper rations —
We eat our proper rations.
In spite of inundations.
Malarial exhalations.
And casual starvadons.
We have, we have, they say we havc-
We have our proper rations!
Chorus of the Crystalused Pacts
Before the beginning of years
There came to the rule of the State
Men with a pair of shears,
Men with an Estimate —
Strachey with Muir for leaven,
Lyttttn with locks that fell,
Ripon fi3oling with Heaven,
And Temple riding like H — 11!
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 43
And the bigots took in hand
Cess and the falling of rain.
And the measure of sifted sand
The dealer puts in the grain —
Imports by land and sea.
To uttermost decimal worth,
And registration — free —
In the houses of death and of birth.
And fashioned with pens and paper.
And fashioned in black and white.
With Life for a flickering taper
And Death for a blazing light —
With the Armed and the Civil Power,
That his strength might endure for a span —
From Adam's Bridge to Peshawur,
The Much Administered Man.
In the towns of the North and the East,
They gathered as unto rule,
They bade him starve his priest
And send his children to school.
Railways and roads they wrought,
For the needs of the soil within;
A time to squabble in court,
A time to bear and to grin.
And gave him peace in his ways.
Jails — and Police to fight,
justice — at length of days.
And Right — and Might in the Right.
His speech is of mortgaged bedding.
On his kine he borrows yet,
At his heart is his daughter's wedding.
In his eye foreknowledge of debt.
He eats and hath indigestion,
He toils and he may not stop;
His life is a long-drawn question
Between a crop and a crop.
T ■ •
44
JRDDYARb KIFLDlGS fiKlAr
THE HARE'S NESr
JANE AUSTEN HF-RaffBli SIOIVB DB BO
Wat good bcyood sO MVtU|f MMd|
But^ oo the odber hand, tier apoote
Was verjr, verjr bad indeed.
He tmofcfd cigai% catted dnudMS alow.
And racedr— bat this ahe dUi not iDBOfii;
For BeBal Bfadhiaydli kept
The Htde fact a aecret, and,
Thou^ o'er his minor sins she wep^
Jane Austm did not undeiatand
That LiBy — thirteen-tivo and bay^—
Absorbed one-half her husband's pay.
She was so good she made him worse
(Some women are like this, I think);
He taught her parrot how to curse.
Her Assam monkey how to drink.
He vexed her righteous soul until
She went up, and he went down hill.
Then came the crisis, strange to say.
Which turned a good wife to a better.
A telegraphic peon, one day.
Brought her — ^now, had it been a letter
For Belial Machiavelli, I
Know Jane would just have let it lie —
But 'twas a telegram instead.
Marked "urgent," and her duty plain
To open it. Jane Austen read: —
"Your Lilly's got a cough again.
"'Can't understand why she is kept
"At your expense." Jane Austen wept.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 45
It was a misdirected wire.
Her huslMUid was at Shaitanpore.
She spread her anger, hot as fire.
Through six thin foreign sheets or more.
Sent off that letter, wrote another
To her solicitor — and mother.
Then Belial Machiavelli saw
Her error and, I trust, his own,
\nred to the minion of the Law,
And travelled wifeward — ^not alone.
For Lilly — thirteen-two and bay —
Came in a horse-box all the way.
There was a scene — a weep or two —
With many kisses. Austen Jane
Rode Lilly all the season through.
And never opened wires again.
She races now with Belial . . . This
Is very sad, but so it is.
THE BALLAD OF FISHER'S BOARDING-HOUSE
That night, when through the mooring-diaint
The widt-cytd coq>te rolled free,
To blunder down by Garden Reich
And rot at Kedgeree,
The tale the Hughli told the shoal
The lean ihoal told to me.
npWAS Fultah Fisher's boarding-house.
Where sailor-men reside,
And there were men of all the ports
From Mississip to Clyde,
And regally they spat and smoked.
And fearsomely they lied.
46 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
They lied about the purple Sea
That gave them scanty bread.
They lie^ about the Earth beneadt.
The Heavens overhead.
For they had looked too often on
Black rum when that was red.
They told their tales of wreck and wrong.
Of shame and lust and fraud.
They backed their toughest statements witl
The Brimstone of the Lord,
And crackling oaths went to and fro
Across the fist-banged board.
And there was Hans the blue-eyed Dane,
Bull-throated, bare of arm,
Who carried on his hairy chest
The maid Ultruda's charm —
The little silver crucifix
That keeps a man from harm.
And there was Jake Without-the-Ears,
And Pamba the Malay,
And Carboy Gin the Guinea cook.
And Luz from Vigo Bay,
And Honest Jack who sold them slops
And harvested their pay.
And there was Salem Hardieker,
A lean Bostonian he —
Russ, German, English, Halfbreed, Finn,
Yank, Dane, and Portuguee,
At Fultah Fisher's boarding-house
They rested from the sea.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 47
Now Anne of Austria shared their drinks,
G>Uinga knew her fame,
From Tamau in Galicia
To Jaun Bazaar she came,
To eat the bread of infamy
And take the wage of shame.
She held a dozen men to heel —
Rich spoil of war was hers,
In hose and gown and ring and chain.
From twenty mariners,
And, by Port Law, that weeK, men called
Her Salem Hardieker's.
But seamen learnt — what landsmen know-
That neither gifts nor gain
Can hold a winking Light o' Love
Or Fancy's flight restrain.
When Anne of Austria rolled her eyes
On Hans the blue-eyed Dane.
Since Life is strife, and strife means knife.
From Howrah to the Bay,
And he may die before the dawn
Who liquored out the day.
In Fultah Fisher's boarding-house
We woo while yet we may.
But cold was Hans the blue-eyed Dane,
Bull-throated, bare of arm.
And laughter shook the chest beneath
The maid Ultruda's charm —
The little silver crucifix
That keeps a man from harm.
RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
"You speak to Salem Hardieker;
"You was his girl, I know.
"I ship mineselfs to-morrow, sec,
"Und round the Skaw we go,
"South, down the CatCegat, by Hjelm,
"To Beaaer in Skto."
i
When love rejected turns to hate, ^^H
All ill betide the man. ^^H
"Toil speak to Salem Hardieker" — ^H^
She spoke as woman can. '
A •crcam^a sol>^"Hc called me — names!
And then the fray began.
An oRth from Salem Hardieker,
A shriek upon the stairs,
A dance of shadows on the wall^
A knife-thrust unawares —
And Hans came down, as cattle drop^
Across the broken chairs.
In Anne of Austria's trembling hands
The weary head fell low: —
"I ship mineselfs to-morrow, strught
"For Bcsser in Saro;
" Und there Ultruda comes to me
"At Easter, und I go
"South, down die Cattegat— What's here?
"There — are — no — lights — to — guidel"
The mutter ceased, the spirit passed,
And Anne of Austria cried
In Fultah Fisher's boarding-house
When Hans the mighty died.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 49
Thus slew diey Hans the blue-eyed Dane,
Bull^throated, bare of arm.
But Anne of Austria looted first
The maid Ultnida's charm —
The little silver crucifix
That keeps a man from harm.
POSSIBILITIES
AY, LAY him 'neath the Simla pine —
A fortnight fully to be missed.
Behold, we lose our fourth at whist,
A chair is vacant where we dine.
His place forgets him; other men
Have bought his ponies, guns, and traps.
His fortune is the Great Perhaps
And that cool rest-house down the glen,
Wlience he shall hear, as spirits may.
Our mundane revel on the height.
Shall watch each flashing *rickshawA\ght
Sweep on to dinner, dance, and play.
Bcnmore shall woo him to the ball
With lighted rooms and braying band;
And he shall hear and understand
"Dream Faces** better than us all.
For, think you, as the vapours flee
Across Sanjaolie after rain.
His soul may climb the hill again
To each old field of victory.
so RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Unseen, who women held so dear.
The strong num's yearning to his kind
Shall shake at most the window-blind.
Or dull awhile the card-room's cheer.
In his own place of power unknown.
His Light o' Love another's flame.
His dearest pony galloped lame.
And he an alien and alone!
Yet may he meet with many a friend —
Shrewd shadows, lingering long unseen
Among us when ** God save the ^ueen **
Shows even "extras" have an end.
And, when we leave the heated room.
And, when at four the lights expire.
The crew shall gather round the fire
And mock our laughter in the gloom;
Talk as we talked, and they ere death —
Flirt wanly, dance in ghostly-wise.
With ghosts of tunes for melodies.
And vanish at the morning's breath.
ARITHMETIC ON THE FRONTIER
A GREAT and glorious thing it is
To learn, for seven years or so,
The Lord knows what of that and this.
Ere reckoned fit to face the fc
The flying bullet down the Pass,
That whistles clear: "All flesh is grass.
»
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 51
Three hundred pounds per annum spent
On making brain and body meeter
Per all the murderous intent
Comprised in ''villainous saltpetre!
And after? — Ask the Yusufzaies
^What comes of all our 'ologies.
A scrimmage in a Border Station —
A canter down some dark defile —
Two thousand pounds of education
Drops to a tcn-nipet jezail —
TTie Crammer's boast, the Squadron's pride.
Shot like a rabbit in a ride!
^0 proposition Euclid wrote
No formulae the text-books know,
^^111 turn the bullet from your coat,
Or ward the tulwar's downward blow.
^Strike hard who cares — shoot straight who can-
Tlhe odds are on the cheaper man.
^)ne sword-knot stolen from the camp
Will pay for all the school expenses
^f any Kumim Valley scamp
Who knows no word of moods and tenses,
^ut, being blessed with perfect sight,
off our messmates left and right.
^ith home-bred hordes the hillsides teem.
The troopships bring us one by one.
At vast expense of time and steam.
To slay Afridis where they run.
The " captives of our bow and spear"
Are cheap, alas ! as we are dear.
53 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
THE SONG OF THE WOMEN
(Lady Daflferifi'i Fund for medical aid to the Women of
UOW shall she know the worship we would do her?
The walls are high and she is very far.
How shall the women's message reach unto her
Above the tumult of the packed bazaar?
Free wind of March, against the lattice blowing.
Bear thou our thanks lest she depart unknowing.
Go forth across the fields we may not roam in.
Go forth beyond the trees that rim the city
To whatsoe'er fair place she hath her home in.
Who dowered us with wealth of love and pity.
Out of our shadow pass and seek her singing —
"I have no gifts but Love alone for bringing."
Say that we be a feeble folk who greet her,
But old in grief, and very wise in tears:
Say that we, being desolate, entreat her
That she forget us not in after-years;
For we have seen the light and it were grievous
To dim that dawning if our Lady leave us.
By Life that ebbed with none to staunch the failing.
By Love's sad harvest garnered ere the spring.
When Love in Ignorance wept unavailing
O'er young buds dead before their blossoming;
By all the grey owl watched, the pale moon view*
In past grim years declare our gratitude!
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 SS
By hands uplifted to the Gods that heard not.
By gifts that found no favour in their sight,
By faces bent above the babe that stirred not.
By nameless horrors of the stifling night;
By ills fordone, by peace her toils discover,
Bid Earth be good beneath and Heaven above herl
Vshe have sent her servants in our pain.
If she have fought with Death and dulled his sword;
If ahe have given back our sick again.
And to the breast the weakling lips restored.
Is it a little thing that she has wrought?
Then life and E)eath and Motherhood be nought.
Go forth, O Wind, our message on thy wings,
Amd they shall hear thee pass and bid thee speed.
In i"ecd-roofed hut, or white-walled home of kings,
^^^o have been holpen by her in their need.
Ah spring shall give thee fragrance, and the wheat
Shall be a tasseUed floorcloth to thy feet.
Jjaatc, for our hearts are with thee, take no rest!
1-^ud-voiced ambassador, from sea to sea
proclaim the blessing, manifold, confest,
Of those in darkness by her hand set free,
Then very softly to her presence move,
And whisper: "Lady, lo, they know and love!''
THE BETROTHED
Too must choose between me and your cigar." Breach of Promise
Case, circa, iSSs
fyPEN the old cigar-box, get me a Cuba stout,
For things are running crossways, and Maggie and I
are out.
54 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
We quarrelled about Havanaa — we fought o*er a go
cheroot.
And / know she is exacting, and she says I am a brute.
Open the old dgar-box — ^let me conuder a space;
In the soft blue veil of the vapour musing on Maggie's fa
Maggie is pretty to look at — Mag^e's a loving lass,
But the prettiest cheeks must wrinkle, the truest of ky
must pass.
There's peace in a Laranaga, there's calm in a Henry CI
But the best cigar in an hour is finished and thrown awa;
Thrown away for another as perfect and ripe and brow
But I could not throw away Maggie for fear o' the talk o'
town!
Maggie, my wife at fifty — grey and dour and old —
With never another Maggie to purchase for love or g
And the light of Days that have Been the dark of the £
that Are,
And Love's torch stinking and stale, like the butt of a d
cigar —
The butt of a dead cigar you are bound to keep in j
pocket —
With never a new one to light tho* it's charred and blaci
the socket!
Open the old cigar-box — let me consider a while.
Here is a mild Manilla — there is a wifely smile.
Which is the better portion — bondage bought with a i
Or a harem of dusky beauties fifty tied in a string?
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 55
CcMinaellors cunning and silent — comforters true and tried,
\iid never a one of the fifty to sneer at a rival bride?
TKought in the early morning, solace in time of woes.
Peace in the hush of the twilight, balm ere my eyelids close.
This will the fifty give me, asking nought in return.
With only a Suitee^s passion — to do their duty and bum.
This will the fifty give me. When they are spent and dead,
FItc times other fifties shall be my servants instead.
The furrows of far-ofF Java, the isles of the Spanish Main,
^Vhcn they hear my harem is empty will send me my brides
again.
1 will take no heed to their raiment, nor food for their mouths
withal,
^ long as the gulls are nesting, so long as the showers fall.
I will scent 'em with best vanilla, with tea will I temper their
hides,
And the Moor and the Mormon shall envy who read of the
tale of my brides.
For Maggie has written a letter to give me my choice between
The wee little whimpering Love and the great god Nick o*
Teen.
And 1 have been servant of Love for barely a twelvemonth
clear.
But I have been Priest of Cabanas a matter of seven year;
And the gloom of my bachelor days is flecked with the cheery
light
Of stumps that I burned to Friendship and Pleasure and
Work and Fight.
^6 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE ^^
And I turn my eyes to the future that Mag^e and I
prove,
But the only light on the marshes is the Will-o'-the-\
Lore.
Will it see me aiie throi^h my joDney or leave nw
in the mire?
Since a puff of tobacco can ckxid it^ihdl I fiilfanr lii
fire?
Ctaen the dd dgar-bor-=-4et me coouder ■near-
Old friends, and who is Maggie that I ahoald abando
A million surplus Maggies are willing to bear tbe yiA
And a woman is only a woman, but a good ^^ar ia a
Light me another Oiba — I hold to my first-sworn vw
Jf Maggie will have no rival, I'll have no Maggie for *
A BALLADE OF JAKKO HILL
/^NE moment bid the horses wut,
Since tiffin is not laid til] three,
Below the upward path and strait
You climbed a year ago with me.
Love came upon us suddenly
And loosed — an idle hour to kill —
A headless, harmless armoury
That smote us both on Jakko Elill.
Ah Heaven! we would wait and wait
Through Time and to Eternity!
Ah Heaven ! we would conquer Fate
With more than Godlike constancy!
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 57
I cut the date upon a tree —
Here stand the clumsy figures still: —
"10-7-85, A.D."
Damp in the mists on Jakko Hill.
What came of high resolve and great.
And until Death fidelity?
Whose horse is waiting at your gate?
Whose *rickshaW'whecls ride over me?
No Saint's, I swear; and — let me see
To-night what names your programme fill —
We drift asunder merrily.
As drifts the mist on Jakko Hill!
L'Envoi
Princess, behold our ancient state
Has clean departed; and we see
Twas Idleness we took for Fate
That bound light bonds on you and me.
Amen ! Here ends the comedy
Where it began in all good will,
Since Love and Leave together flee
As driven mist on Jakko Hill!
THE PLEA OF THE SIMLA DANCERS
Too late, alas! the song
To remedy the wrong; —
^^ rooms are taken from us, swept and garnished for their fate^
But these tear-besprinkled pages
Shall attest to fu^re ages
^at we cried against the crime of it — too late, alas! too late!
\^7HAT have we ever done to bear this grudge?'*
Was there no room save only in Benmore
For docket, duftar} and for office-drudge,
That you usurp our smoothest dancing floor?
•Office.
S8 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Must babus do their work on polished teak?
Are ballrooms fittest for the ink you spill?
Was there no other cheaper house to seek?
You might have left them all at Strawberry Hill.
We never harmed you! Innocent our guise.
Dainty our shining feet, our voices low;
And we revolved to divers melodies,
And we were happy but a year ago.
To-night, the moon that watched our lightsome wile
That beamed upon us through the deodars —
Is wan with gazing on official files,
And desecrating desks disgust the stars.
Nay! by the memory of tuneful nights —
Nay! by the witchery of flying feet —
Nay! by the glamour of foredone delights —
By all things merry, musical, and meet —
By wine that sparkled, and by sparkling eyes —
By wailing waltz — by reckless gallop's strain —
By dim verandahs and by soft replies.
Give us our ravished ballroom back again !
Or — hearken to the curse we lay on you !
The ghosts of waltzes shall perplex your brain.
And murmurs of past merriment pursue
Your 'wildered clerks that they indite in vain;
And when you count your poor Provincial millions,
The only figures that your pen shall frame
Shall be the figures of dear, dear cotillions
Danced out in tumult long before you came.
Yea! ^^ See Saw*' shall upset your estimates,
"Dream Faces'* shall your heavy heads bemuse.
Because your hand, unheeding, desecrates
Our temple fit for higher, worthier use.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 59
And all the long verandahs, eloquent
With echoes of a score of Simla years.
Shall plague you with unbidden sentiment —
Babbling of kisses, laughter, love, and tears.
So shall you mazed amid old memories stand.
So shall you toil, and shall accomplish nought.
And ever in your ears a phantom Band
Shall blare away the staid official thought.
Wherefore — and ere this awful curse be spoken.
Cast out your swarthy sacrilegious train,
And give — ere dancing cease and hearts be broken —
Give us our ravished ballroom back again !
"AS THE BELL CLINKS"
As I left the Halls at Lumley, rose the vision of a comely
Maid last season worshipped dumbly, watched with
fervour from afar;
And I wondered idly, blindly, if the maid would greet me
kindly.
That was all — the rest was settled by the clinking tonga-bar^
Vea, my life and hers were coupled by the tonga coupling-
bar.
For my misty meditation, at the second changing-stadon.
Suffered sudden dislocation, fled before the tuneless jar
Of a Wagner MligaiOy scfurzoy double-hand siaccatOy
Played on either pony's saddle by the clacking tonga-bar —
Played with human speech, I fancied, by the jigging, jolting
bar.
**She was sweet," thought I, "last season, but 'twere surely
wild unreason
"Such a tiny hope to freeze on as was offered by my Star,
*Rar of the oU-fashioncd curricle that took men up to Simla before the
railroad was made.
6o RUDYARD KIPLING'S
"When she whispeml. «»>etfaiBg .kU^: 'I-we fed f^
going badly!*"
**And you lei the chmtee esempe ytm V* njqped the rattfif^
tonga-bar.
*^ What a chance and what an idiot!** clicked the vidoiii tong^^
bar.
Heart of man — O heart of putty! Had I gone by Kaka-^
huttiy
On the old Hill-road and rutty, I had *8caped that fatal car.
But his fortune each must bide by, so I watched the mile-
stones slide by
To — " You call on Her to-morrow !** fiigue with cymbals by
the bar —
** You must call on Her to-morrow I " — post-horn gallop by the
bar.
Yet a further stage my goal on — we were whirling down to
Solon,
With a double lurch and roll on, best foot foremost, ganz
und gar —
"She was very sweet," I hinted. "If a kiss had been im-
pr i n ted ? ' '
** ^ Would ha saved a world of trouble T* clashed the busy
tonga-bar.
**^Been accepted or rejected !** banged and clanged the tonga-
bar.
Then a notion wild and daring, 'spite the income-tax's paring
And a hasty thought of sharing — less than many incomes
are —
Made me put a question private, (you can guess what I would
drive at.)
You must work the sum to prove ity^ clanked the careless
tonga-bar.
Simple Rule of Two will prove it^* lilted back the tonga-bar.
<<
<<
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 6r
It wu under Khynighaut I mused: — "Suppose the maid be
haughty —
"There are lovers rich — and forty; wait some wealthy
Avatar?
"Answer, monitor untiring, *twixt the ponies twain per-
spinng!
"Ai«/ heart never toon fair lady^* creaked the straining
tonga-bar.
"C§n I teU you ere you ask Her?** pounded slow the tonga-
bar.
Last, the Tara Devi turning showed the lights of Simla
burning,
Lit my little lazy yearning to a fiercer flame by far.
As below the Mall we jingled, through my very heart it
tingled —
pid the iterated order of the threshing tonga-bar: —
'Ttj your luck— you can*t do better!** twanged the loosened
tonga-bar.
CHRISTMAS IN INDIA
J)1M dawn behind the tamarisks — the sky is saffron-
yellow —
As the women in the village grind the corn,
And the parrots seek the river-side, each calling to his fellow
That the Day, the staring Eastern Day, is born.
0 the white dust on the highway! O the stenches in
the byway!
O the clammy fog that hovers over earth !
And at Home they're making merry 'neath the white
and scarlet berry —
What part have India's exiles in their mirth?
62 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Full day behind the tamarisks — the sky is blue and starinj
As the cattle crawl afield beneath the yoke.
And they bear One o'er the field-path, who is past all hop
caring.
To the ghat below the curUng wreaths of smoke.
Call on Rama, going slowly, as ye bear a brother low!
Call on Rama — ^he may hear, perhaps, your v«»ce
With our hymn*books and our psalters we appen
other altars.
And to-day we bid '"^good Christian men rejoice!"
High noon behind the tamarisks — the sun is hot a1
us —
As at Home the Christmas Day is breaking wan.
They will drink our healths at dinner — those who tell us
they love us.
And forget us till another year be gone!
O the toil that knows no breaking! O the heim
ceaseless, aching!
O the black dividing Sea and alien Plain!
Youth was cheap — wherefore we sold it. Gold
good — we hoped to hold it.
And to-day we know the fulness of our gain !
Grey dusk behind the tamarisks — the parrots fly togethe
As the Sun is sinking slowly over Home;
And his last ray seems to mock us shackled in a life
tether
That drags us back howe'er so far we roam.
Hard her service, poor her payment — she in and
tattered raiment —
India, she the grim Stepmother of our kind.
If a year of life be lent her, if her temple's shrine we ei
The door is shut — we may not look behind.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 63
olack riight behind the tamarisks — the owls begin their
chorus —
As the conches from the temple scream and bray.
nth rJ~i.e fruitless years behind us and the hopeless years
before us,
^t urn s honour, O my brothers, Christmas Day!
CsK.Xl a truce, then, to our labours — let us feast with
friends and neighbours,
-^^nd be merry as the custom of our caste;
FcmmTy if "faint and forced the laughter," and if sadness
follow after,
W"^^ are richer by one mocking Christmas past.
E GRAVE OF THE HUNDRED HEAD
JT' HERE'S a widow in sleepy Chester
Who weeps for her only son;
There's a grave on the Pabeng River,
A grave that the Burmans shun^
And there's Subadar Prag Tewarri
Who tells how the work was done.
A Snider squibbed in the jungle —
Somebody laughed and fled.
And the men of the First Shikaris
Picked up their Subaltern dead.
With a big blue mark in his forehead
And the back blown out of his head.
Subadar Prag Tewarri,
Jemadar Hira Lai,
Took command of the party.
Twenty rifles in all.
Marched them down to the river
As the day was beginning to fall.
64 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
They buried the boy by the river,
A blanket over his face —
They wept for their dead Lieutenant,
The men of an alien race —
They made a samadh} in his honour,
A mark for his resting-place.
For they swore by the Holy Water,
They swore by the salt they ate.
That the soul of Lieutenant Eshmitt
Should go to his God in state;
With fifty file of Burman
To open him Heaven's Gate.
The men of the First Shikaris
Marched rill the break of day.
Till they came to the rebel village.
The village of Pabengmay —
Ajingal^ covered the clearing,
Calthrops hampered the way.
Subadar Prag Tewarri,
Bidding them load with ball.
Halted a dozen rifles
Under the village wall;
Sent out a flanking-party
With Jemadar Hira Lai.
The men of the First Shikaris
Shouted and smote and slew,
Turning the grinning y/«^^/
On to the howling crew.
The Jemadar's flanking-party
Butchered the folk who flew.
^A memoriaL 'Native cannon.
INCLUSiyE EDITION, 1885-1918 65
Long was the mom of slaughter.
Long was the list of slun.
Five score heads were taken.
Five score heads and twun;
And the men of the First Shikaris
Went back to their grave again.
Each man bearing a basket
Red as his palms that day.
Red as the blazing village —
The village of Pabengmay.
And the ^^drip-drip-drip^^ from the baskets
Reddened the grass by the way.
They made a pile of their trophies
High as a tall man's chin,
Head upon head distorted,
Set in a sightless grin,
Anger and pain and terror
Stamped on the smoke-scorched skin.
Subadar Prag Tewarri
Put the head of the Boh
On the top of the mound of triumph.
The head of his son below —
With the sword and the peacock-banner
That the world might behold and know.
Thus the samhdh was perfect.
Thus was the lesson plain
Of the wrath of the First Shikaris —
The price of a white man slain;
And the men of the First Shikaris
Went back into camp again.
66 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Then a silence came to the river,
A hush fell over the shore.
And the Bohs that were brave departed.
And Sniders squibbed no more;
For the Burmans said
That a white-man's head
Must be paid for with heads five-score.
There* s a widow in sleepy Chester
Who vfeepsjor her only son;
There* s a grave on the Paieng River^
A grave that the Burmans shun^
And there* s Stibadar Prag Tewarri
fVho tells how the work was done.
AN OLD SONG
s
O LONG as 'neath the Kalka hiUs
The tonga-horn shall ring,
So long as down the Solon dip
The hard-held ponies swing,
So long as Tara Devi sees
The lights of Simla town.
So long as Pleasure calls us up.
Or Duty drives us down,
If you love me as I love you
JVhat pair so happy as we two f
So long as Aces take the King,
Or backers take the bet,
So long as debt leads men to wed.
Or marriage leads to debt,
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 67
So long as little luncheons, Love,
And scandal hold their vogue,
While there is sport at Annandale
Or whisky at Jutogh,
If you love me as I love you
. What knife can cut our love in two f
So long as down the rocking floor
The raving polka spins,
So long as Kitchen Lancers spur
The maddened violins.
So long as through the whirling smoke
We hear the oft-told tale —
** Twelve hundred in the Lotteries,"
And Whatshemame for sale?
If you love me as I love you
We'll play the game and win it too.
So long as Lust or Lucre tempt
Straight riders from the course,
So long as with each drink we pour
Black brewage of Remorse,
So long as those unloaded guns
We keep beside the bed.
Blow off, by obvious accident.
The lucky owner's head.
If you love me as I love you
What can Life kill or Death undo f
So long as Death 'twixt dance and dance
Chills best and bravest blood.
And drops the reckless rider down
The rotten, rain-soaked khudy
So long as rumours from the North
Make loving wives afraid,
So long as Burma takes the boy
Or typhoid kills the maidi
1/ you love me as I love you
What knife can cut our love in two t 1
By sll that li^ts our duly Hfe
Or worin our liflek»g wo^
Fnun Btrilesagunge to SurinDoirpt .
And thoM pirn sUdcfl bdioi^ •. .
Where, heedlen </die fljiqg hooir
And dunour oTcriiead,
Steep, vith the grey langur for gnavA
Our very scornful Dead,
If you hoe me ai I bntyvm
AU Earth it servant to us two I
By Docket, Billetdoux, and File,
By Mountain, Cliff, and Fir,
By Fan and Sword and Office-box,
By Corset, Plume, and Spur
By Riot, Revel, Waltz, and War,
By Women, Work, and Bills,
By all the life that 6zzes in
The everlasting Hills,
If you love me as I love you
ffhat pair sp happy as we two f
CERTAIN MAXIMS OF HAFIZ
TF IT be pleasant to look on, stalled in the packed semi.
Does not the Young Man try Its temper and pKc ere
buy?
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 69
If She be pleasant to look on, what does the Young Man say?
"Lo! She 18 pleasant to look on. Give Her to me to-day!"
11
lea, though a Kafir die, to him is remitted Jehannum
^f he borrowed in life from a native at sixty per cent, per
annum.
Ill
^lister we not for iursaifl f So when the heart is vext,
^^e pain of one maiden's refusal is drowned in the pain of
the next.
IV
temper of chums, the love of your wife, and a new pi-
^^ ano's tune —
^^fliich of the three will you trust at the end of an Indian
June?
^^Tk) are the rulers of Ind — to whom shall we bow the knee?
^lakc your peace with the women, and men will make you
L. G.«
VI
Does the woodpecker flit round the young ferash f Does
the grass clothe a new-built wall ?
It she under thirty, the woman who holds a boy in her thrall?
VII
If She grow suddenly gracious — reflect. Is it all for thee?
The blackbuck is stalked through the bullock, and Man
through jealousy.
*A tkin disease of Korscs. 'Lieutenant-Governor.
TO RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
VIIZ
Seek not for favour of women. So shall you find it ind
Does not the boar break cover just when you're li^tii
weed?
IX
If He play, being young and unskilful, for shekels of i
and gold,
Take His money, my son, praising Allah. The kid wi
dained to be sold.
With a "weed" among men or horses verily this is the I
That you work him in office or dog-cart lig^tl)r — ^but
him no rest.
XI
Pleasant the snaffle of Courtship, improving the ma
and carriage;
But the colt who is wise will abstain from the terrible t
bit of Marriage.
XII
As the thriftless gold of the babul^ so is the gold that we s
On a Derby Sweep, or our neighbour's wife, or the
that we buy from a friend.
XIII
The ways of man with a maid be strange, yet simph
tame
To the ways of a man with a horse, when selling or r
that same.
* Acacia.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918
In public Her face turneth to thee, and pleasant Her smile
when ye meet,
Itisill, The cold rocks of El-Gidar smile thus on the waves
at their feet.
In public Her face is averted, with anger She nameth thy
name.
It ii well. Was there ever a loser content with the loss of the
game?
If She have spoken a word, remember thy lips are sealed,
And the Brand of the Dog is upon him by whom is the secret
revealed.
If She have written a letter, delay not an instant but burn it.
Tear it in pieces, O Fool, and the wind to her mate shall re-
turn it!
If there be trouble to Herward, and a lie of the blackest
can clear,
1-ie, while thy lips can move or a man is alive to hear.
My Son, if a maiden deny thee and scufflingly bid thee give
'ft hp meets with lip at the lastward. Get out! She has
been there before.
They are pecked on the ear and the chin and the nose who
are lacking in lore.
(fwcfaJlin the race, though we win, the hoof-slide is scarred
on the course.
Though Allah and Earth pardon Sin, remaineth for ever
Remorse.
72 RDDTARD KDUNGIS ¥BBSB
"Bj a]l I am niimdasiDodI'* if tfe Ifttna iUI h|
tiieMaid^
Alas! I do not nndcniawl* wk^ '''P* "^ tkon no
afraid.
In vain in the i^t of the Bnd b tk net of tk Fbwlei
played.
My son, if I, Haiiz, thy lather, take hold of thjr knees ii
pain.
Demanding thy name on sramped paper, one day or
hour — refrain.
Are the links of thy fetters so l^t that tkm cnwcst an
man's chain?
THE MOON OF OnTHER DAYS
QENEATH the deep verandah's shade.
When bats begin to fly,
I sit me down and watch— alas!
Another evening die.
Blood-red behind the scrt/erash^
She rises through the haze.
Sainted Diana! can that be
The Moon of Other Days!
Ah! shade of little Kitty Smith,
Sweet Saint of Kensington!
Say, was it ever thus at Home
The Moon of August shone,
When arm in arm we wandered long
Through Putney's evening haze.
And Hammersmith was Heaven beneath
The Moon of Other Days?
'Tamarisk.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 188&-1918 73
But Wmndk's stream is Sutlej now.
And Ptitnej's evening haze
The dust that half a hundred kine
Before my window raise.
Unkempt, unclean, athwart the mist
The seething city looms.
In place of Putney's golden gorse
The sickly hahul blooms.
Glare down, dd Hecate, through the dust.
And Ud the pie-dog yell.
Draw from the drain its typhoid-germ.
From each bazaar its smell;
Yea, suck the fever from the tank
And sap my strength therewith:
Thank Heaven, you show a smiling face
To little Kitty Smith!
THE FALL OF JOCK GILLESPIE
TpHIS fell when dinner-time was done —
Twixt the first an* the second rub —
That oor mon Jock cam' hame again
To his rooms ahint the Club.
An' syne he laughed, an' syne he sang,
An' syne we thocht him fou,
An' syne he trumped his partner's trick,
An* garred his partner rue.
Then up and spake an elder mun,
That held the Spade its Ace-
God save the lad! Whence comes the licht
"That wimples cm his face?"
74 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
•
An' Jock he sniggered, an' Jock he smiled.
An' ower the card-brim wunk: —
"I'm a' too fresh fra' the stirrup-peg,
"May be that I am drunk."
"There's whusky brewed in Galashiels
"An' L. L. L. for bye;
"But never liquor lit the lowe
"That keeks fra' oot your eye.
"There's a thrid o' hair on your dress-coat
"Aboon the heart a wee?"
"Oh! that is fra' the lang-haired Skye
"That slobbers ower me."
it
it
it
Oh! lang-haired Skyes are lovin' beasts,
An' terrier dogs are fair,
But never yet was terrier born,
" Wi' ell-lang gowden hair!
** There's a smirch o' pouther on your brca
"Below the left lappel?"
"Oh! that is fca' my auld cigar,
"Whenas the stump-end fell."
"Mon Jock, ye smoke the Trichi coarse,
"For ye are short o' cash,
"An' best Havanas couldna leave
"Sae white an' pure an ash.
"This nicht ye stopped a story braid.
An' stopped it wi' a curse.
Last nicht ye told that tale yoursel' —
An' capped it wi' a worse!
<<
<c
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 75
Oh! we're no fou! Oh! we're no fou!
"But plainly we can ken
Ye'rc fallin', fallin' fra the band
O' cantie single men!"
«
An* it fell when j/rr/j-shaws were sere,
An' the nichts were lang and mirk,
In braw new breeks, wi' a gowden ring,
Oor Jockie gaed to the Kirk !
WHAT THE PEOPLE SAID
^ueen Ficiorias Jubilee.
June iist, 1887
11 Y THE well, where the bullocks go
Silent and blind and slow —
By the field, where the young corn dies
In the face of the sultry skies.
They have heard, as the dull Earth hears
The voice of the wind of an hour.
The sound of the Great Queen's voice: —
**My God hath given me years,
"Hath granted dominion and power:
"And I bid you, O Land, rejoice."
And the Ploughman settles the share
More deep in the grudging clod;
For he saith: — "The wheat is my care,
And the rest is the will of God.
He sent the Mahratta spear
As He sendeth the rain,
"And the Mlech} in the fated year.
Broke the spear in twain,
*Thc foreigner.
«
76 RUDYARD KIPLING'S
:^:*c^:i
tt
€€
€i
tt
And was broken in turn. Vnio knows
How our Lords make strife?
It is Rood that the young wheat grows»
For the bread is Liie."
Then, far and near, as the twilidit drew.
Hissed up to the scornful' datx
Great serpents, blazing, of red and Uue^
That rose and faded, and rose anew»
That the Land might wonder and maik.
"To-day is a day of days,*' they said*
"Make merry, O People, aU!"
And the Ploughman listened and bowed his head:
''To-day and to-morrow God's will," he said.
As he trimmed the lamps on the walL
"He sendeth us years that are good,
"As He sendeth the dearth.
"He giveth to each man his food,
"Or Her food to the Earth.
"Our Kings and our Queens are afar —
"On their peoples be peace —
"God bringeth the ram to the Bar,
"That our cattle increase."
And the Ploughman settled the share
More deep in the sun-dried clod: —
"Mogul, Mahratta, and Mlech from ^e North,
"And White Queen over the Seas —
" God raiseth them up and driveth them forth
"As the dust of the ploughshare flies in the breeze;
" But the wheat and the cattle are all my care,
"And the rest is the will of God."
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 77
THE UNDERTAKER'S HORSE
To-tachifi-shu is condemned to death. How can he drink tea with the
tioncr?" — Japanese Froverh,
\jTffi eldest son bestrides him,
And the pretty daughter rides him,
^^^d I meet him oft o' mornings on the Course;
'^^d there kindles in my bosom
emotion chill and gruesome
I canter past the Undertaker's Horse.
^Idther shies he nor is restive,
mit a hideously suggestive
t, professional and placid, he affects;
A^d the cadence of his hoof-beats
1^0 my mind this grim reproof beats: —
* Wend your pace, my friend, I'm coming. Who's the
Ah! stud-bred of ill-omen,
* have watched the strongest go — men
^pith and might and muscle — at your heels,
Oown the plantain-bordered highway,
(Heaven send it ne'er be my way!)
Iq a lacquered box and jetty upon wheels.
^swer, sombre beast and dreary,
Where is Brown, the young, the cheery,
Smith, the pride of all his friends and half the Force?
You were at that last dread dak\
YIt must cover at a walk,
them back to me, O Undertaker's Horse!
^Stage of a journey.
next?
>f
78 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
With your mane unhogged and flowing.
And your curious way of going.
And that businesslike black crimping of your tul,
E'en with Beauty on your back. Sir,
Pacing as a lady's hack. Sir,
What wonder when I meet you I turn pale?
It may be you wait your time. Beast,
Till I write my last bad rhyme. Beast —
Quit the sunlight, cut the rhyming, drop the glass—
Follow after with the others.
Where some dusky heathen smothers
Us with marigolds in lieu of English grass.
Or, perchance, in years to follow,
I shall watch your plump sides hollow.
See Carnifex (gone lame) become a corse —
See old age at last o'erpower you,
And the Station Pack devour you,
I shall chuckle then, O Undertaker's Horse!
But to insult, jibe, and quest, IVe
Still the hideously suggestive
Trot that hammers out the unrelenting text.
And I hear it hard behind me
In what place soe'er I find me: —
" 'Sure to catch you sooner or later. Who's the next?"
ONE VICEROY RESIGNS
Lord Dufferin to Lord Lansdowne: —
CO HERE'S your Empire. No more wine, then ? Ga
We'll clear the Aides and khitmutgars away.
(You'll know that fat old fellow with the knife —
He keeps the Name Book, talks in English, too.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 79
And almost thinks himself the Government.)
0 Youth, Youth, Youth! Forgive me, you're so young.
Forty from sixty — twenty years of work
And power to back the working. Ay de mt .
You want to know, you want to see, to touch
And, by your lights, to act. It's natural.
1 wonder can I help you? Let me try.
You saw — what did you see from Bombay east?
Enough to frighten any one but me?
Meat that! It frightened Me in Eighty-Four!
Yoi shouldn't take a man from Canada
-^iid bid him smoke in powder-magazines;
^orwith a Reputation such as — Bah!
I^t ghost has haunted me for twenty years,
^4]r Reputation now full-blown. Your fault!
Y'oirs, with your stories of the strife at Home,
^^Wio's up, who's down, who leads and who is led —
^^^^ne reads so much, one hears so little here.
^VeO, now's your turn of exile. I go back
« 0 Rome and leisure. All roads lead to Rome.
^^ books — the refuge of the destitute.
VVhen you . . . that brings me back to India. See!
Start dear. I couldn't. Egypt served my turn,
^oull never plumb the Oriental mind.
And if you did, it isn't worth the toil.
Think of a sleek French priest in Canada;
Divide by twenty half-breeds. Multiply
Bf twice the Sphinx's silence. There's your East,
And vou're as wise as ever. So am I.
Accept on trust and work in darkness, strike
At venture, stumble forward, make your mark,
(It's chalk on granite) then thank God no flame
Utps from the rock to shrivel mark and man.
Im dear — my mark is made. Three months of drouth
Hid mined much. It rained and washed away
The specks that might have gathered on my Name.
1 took a country twice the size of France,
8o RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
And shuttered up one doorwmy in the North.
I stand by those. Youll find that both will pay,
I pledged my Name on bpth — they're yoms to-a%ht.
Hold to them — they hold fame enongh for tvvo.
I'm old, but I shaU live till Banna pays.
Men there — noi German traders — Cr-tthw-te knowa*
You'll find it in my papers. For the North
Guns always — quietly — but always gona.
YouVe seen your Coundl? Yes, theyll try to mki
And prize thdr Reputations. Have you met
A grim lay-reader with a taste for coins.
And faith in Sin most men withhold fnrni God?
He's gone to England. R-p-n knew hb grip
And kicked. A Coundl always has its H-pes.
They look for nothing ftom the West but Death
Or Bath or Bournemouth. Here's their ground.
They^t
Until the Middle Classes take them back.
One of ten millions plus a C. S. I.,
Or drop in harness. Legion of the Lost?
Not altogether. Earnest, narrow men,
But chiefly earnest, and they'll do your work.
And end by writing letters to the Times.
(Shall I write letters, answering H-nt-r — fawn
With R-p-n on the Yorkshire grocers? Ugh!)
They have their Reputations. Look to one —
I work with him — the smallest of them all,
White-haired, red-faced, who sat the plunging horse
Out in the garden. He's your right-hand man.
And dreams of tilting W-ls-y from the throne.
But while he dreams gives work we cannot buy;
He has his Reputation — wants the Lords
By way of Frontier Roads. Meantime, I think.
He values very much the hand that falls
Upon his shoulder at the Council table —
Hates cats and knows his business. Which is yours.
Your business! Twice a hundred million souls.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 8i
>ur business! I could tell you what I did
me nights of Eighty-five, at Simla, worth
Kingdom's ransom. When a big, ship drives
id knows to what new reef, the man at the wheel
ays with the passengers. They lose their lives,
rescued go their way; but he's no man
take his trick at the wheel again. That's worse
an drowning. Well, a galled Mashobra mule
:>u'll see Mashobra) passed me on the Mall,
d I was — some fool's wife had ducked and bowed
show the others I would stop and speak,
en the mule fell — three galls, a hand-breadth each,
liind the withers. Mrs. Whatsisname
ITS at the mule and me by turns, thweet thoul!
low could they make him carry such a load!"
aw — it isn't often I dream dreams —
)re than the mule that minute — smoke and flame
>m Simla to the haze below. That's weak,
u're younger. You'll dream dreams before you've done.
•uVe youth, that's one; good workmen — that means two
ir chances in your favour. Fate's the third.
:now what / did. Do you ask me, ** Preach?"
inswer by my past or else go back
' platitudes of rule — or take you thus
confidence and say: — "You know the trick:
fouVe governed Canada. You know. You know!"
id all the while commend you to Fate's hand
lere at the top one loses sight o' God),
mmend you, then, to something more than you —
le Other People's blunders and . . . that's all.
I agonise to serve you if I could.
s incommunicable, like the cast
at drops the hackle with the gut adry.
0 much — too little — there's your salmon lost!
d so I tell you nothing — wish you luck,
i wonder — how I wonder! — for your sake!
i triumph for my own. You're young, you're young,
82 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
You hold to half a hundred Shibboletha.
I'm old. I followed Power to the last.
Gave her my best, and Power followed Me*
It's worth it — on my soul I'm speaking plain.
Here by the claret glasses! — worth it alL
I gave — no matter what I gave — ^I win.
I know I win. Mine's worik, good woric that livesl
A country twice the size of France — the North
Safeguarded. That's my record: sink the rest
And better if you can. The Rains may serve,
Rupees may rise — three pence will give you Fame —
It's rash to hope for sixpence ... If thev rise
Get guns, more guns, and lift the salt-tax. Cml
I told you what the Congress meant or thought?
rU answer nothing. Half a year will prove
The full extent of time and thought you'll dpare
To Congress. Ask a Lady Doctor once
How little Begums see the light — deduce
Thence how the True Reformer's child is bom.
It's interesting, curious . . . and vile.
I told the Turk he was a gentleman.
I told the Russian that his Tartar veins
Bled pure Parisian ichor; and he purred.
The Congress doesn't purr. I thmk it swears.
You're young — you'll swear too ere you've reached th
The End! God help you, if there be a God.
(There must be one to startle Gl-dst-ne's soul
In that new land where all the wires are cut.
And Cr-ss snores anthems on the asphodel.)
God help you! And I'd help you if I could.
But that's beyond me. Yes, your speech was crude.
Sound claret after olives — yours and mine;
But Medoc slips into vin ordinaire.
(I'll drink my first at Genoa to your health)
Raise it to Hock. You'll never catch my style.
And, after all, the middle-classes grip
The middle-class — for Brompton talk Earl's Court.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 83
Perhaps you're right. I'll see you in the Times —
A quarter-column of eye-searing print,
A leader once a quarter — then a war;
The Strand a-bellow through the fog: — "Defeat!"
*'*Orrible slaughter!" While you lie awake
And wonder. Oh, you'll wonder ere you're free!
I wonder now. The four years slide away
So fast, so fast, and leave me here alone.
R — y, C-lv-n, L — 1, R-b-rts, B-ck, the rest.
Princes and Powers of Darkness, troops and trains,
< I cannot sleep in trains), land piled on land,
^Miitewash and weariness, red rockets, dust,
^-Miitc snows that mocked me, palaces — with draughts.
And W-stl-nd with the drafts he couldn't pay.
Poor W-ls-n reading his obituary
Before he died, and H-pe, the man with bones.
And .^-tch-s-n a dripping mackintosh
At Council in the Rains, his grating "Sirrr"
Half drowned by H-nt-r's silky: "Bat my lahd."
Hunterian always: M^rsh-l spinning plates
Or standing on his head; the Rent Bill's roar,
A hundred thousand speeches, much red cloth.
And Smiths thrice happy if I call them Jones,
'I can't remembtrr half their names) or reined
^ly pony on the Mall to greet their wives.
More trains, more troops, more dust, and then all's done . • .
■•our years, and 1 forget. If I forget,
How will ihey bear me in their minds? The North
Safeguarded — nearly (R-b-rts knows the rest),
A country twice the size of France annexed.
*^hat stays at least. The rest may pass — may pass —
^ our heritage — and I can teach you naught.
'High trust," "vast honour," "interests twice as vast,"
' Due reverence to your Council " — keep to those.
I envy you the twenty years you've gained,
But not the five to follow. What's that? One!
Twol— Surely not so late. Good-night. Don*t dream.
RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
THE GALLEY-SLAVE
Cya GALLANT was our galley from her carren stteri :^Dgr
^ wheel
To her figurehead of silver and her beak of hammered st^?^;
The leg-bar chafed the ankle and we gasped for cooler air^
But no galley on the waters with our galley could compi
Our bulkheads bulged with cotton and our masts were steppe^
in gold —
We ran a mighty merchandise of niggers in the hold;
The white foam spun behind us, and the black shark swai^^
below.
As we gripped the kicking sweep-head and we made di^^
galley go.
It was merry in the galley, for we revelled nowand then —
If they wore us down like cattle, faith, we fought and lovei^^
like men!
As we snatched her through the water, so we snatched i^*
minute's bliss.
And the mutter of the dying never spoiled the lover's kiss.
Our women and our children tolled beside us in the dark —
They died, wc filed their fetters, and we heaved them to di^—
shark —
We heaved them to the fishes, but so fast the galley sped
We had only time to envy, for we could not mourn our del
Bear witness, once my comrades, what a hard-Int gang wt
The servants of the sweep-head, but the masten of the se
By the hands that drove her forward as she plunged ai
yawed and sheered,
Woman, Man, or God or Devil, was there anything i
feared ?
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 85
^Vas it storm? Our fathers faced it and a wilder never blew;
ELarth that waited for the wreckage watched the galley
struggle through.
B^iming noon or choking midnight, Sickness, Sorrow, Part-
ing, Death?
^2* ay, our very babes would mock you had they time for idle
breath.
It to-day I leave the galley and another takes my place;
:'s my name upon the deck-beam — let it stand a little
space.
M am free — to watch my messmates beating out to open
main.
Free of ail that Life can offer — save to handle sweep again.
By the brand upon my shoulder, by the gall of clinging
steel,
By the welt the whips have left me, by the scars that never
heal;
By eyes grown old with staring through the sunwash on the
brine,
i am paid in full for service. Would that service still were
mine!
^^t they talk of times and seasons and of woe the years bring
forth,
^ our galley swamped and shattered in the rollers of the
North,
^'^n the niggers break the hatches and the decks are gay
with gore,
^*yi I craven-hearted pilot crams her crashing on the shore,
^ will need no half-mast signal, minute-gun, or rocket-
flare,
^^^ the cry for help goes seaward, she will find her servants
there.
86 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Battered chain^angs of the orlop, grizzled drafts of ycA-x^
gone by,
To the bench that broke their manhood, they shall lash them-
selves and die.
Hale and crippled, young and aged, paid, deserted, shipp^^<l
away —
Palace, cot, and lazaretto shall make up the tale that day.
When the skies are black above them, and the decks abla.:^=e
beneath,
And the top-men clear the raffle with their clasp-knives >-n
their teeth.
It may be that Fate will give me life and leave to row on^=:e
more —
Set some strong man free for fighting as I take awhile Ik- i$
oar.
But to-day I leave the galley. Shall I curse her service thec^^
God be thanked ! Whate'er -comes after, I have lived ar-^d
toiled with Men!
A TALE OF TWO CITIES
\\^HERE the sober-coloured cultivator smiles
On his byUs;
Where the cholera, the cyclone, and the crow
Come and go;
Where the merchant deals in indigo and tea,
Hides and ghi;
Where the Babu drops inflammatory hints
In his prints;
Stands a City — Chamock chose it — packed away
Near a Bay —
By the sewage rendered fetid, by the sewer
Made impure.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 87
% the Sunderbunds unwholesome, by the swamp
Moist and damp;
And the City and the Viceroy, as we see,
Don't agree.
Once, two hundred years ago, the trader came
Meek and tame.
Where his timid foot first halted, there he stayed.
Till mere trade
Grew to Empire, and he sent his armies forth
South and North,
Till the country from Peshawar to Ceylon
Was his own.
Thus the midday halt of Charnock — more's the pity! —
Grew a City.
As the fungus sprouts chaotic from its bed,
So it spread —
Chance-directed, chance-erected, laid and built
On the silt —
Palace, byre, hovel — poverty and pride —
Side by side;
And, above the packed and pestilential town,
Death looked down.
But the Rulers in that City by the Sea
Turned to flee —
Fled, with each returning Spring-tide from its ills
To the Hills.
From the clammy fogs of morning, from the blaze
Of the days.
From the sickness of the noontide, from the heat,
Beat retreat;
For the country from Peshawar to Ceylon
Was their own.
But 'the Merchant risked the perils of the Plain
For his gain.
88 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Now the resting-place of Chamock, 'neath the
Asks an ahns.
And the burden of its lamentation is.
Briefly, this: —
'' Because, for certain months, we txul and stew,
"Soshoukl you.
<Cast the Viceroy and his Council, to persmre
"In our fire!"
And for answer to the ai^gument, in vtin
We explain
That an amateur Sunt Lawrence cannot cry: —
"^i/mustfiyr
That the Merchant risks the penis of the Plain
For his gam.
Nor can Rulers rule a house that men grow rich in.
From its kitchen.
I^t the Babu drop inflammatory hints
In his prints;
And mature — consistent soul — his plan for stealing
To Darjeeling:
Let the Merchant seek, who makes his silver pile,
England's isle;
Let the City Charnock pitched on — evil day! —
Go Her way.
Though the argosies of Asia at Her doors
Heap their stores,
Though her enterprise and energy secure
Income sure,
Though "out-station orders punctually obeyed"
Swell Her trade —
Sfi/ly for rule, administration, and the rest,
Simla's best!
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 89
IN SPRINGTIME
^^Y GARDEN blazes brightly with the rose-bush and
the peachy
And the kdil^ sings above it, in the siris by the well,
From the creeper-covered trellis comes the squirrel's chatter-
ing speech,
And the blue jay screams and flutters where the cheery
saUihaP dwell.
°^t the rose has lost its fragrance, and the koirs note is
strange;
I am sick of endless sunshine, sick of blossom-burdened
bough.
^ve me back the leafless woodlands where the winds of
Springtime range —
Give me back one day in England, for it's Spring in Eng-
land now!
* hrough the pines the gusts are booming, o'er the brown fields
blowing chill,
From the furrow of the ploughshare streams the fragrance
of the loam,
^nd the hawk nests on the clifFside and the jackdaw in the
hiU,
A.nd my heart is back in England 'mid the sights and
sounds of Home.
°ut the garland of the sacrifice this wealth of rose and peach
is,
^^ ! koily little koily singing on the siris bough,
In my ears the knell of exile your ceaseless bell like speech
is—
C^nyou tell me aught of England or of Spring in England
now?
*The Indjan bell-bird. ' Indian starlings.
90 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
GIFFEN'S DEBT
JMPRIMIS he was "broke." Thereafter left
His Regiment and, later, took to drink;
Then, having lost the balance of his friends,
"Went Fan tec" — joined the people of the land.
Turned three parts Mussulman and one Hindu,
And lived among the Gauri villagers.
Who gave him shelter and a wife or twain.
And boasted that a thorough, fiill-blood soAH
Had come among them. Thus he spent his time.
Deeply indebted to the village shroffs
(Who never asked for payment), always drunk.
Unclean, abominable, out-at-heels;
Forgetting that he was an Englishman.
You know they dammed the Gauri with a dam.
And all the good contractors scamped their work
And all the bad material at hand
Was used to dam the Gauri — which was cheap.
And, therefore, proper. Then the Gauri burst.
And several hundred thousand cubic tons
Of water dropped into the valley, ^-op.
And drowned some five-and- twenty villagers.
And did a lakh or two of detriment
To crops and cattle. When the flood went down
We found him dead, beneath an old dead horse.
Full six miles down the valley. So we said
He was a victim to the Demon Drink,
And moralised upon him for a week,
And then forgot him. Which was natural.
But, in the valley of the Gauri, men
Beneath the shadow of the big new dam.
Relate a foolish legend of the flood,
* Money-lender.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 91
Accounting for the little loss of life
(Only those five-and-twenty villagers)
In this wise: — On the evening of the flood.
They heard the groaning of the rotten dam,
And voices of the Mountain Devils. Then
An incarnation of the local God,
Mounted upon a monster-neighing horse.
And flourishing a flail-like whip, came down.
Breathing ambrosia, to the villages.
And fell upon the simple villagers
With yells beyond the power of mortal throat.
And blows beyond the power of mortal hand.
And smote them with his flail-like whip, and drove
Them clamorous with terror up the hill.
And scattered, with the monster-neighing steed,
Their crazy cottages about their ears.
And generally cleared those villages.
Then came the water, and the local God,
Breathing ambrosia, flourishing his whip,
And mounted on his monster-neighing steed.
Went down the valley with the flying trees
And residue of homesteads, while they watched
Safe on the mountain-side these wondrous things.
And knew that they were much beloved of Heaven.
Wherefore, and when the dam was newly built.
They raised a temple to the local God,
And burnt all manner of unsavoury things
Upon his altar, and created priests.
And blew into a conch and banged a bell.
And told the story of the Gauri flood
With circumstance and much embroidery. . . •
So he, the whiskified Objectionable,
Unclean, abominable, out-at-heels.
Became the tutelary Deity
Of all the Gauri valley villages.
And may in time become a Solar Myth.
92 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
TWO MONTHS
June
"^O HOPEy no change! The clouds have shut us in,
And through the cloud the sullen Sun strikes down
Full on the bosom of the tortured Town,
Till Night falls heavy as remembered sin
That will not suffer sleep or thought of ease.
And, hour on hour, the dry-eyed Moon in spite
Glares through the haze and mocks with watery lighi
The torment of the uncomplaining trees.
Far off, the Thunder bellows her despair
To echoing Earth, thrice parched. The lightnings fly
In vain. No help the heaped-up clouds afford.
But wearier weight of burdened, burning air.
What truce with Dawn ? Look, from the aching sky.
Day stalks, a tyrant with a flaming sword!
September
A
T DAWN there was a murmur in the trees,
A ripple on the tank, and in the air
Presage of coming coolness — everywhere
A voice of prophecy upon the breeze.
Up leapt the Sun and smote the dust to gold,
And strove to parch anew the heedless land.
All impotently, as a King grown old
Wars for the Empire crumbling 'neath his hand.
One after one the lotos- petals fell,
Beneath the onslaught of the rebel year,
In mutiny against a furious sky;
And far-off Winter whispered: — "It is weU!
"Hot Summer dies. Behold your help is near,
"For when men's need is sorest, then come I."
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 95
UENVOI
''l^HE smoke upon your Altar dies,
The flowers decay,
The Goddess of your sacrifice
Has flown away.
What profit then to sing or slay
The sacrifice from day to day?
•We know the Shrine is void," they said,
"The Goddess flown —
'* Yet wreaths arc on the altar laid —
"The Altar^tone
" Is black with fumes of sacrifice,
"Albeit She has fled our eyes.
"For, it may be, if still we sing
"And tend the Shrine,
Some Deity on wandering wing
"May there incline;
"And, finding all in order meet,
"Stay while we worship at Her feet."
<4
THE FIRES
(PrtluiU to Collected Verse)
TL^EAT make them fires on the hearth
Each under his roof-tree^
And the Four IVinds thai rule the earth
They How the smoke to me.
94 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Across the high hills and the sea
And all the changeful skies ^
The Four Winds blow the smoke to me
Till the tears are in my eyes.
Until the tears are in my eyes
And my heart is wellnigh broke
For thinking on old memories
That gather in the smoke.
fFith every shift of every wind
The homesick memories comCy
From every quarter of mankind
Where I have made me a home.
Four times afire against the cold
And a roof against the rain —
Sorrow fourfold and joy fourfold
The Four Winds bring again !
How can I answer which ts best
Of all the fires that burn ?
I have been too often host or guest
At every fire in turn.
How can I turn from any fire y
On any man^s hearthstone ?
I know the wonder and desire
That went to build my own !
How can I doubt man^s joy or woe
Where'er his house-fires shinCy
Since all that man must undergo
Will visit me at mine ?
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 95
Ohy you Four Winds that blow so strong
And know that this is true^
Stoop for a little and carry my song
To all the men 1 knew !
Where there are fires against the cold^
Or roofs against the rain —
With love fourfold and joy fourfold y
Take them my songs again!
DEDICATION FROM "BARRACK ROOM
BALLADS"
^^HYOND the path of the outmost sun through utter
darkness hurled —
** ^^hcr than ever comet flared or vagrant star-dust swirled —
^vc such as fought and sailed and ruled and loved and made
our world.
*hcy arc purged of pride because they died, they know the
worth of their bays;
*Hcy sit at wine with the Maidens Nine and the Gods of the
Elder Days —
U is their will to serve or be still as fitteth Our Father's praise.
Tis theirs to sweep through the ringing deep where Azrael's
outposts are,
OrhuflFet a path through the Pit's red wrath when God goes
out to war,
Of hang with the reckless Seraphim on the rein of a red-
maned star.
/
96 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
They take their mirth in the jpy of the Earth — they
grieve for her pain.
They know of toil and the end of toil; they know God's
is plain;
So they whistle the Devil to make them sport who know
Sin is vain.
And oft-times cometh our wise Lord God, master of
trade,
And tells them tales of His daily toil, of Edens newly ma^
And they rise to their feet as He passes by, gentlemen ^
afraid.
To these who are cleansed of base Desire, Sorrow and Lts
and Shame —
Gods for they knew the hearts of men, men for they stoops
to Fame —
Borne on the breath that men call Death, my brothel
spirit came.
He scarce had need to doiF his pride or slough the dross
Earth —
E'en as he trod that day to God so walked he from his birth"
In simpleness and gentleness and honour and clean mirth.
So cup to lip in fellowship they gave him welcome high
And made him place at the banquet board — the Strong Me
ranged thereby,
Who had done his work and held his peace and had no fes
to die.
Beyond the loom of the last lone star, through open darkne:
hurled,
Further than rebel comet dared or hiving star-swarm swirlec
Sits he with those that praise our God for that they serve
His world.
INCLUSIVE EDITION. 188&-1918 97
TO THE TRUE ROMANCE
'T'HY/ace is Jar from this our war^
Our call and counter-cry y
I shall not find Thee quick and kindy
Nor know Thee till I die.
Enough for me in dreams to see
And touch Thy garments^ hem:
Thy feet have trod so near to God
I may not follow them 1
Through wantonness if men profess
They weary of Thy parts.
E'en let them die at blasphemy
And perish with their arts;
But we that love, but we that prove
Thine excellence august,
While we adore, discover more
Thee perfect, wise, and just.
Since spoken word Man's Spirit stirred
Beyond his belly-need,
WTiat is is Thine of fair design
In Thought and Craft and Deed.
Each stroke aright of toil and fight,
That was and that shall be.
And hope too high wherefore we die.
Has birth and worth in Thee.
Who holds by Thee hath Heaven in fee
To gild his dross thereby,
And knowledge sure that he endure
A child until he die —
98 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
For to make plain that man's disdain
Is but new Beauty's birth —
For to possess in singleness
The joy of all the earth.
As Thou didst teach all lovers speech
And Life all mystery,
So shalt Thou rule by every school
Till life and longing die.
Who wast or yet the Lights were set,
A whisper in the Void,
Who shalt be sung through planets young
When this is clean destroyed.
Beyond the bounds our staring rounds.
Across the pressing dark.
The children wise of outer skies
Look hitherward and mark
A light that shifts, a glare that drifts.
Rekindling thus and thus,
Not all forlorn, for Thou hast borne
Strange tales to them of us.
Time hath no tide but must abide
The servant of Thy will;
Tide hath no time, for to Thy rhyme
The ranging stars stand still-
Regent of spheres that lock our fears
Our hopes invisible,
Oh 't was certes at Thy decrees
We fashioned Heaven and Hell !
Pure Wisdom hath no certain path
That lacks thy morning-eyne,
And Captains bold by Thee controlled
Most like to Gods design.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 99
Thou art the Voice to kingly boys
To lift them through the fight,
And G>mfortress of Unsuccess,
To give the Dead good-night.
A veil to draw 'twixt God His Law
And Man's infirmity,
A shadow kind to dumb and blind
The shambles where we die;
A rule to trick th' arithmetic,
Too base, of leaguing odds—
The spur of trust, the curb of lust.
Thou handmaid of the Gods!
O Charity, all patiently
Abiding wrack and scaith!
0 Faith, that meets ten thousand cheats
Yet drops no jot of faith!
Devil and brute Thou dost transmute
To higher, lordlier show.
Who art in sooth that lovely Truth
The careless angels know!
Thy face is Jar from this our wary
Our call and counter-cry y
1 may not find Thee quick and kindy
Nor know Thee till I die.
Yet may I look with heart unshook
On blow brought home or missed-
Yet may I hear with equal ear
The clarions down the List;
Yet set my lance above mischance
And ride the barriere —
Ohy hit or misSy how little */ /V,
Siy Lady is not there !
loo RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
SESTINA OF THE TRAMP-ROYAL
1896
§PEAKIN' in general, I 'ave tried 'em aU—
The 'appy roads that take you o'er the worid..
Speakin' in general, I 'aye found them good
For such as cannot use one bed too long.
But must g*t 'ence, the same as I 'ave done.
An' go observin' matters till they die.
What do it matter where or 'ow we die.
So long as we've our 'ealth to watch it all —
The different ways that different things are done»
An' men an' women lovin' in this world;
Takin' our chances as they come along,
An' when they ain't, pretendin' they are good?
In cash or credit — no, it aren't no good;
You 'ave to 'ave the 'abit or you'd die.
Unless you lived your life but one day long.
Nor didn't prophesy nor fret at all.
But drew your tucker some'ow from the world.
An' never bothered what you might ha' done.
But, Gawd, what things are they I 'aven't done!
I've turned my 'and to most, an' turned it good.
In various situations round the world —
For 'im that doth not work must surely die;
But that's no reason man should labour all
'Is life on one same shift — life's none so long.
Therefore, from job to job I've moved along.
Pay couldn't 'old me when my time was done»
For something in my 'ead upset it all.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 loi
**1 1 'ad dropped whatever 't was for good,
v^^> out at sea, be'eld the dock-lights die,
^^ met my mate — the wind that tramps the world!
*^ s like a book, I think, this bloomin' world,
^^hich you can read and care for just so long,
^^t presently you feel that you will die
Unless you get the page you're readin' done,
A^i' turn another — likely not so good;
^ut what you're after is to turn 'em all.
^awd bless this world ! Whatever she 'ath done —
cep' when awful long — I've found it good,
write, before I die, "'E liked it all!"
THE MIRACLES
I 894
T SENT a message to my dear —
A thousand leagues and more to Her-
The dumb sea-levels thrilled to hear.
And Lost Atlantis bore to Her!
Behind my message hard I came.
And nigh had found a grave for me;
But that I launched of steel and fiame
Did war against the wave for me.
Uprose the deep, in gale on gale,
To bid me change my mind again —
He broke his teeth along my rail.
And, roaring, swung behind again.
102 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
I stayed the sun at noon to tell
My way across the waste of it;
I read the storm before it fell
And made the better haste of it.
Afar, I hailed the land at night —
The towers I built had heard of me —
Andy ere my rocket reached its height,
Had flashed my Love the word of me.
Earth sold her chosen men of strength
(They lived and strove and died for me;
To drive my road a nation's length.
And toss the miles aside for me.
I snatched their toil to serve my needs —
Too slow their fleetest flew for me.
I tired twenty smoking steeds,
And bade them bait a new for me.
I sent the Lightnings forth to see
Where hour by hour She waited me.
Among ten million one was She,
And surely all men hated me!
Dawn ran to meet me at my goal —
Ah, day no tongue shall tell again!
And little folk of little soul
Rose up to buy and sell again!
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 188&-1918 103
SONG OF THE WISE CHILDREN
1902
"^^^^EN the darkened Fifties dip to the North,
And frost and the fog divide the air,
the day is dead at his breaking-forth,
Sirs, it is bitter beneath the Bear!
F*a*j- to Southward they wheel and glance,
TTie million molten spears of morn —
T^ We spears of our deliverance
TTiat shine on the house where we were bom.
^ring.fish about our bows.
Flying sea-fires in our wake:
is is the road to our Father's House,
^liither we go for our souls' sake!
^^•^^ have forfeited our birthright,
^e have forsaken all things meet;
< have foraotten the look of light,
AVc have forgotten the scent of heat.
y that walk with shaded brows,
Year by year in a shining land,
y be men of our Father's House,
They shall receive us and understand.
^^'e shall go back by the boltless doors,
^ To the life unaltered our childhood knew —
^o the naked feet on the cool, dark floors.
And the high-ceiled rooms that the Trade blows through:
I04 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
To the trumpet-flowers and the moon beyond.
And the tree-toad's chorus drowning aU —
And the lisp of the split bananas-frond
That talked us to sleep when we were 3mall.
The wayside magic, the threshold spells.
Shall soon undo what the North has done —
Because of the sights and the sounds and the smel
That ran with our youth in the eye of the sun.
And Earth accepting shall ask no vows,
Nor the Sea our love, nor our lover the Sky.
When we return to our Father's House
Only the English shall wonder why!
ZION
I 9 I 4 - I 8
T
HE Doorkeepers of Zion,
They do not always stand
In helmet and whole armour.
With halberds in their hand;
But, being sure of Zion,
And all her mysteries,
They rest awhile in Zion,
Sit down and smile in Zion;
Ay, even jest in Zion;
In Zion, at their ease.
The Gatekeepers of Baal,
They dare not sit or lean.
But fume and fret and posture
And foam and curse between;
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 105
For being bound to Baal,
Whose sacrifice is vain.
Their rest is scant with Baal,
They glare and pant for Baal,
They mouth and rant for Baal,
For Baal in their pain!
But we will go to Zion,
By choice and not through dread,
With these our present comrades
And those our present dead;
And, being free of Zion
In both her fellowships.
Sit down and sup in Zion —
Stand up and drink in Zion
Whatever cup in Zion
Is offered to our lips!
BUDDHA AT KAMAKURA
1892
" And thert is a Japanese idol ai Kamakura **
O
YE who tread the Narrow Way
By Tophet-flare to Judgment Day,
Be gentle when "the heathen" pray
To Buddha at Kamakura!
To him the Way, the Law, apart,
Whom Maya held beneath her heart,
Ananda's Lord, the Bodhisat,
The Buddha of Kamakura.
io6 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
For though he neither burns nor sees.
Nor hears ye thank your Deities,
Ye have not sinned with such as these.
His children at Kamakura,
Yet spare us still the Western joke
When joss-sticks turn to scented smoke
The little sins of little folk
That worship at Kamakura —
The grey-robed, gay-sashed butterflies
That flit beneath the Master's eyes.
He is beyond the Mysteries
But loves them at Kamakunu
And whoso will, from Pride released,
Contemning neither creed nor priest.
May feel the Soul of all the East
About him at Kamakura.
Yea, every tale Ananda heard.
Of birth as fish or beast or bird.
While yet in lives the Master stirred.
The warm wind brings Kamakura.
Till drowsy eyelids seem to see
A-flower 'neath her golden tUee
The Shwe-Dagon flare easterly
From Burmah to Kamakura,
And down the loaded air there comes
The thunder of Thibetan drums.
And droned — **0m mane padme hums^
A world's-width from Kamakura.
^The Buddhist invocation.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 107
Yet Brahmans rule Benares still,
Buddh-Gaya's ruins pit the hill,
And beef-fed zealots threaten ill
To Buddha and Kamakura.
A tourist-show, a legend told,
A rusting bulk of bronze and gold.
So much, and scarce so much, ye hold
The meaning of Kamakura?
But when the morning prayer is prayed.
Think, ere ye pass to strife and trade,
Is God in human image made
No nearer than Kamakura?
THE GREEK NATIONAL ANTHEM
I 9 I 8
^E KNEW thee of old.
Oh divinely restored.
By the light of thine eyes
And the light of thy Sword.
From the graves of our slain
Shall thy valour prevail
As we greet thee again —
Hail, Liberty! Hail!
Long time didst thou dwell
Mid the peoples that mourn,
. Awaiting some voice
That should bid thee return.
io8 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Ah, slow broke that day
And no man dared caU»
For the shadow of tyranny
Lay over all:
And we saw thee sad-eyed.
The tears on thy cheeks
While thy raiment was dyed
In the blood of the Greeks.
Yet, behold now thy sons
With impetuous breath
Go forth to the fight
Seeking Freedom or Death.
From the graves of our slain
Shall thy valour prevail
As we greet thee again
Hail, Liberty! Hail!
THE SEA-WIFE
1893
'TTHERE dwells a wife by the Northern Gate^
And a wealthy wife is she;
She breeds a breed o' rovin' men
And casts them over sea.
And some are drowned in deep water.
And some in sight o* shore,
And word goes back to the weary wife
And ever she sends more.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 109
Tor since that wife had gate or gear,
Or hearth or garth or field,
She willed her sons to the white harvest,
And that is a bitter yield.
She wills her sons to the wet ploughing.
To ride the horse of tree;
.And syne her sons come back again
Far-spent from out the sea.
TTie good wife's sons come home again
With little into their hands,
Sut the lore of men that have dealt with men
In the new and naked lands;
Sut the faith of men that have brothered men
By more than easy breath,
-And the eyes o' men that have read with men
In the open books of Death.
Hich are they, rich in wonders seen.
But poor in the goods o' men;
So what they have got by the skin of their teeth
They sell for their teeth again.
-And whether they lose to the naked life
Or win to their hearts' desire,
TThey tell it all to the weary wife
That nods beside the fire.
Her hearth is wide to every wind
That makes the white ash spin;
And tide and tide and 'tween the tides
Her sons go out and in;
no RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
(Out with great mirth that do desire
Hazard of trackless ways —
In with content to wait their watch
And warm before the bkze);
And some return by failing light.
And some in waking dream.
For she hears the heels of the dripping ghosts
That ride the rough roof-beam. ■
Home, they come home from all the ports.
The living and the dead;
The good wife's sons come home agun
For her blessing on their head!
THE BROKEN MEN
1902
"pOR things we never mention.
For Art misunderstood —
For excellent intention
That did not turn to good;
From ancient tales' renewing,
From clouds we would not clear
Beyond the Law's pursuing
We fled, and settled here.
We took no tearful leaving,
We bade no long good-byes;
Men talked of crime and thieving.
Men wrote of fraud and lies.
To save our injured feelings
'T was time and time to go —
Behind was dock and Dartmoor,
Ahead lay Callao!
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 iii
The widow and the orphan
That pray for ten per cent.
They clapped their trailers on us
To spy the road we went.
They watched the foreign sailings
(They scan the shipping still),
And that's your Christian people
Returning good for ill!
God bless the thoughtfol islands
Where never warrants come;
God bless the just Republics
That give a man a home,
That ask no foolish questions.
But set him on his foet;
And save his wifo and daughters
From the workhouse and the street!
On church and square and market
The noonday silence falls;
You'll hear the drowsy mutter
Of the fountain in our halls.
Asleep amid the yuccas
The city takes her ease —
Till twilight brings the land-wind
To the clicking jalousies.
Day long the diamond weather.
The high, unaltered blue —
The smell of goats and incense
And the mule-bells tinkling through.
Day long the warder ocean
That keeps us from our kin.
And once a month our levee
When the English mail comes In.
112 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
You'll find us up and waiting
To treat you at the bar;
You'll find us less exduuve
Than the average English are.
We'll meet you with a carriage.
Too glad to show you round.
But — ^we do not lunch on steamers,
For they are English ground.
We sail o' nights to England
And join our smiling Boards —
Our wives go in with Viscounts
And our daughters dance with Lords,
But behind our princely doings.
And behind each coup we make.
We feel there's Something Waiting,
And — we meet It when we wake.
Ah God ! One snifF of England —
To greet our flesh and blood —
To hear the traflic slurring
Once more through London mud!
Our towns of wasted honour —
Our streets of lost delight!
How stands the old Lord Warden?
Are Dover's cliffs still white?
GETHSEMANE
I 9 I 4- I 8
TPHE Garden called Gethsemane
In Picardy it was,
And there the people came to see
The English soldiers pass.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 113
We used to pass — we used to pass
Or halt, as it might be,
And ship our masks in case of gas
Beyond Gethsemane.
The Garden called Gethsemane,
It held a pretty lass.
But all the time she talked to me
I prayed my cup might pass.
The officer sat on the chair.
The men lay on the grass.
And all the time we halted there
I prayed my cup might pass.
It didn't pass — it didn't pass —
It didn t pass from me.
I drank it when we met the gas
Beyond Gethsemane.
THE SONG OF THE BANJO
I 894
^OU couldn't pack a Broadwood half a mile —
You mustn't leave a fiddle in the damp —
You couldn't raft an organ up the Nile,
And play it in an Equatorial swamp.
/ travel with the cooking-pots and pails —
I'm sandwiched 'tween the coffee and the pork —
"^d when the dusty column checks and tails,
You should hear me spur the rearguard to a walk!
With my '* PiHy-wi/ly-wwky'Winky'popp !'*
[Oh, it's any tune that comes into my head!]
So I keep 'em moving forward till they drop;
So I play 'em up to water and to bed.
114 RUDYARD KQILOTG^iVERaBi
In the silence of the ctmp befiwe the fi^t* '
When it's goodto mHke your will aodMijr your
You can hear my slrumpty-tumpty ovcnd^^
Explaining ten to one ms tlwrnyi Auf*
I'm me Prophet of the Utterly Absurd}
Of the Patently Impossible and Vun —
And when the Thing that Couldn't hasocoirted.
Give me time to change my leg uid go ■gain.
With my " Tun^a-mmps-iim^ tumfm tumf I"
In the desert where the dun^^ied camp-cmdEe cnilc^
There was never race be^HC ns tUl I led oar ka#
chorus,
I — the war-dnini of the White Man roood the mid*
By the bitter road the Younger Son must tread.
Ere he mn to hearth and saddle of his owni~-
'Mid the riot of the shearers at the shed,
In the silence of the herder's hut alone —
In the twilight, on a bucket upside down.
Hear me babble what the weakest won't confess —
I am Memory and Torment — I am Town!
I am all that ever went with evening dress!
With my " Tuttka-tunka-tunka-tunka-4unk !"
[So the lights — the London Lights — grow near tn^
plain !]
So I rowel 'em afresh towards the Devil and the HeJl^
Till I bring my broken rankers home again.
In desire of many marvels over sea.
Where the new-raised tropic city sweats and toarSt
I have sailed with Young Ulysses from the quay
Till the anchor rumbled down on stranger shores.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 115
is blooded to the open and the sky,
rle is taken in a snare that shall not fail,
i shall hear me singing strongly, till he die,
Like the shouting of a backstay in a gale.
»»»
With my ''Hya ! Heeya ! Heeya ! Hullah ! Haul P
[Oh the green that thunders aft along the deck!]
Are you sick o' towns and men? You must sign and
sail again,
For it's "Johnny Bowlegs, pack your kit and trek!"
Through the gorge that gives the stars at noon-day clear —
Up die pass that packs the scud beneath our wheel —
Round the bluff that sinks her thousand fathom sheer —
Down the valley with our guttering brakes asqueal:
Where the trestle groans and quivers in the snow,
Where the many-shedded levels loop and twine.
Hear me lead my reckless children from below
Till we sing the Song of Roland to the pine!
With my " Tinka^inka^inkaMnkaMnk /"
[Oh the axe has cleared the mountain, croup and crest!]
And we ride the iron stallions down to drink.
Through the canons to the waters of the West!
And the tunes that mean so much to you alone-
Common tunes that make you choke and blow your nose,
V^r tunes that bring the laugh that brings the groan —
I can rip your very heartstrings out with those;
With the feasting, and the folly, and the fun —
And the lying, and the lusting, and the drink,
And the merry play that drops you, when you're done.
To the thoughts that burn like irons if you think.
ii6 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
With my ** PlunkaJunkaJunkaJunkaJunk r*
Here's a trifle on account of pleasure past.
Ere the wit that made you win gives you eyes to
sin
And — the heavier repentance at the last!
Let the organ moan her sorrow to the roof —
I have told the naked stars the Grief of Mui!
Let the trumpet snare the foeman to the proof —
I have known Defeat, and mocked it as we ran!
My bray ye may not alter nor mistake
When I stand to jeer the fatted Soul of
But the Song of Lost Endeavour that I make.
Is it hidden in the twanging of the strings?
With my ** Ta^ra^rara-rara^ra-ra^rrrp /"
[Is it naught to you that hear and pass me by?]
But the word — the word is mine, when the order mov
the line
And the lean, locked ranks go roaring down to die!
The grandam of my grandam was the Lyre —
[O the blue below the little fisher-huts!]
That the Stealer stooping beachward filled with fire,
Till she bore my iron head and ringing guts!
By the wisdom of the centuries I speak —
To the tune of yestermorn I set the truth —
I, the joy of life unquestioned — I, the Greek —
I, the everlasting Wonder-song of Youth!
With my '* Tinka-tinka-tinka-nnka-tink !^*
[What d' ye lack, mv noble masters? What d
lack?]
So I draw the world together link by link:
Yea, from Delos up to Limerick and back!
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 188&-1918 117
THE SPIES' MARCH
> 9 » 3
(** The oatbremk b in full swing and our death-rate would sicken Napoleon.
. . . Dr. M died last week, and C on Monday, but some more
■trdkinei are coining. . . . We don't seem to be able to check it at
iB. . . . Villages |>anicking badly. ... In some places not a liv-
oig sooL . • • But at any rate the experience gained may come in
vseful, so I am keeping my notes written up to date in case of accidents.
• . . Death b a queer chap to live with tor steady company." — Extract
frtm s frinaii Utter from MsnchuHs,)
'THERE are no leaders to lead us to honour, and yet with-
out leaders we sally,
Eadi man repordns for duty alone, out of sight, out of
reach, of his ^llow.
There are no bugles to call the battalions, and yet without
bugle we rally
From the ends of the earth to the ends of the earth, to follow
the Standard of Yellow!
Fallin! Of all in! O fall in I
Not where the squadrons mass,
Not where the bayonets shine.
Not where the big shell shout as they pass
Over the firing-line;
Not where the wounded are,
Not where the nations die,
billed in the cleanly game of war —
That is no place for a spy!
0 Princes, Thrones and Powers, your work is less than ours —
Here is no place for a spy!
Tmned to another use,
^t march with colours furled,
^^ concerned when Death breaks loose
^ i front of half a world.
ii8 RUDYARD KIPLING'S
:^:izK
Only for General Death
The Yellow Flag may fly.
While we take post beneath —
That is the place for a spy.
Where Plague has spread his pinions over Nadoc
Dominions —
Then will be work for a spy I
The dropping shots begjn.
The smgle funerals pass.
Our sldrmishers run in.
The corpses dot the grassl
The howling towns stampede.
The tainted hamlets die.
Now it is war indeed —
Now there is room for a spy!
O Peoples, Kings and Lands, we are waiting your
mands —
What is the work for a spy?
(Drums) — Fear is upon us^ spy!
"Go where his pickets hide —
Unmask the shape they take,
Whether a gnat from the waterside.
Or a stinging fly in the brake.
Or filth of the crowded street.
Or a sick rat limping by.
Or a smear of spittle dried in the heat —
That is the work of a spy!
(Drums) — Death is upon us, spy !
""What does he next prepare?
Whence will he move to attack?^
By water, earth or air? —
How can we head him back?
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 119
Shall we starve him out if we bum
Or bury his food-supply ?
Slip through his lines and learn —
That is work for a spy!
(Drums)^-Get to your businesSy spy I
"Does he feint or strike in force?
Will he charge or ambuscade?
What is it checks his course?
Is he beaten or only delayed?
How long will the lull endure?
Is he retreating? Why?
Crawl to his camp and make sure —
That is the work for a spy!
(Drums) — Fetch us our answer^ spy I
**Ride with him girth to girth
Wherever the Pale Horse wheels
Wait on his councils, ear to earth,
And say what the dust reveals.
For the smoke of our torment rolls
Where the burning thousands lie;
What do we care for men's bodies or souls?
Bring us deliverance, spy!"
THE EXPLORER
1898
X'^ERE'S no sense in going further — it's the edge of
cultivation,"
^ they said, and I believed it — broke my land and sowed
my crop —
^t my bams and strung my fences in the little border
station
Tucked away below the foothills where the trails run out
and stop.
I20 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Till a voice, as bad as Conscience, rang interminable diMoB
On one everlasting Whisper day and night repeated—^
*' Something hidden. Go and find it. Go and look behi^
the Ranges —
" Something Lst behind the Ranges. Lost and waidog ft
you. Go!"
So I went, worn out of patience; never told my neartf
neighbours —
Stole away with pack and ponies — ^left 'em drinking in th
town;
And the faith that moveth mountains didn't seem to help m
labours
As I faced the sheer main-ranges, whipping up and leadin
down.
March by march I puzzled through 'em, turning flanks an
dodging shoulders,
Hurried on in hope of water, headed back for lack of gras
Till I camped above the tree-line — drifted snow and nakc
boulders —
Felt free air astir to windward — knew I'd stumbled on d
Pass.
'Thought to name it for the finder: but that night tl
Norther found me —
Froze and killed the plains-bred ponies; so I called t
camp Despair
(It's the Railway Gap to-day, though). Then my Whisj
waked to hound me: —
"Something lost behind the Ranges. Over yonder! <
you there!"
INCLUSIVE EDITION. 1885-1918 121
Then I knew, the while I doubted — knew His Hand was
certain o'er me.
Sdft— it might be self-delusion — scores of better men had
died —
I ooukl reach the township living, but ... He knows what
terror tore me . . .
But I didn't . . . but I didn't. I went down the other side>
Till die snow ran out in flowers, and the flowers turned to
tbes.
And die aloes sprung to thickets and a brimming stream
ran by;
But the thickets dwined to thorn-scrub, and the water
dnuned to shallows.
And I dropped again on desert — blasted earth, and blasting
sky. . . .
I remember lighting fires; I remember sitting by 'em;
I remember seeing faces, hearing voices, through the smoke;
I remember they were fancy — for I threw a stone to try 'em.
'* Something lost behind the Ranges" was the only word
they spoke.
' remember going crazy. I remember that I knew it
^Micn I heard myself hallooing to the funny folk I saw.
'cr)' full of dreams that desert, but my two legs took me
through it . . .
And I used to watch 'em moving with the toes all black and
raw.
°^t It last the country altered — ^White Man's country past
dispuring —
Rolling grass and open timber, with a hint of hills behind —
There I found me food and water, and I lay a week recruiting.
Got my strength and lost my nightmares. Then I entered
00 my find.
122 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Thence I ran my first rough survey — chose my
blazed and ringed 'em —
Week by week I pried and sampled — ^week by wtck
findings grew.
Saul he went to look for donkeys, and by God he (ofut^
kingdom!
But by God» who sent His Whisper, I had struck the wv^
of two!
Up along the hostile mountuns, where the hur-pdsed ana
slide shivers —
Down and through the big fat marshes that the fiig
ore-bed stains.
Till I heard the mile-wide mutterings of unimagined riven
And beyond the nameless timber saw illimitable plains!
'Plotted sites of future ciries, traced the easy grades betwc
'em;
Watched unharnessed rapids wasting fifty thousand he
an hour;
Counted leagues of water- frontage through the axc-ri
woods that screen 'em —
Saw the plant to feed a people — ^up and wairing for t
power!
Well I know who'll take the credit — all the clever chaps tl
followed —
Came, a dozen men together — never knew my desert-fea
Tracked me by the camps Fd quitted, used the water-he
I'd hollowed.
They'll go back and do the talking. They'll be called \
Pioneers!
They will find my sites of townships — not the cities that I
there.
They will rediscover rivers — not my rivers heard at nigh
By my own old marks and bearings they will show me ho^
get there,
By the lonely .cairns I builded they will guide my feet arig
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 123
wve I named one single river? Have I claimed one single
acre?
Wave I kept one single nugget — (barring samples) ? No,
not I !
Mtcause my price was paid me ten times over by my Maker.
But you wouldn't understand it. You go up and occupy.
Ores you'll find there; wood and cattle; water-transit sure
and steady
(That should keep the railway rates down), coal and iron
at your doors.
God took care to hide that country till He judged His people
ready.
Then He chose me for His Whisper, and I've found it, and
it's yours!
Yc$, your "Never-never country" — yes, your "edge of cul-
tivation"
And "no sense in going further" — till I crossed the range
to see.
God forgive me! No, / didn't. It's God's present to our
nation.
Anybody might have found it but — His Whisper came
to Me!
THE PRO-CONSULS
'THE ovetfaithful sword returns the user
His hearths desire at price of his hearths blood.
The clamour of the arrogant accuser
Wastes that one hour we needed to make good.
This was foretold of old at our outgoing; .
This we accepted who have squandered^ knowings
The strength and glory of our reputations y
At the day^s needy as it were dross y to guard
The tender and new-dedicate foundations
Against the sea we fear — not man^s award.
124 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
They that dig foundations deep.
Fit for realms to rise upon,
Little honour do they reap
Of their generation.
Any more than mountains gain
Stature till we reach the plain.
With no veil before their face
Such as shroud or sceptre lend —
Duly in the market-place,
Of one height to foe and friend —
They must cheapen self to find
Ends uncheapened for mankind.
Through the night when hirelings rest.
Sleepless they arise, alone.
The unsleeping arch to test
And the o'er-trusted corner-stone,
'Gainst the need, they know, that lies
Hid behind the centuries.
Not by lust of praise or show
Not by Peace herself betrayed —
Peace herself must they forego
Till that peace be fitly made;
And in single strength uphold
Wearier hands and hearts acold.
On the stage their act hath framed
For thy sports, O Liberty !
Doubted are they, and defamed
By the tongues their act set free,
While they quicken, tend and raise
Power that must their power displace.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 125
Lesser men feign greater goals.
Failing whereof they may sit
Schcdarly to judge the souls
That go down into the pit.
And, despite its certain clay.
Heave a new world towards the day.
These at labour make no sign.
More than planets, tides or years
Which discover God's design.
Not our hopes and not our fears;
Nor in aught they gain or lose
Seek a triumph or excuse.
FoTy so the Ark be borne to Zion^ who
Heeds how they perished or were paid that bore it ?
For, so the Shrine abide^ what shame — what pride —
IJ we, the priests, were bound or crowned before it ?
THE SEA AND THE HILLS
1902
\yHO hath desired the Sea? — the sight of salt water
unbounded —
^ heave and the halt and the hurl and the crash of the
comber wind-hounded ?
The sleek-barrelled swell before storm, grey, foamless, enor-
mous, and growing —
Stirkcalm on the lap of the Line or the crazy-eyed hurricane
blowing —
136 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
His Sea in no shomn^ the tame— ^lif Sn aod the s^*
'neath each showiw:
His Sea as ane «lT^r"* or thrills?
So and no otherwise — so and no odienriae — Hillmen deJ^
their Hills!
Who hath desired the Sea? — the immenae and contemptooi^
surges?
The shudder, the stumble, the BwervCa sa the atar-atabbistf
bowsprit emerges?
The orderiy clouds of the Tradea, the ridged, roaring ttf^'
phire thereunder —
Unheralded cliff-haunttng flaws and the headaul'a low-nA"
leying thunder —
His Sea in no wonder the same — his Sea and the aame thmq^
each wonder:
His Sea as She rages or stills?
So and no otherwise — so and no otherwise — hillmen denrc=
their Hills.
Who hath desired the Sea? Her menaces swift as hff*
mercies ?
The in-rolling walls of the fog and the silver-winged brcc£-^
that disperses?
The unstable mined berg going South and the calvii^^ in^*
groans that declare it —
White water half-guessed overside and the moon breakin^^
timely to bare it;
His Sea as his fathers have dared — his Sea as his childrecT^
shall dare it:
His Sea as she serves htm or lulls?
So and no otherwise — so and no otherwise — hillmen denie ■*
their Hills.
Who hath desired the Sea? Her excellent loneliness rather
Than forecourts of kings, and her outermost jnta than the
streets where men gather
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 127
Inlmnd, among dust, under trees — inland where the slayer
may slay him —
Inland, out of reach of her arms, and the bosom whereon he
must lay him —
His Sea from the first that betrayed — at the last that shall
never betray him:
His Sea that his being fulfils?
So and no otherwise — so and no otherwise — hillmen desire
their Hills.
ANCHOR SONG
1893
f-IEH! Walk her round. Heave, ah, heave her short
again!
Over, snatch her over, there, and hold her on the pawl.
Loose all sail, and brace your yards back and full —
Ready jib to pay her oflF and heave short all!
Well, ah, fare you well; we can stay no more with you, my
love —
Down, set down your liquor and your girl from off your
knee;
For the wind has come to say:
"You must take me while you may.
If you'd go to Mother Carey
(Walk her down to Mother Carey!),
Oh, we're bound to Mother Carey where she feeds her
chicks at sea!"
Hch! Walk her round* Break, ah break it out o' that!
Break our starboard-bower out, apeak, awash, and clear!
^rt—port she casts, with the harbour-mud beneath her
foot,
And that's the last o' bottom we shall see this year!
128 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Well, ah, fare vou well, for we've got to take hr
again —
Take her out in ballast, riding light and caiigo-free.
And it's time to clear and quit
When the hawser grips the bitt,
So we'll pay you with the roresheet and a promise
the sea!
Heh! Tally on. Aft and walk away with her!
Handsome to the cathead, now; O tally on the fall!
Stop, seize and fish, and easy on the davit-guy.
Up, well up the fluke of her, and inboard haul!
Well, ah, fare you well, for the Channel wind's took hc^^
of us,
Choking down our voices as we snatch the gaskets fr^^*
And it's blowing up for night.
And she's dropping light on light, ^
And she's snorting as she's snatching for a breath c^^
open sea!
Wheel, full and by; but she'll smell her road alone to-night.
Sick she is and harbour-sick — oh, sick to clear the land!
Roll down to Brest with the old Red Ensign over us —
Carry on and thrash her out with all she'll stand!
Well, ah, fare you well, and it's Ushant slams the door
on us,
Whirling like a windmill through the dirty scud to lee,
Till the last, last flicker goes
From the tumbling water-rows.
And we're oflF to Mother Carey
(Walk her down to Mother Carey!),
Oh, we're bound for Mother Carey where she feeds her
chicks at sea!
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 129
RHYME OF THE THREE SEALERS
1893
J WAY by the lands of the Japanee
Where the paper lanterns glow
And the crews of all the shipping drink
In the house of Blood Street Joe^
At twilight^ when the landward breeze
Brings up the harbour noise^
And ebb of Yokohama Bay
Swigs chattering through the buoySy
In Cisco* s Dewdrop Dining Rooms
They tell the tale anew
Of a hidden sea and a hidden fight^
When the Baltic ran from the Northern Light
And the StTdXsMnd fought the two.
Now this is the Law of the Muscovite, that he proves with
shot and steel,
^Micn you come by his isles in the Smoky Sea you must not
take the seal,
^^Ticrc the grey sea goes nakedly between the weed-hung
shelves,
•W the little blue fox he is bred for his skin and the seal they
breed for themselves,
'■or when the matkas^ seek the shore to drop their pups
aland,
The great man-seal haul out of the sea, aroaring, band by
band.
And when the first September gales have slaked their rutting-
wrath,
The great man-seal haul back to the sea and no man knows
their path.
* She-ieals.
I30 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Then dark they lie and stark they lie — rookery, dune, f^
floe,
And the Northern Lights come down o* nights to dance wit
the houseless snow;
And God Who clears the grounding berg and steers tt
grinding floe.
He hears the cry of the little kit-fox and the wind along tt
snow.
But since our women must walk gay and money buys die
gear,
The sealing-boats they filch that way at hazard year by yea
English they be and Japanee that hang on the Brown Bear
flank,
And some be Scot, but the worst of the lot, and the bokte
thieves, be Yank!
It was the sealer Northern Lights to the Smoky Seas she bor
With a stovepipe stuck from a starboard port and the Ru
sian flag at her fore.
{Baltic y Stralsundy and Northern Light — oh! they were hire
of a feather —
Slipping away to the Smoky Seas, three seal-thieves tt
gether!)
And at last she came to a sandy cove and the Baltic la
therein,
But her men were up with the herding seal to drive and du
and skin.
There were fifteen hundred skins abeach, cool pelt and prop
fur.
When the Northern Light drove into the bight and the sc
mist drove with her.
The Baltic called her men and weighed — she could n
choose but run —
For a stovepipe seen through the closing mist, it shows like
four-inch gun
(And loss it is that is sad as death to lose both trip and si
And lie for a rotting contraband on Vladivostok slip).
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 131
^^e turned and dived in the sea-smother as a rabbit dives in
the whins.
And the Northern Light sent up her boats to steal the stolen
skins.
They had not brought a load to side or slid their hatches
clear.
When they were aware of a sloop-of-war, ghost-white and
very near.
Her flag she showed, and her guns she showed — three of
them, black, abeam,
And a funnel white with the crusted salt, but never a show of
steam.
There was no time to man the brakes, they knocked the
shackle free.
And the Northern Light stood out again, goose-winged to
open sea.
(For life it is that is worse than death, by force of Russian
law
To work in the mines of mercury that loose the teeth in your
fney had not run a mile from shore — they heard no shots
behind —
"hen the skipper smote his hand on his thigh and threw her
up in the wind:
Bluffed — raised out on a bluff," said he, "for if my name's
Tom Hall,
Tou must set a thief to catch a thief — and a thief has
caueht us all!
^''y every butt in Oregon and every spar in Maine,
The hand that spilled the wind from her sail was the hand
^^ of Reu ben Paine !
He has rigged and trigged her with paint and spar, and,
faith, he has faked her well —
°^t Pd know the Stralsund*s deckhouse yet from here to
the booms o' Hell.
132 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
''Ohy once we ha' met at Baltimore, and twice on Bottoop^»
"But the sickest day for you, Reuben Paine, was the d^f
that you came here —
''The day that you came here, my lad, to scare us from oor
seal
"With your funnel made o' your painted cloth, and your
guns o' rotten deall
" Ring and blow for the Baltic now, and head her back to the
bay,
"And we'll come into the game again — ^with a double dcd
to play!"
They rang and blew the sealers' call — the poaching-oy of
the sea —
And they raised the Baltic out of the mist, and an angry ship
was she.
And blind they groped through the whirling white and blind
to the bay again,
Till they heard the creak of the Stralsund's boom and the
clank of her mooring chain.
They laid them down by bitt and boat, their pistols in their
belts,
And: "Will you fight for it, Reuben Paine, or will you shtT^
the pelts?"
A dog-toothed laugh laughed Reuben Paine, and bared hi'
flenching-knife.
"Yea, skin for skin, and all that he hath a man will give foi
his life;
But I've six thousand skins below, and Yeddo Port to see.
And there's never a law of God or man runs north of Fifty
Three:
So go in peace to the naked seas with empty holds to fill.
And I'll be good to your seal this catch, as many as I shal
kiU!"
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 133
^swercd the snap of a closing lock — the jar of a gun-butt
slid,
ut the tender fog shut fold on fold to hide the wrong they
did.
le weeping fog rolled fold on fold the wrath of man to
cloak,
s the flame-spurts pale ran down the rail and the sealing-
rifles spoke.
be bullets bit on bend and butt, the splinter slivered free '
itde they trust to sparrow-dust that stop the seal in his
sea!),
^e thick smoke hung and would not shift, leaden it lay and
blue,
it three were down on the Baltic* s deck and two of the
Stralsund's crew.
3 ami's length out and overside the banked fog held them
bound,
at, as they heard or groan or word, they fired at the sound.
» one cried out on the Name of God, and one to have him
cease,
od the questing volley found them both and bade them hold
their peace.
nd one called out on a heathen joss and one on the Virgin's
Name,
^ the schooling bullet leaped across and led them whence
they came.
^ in the waiting silences the rudder whined beneath,
^cach man drew his watchful breath slow-taken 'tween the
teeth —
rigger and ear and eye acock, knit brow and hard-drawn
lips —
acing his feet by chock and cleat for the rolling of the
ships,
i they heard the cough of a wounded man that fought in
the fog for breath,
I they heard the torment of Reuben Paine that wailed
upon his death:
134 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
"The rides they*!! go through Fondy Race, but 111 goiter
more -
"And see the hogs from ebb-dde mark turn scampering b^
to shore.
"No more TU see the trawlers drift bdow the Bass Rock
ground,
"Or watch the tall Fall steamer lights tear hlaang up the
Sound.
" Sorrow is me, in a lonely sea and a sinfiil fig^t I fall,
" But if there's law o' God or man you'll swing for it yetyToo
Hall!"
Tom Hall stood up by the quarter-ndl. "Your words in
your teeth," said he.
"There's never a law of God or man runs north of Fifty-
Three.
"So go in grace with Him to face, and an ill-spent life behind,
"And rU be good to your widows, Rube, as many as I shall
find."
A Stralsund man shot blind and large, and a warlock Rn^*
was he.
And he hit Tom Hall with a bursting ball a hand's-breadth
over the knee.
Tom Hall caught hold by the topping-lift, and sat him do^^
with an oath,
"You'll wait a little, Rube," he said, " the Devil has called f^
both.
"The Devil is driving both this tide, and the killing-groun3
are close,
"And we'll go up to the Wrath of God as the holluschicki^
goes.
"O men, put back your guns again and lay your rifles by,
" We've fought our fight, and the best are down. Let up aia^
let us die!
*Thc young seal.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 135
it firing) by the bow there — quit! Call off the Baltic* s
crew!
"You're sure of Hell as me or Rube — but wait till we get
through/'
There went no word between the ships, but thick and quick
and loud
The life-blood drummed on the dripping decks, with the fog-
dew from the shroud,
The sea-pull drew them side by side, gunnel to gunnel laid.
And they felt the sheer-strakes pound and clear, but never a
word was said.
Then Reuben Paine cried out again before his spirit passed:
Hive I followed the sea for thirty years to die in the dark
at last?
Curse on her work that has nipped me here with a shifty
trick unkind —
I have gotten my death where I got my bread, but I dare
not face it blind.
Curse on the fog! Is there never a wind of all the winds I
knew
*To clear the smother from off my chest, and let me look at
the blue?"
*Hc good fog heard — like a splitten sail, to left and right she
tore,
^nd they saw tne sun-dogs in the haze and the seal upon the
shore.
^Iver and grey ran spit and bay to meet the steel-backed tide,
And pinched and white in the clearing light the crews stared
overside.
O rainbow-gay the red pools lay that swilled and spilled and
spread,
And gold, raw gold, the spent shell rolled between the care-
less dead —
The dead that rocked so drunkenwise to weather and to lee,
And they saw the work their hands had done as God had bade
them see!
••
••
«•
•4
«
ii
136 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
And a little breeze blew over the rail that made the hfiidfrft
lift,
But no man stood by wheel or sheet, and thejr let the achooB-
crs drift.
And the rattle rose in Reuben's throat and he cast his soil
with a cry.
And "Gone already?" Tom.HaU he said. "Then it's dme
for me to die,"
His eyes were heavy with great sleep and yearning for the
land,
And he spoke as a man that talks in dreams, his wound b^
neath his hand.
"Oh, there comes no good o' the westering wind that badEi
against the sun;
Wash down the decks — they're all too red — and share de
skins and run,
BahiCy Stralsundy and Northern Light — clean share and shaf*
for all,
"You'll find the fleets off Tolstoi Mees, but you will not fin^
Tom Hall.
"Evil he did in shoal-water and blacker sin on the deep,
"But now he's sick of watch and trick and now he'll turn sib-'
sleep.
"He'll have no more of the crawling sea that made him su£f(^
so,
" But he'll lie down on the killing-grounds where the hoUv^
schickie go.
"And west you'll sail and south again, beyond the sea-fog'^
rim,
"And tell the Yoshiwara girls to burn a stick for him.
"And you'll not weight him by the heels and dump him over-
side,
" But carry him up to the sand-hollows to die as Bering died,
"And make a place for Reuben Paine that knows the fight
was fair,
"And leave the two that did the wrong to talk it over therel"
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 137
Huf-aemn Mhatdky guess andlead^Jorthesun is mostly veiled-^
'^^hfag iofogj ky luck and logy sail you as Bering sailed;
And ^ ike lighi shall lift aright to give your landfall plain^
ffonh and h westy from Zapne Crest you raise the Crosses
Twain.
Fiir marks are they to the inner bay^ the reckless poacher knowSy
What time the scarred see-catchie^ lead their sleek seraglios.
Em they hear the floe-pack clear y and the blast of the olid bull-
whaUy
hi the deep seal-roar that beats off-shore above the loudest gale.
Eterihey wait the winters hate as the thundering boorga' calls ^
Where northward look they to St. George, and westward to St.
PauFs.
Em they greet the hunted fleet — lone keels off headlands drear —
When the sealing-schooners flit that way at hazard year by year.
Em in Yokohama port men tell the tale anew
Cfe hidden sea and a hidden fight.
When the Baltic ran from the Northern Light
dnJ the Stralsund fought the two.
M'ANDREW'S HYMN
I 893
[^(XlDy Thou hast made this world below the shadow of a
dream,
Ao'ttiught by time, I tak' it so — exceptin* always Steam,
^nxn coupler4Iangie to spindle-guide I see Thy Hand, O
God—
fttdcstination in the stride o' yon connectin'-rod.
Job Calvin might ha' forged the same — enorrmous, certain,
slow —
Vi'ntwght it in the fiimace-flame — my **Institutio."
I cannot get my sleep to-night; old bones are hard to please;
rn stand the middle watch up here — alone wi' God an' these
* The male seal. " Hurricane.
i3« RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
My engines, after ninety days o' race an' rack an' strain
Through all the seas of all Thy world, slam-bangin' honv^
again.
Slam-bang too much — they knock a wee — the crosshemd-
gibs are loose.
But thirty thousand mile o' sea has ^ed them fair ef-
cuse. . • •
Fine, clear an' dark — a full-draught breeze, wi* Ushant oot
o' sight,
An' Ferguson relievin' Hay. Old girl, ye'll walk to-night!
His wife's at Plymouth. . . . Seventy — One — ^Two-
Three since he began —
Three turns for Mistress Ferguson . . . and who's to
blame the man?
There's none at any port for me, by drivin' fast or 9km,
Since Elsie Campbell went to Thee, Lord, thirty years aga
(The year the Sarah Sands was burned. Oh roads we w
to tread,
Fra' Maryhill to PoUokshaws — fra* Govan to ParkheadO
Not but they're ceevil on the Board. Ye'll hear Sir Kenneth
say:
''Good morrn, McAndrew! Back again? An' how's yonr
bilge to-day?" ^
Miscallin' technicalities but handin' me my chair
To drink Madeira wi' three Earls — the auld Fleet Engineer
That started as a boiler-whelp — when steam and he were
low.
I mind the time we used to serve a broken pipe wi' tow!
Ten pound was all the pressure then — Eh! Eh! — a man wad
drive;
An' here, our workin' gauges give one hunder sixty-five!
We're creepin' on wi* each new rig — ^less weight an' larger
power:
There'll be the loco-boiler next an' thirty miles an hour!
Thirty an' more. What I ha* seen since ocean-steam began
Leaves me na doot for the machine: but what about the
man?
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 139
Tht man that counts, wi' all his runs, one million mile o'
sea:
Pour time the span from earth to moon. • . . How far,
O Lord, from Thee
That wast beside him night an' day? Ye mind my first
typhoon?
It scoudied the skipper on his way to jock wi' the saloon.
Three feet were on the stokehold-floor— just slappin' to an'
An' cast me on a furnace-door. I have the marks to show.
Marks! I ha' marks o' more than burns — deep in my soul
an' black.
An' times like this, when things go smooth, my wickud-
neas comes back.
Tlie sins o' four an' forty years, all up an' down the seas.
Clack an' repeat like valves half-fed. . . . Forgie 's our
trespasses!
ighls when I'd come on deck to mark, wi' envy in my gaze,
couples kittlin' in the dark between the funnel-stays;
when I raked the Ports wi' pride to fill my cup o'
Judge nott O Lord, my steps aside at Gay Street in Hong-
Kong!
Bbtout the wastrel hours of mine in sin when I abode —
Jane Harrigan's an* Number Nine, The Rcddick an* Grant
Road!
An* waur than all — my crownin' sin — rank blasphemy an'
wiU.
1 wu not four and twenty then — Ye wadna judge a child?
Id seen the Tropics first that run — new fruit, new smells,
new air —
How could I tell — blind-fou wi* sun — the Deil was lurkin'
there?
By day like playhouse-scenes the shore slid past our sleepy
eyes;
B]r night those soft, lasceevious stars leered from those velvet
14© RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
In port (we used no cargo-steam) I'd daunder down tlK:
streets —
An ijjit grinnin' in a dream — for shells an' parrakeets,
An' waliun'-sticks o' carved bamboo an* bnwfish stuffed u
dried —
Fillin' my bunk wi' nibbishry the Chief put overside.
Till, off Sambawa Head, Ye mind, I beard a land-breeze ca*
Milk-warm wi' breath o' spice an' bloom: "McAndrew, cchbc
awa' ! "
Firm, clear an' low — no haste, no hate — the ghostly whi*-
per went,
Just statin' cevidenrial facts beyon' all argument:
"Your mither's God's a graspin' deil, the shadow o' yoursd',
"Got out o' books by meenisters clean daft on Heaven an'
Hell.
"They mak' him in the Broomielaw, o' Glasgie cold an' dirt,
"A jealous, pridefia' fetich, lad, that's only strong to hurt,
"Ye'U not go back to Him again an' kiss His red-hot rod,
"But come wi* Us" (Now, who were They ?) "an' know the
Leevin' God,
"That does not kipper souls for sport or break a life in jest,
"But swells the ripenin' cocoanuts an' ripes the woman's
breast."
An' there it stopped: cut off: no more; that quiet, certain
voice —
For me, six months o' twenty-four, to leave or take at choice.
'Twas on me like a thunderclap — it racked me throu^ an'
through —
Temptation past the show o' speech, unnameable an' new —
The Sin against the Holy Ghost? . . . An' under aU^
our screw.
That storm blew by but left behind her anchor-shiftin' swelH
Thou knowest all my heart an' mind, Thou knowest, Lord,
fell.
Third on the Mary Gloster then, and first that night in Hel!3
Yet was Thy Hand beneath my head, about my feet Thy Care —
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 141
^ Dcli clear to Torres Strait, the trial o' despair,
^^ ^hen we touched the Barrier Reef Thy answer to my
praycrl ...
^^ dared na run that sea by night but lay an' held our
fire,
Aa* I was drowsin' on the hatch — sick — sick wi' doubt an*
tire:
**Befier the sight of eyes that see than wanderin* 0' desire ! "
femind that word? Clear as our gongs — again, an' once
again,
When rippin' down through coral-trash ran out our moorin'-
chain;
b', by Thy Grace, I had the Light to see my duty plain. •
Light on the engine-room — no more — bright as our carbons
bum.
I'vcbst it since a thousand times, but never past return!
*•• • • •••
^bsairve. Per annum we'll have here two thousand souls
aboard —
rhink not I dare to justify myself before The Lord,
8ut— average fifteen hunder souls safe-borne fra' port to
Um 0 service to my kind. Ye wadna blame the thought?
^ybe they steam from Grace to Wrath — to sin by folly
led—
Itisna mine to judge their path — their lives are on my head.
Mine at the last — when all is done it all comes back to me,
The fault that leaves six thousand ton a log upon the sea.
iVe'U tak' one stretch — three weeks an* odd by ony road ye
steer —
^ra' Cape Town east to Wellington — ye need an engineer,
'ail there — ye've time to weld your shaft — ay, eat it, ere
ye're spoke;
t make Kerguelen under sail — three jiggers burned wi'
smoke!
n' home again — the Rio run: it's no child's play to go
eamin' to bell for fourteen days o' snow an' floe an' blow.
142 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
The bergs like kelpies overside that gim an' turn an* shift
Whaur, grindin' like the Mills o' God, goes by the big SoatI
drift.
(Hail, Snow and Ice that praise the Lord. Tve met them
at their work,
An' wished we had anither route or they anither kirk.)
Yon's strain, hard strain, o' head an' hand, for though Tlif
Power brings
All skill to naught, Ye'll understand a man must think o'
things.
Then, at the last, we'll get to port an' hoist their baggige
clear —
The passengers, wi' gloves an' canes — an' this is what III
hear:
"Well, thank ye for a pleasant voyage. The tender's comifl'
now."
While I go testin' follower-bolts an' watch the skipper bow.
They've words for every one but me — shake hands wi* hJi
the crew,
Except the dour Scots engineer, the man they never knew.
An* yet I like the wark for all we've dam' few pickins
here —
No pension, an' the most we'll earn 's four hunder pound »
year.
Better myself abroad? Maybe. Pd sooner starve than sail
Wi* such as call a snifter-rod ross. . . . French for night-
ingale.
Commeesion on my stores? Some do; but I cannot afford
To lie like stewards wi' patty-pans. I'm older than the
Board.
A bonus on the coal I save ? Ou ay, the Scots are close.
But when I grudge the strength Ye gave I'll grudge their
food to those,
(There's bricks that I might recommend — an' clink the fire-
bars cruel.
No! Welsh — Wangarti at the worst — an' damn all paten
fuel!)
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 143
Infentions? Ye must stay in port to mak' a patent pay.
My Deeferential Valve-Gear taught me how that business
I hiime no chaps wi' clearer heads for aught they make or sell.
/ found that I could not invent an' look to these as well.
So, wrestled wi* Apollyon — Nah ! — fretted like a bairn —
But burned the workin'-plans last run wi* all I hoped to earn.
Yc know how hard an Idol dies, an' what that meant to me —
E'en tak* it for a sacrifice acceptable to Thee. . . .
Bihw there ! Oiler ! IVhat's your wark f Ye find it runnin*
hard?
Ye needn't swill the cup wi* oil— this isn't the Cunard !
Ye thought f Ye are not paid to think. Goy sweat that off
again !
Td! Tck! It's deeficult to sweer nor tak' The Name in
vain!
Men, ay an' women, call me stern. Wi* these to oversee
Yc*ll note I've little time to burn on social repartee.
The bairns see what their elders miss; they'll hunt me to an'
fro,
Till for the sake of — well, a kiss — I tak* *em down below.
That minds me of our Viscount loon — Sir Kenneth's kin —
the chap
Wi* Russia leather tennis-shoon an' spar-decked yachtin'-cap.
I showed him round last week, o'er all — an' at the last says
he:
"Mister Mc Andrew, don't you think steam spoils romance
at sea?"
Damned ijjit! I'd been doon that morn to see what ailed
the throws,
Manholin', on my back — the cranks three inches off my nose.
Romance! Those first-class passengers they like it very well,
Printed an* bound in little books; but why don't poets tell?
I*m tick of all their quirks an' turns — the loves an' doves
they dream —
I^, send a man like Robbie Burns to sing the Song o'
Steam !
144 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
To match wi' Scotia's noblest speech yon orchestra subliae
Whaurto — uplifted like the Just — the tail-rods mark tk
time.
The crank-throws give the double-bass, the feed-pump lobi
an' heaves,
An' now the main eccentrics start their quarrel on tk
sheaves:
Her time, her own appointed time, the rocking link-hctd
bides,
Till — hear that note? — the rod's return whings glimmerin'
through the guides.
They're all awa! True beat, full power, the dangin' dhom
goes
Clear to the tunnel where they sit, my purrin' dynamoei
Interdependence absolute, foreseen, ordained, decreed,
To work. Ye '11 note, at any tilt an' every rate o' speed.
Fra skylight-lift to furnace-bars, backed, bolted, braced id
stayed.
An' singin' like the Mornin' Stars for joy that they are made;
While, out o' touch o* vanity, the sweatin' thrust-bloc^
says:
"Not unto us the praise, or man — not unto us the praise i
Now, a' together, hear them lift their lesson — theirs 3^
mine:
"Law, Orrder, Duty an' Restraint, Obedience, Discipline -
Mill, forge an* try-pit taught them that when roarin' th^
arose,
An* whiles I wonder if a soul was gied them wi' the blows.
Oh for a man to weld it then, in one trip-hammer strain.
Till even first-class passengers could tell the meanin' plain!
But no one cares except mysel' that serve an' understand
My seven thousand horse-power here. Eh, Lord! They're
grand — they're grand 1
Uplift am I? When first in store the new-made beastid
stood,
Were Ye cast down that breathed the Word dedarin' al
things good ?
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 145
Not ao! O* that warld-Iiftin' joy no after-fall could vex,
YcVc left a glimmer still to cheer the Man — the Arrtifex!
That holds, in spite o' knock and scale, o' friction, waste an'
slip,
An' by that light — ^now, mark my word — ^we'U build the
Perfect Ship,
m never last to judge her lines or take her curve — not I.
But I ha' lived an' I ha' worked. Be thanks to Thee, Most
High!
An' I ha* done what I ha' done — judge Thou if ill or well —
Always Thy Grace preventin' me. . . .
Losh! Yon's the "Stand-by" beU.
Klot so soon? His flare it is. The mornin'-watch is set.
Wdl, God be thanked, as I was say in', I'm no Pelagian yet.
Now I'll tak' on. . . .
*Momt, Ferguson. Mariy have ye ever thought
ff^ your good leddy costs in coal ? . . . /'// bum ^em
down to port.
MULHOLLAND'S CONTRACT
I 894
jTlE fear was on the cattle, for the gale was on the sea.
An' the pens broke up on the lower deck an' let the crea-
tures free —
^* the lights went out on the lower deck, an' no one near but
me.
/ had been singin' to them to keep 'em quiet there,
For the lower deck is the dangerousest, requirin* constant
care,
In' give to me as the strongest man, though used to drink
and swear.
146 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
I seed my chance was certain "of bein* homed or trod.
For the lower deck was packed with steers thicker*n
in a pod,
An' more pens broke at every roll — so I made a Con
with God.
An' by the terms of the Contract, as I have read the sa
If He got me to port alive I would exalt His Name,
An' praise His Holy Majesty till further orders came.
He saved me from the cattle an' He saved me from die
For they found me 'tween two drownded ones where the
had landed me —
An' a four-inch crack on top of my head, as crazy as couk
But that were done by a stanchion, an' not by a bullock ai
An' I lay still for seven weeks convalescing of the fall,
An'readin'the shiny Scripture texts in the Seaman's Hosp
An' I spoke to God of our Contract, an' He says to my pra
'*I never puts on My ministers no more than they can 1:
**So back you go to the cattle-boats an' preach My Gc
there.
"For human life is chancy at any kind of trade,
" But most of ail, as well you know, when the steers are n
afraid;
**So you go back to the cattle-boats an' preach 'em as
said.
"They must quit drinkin' an' swearin', they mustn't knil
a blow,
"They must quit gamblin' their wages, and you must pr
it so;
" For now those boats are more like Hell than anything
I know."
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 147
' didn't want to do it, for I knew what I should get,
'^n' I wanted to preach Religion, handsome an' out of the
wet,
But the Word of the Lord were laid on me, an' I done what I
was set.
I have been smit an' bruised, as warned would be the case.
An' turned my cheek to the smiter exactly as Scripture says;
But» following that, I knocked him down an' led him up to
Grace.
An' we have preaching on Sundays whenever the sea is calm.
An' I use no knife or pistol an' I never take no harm.
For the Lord abideth back of me to guide my fighting arm.
An' I Mgn for four-pound-ten a month and save the money
clear,
•^' I am in charge of the lower deck, an' I never lose a steer;
An' I believe in Almighty God an' I preach His Gospel here.
The skippers say I'm crazy, but I can prove 'em wrong,
^or I am in charge of the lower deck with all that doth be-
long—
'^hich they would not give to a lunatic^ and the competition
so strong I
THE "MARY GLOSTER"
I 894
J*VE paid for your sickest fancies; I've humoured your
crackedest whim —
'^k, it's your daddy, dying; you've got to listen to him!
^*^ for a fortnight, am I? The doctor told you? He lied.
• Aall go under by morning, and Put that nurse out-
side.
^
148 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
^Never seen death yet, Dickie? Well, now is your time to
learn,
And you'll wish you held my record before it comes to fff
turn.
Not counting the Line and the Foundry, the Yatds and At
village, too,
I've made myself and a million; but I'm damned if I nMit
you.
Master at two-and-twenty, and married at twen^-dine-
Ten thousand men on the pay-roll, and forty frtightenit
sea!
Fifty years between 'em, and every ]rear of it fight,
And now I'm Sir Anthony Gloster, dyings a baronite:
For I lunched with his Royal 'Ighness — ^what was it tk
papers had?
"Not least of our merchant-princes." Dickie, that's fflCi
your dad!
/ didn't begin with askings. / took my job and I stuck;
I took the chances they wouldn't, an* now they're calfingit
luck.
Lord, what boats I've handled — rotten and leaky and old!
Ran 'em, or — opened the bilge-cock, precisely as I was told.
Grub that 'ud bind you crazy, and crews that 'ud turn yw
grey,
And a big fat lump of insurance to cover the risk on the wiy.
The others they dursn't do it; they said they valued their
life
(They've served me since as skippers). / went, and I took
my wife.
Over the world I drove 'em, married at twenty-three,
And your mother saving the money and making a man of me*
/ was content to be master, but she said there was better
behind;
She took the chances I wouldn't, and I followed your mother
blind.
She egged me to borrow the money, an* she helped me to dear
the loan,
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 149
When we bought half-shares in a cheap 'un and hoisted a flag
of our own.
Patching and coaling on credit, and living the Lord knew how.
We started the Red Qx freighters — ^weVe eight-and-thirty
now.
And those were the days of clippers, and the freights were
dipper-freights.
And we knew we were making our fortune, but she died in
Macassar Straits —
By the Little Paternosters, as you come to the Union Bank —
And we dropped her in fourteen fathom; I pricked it o£F
where she sank.
Owners we were, full owners, and the boat was christened for
her.
And she died in the Mary Gloster. My heart, how young we
were!
So I went on a spree round Java and well-nigh ran her ashore.
But your mother came and warned me and I wouldn't liquor
no more:
Strict I stuck to my business, afraid to stop or Td think,
Saving the money (she warned me), and letting the other men
drink.
And I met M'CuUough in London (I'd saved five 'undred
then).
And *tween us we started the Foundry — three forges and
twenty men:
Cheap repairs for the cheap 'uns. It paid, and the business
gfcw.
For I bought me a steam-lathe patent, and that was a gold
mine too.
"Qieaper to build 'em than buy 'em," /said, but M'CuUough
he shied.
And we wasted a year in talking before we moved to the
Clyde.
And the Lines were all beginning, and we all of us started fair,
Building our engines like houses and staying the boilers
square.
ISO RUDYARD KIPUKG'S VERSE
But M'Cullough 'e wanted cabins with marble and iuBpleinl
all,
And Brussels an' Utrecht velvet, and baths and a Social HiU,
And pipes for closets all over, and cutting the frames too Ught,
But M'Cullough he died in the Sixties, and Welitl'tt
dying to-night. ...
I knew — 1 knew what was coming, whoi we bid on 4
Byfieet's keel—
They piddled and piffled with iron. I'd gjven 107 otdoii
steel !
Steel and the 6rst expansions. It paid, I tell yen, it pnd,
When we came with our nine-knot (reighten and collaied rfit
long-run trade!
And they asked me how I did it, and I gave 'em the ScriptuK
text,
"You keep your light so shining a little in front o' t)i6 next!"
They copied all they could follow, but they couldn't copy "f
mind,
And I left 'em sweating and stealing a year and a half behiniL
Then came the armour-contracts, but that was M'Culloi^^
side;
He was always best in the Foundrv, but better, pei^apt,k
died.
I went through his private papers; the notes was pluV
than print;
And I'm no fool to finish if a man'Il give me a hint.
(I remember his widow was angry.) So 1 saw what his drt*".
ings meant,
And I started the six-inch rollers, and it pud me uxtyp^
cent.
Sixty per cent with failures, and more than twice we could dOi ]
And a quarter-million to credit, and I saved it all for you!
I thought — it doesn't matter — you seemed to favour your ntt
But you're nearer forty than thirty, and I know the land
you are.
Harrer an' Trinity College! I ought to ha' sent you tnaet—
But I stood you an education, an' what have you done for mef
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 iji
The things I knew was proper you wouldn't thank me to give,
And the things I knew was rotten you said was the way to
live.
For jrou muddled with books and pictures, an' china an'
etchin's an' fans,
.^nd your rooms at college was beastly — more like a whore's
than a man's;
Till you married that thin-flanked woman, as white and as
stale as a bone.
An' she gave you your social nonsense; but where 's that kid
o' your own?
Tn wen your carriages blocking the half o' the Cromwell
Road,
Bgi never the doctor's brougham to help the missus unload.
(So there isn't even a grandchild, an' the Gloster family's
done.)
Not like your mother, she isn't. S/>f carried her freight each
run.
But they died, the pore little beggars! At sea she had 'em
— they died.
Only you, an' you stood it. You haven't stood much beside.
Wok, t liar, and idle, and mean as a collier's whelp
Nonn{{ for scraps in the galley. No help — my son was no
help!
Sohe^tl three 'undrcd thousand, in trust and the interest
raid.
Iwulon't give it you, Dickie — you see, 1 made it in trade.
Yw'rc Mved from soiling your fingers, and If you have no
chUd.
It ill comes back to the business. 'Gad, won't your wife be
wildl
CaUsand calls in her carnage, her "andkcrchief up to 'crcyc:
"Ottddy! dear daddy's dyin'!" and doing her best to cry.
Graicfulf Oh, yes, I'm grateful, but keep her away from
bcK.
Ttor notbcr 'ud never ha' stood 'cr, and, anyhow,
152 RUDYARD KIPLING^ VERSE
There's women will say I've married a second time.
quite!
But give pore Aggie a hundred, and tell her your lawye
fight.
She was the best o' the boiling — you'll meet her before it Q
I'm in for a row with the mother — I'll leave you aetde
friends.
For a man he must go with a woman, which women dc
understand —
Or the sort that say they can see it they aren't the marrj
brand.
But I wanted to speak o' your mother that's Lady Gki
still;
I'm going to up and see her, irithout its hurting the wilL
Here! Take your hand off the bell-puU. Five thousai
waiting for you,
If you'll only listen a minute, and do as I bid you do.
They'll try to prove me crazy, and, if you bungle, they c
And I've only you to trust to! (O God, why ain't it a ms
There's some waste money on marbles, the same as M'(
lough tried —
Marbles and mausoleums — but I call that sinful pride.
There's some ship bodies for burial — we've carried '<
soldered and packed;
Down in their wills they wrote it, and nobody called ti
cracked.
But me — I've too much money, and people might .
All my fault:
It come o' hoping for grandsons and buying that Wd
vault. . . .
I'm sick o' the 'ole dam' business. I'm going back whe
came.
Dick, you're the son o' my body, and you'll take charg
the same!
I want to lie by your mother, ten thousand mile away.
And they'll want to send me to Woking; and that's w
you'll earn your pay.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 153
V've thought it out on the quiet, the same as it ought to be
done —
f^t, and decent, and proper — an' here's your orders, my
$on.
Tgo know the Line? You don't, though. You write to the
Board, and tell
Tout father's death has upset you an" you're goin' to cruise
for a spell.
An' you'd like the Mary Glosler — I've held her ready for
this —
The>''Il put her in working order and you'll take her out as
she is.
Yd, it was money idle when I patched her and laid her aside
(Thank God, 1 can pay for my fancies!) — the boat where
your mother died.
By ilic Ijttle Paternosters, as you come to the Union Bank,
Wc dropped her — I think 1 told you — ^and I pricked it off
where she sank.
ni"y »he looked on the grating — that oily, treacly sea— J
Ibndred and Eighteen East, remember, and South just
Three.
Euy bearings to carry — Three South — Three to the dot;
801 ! gave McAndrew a copy in case of dying — or not.
And to you'll write to McAndrew, he's Chief of the Maori
Ijne;
HejflJ give him leave, if you ask 'em and say it's business o'
mine.
Ihidt three boats for the Maoris, an" very well pleased they
wwe,
Ai' I've known Mac since the Fifties, and Mac knew me —
and her.
After the first stroke warned me I sent him the money to keep
Against the time you'd claim it, committin' your dad to the
deep;
For you are the son o' my body, and Mac was my oldest
friend,
I'k never adud 'in to dinner, but hell see it out to the end.
154 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Stiff-necked Glasgow beggar! I've heard he's prayed C
my soul.
But he couldn't lie if you paid him, and he'd starve befaie
stole.
He'll take the Mary in ballast — ^jrou'll find her a live
ship;
And you'll take Sir Anthony Gloster, that goes on 'is weddiiy
trip.
Lashed in our old deck-cabin with all three portJiales inde»
The kick o' the screw beneath him and the round bhie leii
outside!
Sir Anthony Gloster's carriage — our 'ouae-flag flyin* fitc-
Ten thousand men on the pay-roll and forty mightenit
sea!
He made himself and a million, but this world is a fleetia'
show.
And he'll go to the wife of 'is bosom the same as he ought to
go—
By the heel of the Paternosters — there isn't a chance to
mistake —
And Mac'll pay you the money as soon as the bubbles break.
Five thousand for six weeks' cruising, the staunchest freighter
afloat,
And Mac he'll give you your bonus the minute I'm out o* the
boat !
He'll take you round to Macassar, and you'll come back
alone;
He knows what I want o' the Mary. . . . I'll do what I
please with my own.
Your mother *ud call it wasteful, but I've seven-and-thirty
more;
rU come in my private carriage and bid it wait at th<
door.
For my son 'e was never a credit: 'e muddled with books a^
art,
And 'e lived on Sir Anthony's money and 'e broke Sir A
thony's heart.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 188S-1918 155
There isn't even a grandchild, and the Gloster family's
done —
The only one you left me, O mother, the only one!
Harrer and Trinity College — me slavin' early an' late —
An* he thinks I'm dying crazy, and you're in Macassar
Strait!
Flesh o' my flesh, my dearie, for ever an' ever amen.
That first stroke come for a warning. I ought to ha' gone to
you then.
But— cheap repairs for a cheap 'un — the doctors said I'd
do.
Mary, why didn't ^ow warn me? I've alius heeded to you,
Exccp' — I know — about women; but you are a spirit now;
An*, wife, they was only women, and I was a man. That's
how.
An' a man 'e must go with a woman, as you could not under-
stand;
But I never talked 'em secrets. I paid 'em out o' hand.
Thank Gawd, I can pay for my fancies! Now what's five
thousand to me.
For a berth oflF the Paternosters in the haven where I would
be?
/believe in the Resurrection, if I read my Bible plain.
But I wouldn't trust *em at Wokin'; we're safer at sea again.
For the heart it shall go with the treasure — go down to the
sea in ships.
l*m sick of the hired women. I'll kiss my girl on her lips!
I'll be content with my fountain. I'll drink from my own
well.
And the wife of my youth shall charm me — an' the rest can
go to Hell !
(Dickie, he will, that's certain.) I'll lie in our standin'-bed,
An' Mac'll take her in ballast — an' she trims best by the
head. ...
Down by the head an' sinkin*, her fires are drawn and cold.
And the water's splashin' hollow on the skin of the empty
hold—
IS6 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Churning an' choking and chuckling, quiet and scummy
dark —
Full to her lower hatches and risin' steady. Hark!
That was the after-bulkhead. • . . She's flooded fi m
stem to stern. . . .
'Never seen death yet, Dickie? . . • Well, now is y — «"
time to learn!
THE BALLAD OF THE "BOLIVAR"
1890
«
QEVEN men from all the world hack to Docks agmin.
Rolling down the Ratcliffe Road drunk and raising
Give the girls another drink fore we sign away —
IFe that took the " Bolivar" out across the Bay I
We put out from Sunderland loaded down with rails;
We put back to Sunderland 'cause our cargo shifted;
We put out from Sunderland — met the winter gales —
Seven days and seven nights to the Start we drifted.
Racketing her rivets loose, smoke-stack white as sno
All the coals adrift adeck, half the rails below.
Leaking like a lobster-pot, steering like a dray —
Out we took the Bolivar ^ out across the Bay!
One by one the Lights came up, winked and let us by;
Mile by mile we waddled on, coal and fo'c'sle short;
Met a blow that laid us down, heard a bulkhead fly;
Left The Wolf behind us with a two-foot list to port.
Trailing like a wounded duck, working out her soul;
Clanging like a smithy-shop after every roll;
Just a funnel and a mast lurching through the spra]
So we threshed the Bolivar out across the Bay!
INCXUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 157
^elt her hog and felt her sag, betted when she'd break;
Wondered every time she raced if she'd stand the shock;
Heard the seas like drunken men pounding at her strake;
Hoped the Lord 'ud keep his thumb on the plummer-
block!
Banged against the iron decks, bilges choked with coal;
Flayed and frozen foot and hand, sick of heart and soul;
'Last we prayed she'd buck herself into Judgment Day —
Hi! we cursed the Bolivar knocking round the Bay I
O her nose flung up to sky, groaning to be still —
Up and down and back we went, never time for breath;
Then the money paid at Lloyd's caught her by the keel.
And the stars ran round and round dancin' at our death!
Aching for an hour's sleep, dozing off between;
*Heard the rotten rivets draw when she took it green;
Watched the compass chase its tail like a cat at play —
That was on the Bolivar ^ south across the Bay!
^ce we saw between the squalls, lyin' head to swell —
^4ad with work and weariness, wishin* they was we —
*J^« damned Liner's lights go by like a grand hotel;
Cheered her from the Bolivar swampin' in the sea.
Then a grey back cleared us out, then the skipper laughed;
" Boys, the wheel has gone to Hell — rig the winches aft 1
*'Yoke the kicking rudder-head — get her under way!"
So we steered her, puUy-haul, out across the Bay!
J ^st a pack o' rotten plates puttied up with tar,
^'^ we came, an' time enough, 'cross Bilbao Bar.
^^crloaded, undermanned, meant to founder, we
E-^ichred God Almighty's storm, bluffed the Eternal Sea!
158 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Seven men from all the world back to town again ^
Rollin* down the Ratcliffe Road drunk and raising Cairn
Seven men from out of HelL Ain*t the owners gay^
^ Cause we took the ''Bolivar" safe across the Bay f
THE BALLAD OF THE " CLAMPHERDOWl
1892
TT WAS our war-ship Clampherdown
Would sweep the Channel clean,
Wherefore she kept her hatches close
When the merry Channel chops arose.
To save the bleach'ed Marine.
She had one bow-gun of a hundred ton,
And a great stern-gun beside.
They dipped their noses deep in the sea,
They racked their stays and stanchions free
In the wash of the wind-whipped tide.
It was our war-ship Clampherdown
Fell in with a cruiser light
That carried the dainty Hotchkiss gun
And a pair of heels wherewith to run
From the grip of a close-fought Aght.
She opened fire at seven miles —
As ye shoot at a bobbing cork —
And once she fired and twice she fired.
Till the bow-gun drooped like a lily tired
That lolls upon the stalk.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918
"Captun, the bow-gun melts apace,
"The deck-beams break below,
" Twere well to rest for an hour or twain,
"And botch the shattered plates again."
And he answered, "Make it so."
She opened fire within the mile —
As you shoot at the flying duck —
And the great stem-gun shot fair and true,
Wth thehcavcof the ship, to the stainless blue,
.And the great stem-turret stuck.
"Captain, the turret fills with steam,
"The feed-pipes burst below —
" You can hear the hiss of the helpless ram,
"You can hear the twisted runners jam."
And he answered, "Turn and go!"
It was our war-ship Clampherdown,
And grimly did she roll;
Swung round to take the cruiser's fire
As the White Whale faces the Thresher's ire
When they war by the frozen Pole.
"Captain, the shells arc falling fast,
"And faster still fall we;
"And it is not meet for English stock
"To bide in the heart of an eight-day clock
"The death they cannot sec."
"Lie down, lie down, my bold A. B.,
"We drift upon her beam;
"We dare not ram, for she can run:
"And dare ye fire another gun,
"And die in the peeling steam?"
i6o RUDYARD KIPLING^ VERSE
It was our war-ship Clamphenbmn
That carried an armour-bdt;
But fifty feet at stem and bow
Lay bare as the paunch of the purser's sow.
To the hail of the Nordenfeldt.
" Captain, they lack us through and through;
"The chilled steel bolts are swifti
" We have emptied the bunkers in open sea,
" Their shrapnel bursts where our coal should be.'*
And he answered, "Let her drift."
It was our war-ship Clampherdowny
Swung round upon the tide.
Her two dumb guns glared south and north.
And the blood and the bubbling steam ran forth,
And she ground the cruiser's side.
"Captain, they cry, the fight is done,
"They bid you send your sword."
And he answered, "Grapple her stern and bow.
"They have asked for the steel. They shall have
it now;
"Out cutlasses and board!"
It was our war-ship Clampherdown
Spewed up four hundred men;
And the scalded stokers yelped delight.
As they rolled in the waist and heard the fight.
Stamp o'er their steel-walled pen.
They cleared the cruiser end to end
From conning-tower to hold.
They fought as they fought in Nelson's fleet;
They were stripped to the waist, they were bare
to the feet.
As it was in the days of old.
INCLUSIVE EDITION. 1885-1918
It was the unking Ciampkerdovm
Heaved up her battered side —
And carried a million pounds in steel,
To the cod and the corpse-fed conger-ccl.
And the scour of the Channel tide.
It was the crew of the Clampherdovin
Stood out to sweep the sea,
On a cruiser won from an ancient fee.
As it was in the days of long ago,
And as it still shall be!
I 899
AS OUR mother the Frigate, bepainted and fine,
Made play for her bully the Ship of the Line;
So we, her bold daughters by iron and fire.
Accost and decoy to our masters' desire.
Now, pray you, consider what toils we endure,
N'ight- walking wet sea-lanes, a guard and a lure;
Since half of our trade is that same pretty sort
As mettlesome wenches do practise in port.
For this is our office: to spy and make room.
As hiding yet guiding the foe to their doom.
Surrounding, confounding, we bait and betray
.\nd tempt them to battle the seas* width away.
The pot-bellied merchant foreboding no wrong
With headlight and sidelight he Hcth along.
Till, lightlcss and lightfoot and lurking, leap we
To force him discover his business by sea.
i62 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
And when we have wakened the lust of a foe,
To draw him by flight toward our bullies we go,
Till, 'ware of strange smoke stealing nearer, he flies
Or our bullies close in for to make him good prize.
So, when we have spied on the path of their host.
One flieth to carry that word to the coast;
And, lest by false doublings they turn and go free.
One lieth behind them to follow and see.
Anon we return, being gathered agun.
Across the sad valleys all drabbled with rain —
Across the grey ridges all crisped and curled —
To join the long dance round the curve of the world.
The bitter salt spindrift, the sun-glare likewise.
The moon-track a-tremble, bewilders our eyes.
Where, linking and lifting, our sisters we hail
'Twixt wrench of cross-surges or plunge of head-gale.
As maidens awaiting the bride to come forth
Make play with light jestings and wit of no worth,
Sojwiddershins circling the bride-bed of death.
Each fleereth her neighbour and signeth and saith: —
"What see ye? Their signals, or levin afar?
"What hear ye? God's thunder, or guns of our war?
"What mark ye? Their smoke, or the cloud-rack outblo\
"What chase ye? Their lights, or the Daystar low dowi
So, times past all number deceived by false shows.
Deceiving we cumber the road of our foes.
For this is our virtue: to track and betray;
Preparing great battles a sea's width away.
Now peace is at end and our peoples take hearty
For the laws are clean gone that restrained our art;
Up and down the near headlands and against the far wind
fVe are loosed (0 be swift !) to the work of our kind!
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 188S-1918 163
THE VERDICTS
(Jutland)
I 9 I 6
JO'OT in the thick of the fight,
Not in the press of the odds.
Do the heroes come to their height,
Or we know the demi-gods.
That stands over till peace.
We can only perceive
Men returned from the seas.
Very grateful for leave.
They grant us sudden days
Snatched from their business of war;
But we are too close to appraise
What manner of men they are.
And, whether their names go down
With age-kept victories,
Or whether they battle and drown
Unreckoned, is hid from our eyes.
They are too near to be great.
But our children shall understand
When and how our fate
Was changed, and by whose hand.
Our children shall measure their worth.
We are content to be blind . . .
But we know that we walk on a new-born earth
With the saviours of mankind.
i64 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
THE DESTROYERS
1898
T^HE strength of twice three thousand horse
That seeks the single goal;
The line that holds the rending course.
The hate that swings the whole:
The stripped hulls, slinking through the gloom
At gaze and gone again —
The Brides of Death that wait the groom —
The Choosers of the Slain !
Offshore where sea and skyline blend
In rain, the daylight dies;
The sullen, shouldering swells attend
Night and our sacrifice.
Adown the stricken capes no flare —
No mark on spit or bar, —
Girdled and desperate we dare
The blindfold game of war.
Nearer the up-flung beams that spell
The council of our foes;
Clearer the barking guns that tell
Their scattered flank to close.
Sheer to the trap they crowd their way
From ports for this unbarred.
Quiet, and count our laden prey.
The convoy and her guard!
On shoal with scarce a foot below.
Where rock and islet throng,
Hidden and hushed we watch them throw
Their anxious lights along.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 165
Not here, not here your danger lies
(Stare hard, O hooded eyne!)
Save where the dazed rock-pigeons rise
The lit clifFs give no sign.
Therefore — to break the rest ye seek.
The Narrow Seas to clear —
Hark to the siren's whimpering shriek —
The driven death is here!
Lxx>k to your van a league away, —
What midnight terror stays
The bulk that checks against the spray
Her crackling tops ablaze?
Hit, and hard hit! The blow went home.
The muffled, knocking stroke —
The steam that overruns the foam —
The foam that thins to smoke —
The smoke that clokes the deep aboil —
The deep that chokes her throes
Till, streaked with ash and sleeked with oil,
The lukewarm whirlpools close!
A shadow down the sickened wave
Long since her slayer fled:
But hear their chattering quick-fires rave
Astern, abeam, ahead!
Panic that shells the drifting spar —
Loud waste with none to check —
Mad fear that rakes a scornful star
Or sweeps a consort's deck.
Now, while their silly smoke hangs thick.
Now ere their wits they find.
Lay in and lance them to the quick —
Our gallied whales are blind!
RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Good luck to those that see the end.
Good-bye to those that drown —
For each his chance as chance shall send--<
And God for all! Shut dowi !
Tie strength of twice three IhaitsanJ hone ,
That serve the one command;
The hand that heaves the hcedlongjortty
The hale that backs the hand:
The doom-bolt in the darkness Jretdf
The mine that splits the maim
The white-hot wake, the 'wildering spet
The Choosers oj the Slain !
I
WHITE HORSES
I 897
TL^ HERE run your colts at pasture T
Where hide your mares to breed f
'Mid bergs about the Ice-cap
Or wove Sargasso weed;
By chartless reef and channel,
Or crafty coastwise bars,
But most the ocean-meadows
All purple to the stars!
Who holds the rein upon you ?
The latest gale let free.
Whai meat is in your mangers ?
The glut of all the sea.
'Twixt tide and tide's returning
Great store of newly dead, —
The bones of those that faced us.
And the hearts of those that fled.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 167
Afar, ofF-shore and single,
Some stallion, rearing swift.
Neighs hungry for new fodder,
And calls us to the drift:
Then down the cloven ridges —
A million hooves unshod —
Break forth the mad White Horses
To seek their meat from God!
Girth-deep in hissing water
Our furious vanguard strains —
Through mist of mighty tramplings
Roll up the fore-blown manes —
A hundred leagues to leeward,
Ere yet the deep is stirred.
The groaning rollers carry
The coming of the herd !
Whose hand may grip your nostrils —
Your forelock who may hold ?
E'en they that use the broads with us-
The riders bred and bold.
That spy upon our matings,
That rope us where we run —
They know the strong White Horses
From father unto son.
We breathe about their cradles.
We race their babes ashore.
We snuff gainst their thresholds.
We nuzzle at their door;
By day with stamping squadrons.
By night in whinnying droves,
Creep up the wise White Horses,
To call them from their loves.
i68 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
And come they for your calling f
No wit of man may save.
They hear the loosed White Horses
Above their fathers' grave;
And, kin of those we crippled,
And> sons of those we slew.
Spur down the wild white riders
To school the herds anew.
What service have ye paid them^
Oh jealous steeds and strong f
Save we that throw their weaklings^
Is none dare work them wrong;
While thick around the homestead
Our snow-backed leaders graze —
A guard behind their plunder.
And a veil before their ways.
With march and countermarchings —
With weight of wheeling hosts —
Stray mob or bands embattled —
We ring the chosen coasts:
And, careless of our clamour
That bids the stranger fly.
At peace within our pickets
The wild white riders lie.
Trust ye the curdled hollows —
Trust ye the neighing wind —
Trust ye the moaning groundswell —
Our herds are close behind!
To bray your foeman's armies —
To chiU and snap his sword —
Trust ye the wild White Horses,
The Horses of the Lord!
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 169
A SONG IN STORM
I 9 I 4 - I 8
WELL assured that on our side
The abiding oceans fight>
^iDugh headlong wind and heaping tide
^^Vniake us their sport to-night,
force of weather not of war
Ml jeopardy we steer:
n welcome Fate's discourtesy
"^^^^ereby it shall appear.
How in all time of our distress,
And our deliverance too,
The game is more than the player of the game.
And the ship is more than the crew!
of the mist into the mirk
he glimmering combers roll,
ost these mindless waters work
though they had a soul —
ost as though they leagued to whelm
r flag beneath their green:
_ welcome Fate's discourtesy
^^Vhereby it shall be seen, etc.
well assured, though wave and wind
ave mightier blows in store,
t we who keep the watch assigned
[ust stand to it the more;
^ as our streaming bows rebuke
ch billow's baulked career,
J welcome Fate's discourtesy
"^^Thcrcby it is made clear, etc.
No matter though our decks be swept
And mast and timber crack —
We can make good all loss except
The loss of turning back.
So, 'twixt these Devils and our deep
Let courteous trumpets sound,
To Welcome Fate's discourtesy
Whereby it will be found, etc.
Be well assured, though in our power
Is nothing left to give
But chance and place to meet the hour.
And leave to strive to live,
Till tiiese dissolve our Order holds,
Our Service binds us here.
Then welcome Fate's discourtety -
Whereby it is made clear.
How in all time of our distress,
As in our triumph too,
The game is more than the player of the game
And the ship is more than the crewl
THE DERELICT
1 894
"jtndrtpgrts Iht dtntitl 'Mary Pollock' itUliUus"
Smmna Nswa.
J WAS the staunchest of our fleet
Till the sea rose beneath my feet
Unheralded, in hatred pail all measure.
Into his pits he stamped my crew.
Buffeted, blinded, bound and threm^
Bidding me eyeless wait upon his pleatiav.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 188&-1918 171
Man made me, and my will
Is to my maker still,
VVhom DOW the currents con, the rollers steer —
Lifting forlorn to spy
Trailed smoke along the sky,
I^alling afraid lest any keel come near!
Wrenched as the lips of thirst,
Wricd, dried, and split and burst,
Bortcbleached my decks, wind-scoured to the graining;
And, jarred at every roll.
The gear that was my soul
■A.ns,,fers die anguish of my Beams' complaining.
For life that crammed me full,
_ Gangs of the prying gull
* "at shriek and scrabble on the riven hatches.
For roar that dumbed the gale,
My hawse-pipes* guttering wail,
^^**^t>bing my heart out through the uncounted watches.
Blind in the hot blue ring
Through all my points I swing—
^*^«rij^andretum to^ift thesun anew.
Blind in my well-known sky
1 hear the stars go by,
^^ocking the prow that cannot hold one t
White on my wasted path
Wave after wave in wrath
■'rcts'gaiast his fellow, warring where to send me.
Flung forward, heaved aside,
Witless and dazed 1 bide
The mercy of the ocwnber that shall end me.
\
172 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
North where the beigs careen.
The spray of seas unseen
Smokes round my head and freezes in the falling.
South where the corals breed.
The footless, floating weed
Folds me and fouls me, strake on strake upcrawling.
I that was clean to run
My race against the sun —
Strength on the deep — am bawd to all disaster;
Whipped forth by niffht to meet
My sister's careless feet.
And with a kiss betray her to my master.
Man made me, and my will
Is to my maker still —
To him and his, our peoples at their pier:
Lifting in hope to spy
Trailed smoke along the sky,
Falling afraid lest any keel come near!
THE MERCHANTMEN
1893
I/^ING SOLOMON drew merchantmen.
Because of his desire
For peacocks, apes, and ivory.
From Tarshish unto Tyre,
With cedars out of Lebanon
Which Hiram rafted down.
But we be only sailormen
That use in London town.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 173
Ca^a^^roist — cross^eas — round the world and back again —
jfP^^B^e the flam shall head us or the full Trade suits —
^l^Mi:FM^5ail — storm-sail — lay your board and tack again —
^ tholes the way weUlpay Paddy Doyle for his boots !
We bring no store of ingots.
Of spice or precious stones.
But what we nave we gathered
With sweat and aching bones:
In flame beneath the tropics.
In frost upon the floe.
And jeopardy of every wind
That does between them go.
And some we got by purchase.
And some we had by trade,
And some we found by courtesy
Of pike and carronade —
At midnight, 'mid-sea meetings.
For charity to keep.
And light the rolling homeward-bound
That rode a foot too deep!
By sport of bitter weather
We're walty, strained, and scarred
From the kentledge on the kelson
To the slings upon the yard.
Six oceans had their will of us
To carry all away —
Our galley's in the Baltic,
And our boom's in Mossel Bay!
We've floundered off the Texel,
Awash with sodden deals,
We've slipped from Valparaiso
With the Norther at our heels:
RUDYARD KIFUNCS VEStSR
We've ratched beyand die Cmneti
That tusk the Southern Pole,
And dipped our gnnneU under
To the dread Agulhu ralL
Beyond all outer chartiiw
We sailed where none have Milad*
And saw the land-Ughti btinvng
On islands none have hailed;
Our hair stood up far woodcTi
But, when the night was dones
There danced the de^ feo vindward
Blue-empty 'neath tJie annl
Strange consorts rode bende us
And brought us evil luck;
The witch-fire climbed our channels,
And flared on vane and truck:
Till, through the red tornado,
That lashed us nigh to blinid,
We saw The Dutchman plunging.
Full canvas, head to windl
We've heard the Midnight Leadsman
That calls the black deep down —
Ay, thrice we've heard The Swimmer,
The Thing that may not drown.
On frozen bunt and gasket
The sleet-cloud drave her hosts.
When, manned by more than signed with
Wc passed the Isle of Ghosts!
And north, amid the hummocks,
A biscuit-toss below.
We met the silent shallop
That frighted whalers know;
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 17 S
For, down a cruel ice-lane.
That opened as he sped,
We saw dead Hendrick Hudson
Steer, North by West, his dead.
So dealt God's waters with us
Beneath the roaring skies,
So walked His signs and marvels
All naked to our eyes:
But we were heading homeward
With trade to lose or make —
Good Lord, they slipped behind us
In the tailing of our wake!
Let go, let go the anchors;
Now shamed at heart are we
To bring so poor a cargo home
That had for gift the sea!
Let go the great bow-anchor —
Ah, fools were we and blind —
The worst we stored with utter toil,
The best we left behind !
^^se — cross-seas — round the world and back again y
^^ her flaw shall fail us or the Trades drive down:
^^ail — storm-sail — lay your board and tack again —
^ all to bring a cargo up to London Town !
THE SONG OF DIEGO VALDEZ
1902
TPHE God of Fair Beginnings
Hath prospered here my hand —
The cargoes of my lading.
And the keels of my command.
176 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
For out of many ventures
That sukd with hope as high.
My own have made the better trade.
And Admiral am I.
To me my King's much honour.
To me my people's love —
To me the pnde of Princes
And power all pride above;
To me the shouting ddes.
To me the mob's refrain: —
Who knows not noble Valdez,
Hath never heard of Spain/*
<«
««
But I remember comrades —
Old playmates on new
Whenas we traded orpiment
Among the savages —
A thousand leagues to south'ard
And thirty years removed —
They knew not noble Valdez,
But mc they knew and loved.
Then they that found good liquor.
They drank it not alone,
And they that found fair plunder.
They told us every one,
About our chosen islands
Or secret shoals between.
When, weary from far voyage.
We gathered to careen.
There burned our breaming-fagots
All pale along the shore:
There rose our worn pavilions
A sail above an oar:
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 177
As flashed each yearning anchor
Through mellow seas afire,
So swift our careless captains
Rowed each to his desire.
Where lay our loosened harness?
Where turned our naked feet?
Whose tavern 'mid the palm-trees?
What quenchings of what heat?
Oh fountain in the desert!
Oh cistern in the waste!
Oh bread we ate in secret!
Oh cup we spilled in haste!
The youth new-taught of longing.
The widow curbed and wan,
The goodwife proud at season.
And the maid aware of man —
All souls unslaked, consuming
Defrauded in delays,
Desire not more their quittance
Than I those forfeit days!
I dreamed to wait my pleasure
Unchanged my spring would bide:
Wherefore, to wait my pleasure^
I put my spring aside
Till, first in face of Fortune,
And last in mazed disdain,
I made Diego Valdez
High Admiral of Spain.
Then walked no wind 'neath Heaven
Nor surge that did not aid —
I dared extreme occasion.
Nor ever one betrayed.
RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
They wrought a deeper treason —
(Led seas that served my needs!)
They sold Diego Valdcz
To bondage of great deeds.
The tempest flung me seaward,
And pinned and bade me hold
The course I might not alter —
And men esteemed me bold!
The calms embayed my quarry.
The fog-wreath sealed his eyes;.
The dawn-wind brought my topsuls —
And men esteemed me wise!
Yet 'spite my tyrant triumphs
Bewildered, dispossessed —
My dream held I before me —
My vision of my rest;
But, crowned by Fleet and People,
And bound by King and Pope —
Stands here Diego Valdez
To rob me of my hope.
No prayer of mine shall movc-him.
No word of his set free
The Lord of Sixty Pennants
And the Steward of the Sea.
His will can loose ten thousand
To seek their loves again —
But not Diego Valdez,
High Admiral of Spain.
There walks no wind 'neath Heaven
Nor wave that shall restore
The old careening riot
And the clamorous, crowded shore—
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 179
The fountain in the desert,
The cistern in the waste,
The bread we ate in secret,
The cup we spilled in haste.
Now call I to my Captains —
For council fly the sign.
Now leap their zealous galleys.
Twelve-oared, across the brine.
To me the straiter prison.
To me the heavier chain-^
To me Diego Valdez,
High Admiral of Spain !
THE SECOND VOYAGE
1903
\\7^E'VE sent our little Cupids all ashore —
They were frightened, they were tired, they were
cold:
Our sails of silk and purple go to store,
And we've cut away our mast of beaten gold
(Foul weather!)
Oh 'tis hemp and singing pine for to stand against the brine,
But Love he is our master as of old !
The sea has shorn our galleries away.
The salt has soiled our gilding past remede;
Our paint is flaked and blistered by the spray.
Our sides are half a fathom furred in weed
(Foul weather!)
And the Doves of Venus fled and the petrels came instead,
But Love he was our master at our need!
i8o RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
'Was Youth would keep no vigil at the bow,
'Was Pleasure at the helm too drunk to steer —
We've shipped three able quartermasters now.
Men call them Custom, Reverence, and Fear
(Foul weather!)
They are old and scarred and plain, but we'll run no
again
From any Port o' Paphos mutineer!
We seek no more the tempest for delight.
We skirt no more the indraught and the shoal —
We ask no more of any day or night
Than to come with least adventure to our goal
(Foul weather!)
What we find we needs must brook, but we do not go to
Nor tempt the Lord our God that saved us whole.
Yet, caring so, not overmuch we care
To brace and trim for every foolish blast.
If the squall be pleased to sweep us unaware,
He may bellow off to leeward like the last
(Foul weather!)
We will blame it on the deep (for the watch must have
sleep).
And Love can come and wake us when 'tis past.
Oh launch them down with music from the beach.
Oh warp them out with garlands from the quays —
Most resolute — a damsel unto each —
New prows that seek the old Hesperides!
(Foul weather!)
Though we know their voyage is vain, yet we see our
again
In the saffroned bridesails scenting all the seas!
(Foul weather!)
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 i8i
THE OLDEST SONG
For before Eve was Lilith.— OA/ Tale.
'HESE were never your true love's eyes.
Why do you feign that you love them ?
that broke from their constancies,
-^d the wide calm brows above them!
•^8 was never your true love's speech.
IVhy do you thrill when you hear it?
that have ridden out of its reach
The width of the world or near it!
is was never your true love's hair, —
You that chafed when it bound you
^^^^reened from knowledge or shame or care.
In the night that it made around you!"
^AU these things I know, I know.
And that's why my heart is breaking!"
*Then what do you gain by pretending so?'
^The joy of an old wound waking."
THE LINER SHE'S A LADY
I 894
rtffi Liner she's a lady, an' she never looks nor *eeds —
The Man-o'-War*s 'er 'usband, an* *e gives 'er all she
needs;
, oh, the little cargo-boats, that sail the wet seas roun',
r*rc just the same as you an' me a-plyin' up. an* down !
1 82 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
PlyirC up an* ddwn^ J^^^yy *angin* round tfie Yardy
All the way by Fratton tram down to Portsmouth \i
Anythin* for business y an* we*re growin* old —
Ply in* up an* down^ Jenny ^ waitin* in the cold I
The Liner she's a lady by the paint upon 'er face.
An' if she meets an accident they count it sore disgrace.
The Man-o'-War's 'er 'usband, and 'e 's always *andy by
But, oh, the little cargo-boats, they've got to load or die!
The Liner she's a lady, and *er route is cut an* dried;
The Man-o'-War's 'er 'usband, an' *e always keeps beside;
But, oh, the little cargo-boats that 'aven't any man,
They've got to do their business first, and make the most th
can!
The Liner she's a lady, and if a war should come.
The Man-o'-War*s 'er 'usband, and 'e'd bid 'er stay at hor
But, oh, the little cargo-boats that fill with every tide!
'E'd *ave to up an' fight for them for they are England's pri
The Liner she's a lady, but if she was n't made,
There still would be the cargo-boats for 'ome an' fore
trade.
The Man-o'-\Var's 'er 'usband, but if we wasn't 'ere,
'E would n't have to fight at all for 'ome an' friends so Ai
*Ome aji friends so dear^ Jenny ^ *angin* round the Yi
All the way by Fratton tram down to Portsmouth *A
Anythin* for business^ an* we* re growin* old —
*Ome an* friends so deary Jenny y waitin* in the cold I
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 183
THE FIRST CHANTEY
1896
^INE was the woman to me, darkling I found her:
Haling her dumb from the camp, held her and bound
her.
Hot rose her tribe on our track ere I had proved her;
Hearing her laugh in the gloom, greatly I loved her.
Swift through the forest we ran, none stood to guard us.
Few were my people and far; then the flood barred us —
Him we call Son of the Sea, sullen and swollen.
Panting we waited the death, stealer and stolen.
I Yet ere they came to my lance laid for the slaughter,
' Lightly she leaped to a log lapped in the water;
[ Holding on high and apart skins that arrayed her,
I Called she the God of the Wind that He should aid her.
' Life had the tree at that word (Praise we the Giver!)
Otter-like left he the bank for the full river.
Far fell their axes behind, flashing and ringing,
"onder was on me and fear — yet she was singing!
Low lay the land we had left. Now the blue bound us,
Even the Floor of the Gods level around us.
Whisper there was not, nor word, shadow nor showing,
Till the light stirred on the deep, glowing and growing.
Then did He leap to His place flaring from under.
He the Compeller, the Sun, bared to our wonder.
-Vay, not a league from our eyes blinded with gazing,
Cleared He the Gate of the World, huge and amazing!
i84 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
This we beheld (and we live) — the Pit of the Burning!
Then the God spoke to the tree for our returning;
Back to the beach of our flight, fearless and slowly.
Back to our slayers went he: but we were holy.
Men that were hot in that hunt, women that followed.
Babes that were promised our bones, trembled and wallovredL
Over the necks of the Tribe crouching and fiiwning —
Prophet and priestess we came back from the dawning!
THE LAST CHANTEY
I 892
** And that vms im mon stm**
npHUS said the Lord in the Vault above the Oicnibiiii^^
Calling to the Angels and the Souk in their degree ^
"Lo! Earth has passed away
On the smoke of Judgment Day.
That Our word may be established shall We gather up th^^
sea?"
Loud sang the souls of the jolly, jolly mariners:
"Plague upon the hurricane that made us furl and flee!
But the war is done between us.
In the deep the Lord hath seen us —
Our bones we'll leave the barracout', and God may sinT.^^
the sea!"
Then said the soul of Judas that betrayed Him:
"Lord, hast Thou forgotten Thy covenant with me?
How once a year I go
To cool me on the floe?
And Ye take my day of mercy if Ye take away the
INCXUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 i8j
^^^ s«id the soul of the Angel of the OfF-shore Wind:
^^^ that bits the thunder when the bull-mouthed breakers
£ee):
I have watch and ward to keep
O'er Thy wonders on the deep,
'^d Ye take mine honour from me if Ye take away the
sea!
«c
f"
^^d sang the souls of the jolly, jolly mariners :
Nay, but we were angry, and a hasty folk are we.
If we worked the ship together
Till she foundered in foul weather.
Are we babes that we should clamour for a vengeance on
the sea?"
Then said the souls of the slaves that men threw overboard:
"Kennelled in the picaroon a weary band were we;
But Thy arm was strong to save,
And it touched us on the wave,
And we drowsed the long tides idle till Thy Trumpets tore
the sea.**
Then cried the soul of the stout Apostle Paul to God:
"Once we frapped a ship, and she laboured woundily.
There were fourteen score of these,
And they blessed Thee on their knees.
When they learned Thy Grace and Glory under Malta by
the sea!"
Loud sang the souls of the jolly, jolly mariners.
Plucking at their harps, and they plucked unhandily:
"CXir thumbs are rough and tarred.
And the tune is something hard —
May we lift a Deepsea Chantey such as seamen use at
sea?"
i86 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Then said the souls of the gentlemen-adventurers —
Fettered wrist to bar all for red iniquity:
"Ho, we revel in our chains
O'er the sorrow that was Spain's;
Heave or sink it, leave or drink it, we were masters ol
sea!
Up spake the soul of a grey Gothavn 'speckshioner —
(He that led the flenching in the fleets of fair Dundee);
"Oh, the ice-blink white and near.
And the bowhead breaching clear!
Will Ye whelm them all for wantonness that wallow in ^c
sea?"
Loud sang the souls of the jolly, jolly mariners.
Crying: "Under Heaven, here is neither lead nor lee!
Must we sing for evermore
On the windless, glassy floor?
Take back your golden fiddles and we'll beat to open
i»»
Then stooped the Lord, and He called the good sea up ^
Him,
And 'stablished its borders unto all eternity.
That such as have no pleasure
For to praise the Lord by measure.
They may enter into galleons and serve Him on the
Sufiy fVifidy and Cloud shall fail not from the face of U^
Stingingy ringing spindrift y nor the fulmar flying free;
And the ships shall go abroad
To the Glory of the Lord
Who heard the silly sailor-folk and gave them back their sei
a.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 187
THE EXILES' LINE
I 8 90
'^J'OW the new year reviving old desires.
The restless soul to open sea aspires.
Where the Blue Peter flickers from the fore.
And the grimed stoker feeds the engine-fires.
G]upons, alas, depart with all their rows,
And last year's sea-met loves where Grindlay knows;
But still the wild wind wakes of Gardafui,
And hearts turn eastward with the P. and 0*s.
Twelve knots an hour, be they more or less —
Oh slothful mother of much idleness.
Whom neither rivals spur nor contracts speed!
Nay, bear us gently! Wherefore need we press?
The Tragedy of all our East is laid
On those white decks beneath the awning shade —
Birth, absence, longing, laughter, love and tears.
And death unmaking ere the land is made.
And midnight madnesses of souls distraught
^^liom the cool seas call through the open port.
So that the table lacks one place next mom,
.And for one forenoon men forego their sport.
The shadow of the rigging to and fro
Sways, shifts, and flickers on the spar-deck's snow.
And like a giant trampling in his chains,
The screw-blades gasp and thunder deep below;
x88 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
And, leagued to watch one flying-fish's wings,
Heaven stoops to sea, and sea to Heaven clings;
While, bent upon the ending of his toil.
The hot sun strides, regarding not these things:
For the same wave that meets our stem in Bprmy
Bore Smith of Asia eastward yesterday.
And Delhi Jones and Brown of Midnapore
To-morrow follow on the self-same way.
Linked in the chain of Empire one by one.
Flushed with long leave, or tanned with many a sun.
The Exiles' Line brings out the exiles' line
And ships them homeward when their work is done.
Yea, heedless of the shuttle through the loom.
The flying keels fulfil the web of doom.
Sorrow or shouting — ^what is that to them?
Make out the cheque that pays for cabin room!
And how so many score of times ye flit
With wife and babe and caravan of kit.
Not all thy travels past shall lower one fare.
Not all thy tears abate one pound of it.
And how so high thine earth-bom dignity.
Honour and state, go sink it in the sea.
Till that great one upon the quarter deck.
Brow-bound with gold, shall give thee leave to be.
Indeed, indeed from that same line we swear
Off for all time, and mean it when we swear;
And then, and then we meet the Quartered Flag,
And, surely for the last time, pay the fare.
INCXUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 189
<1 Green of Kensington, estrayed to view
three short months the world he never knew,
Stares with blind eyes upon the Quartered Flag
d sees no more than yellow, red and blue.
t we, the gypsies of the East, but we —
lifs of the land and wastrels of the sea —
'0)me nearer home beneath the Quartered Flag
an ever home shall come to such as we.
e camp is struck, the bungalow decays,
ad friends and houses desert mark our ways,
ill sickness send us down to Prince's Dock
meet the changeless use of many days.
iind in the wheel of Empire, one by one,
e chain-gangs of the East from sire to son,
The Exiles' Line takes out the exiles' line
d ships them homeward when their work is done.
runs the old indictment? "Dear and slow,"
much and twice so much. We gird, but go.
X<*or all the soul of our sad East is there,
xieath the house-flag of the P. and O.
THE LONG TRAIL
'^ ^^^^E'S a whisper down the field where the year has
^ 3jiot her yield,
^^^ the ricks stand grey to the sun,
: "Over then, come over, for the bee has quit the
,, clover,
^d your English summer's done."
I90 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
You have heard the beat of the oiF-shore wixid.
And the thresh of the deep-sea rain;
You have heard the song — how long? how long?
Pull out on the trail again!
Ha' done with the Tents of Shem, dear lass.
We've seen the seasons through.
And it's time to turn on the old trail, our own trail, c^^
out trail.
Pull out, pull out, on the Long Trail — the trail that
always new!
\s
It's North you may run to the rime-ringed sun
Or South to the blind Horn's hate;
Or East all the way into Mississippi Bay,
Or West to the Golden Gate —
Where the blindest bluffs hold good, dear lass.
And the wildest tales are true,
And the men bulk big on the old trail, our own Ud^ I
the out trail,
And life runs large on the Long Trail — the trail th^^t
is always new.
The days are sick and cold, and the skies are grey and olcr:^)
And the twice-breathed airs blow damp;
And I'd sell my tired soul for the bucking beam-sea rc^^
Of a black Bilbao tramp,
With her load-line over her hatch, dear lass.
And a drunken Dago crew.
And her nose held down on the old trail, our own traS. h
the out trail
From Cadiz south on the Long Trail — the trail th^»f
is always new.
There be triple ways to take, of the eagle or the snake.
Or the way of a man with a maid;
But the sweetest way to me is a ship's upon the sea
In the heel of the North-East Trade.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 188&-1918 191
Can you hear the crash on her bows, dear lass.
And the drum of the racing screw,
As she ships it green on the old trail, our own trail,
the out trail,
As she lifts and 'scends on the Long Trail — the trail
that is always new?
the shaking funnels roar, with the Peter at the fore,
id the fenders grind and heave,
the derricks clack and grate, as the tackle hooks the
crate,
id the fall-rope whines through the sheave;
It's "Gang-plank up and in," dear lass.
It's "Hawsers warp her through!"
And it's "All clear aft" on the old trail, our own trail,
the out trail.
We're backing down on the Long Trail — the trail that
is always new.
e mutter overside, when the port-fog holds us tied,
id the sirens hoot their dread,
:n foot by foot we creep o'er the hueless viewless deep
J the sob of the questing lead!
It's down by the Lower Hope, dear lass.
With the Gunfleet Sands in view.
Till the Mouse swings green on the old trail, our own
trail, the out trail,
And the Gull Light lifts on the I^ng Trail — the trail
that is always new.
le blazing tropic night, when the wake's a welt of light
hat holds the hot sky tame,
the steady fore-foot snores through the planet-powdcrcd
floors
liere the scared whale flukes in flame!
0
RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Her plates are flaked by the sun, dear lass.
And her ropes are taut with the dew, f^
For we're booming down on the old trail, our own ^
the out trail, t^
We're sagging south on the Long Trail — the trail
is always new.
home, get her home, where the drunken rollers com^
d the shouting seas drive by, ^-^
the engines stamp and ring, and the wet bows reel an#^^
swing,
d the Southern Cross rides high!
Yes, the old lost stars wheel back, dear lass.
That blaze in the velvet blue.
They're all old friends on the old trail, oar own tnul,
the out trail,
They're God's own guide on the Long Trail — the trail
that is always new.
Drward, O my heart, from the Foreland to the Start —
're steaming all too slow,
t's twenty thousand mile to our little lazy isle
lere the trumpet-orchids blow!
You have heard the call of the ofF-shore wind
And the voice of the deep-sea rain;
You have heard the song. How long — how long?
Pull out on the trail again!
"he Lord knows what we may find, dear lass,
Lnd The Deuce knows what we may do —
^ut we're back once more on the old trail, our own trzxVJ/^
the out trail,
Ve're down, hull-down, on the Long Trail — the
that is always new!
(
INCXUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 195
IN THE MATTER OF ONE COMPASS
1892
\\^EN, foot to wheel and back to wind,
The helmsman dare not look behind,
But hears beyond his compass-light.
The blind bow thunder through the night.
And, like a harpstring ere it snaps.
The rigging sing beneath the caps;
Above the shriek of storm in sail
Or rattle of the blocks blown free.
Set for the peace beyond the gale,
This song the Needle sings the Sea:
Ohy drunken Wave ! OA, driving Cloud !
Rage of the Deep and sterile Rainy
By Love upheld, by God allowed^
IVe gOy but we return again !
When leagued about the 'wildered boat
The rainbow Jellies fill and float,
And, lilting where the laver lingers.
The Starfish trips on all her fingers;
Where, 'neath his myriad spines ashock.
The Sea-egg ripples down the rock,
An orange wonder dimly guessed
From darkness where the Cuttles rest.
Moored o'er the darker deeps that hide
The blind white Sea-snake and his bride,
VMio, drowsing, nose the long-lost Ships
Ixt down through darkness to their lips-
Safe-swung above the glassy death,
Hear what the constant Needle saith:
194 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
OA, lisping Reef J Oh^ listless Cloudy
In slumber on a pulseless main !
By Love upheld^ by God allowed^
We gOy but we return again I
E *en so through Tropic and through Trade,
Awed by the shadow of new skies.
As we shall watch old planets fade
And mark the stranger stars arise.
So, surely, back through Sun and Cloud,
So, surely, from the outward main
By Love recalled, by God allowed.
Shall we return — return again!
Yea, we return — return again!
A SONG OF THE ENGLISH
1893
TTAIR is our lot — 0 goodly is our heritage !
{Humble ye^ my people ^ and be fearful in your mirth !)
For the Lord our God Most High
He hath made the deep as dry.
He hath smote for us a pathway to the ends of all the Earth!
Yeay though we sinnedy and our rulers went from righteousness —
Deep in all dishonour though we stained our garments* hem^
■ Oh be ye not dismay edy
Though we stumbled and we strayedy
IV e were led by evil counsellors — the Lord shall deal with them r
Hold ye the Faith — the Faith our Fathers sealed us;
fVhoring not with visions — overwise and overstale.
Except ye pay the Lord
Single heart and single swordy
Of your children in their bondage He shall ask them treble-tale T
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 195
Kf^pyc the Law — be swift in all obedience —
Ci^ar the land of evil, drive the road and bridge the ford.
Make ye sure to each his own
That he reap where he hath sown;
Br the peace among Our peoples let men know we serve the Lord !
««r now 4 song-a song of brokm, interludes-
^ «^oiff oj little cunning; of a singer nothing worth.
Through the naked words and mean
^ay ye see the truth between^
^^ the singer knew and touched it in the ends of all the Earth I
THE COASTWISE LIGHTS
^^UR brows are bound with spindrift and the weed is on
our knees;
Our loins are battered 'neath us by the swinging, smoking
seas.
From reef and rock and skerry — over headland, ness, and
TTic Coastwise Lights of England watch the ships of England
go!
through the endless summer evenings, on the lineless, level
floors;
'nrough the yelling Channel tempest when the siren hoots
P and roars —
• day the dipping house-flag and by night the rocket's
trail—
^ the sheep that graze behind us so we know them where
thev hail.
196 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
We bridge across the dark, and bid the helmsman have a
The flash that, wheeling inland, wakes his sleeping wife to^
prayer.
From our vexed eyries, head to gale, we bind in burning '^
chains
The lover from the sea-rim drawn — ^his love in Enghsh
lanes.
We greet the clippers wing^and-wing that race the Southern
wool;
We warn the crawling cargo-tanks of Bremen, Lrith, and
HuU;
To each and all our equal lamp at peril of the sea —
The white wall-sided warships or the whalers of Dundee!
Come up, come in from Eastward, from the guardports of the
Morn!
Beat up, beat in from Southerly, O gipsies of the Horn!
Swift shuttles of an Empire's loom that weave us main to
main.
The Coastwise Lights of England give you welcome back
again I
Go, get you gone up-Channel with the sea-crust on your
plates;
Go, get you into London with the burden of your freights!
Haste, for they talk of Empire there, and say, if any seek,
The Lights of England sent you and by silence shall ye speak!
THE SONG OF THE DEAD
fJEAR now the Song of the Dead— in the North by the torn
berg-edges —
They that look still to the Pole^ asleep by their hide^tripped
sledges.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 197
Song of the Dead in the South — in the sun by their skeleton
horses^
ff^Jiere the warrigal whimpers and bays through the dust of
the sere rioer-eourses.
Song of the Dead in the East — in the heat-rotted jungle-hollows ^
^^^hre the dog^pe barks in the kloof — in the brake of the buffalo^
walbms.
^^g of the Dead in the fVest — in the Barrens^ the pass thai
betrayed them^
^^^^here the wolverine tumbles their packs from the camp and
the groM-mound they made them;
Hear now the Song of the Dead I
I
^e were dreamers, dreaming greatly, in the man-sdfled
town;
^e yearned beyond the sky-line where the strange roads go
down.
C^ame the Whisper, came the Vision, came the Power with the
Need,
Till the Soul that is not man's soul was lent us to lead.
As the deer breaks — as the steer breaks — from the herd
where they graze,
In the faith of little children we went on our ways.
Then the wood failed — then the food failed — then the last
water dried —
In the faith of little children we lay down and died.
On the sand-drift— on the veldt-side — in the fern-scrub we
lay.
That our sons might follow after by the bones on the way.
Follow after — follow after! We have watered the root,
And the bud has come to blossom that ripens for fruit!
Follow after — we are waiting, by the trails that we lost,
For the sounds of manv footsteps, for the tread of a host.
Follow after — follow after — for the harvest is sown:
By the bones about the wayside ye shall come to your own!
198 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
JVhen Drake went down to the Horn
And England was crowned thereby ^
^Twixt seas unsailed and shores unhailed
Our Lodge — our Lodge was bom
{And England was crowned thereby !)
Which nevei- shall close' again
By day nor yet by nighty
While man shall take his life to stake
At risk of shoal or main
{By day nor yet by night)
But standeth even so
As now we witness hercy
While men depart^ 9f Pyf^^ hearty
Adventure for to know
{As now bear witness here !)
II
We have fed our sea for a thousand years
And she calls us, still unfed,
Though there's never a wave of all her waves
But marks our English dead:
We have strawed our best to the weed's unrest.
To the shark and the sheering gull.
If blood be the price of admiralty,
Lord God, we ha* paid in full!
There's never a flood goes shoreward now
But lifts a keel we manned;
There's never an ebb goes seaward now
But drops our dead on the sand —
But slinks our dead on the sands forlore,
From the Ducies to the Swin.
If blood be the price of admiralty.
If blood be the price of admiralty,
Lord God, we ha* paid it inl
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 199
We must feed our sea for a thousand years,
For that is our doom and pride,
As it was when they sailed with the Golden Hind^
Or the wreck that struck last tide —
Or the wreck that lies on the spouting reef
Where the ghastly blue-lights flare.
If blood be the price of admiralty,
If blood be the price of admiralty.
If blood be the price of admiralty,
Lord God, we ha' bought it fair!
THE DEEP-SEA CABLES
E wrecks dissolve above us; their dust drops down
from afar —
ri to the dark, to the utter dark, where the blind white
sea-snakes are.
e is no sound, no echo of sound, in the deserts of the
deep,
^e great grey level plains of ooze where the shell-burred
cables creep.
* in the womb of the world — here on the tie-ribs of earth
^ords, and the words of men, flicker and flutter and beat —
rning, sorrow, and gain, salutation and mirth —
or a Power troubles the Still that has neither voice nor
feet.
y have wakened the timeless Things; they have killed
their father Time;
lining hands in the gloom, a league from the last of the
sun.
i! Men talk to-day o'er the waste of the ultimate slime,
id a new Word runs between: whispering, **Let us be
one!
too RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
THE SONG OF THE SONS
[^NE from the ends of the earth — gifts at an open door— \^
Treason has much, but we, Mother, thy sons have morel A<y
"rom the whine of a dying man, from the snarl of a wolf-pack
Those that have stayed at thy knees, Mother, go call them
in —
Ve that were bred overseas wait and would speak with our
kin.
^ot in the dark do we fight — haggle and flout and ^be;
lelling our love for a price, loaning our hearts for a bribe.
Jifts have we only to-day — ^Love without promise or
lear, for thy children speak, from the uttermost parts of tJie
sea!
THE SONG OF THE CITIES
BOMBAY
D GYAL and Dower-royal, I the Queen
Fronting thy richest sea with richer hands —
A thousand mills roar through me where I glean
All races from all lands.
CALCUTTA
Me the Sea-captain loved, the River built.
Wealth sought and Kings adventured life to hold.
Hail, England! I am Asia — Power on silt.
Death in my hands, but Gold!
t^^
freed,
Turn, and the world is thine. Mother, be proud of thy seed!
!x)unt, are we feeble or few ? Hear, is our speech so rude? 9^
.xx)k, are we poor in the land? Judge, are we men of The
Blood?
r^
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918
Give kjned me on the mouth and eyes and brow.
Wonderful kisses, so that I became
Crowned above Queens — a withered beldame now.
Brooding on ancient fame.
Hail, Mother! Do they call me rich in trade?
Little care I, but hear the shorn priest drone.
And watch my silk-clad lovers, man by maid,
Laugh 'neath my Shwe Dagon.
SINGAPORE
Hail, Mother! East and West must seek my aid
Ere the spent hull may dare the porta afar.
The second doorway of the wide world's trade
Is mine to loose or bar.
HONC-KONO
Hail, Mother! Hold me fast; my Praya sleeps
Under innumerable keels to-day.
Yet guard (and landward), or to-morrow sweeps
Thy warships down the bay!
Into the mist my guardian prows put forth.
Behind the mist my virgin ramparts lie.
The Warden of the Honour of the North,
Sleepless and veiled am I !
QUEBEC AND HONTXEAL
Peace is our portion. Yet a whisper rose,
Fooliah and causeless, half in jest, half hate.
Now wake we and remember mighty blows.
And, fearing no man, wait!
202 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
VICTORIA
From East to West the circling word has passed.
Till West is East beside our land-locked bhie;
From East to West the tested chain holds fast,
The well-forged link rings true!
CAPETOWN
Hail! Snatched and bartered oft from hand to hand,
I dream my dream, by rock and heath and pine.
Of Empire to the northward. Ay, one land
From Lion's Head to Line!
MELBOURNE
Greeting! Nor fear nor favour won us place.
Got between greed of gold and dread of drouth^
Loud-voiced and reckless as the wild tide-race
That whips our harbour-mouth!
SYDNEY
Greeting! My birth-stain have I turned to good;
Forcing strong wills perverse to steadfastness:
The first flush of the tropics in my blood.
And at my feet Success!
BRISBANE
The northern stirp beneath the southern skies —
I build a Nation for an Empire's need.
Suffer a little, and my land shall rise.
Queen over lands indeed!
HOBART
Man's love first found me; man's hate made me Hell;
For my babes* sake I cleansed those infamies.
Earnest for leave to live and labour well,
God flung me peace and ease. .
INCLUSIVE EDITION. 1885-1918 203
AUCKLAND
Lasty loneliest, loveliest, exquisite, apart —
On us, on us the unswerving season smiles,
Who wonder *mid our fern why men depart
To seek the Happy Isles!
ENGLAND'S ANSWER
RULY ye come of The Blood; slower to bless than to
ban,
j^ J We used to lie down at the bidding of any man —
-^ ''-^sh of the flesh that I bred, bone of the bone that I bare;
^^awk as your sons shall be — stern as your fathers were,
^per than speech our love, stronger than life our tether,
Vjt we do not fall on the neck nor kiss when we come to-
gether,
y arm is nothing weak, my strength is not gone by;
ns, I have borne many sons, but my dugs are not dry.
, I have made ye a place and opened wide the doors,
at ye may talk together, your Barons and Councillors —
^^ards of the Outer March, Lords of the Lower Seas,
^y, talk to your grey mother that bore you on her knees! —
That ye may talk together, brother to brother's face —
^^us for the good of your peoples — thus for the Pride of
the Race.
Also, we will make promise. So long as The Blood endures,
/ shall know that your good is mine: ye shall feel that my
strength is yours:
In the day of Armageddon, at the last great fight of all,
That Our House stand together and the pillars do not fall.
Draw now the threefold knot firm on the ninefold bands.
And the Law that ye make shall be law after the rule of your
lands.
This for the waxen Heath, and that for the Wattle-bloom,
This for the Maple-leaf, and that for the southern Broom.
204 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
The Law that ye make shall be law and I do not pres
will.
Because ye are Sons of The Blood and call me Mother
Now must ye speak to your kinsmen and they must spe
you,
After the use of the English, in straight-flung words
few.
Go to your work and be strong, halting not in your wa^
Baulking the end half-won for an instant dole of praise.
Stand to your work and be wise — certain of sword and
Who are neither children nor Gods, but men in a wo:
men!
THE HOUSES
1898
(y/ Song 0/ the Dominions)
'TpWIXT my house and thy house the pathway is br
In thy house or my house is half the world's hoard
By my house and thy house hangs all the world's fate.
On thy house and my house lies half the world's hate.
For my house and thy house no help shall we find
Save thy house and my house — kin cleaving to kind;
If my house be taken, thine tumbleth anon.
If thy house be forfeit, mine followeth soon.
'Twixt my house and thy house what talk can there be
Of headship or lordship, or service or fee?
Since my house to thy house no greater can send
Than thy house to my house — friend comforting frieni
And thy house to my house no meaner can bring
Than my house to thy house — King counselling King.
INCLUSIVE EDITION. 1885-1918 ao5
TO THE CITY OF BOMBAY
t
I 894
T^HE Cities are full of pride,
Challenging each to each —
This from her mountain-side.
That from her burdened beach.
They count their ships full tale —
Their com and oil and wine,
Derrick and loom and bale,
And rampart's gun-flecked line;
City by City they hail:
"Hast aught to match with mine?'
And the men that breed from them
They traffic up and down.
But cling to their cities' hem
As a child to the mother's gown.
When they talk with the stranger bands.
Dazed and newly alone;
When they walk in the stranger lands.
By roaring streets unknown;
Blessing her where she stands
For strength above their own.
(On high to hold her fame
That stands all fame beyond,
By oath to back the same.
Most faithful-foolish-fond;
Making her mere-breathed name
Their bond upon their bond.)
RUDYARD KIPLING'S VER^
So thank I God my birth
Fell not in isles aside —
Waste headlands of the earth.
Or warring tribes untried —
But that she lent me worth
And gave mc right to pride.
Surely in toil or fray
Under an alien sky.
Comfort it is to say:
"Of no mean city am II"
(Neither by service nor fee
Come I to mine estate —
Mother of Cities to me.
But I was born in her gate.
Between the palms and the sea,
Where the world-end steamers wait.)
Now for this debt I owe,
And for her far-borne cheer
Must I make haste and go
With tribute to her pier.
And she shall touch and remit
After the use of kings
(Orderly, ancient, fit)
My deep-sea plunderings.
And purchase in all lands.
And this we do for a sign
Her power is over mine.
And mine I hold at her hands!
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 188&-1918 207
THE GIPSY TRAIL
^HE white moth to the closing bine,
The bee to the opened clover,
And the gipsy blood to the gipsy blood
Ever the wide world over.
Ever the wide world over, lass.
Ever the trail held true,
Over the w::.rld and under the world,
And back at the last to you.
Out of the dark of the gorgio camp.
Out of the grime and the gray
(Morning waits at the end of the world),
Gipsy, come away!
The wild boar to the sun-dried swamp,
The red crane to her reed,
And the Romany lass to the Romany lad
By the tie of a roving breed.
The pied snake to the rifted rock.
The buck to the stony plain.
And the Romany lass to the Romany lad.
And both to the road again.
Both to the road again, again!
Out on a clean sea- track —
Follow the cross of the gipsy trail
Over the world and back!
Follow the Romany patteran
North where the blue bergs sail,
And the bows are gray with the frozen spray.
And the masts are shod with mail.
2o6 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Follow the Romany patteran
Sheer to the Austral Light,
Where the besom of God is the wild South wind.
Sweeping the sea-floors white.
Follow the Romany patteran
West to the sinking sun,
Till the junk-sails lift through the houseless drif
And the east and the west are one.
Follow the Romany patteran
East where the silence broods
By a purple wave on an opal beach
In the hush of the Mahim woods.
"The wild hawk to the wind-swept sky.
The deer to the wholesome wold
And the heart of a man to the heart of a maid.
As it was in the days of old."
The heart of a man to the heart of a maid —
Light of my tents, be fleet.
Morning waits at the end of the world,
And the world is all at our feet!
OUR LADY OF THE SNOWS
1897
(Canadian Preferential Tariffs 1897)
A NATION spoke to a Nation,
A Queen sent word to a Throne:
" Daughter am I in my mother's house.
But mistress in my own.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 209
The gates are mine to open.
As the gates are mine to close.
And I set my house in order,'*
Said our Lady of the Snows.
'* Neither with laughter nor weepings
Fear or the child's amaze —
Soberly under the White Man's law
My white men go their ways.
Not for the Gentiles' clamour^
Insult or threat of blows-
Bow we the knee to Baal/*
Said our Lady of the Snows,
**My speech is clean and single,
I talk of common things —
Words of the wharf and the market-place
And the ware the merchant brings:
Favour to those I favour,
But a stumbling-block to my foes.
Many there be that hate us,"
Said our Lady of the Snows.
'*I called my chiefs to council
In the din of a troubled year;
For the sake of a sign ye would not see.
And a word ye would not hear.
This is our message and answer;
This is the path we chose:
For we be also a people,"
Said our Lady of the Snows.
** Carry the word to my sisters —
To the Queens of the East and the South.
I have proven faith in the Heritage
By more than the word of the mouth.
RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
They that arc wise may follow
Ere the world's waNtrrimpet blows.
But I — I am first in the battle,"
S«d our Lady of the Snows.
A Nalion spoke to a Nation,
A Throne tent vaord to a Throne:
' ' Daughter am I in my mother's hoitse^
But mistress in my oum.
The gates are mine to open.
As the gates are mine to close.
And I abide by my Mother's House"
Said our Lady of the Snows.
AN AMERICAN
I 894
The American Spirit speaks:
JF THE Led Striker call it a strike,
Or the papers call it a war,
They know not much what I am tike.
Nor what he is, my Avatar,
Through many roads, by me possessed.
He shambles forth in cosmic guise;
He is the Jester and the Jest,
And he the Text himself applies.
The Celt is in his heart and hand.
The Gaul is in his brain and nerve;
Where, cosmopolitanly planned.
He guards the Redskin's dry reserve
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918
His easy unswept hearth he lends
From Labrador to Guadeloupe^
Till, elbowed out by sloven friends,
He camps, at sufferance, on the stoop.
Calm-eyed he scoffs at Sword and Crown,
Or, panic- blinded, stabs and slays:
Blatant he bids the world bow down.
Or cringing begs a crust of praise; -i
Or, sombre-drunk, at mine and mart,
He dubs his dreary brethren Kings.
His hands are black with blood — his heart
Leaps, as a babe's, at little things.
But, through the shift of mcxxl and mood,
Mine ancient humour saves him whole —
The cynic devil in his blood
That bids him mock his hurrying soul;
That bids him flout the Law he makes,
That bids him make the Law he flouts,
Till, dazed by many doubts, he wakes
The drumming guns that — have no doubts;
That checks him foolish-hot and fond,
That chuckles through his deepest ire,
That gilds the slough of his despond
But dims the goal of his desire;
liwpportunc, shrill-accented.
The acrid .^atk mirth
That leaves him. careless 'mid his dead,
The icandal of the elder earth.
RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
How shall he clear himself, how reach
Your bar or weighed defence prefer —
A brother hedged with alien speech
And lacking all interpreter?
Which knowledge vexes him a space;
But, while Reproof around him rings.
He turns a keen untroubled face
Home, to the instant need of things.
Enslaved, illogical, elate.
He greets the embarrassed Gods, nor fears
To shake the iron hand of Fate
Or match with Destiny for beers.
Lo, imperturbable he rules,
Unkempt, disreputable, vast —
And, in the teeth of all the schools,
I — I shall save him at the last!
THE CHOICE
I 9 I 7
The /American Spirit speaks:
"TO the Judge of Right and JVrong
IViih Whom fulfilment lies
Our purpose and our power Mong,
Our faith and sacrifice.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918
Let Freedom's Land rejoice!
Our andent bonds are riven;
Once more to us the eternal choice
Of Good or III is given.
Not at a little cost,
Hardljr by prayer or tears,
Shall we recover the road we lost
In the drugged and doubting years.
But, after the fires and the wrath.
But, after searching and pain,
His Mercy opens us a path
To live with ourselves again.
In the Gates of Death rejoice!
We see and hold the good —
Bear witness. Earth, we have made our choice
With Freedom's brotherhood!
Then praise the Lord Most High
Whose Strength hath saved us whole.
Who bade us choose that the Flesh should die
And not the livhig Soul!
To the God in Mart dhplayed—
Wfuree'er we see that Birth,
Be loce and understanding paid
As never yet on earth!
To the Spirit that moves in Man,
On tyhom aU worlds depend,
Be Glory since our tvorld began
And serviee to the end !
214 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
TEIE YOUNG QUEEN
1900
(The Commonwealth of Australia^ inauptruUi New Yem^s Df^, 1901)
pjER hand was still on her sword-hilt, the spur was st£l
on her heel,
She had not cast her harness of grey, war-dinted steel;
High on her red-splashed charger, beautiful, bold, and
browned,
Bright-eyed out of the battle, the Young Queen rode to be
crowned.
She came to the Old Queen's presence, in the Hall of Oui
Thousand Years —
In the Hall of the Five Free Nations that are peers amon|
their peers:
Royal she gave the greeting, loyal she bowed the head.
Crying — ** Crown me, my Mother!" And the Old Queei
rose and said: —
"How can I crown thee further? I know whose standan
flies
Where the clean surge takes the Leeuwin or the coral barrier
rise.
Blood of our foes on thy bridle, and speech of our friends ii
thy mouth —
How can I crown thee further, O Queen of the Sovereign
South?
'*Let the Five Free Nations witness!" But the Young
Queen answered swift: —
**It shall be crown of Our crowning to hold Our crown fori
gift.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 215
" the days when Our folk were feeble thy sword made sure
,^^ Our lands:
^iierefore We come in power to take Our crown at thy
hands."
^d the Old Queen raised and kissed her, and the jealous
circlet prest,
AOped with the pearls of the Northland and red with the gold
of the West,
Lit with her land's own opals, levin-hearted, alive.
And the Five-starred Cross above them, for sign of the Na-
tions Five.
So It was done in the Presence — in the Hall of Our Thou-
sand Years,
In the face of the Five Free Nations that have no peer but
their peers;
And the Young Queen out of the Southland kneeled down at
the Old Queen's knee.
And asked for a mother's blessing on the excellent years to be.
And the Old Queen stooped in the stillness where the jewelled
head drooped low: —
"Daughter no more but Sister, and doubly Daughter so —
Mother of many princes — and child of the child I bore.
What good thing shall I wish thee that I have not wished
before ?
Shall I give thee delight in dominion — mere pride of thy
setting forth?
f Nay, we be women together — we know what that lust is
worth.
Peace in thy utmost borders, and strength on a road untrod?
are dealt or diminished at the secret will of God.
2i6 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
^'I have swayed troublous councils, I am wise in terrible
things;
Father and son and grandson, I have known the hearts of the
Kings. ,
Shall I give thee my sleepless wisdom, or the gift all wisdom
above?
Ay, we be women together — I give thee thy people's love:
"Tempered, august, abiding, reluctant of prayers or vows,
Eager in face of peril as thine for thy mother's house.
God requite thee, my Sister, through the excellent years to be,
And make thy people to love thee as thou hast loved me!"
THE FLOWERS
1895
" To our prixtaie Uute^ there is always something a Ride exeiic,
Jicialy in songs whichy under an English aspect and dress ^ are yei so muuufesdj
the product of other skies. They affect us like translations; the veryjmatmm aid
flora are alien^ remote; the dog^s-tooth violet is hut an ill suhstitutefor tke rathe
primrose, nor can we ever helieve that the tvood-rohin sings as sweetly in April as
the English thrush." The AiHEKiEUM.
^UY my English posies!
Kent and Surrey may —
Violets of the Undercliff
Wet with Channel spray;
Cowslips from a Devon combe —
Midland furze afire —
Buy my English posies
And ril sell your heart's desire !
Buy my English posies!
You that scorn the May,
Won't you greet a friend from home
Half the world away ?
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885^1918 217
Green against the draggled drift.
Faint and frail and first —
Buy my Northern blood-root
And rU know where you were nursed!
bin down the logging-road whistles, ''Come to me!"
ing has found the maple-grove, the sap is running free,
the winds of Canada call the ploughing-rain.
e the flower and turn the hour, and kiss your love again!
Buy my English posies!
Here's to match your need —
Buy a tuft of royal heath.
Buy a bunch of weed
White as sand of Muisenberg
Spun before the gale —
Buy my heath and lilies
And ril tell you whence you hail!
tr hot Cons tan tia broad the vineyards lie —
»ned and thorned the aching berg props the speckless
sky —
below the Wynberg firs trails the tilted wain —
I the flower and turn the hour, and kiss your love again!
Buy my English posies!
You that will not turn —
Buy my hot-wood clematis.
Buy a frond o' fern
Gathered where the Erskine leaps
Down the road to Lome —
Buy my Christmas creeper
And rU say where you were born !
r away from Melbourne dust holidays begin —
r that mock at Paradise woo at Cora Lynn —
»tigh the great South Otway gums sings the great South
Main —
I the flower and turn the hour, and kiss your love again !
2i8 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Buy my English posies!
Here's your choice unsold!
Buy a blood-red myrtle-bloom.
Buy the kowhai's gold
Flung for gift on Taupo's face.
Sign that spring is come —
Buy my clinging myrtle
And rU give you back your home!
Broom behind the windy town, pollen of the pine —
Bell-bird in the leafy deep where the raias twine —
Fern above the saddle-bow, flax upon the plain —
Take the flower and turn the hour, and kiss your love agsun!
Buy my English posies!
Ye that have your own
Buy them for a brother's sake
Overseas, alone!
Weed ye trample underfoot
Floods his heart abrim —
Bird ye never heeded.
Oh, she calls his dead to him!
Far and far our homes are set round the Seven Seas;
Woe for us if we forget, we who hold by these!
Unto each his mother-beach, bloom and bird and land —
Masters of the Seven Seas, oh, love and understand!
THE NATIVE-BORN
I 894
T^T^E'VE drunk to the Queen — God bless her! —
We've drunk to our mothers' land;
We've drunk to our English brother,
(But he does not understand); •
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 219
We've drunk to the wide creation.
And the Cross swings low for the mom,
Last toast, and of Obligation,
A health to the Native-born!
nrhey change their skies above them.
But not their hearts that roam!
"We learned from our wistful mothers
To call old England "home";
"We read of the English sky-lark.
Of the spring in the English lanes,
IBut we screamed with the painted lories
As we rode on the dusty plains!
They passed with their old-world legends —
Their tales of wrong and dearth —
^3ur fathers held by purchase,
But we by the right of birth;
^>ir heart's where they rocked our cradle,
Our love where we spent our toil,
«^nd our faith and our hope and our honour
We pledge to our native soil !
charge you charge your glasses —
I charge you drink with me
b the men of the Four New Nations,
And the Islands of the Sea —
b the last least lump of coral
That none may stand outside,
-^^nd our own good pride shall teach us
To praise our comrade's pride.
b the hush of the breathless morning
On the thin, tin, crackling roofs,
b the haze of the burned back-ranges
And the dust of the shoeless hoofs — *^
RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
To the risk of a death by drowning.
To the risk of a death by droudi —
To the men of a million acres,
To the Sons of the Golden South!
To the Sons of the GoUen South {Stand up I),
And the life we Hoe and know.
Let a fellow sing o' the little things he eares about.
If a fellow fights for the little things he eares aiout
ffith the weight of a single blow !
To the smoke of a hundred coasters.
To the sheep on a thousand hills.
To the sun that never blisters,
To the rain that never chills —
To the land of the waiting springtime.
To our five-meal, meat-fed men,
To the tall, deep-bosomed women,
And the children nine and tent
And the children nine and ten {Stand up !),
And the life we live and know.
Let a fellow sing o' the little things he eares about.
If a fellow fights for the little things he eares about,
If^iih the weigh/ of a twofold blow I
To the far-flung, fenceless prairie
Where the quick cloud-shadows trail,
To our neighbour's barn in the offing
And the line of the new-cut rail;
To the plough in her league-long furrow
With the grey Lake gulls behind —
To the weight of a half-year's winter
And the warm wet western wind!
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 221
To the home of the floods and thunder,
To her pale dry healing blue —
To the lift of the great Cape combers.
And the smell of the baked Karroo.
To the growl of the sluicing stamp-head —
To the reef and the water-gold,
To the last and the largest Empire,
To the map that is half unrolled!
To our dear dark foster-mothers.
To the heathen songs they sung —
To the heathen speech we babbled
Ere we came to the white man's tongue.
To the cool of our deep verandas —
To the blaze of our jewelled main.
To the night, to the palms in the moonlight.
And the fire-fly in the cane!
To the hearth of Our People's Peopl
To her well-ploughed windy sea,
To the hush of our dread high-altar
Where The Abbey makes us We.
To the grist of the slow-ground ages.
To the gain that is yours and mine
To the Bank of the Open Credit,
To the Power-house of the Line!
"We've drunk to the Queen — God bless her!
We've drunk to our mothers' land;
"We've drunk to our English brother
(And we hope he'll understand),
"^c've drunk as much as we're able,
And the Cross swings low for the morn;
^t toast — and your foot on the table! —
A health to the Native-born !
222 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
A health to the Native-bom {Stand up /),
fVeWe six white men aroWy
All bound to sing 6* the little things we care aioui.
All bound to fight for the little things we care about
JVith the weight of a six-fold blow I
By the might of our cable-tow {Take hands /),
From the Orkneys to the Horn
All round the world {and a little loop to pull it by)^
All round the world {and a little strap to buckle it),
A health to the Native-bom !
THE LOST LEGION
1895
npHERE'S a Legion that never was 'listed.
That carries no colours or crest.
But, split in a thousand detachments,
Is breaking the road for the rest.
Our fathers they left us their blessing —
They taught us, and groomed us, and crammed;
But we've shaken the Clubs and the Messes
To go and find out and be damned
(Dear boys!).
To go and get shot and be damned.
So some of us chivvy the slaver,
And some of us cherish the black,
And some of us hunt on the Oil Coast,
And some on the Wallaby track:
And some of us drift to Sarawak,
And some of us drift up The Fly,
And some share our tucker with tigers,
And some with the gentle Masai,
(Dear boysO,
Take tea with the giddy Masai.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 188S-1918 223^
We've painted The Islands vermilion,
WeVe pearled on half-shares in the Bay,
liVeVe shouted on seven-ounce nuggets,
WeVe starved on a Seedee boy's pay;
"We've laughed at the world as we found it, —
Its women and cities and men —
Trom Sayyid Burgash in a tantrum
To the smoke-reddened eyes of Loben,
(Dear boys!),
WeVe a little account with Loben.
*^Jhe ends of the Earth were our portion,
_ The ocean at large was our share.
^There was never a skirmish to windward
But the Leaderless Legion was there:
es, somehow and somewhere and always
We were first when the trouble began,
rom a lottery-row in Manila,
To an I.D.B. race on the Pan
(Dear boys!),
With the Mounted Police on the Pan.
We preach in advance of the Army,
We skirmish ahead of the Church,
With never a gunboat to help us
When we're scuppered and left in the lurch.
But we know as the cartridges finish,
And we're filed on our last little shelves.
That the Legion that never was 'listed
Will send us as good as ourselves
(Good men!),
Rve hundred as good as ourselves!
224 RUr^xiL. wiNCS VERSE
Then a health (we must drink it in whispers),
To our wholly unauthorized hotde —
To the line of our dusty ferelooper^
The Gentlemen Rovers abroad —
Yes, a health to oursdlves ere we scatter,
For the stefuner won't wait fcr die traJm,
And the Legion that never was listed
Goes back into quarters again
lU^gatdsI
Goes back under canvas again.
Hurrah!
The swag and the billy again.
Here's how!
The trail and the pacldunse again.
Sahie!
The trek and the lager again!
THE IRISH GUARDS
I 8
\A^E*RE not so old in the Army List,
But we're not so young at our trade.
For we had the honour at Fontenoy
Of meeting the Guards* Brigade.
Twas Lally, Dillon, Bulkeley, Clare,
And Lee that led us then,
And after a hundred and seventy years
We're fighting for France again!
Old Days ! The wild geese are flighting^
Head to the storm as they faced it before !
For where there are Irish there* s bound to be fightings
And when there's no fightings it's Ireland no more I
Ireland no mort I
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 188&-1918
tie fashion's all for khaki now,
But (Nice through France we went
«jll-dre9aed in scarlet Army cloth,
The English— left at Ghent.
~hey're fighting on our side to-day
But, bcrorc they changed their clothes,
The half of Europe knew our fame,
M all of Ireland knows!
OiJ Dayi ! The wiU geese arefiying.
Head to the itorm as they faced it before !
For where there are Irish there's memory undying.
And when we forget, it is Ireland no more !
Ireland no
FfTO Barry Wood to Gouzeaucourt,
From Boyne to Pilkem Ridge,
The ancient days come back no more
Thin water under the bridge.
Bu[ the bridge it stands and the water runs
As red as yesterday,
And the Irish move to the sound of the guns
like ulmon to the sea.
Old Days I The wild geese are ranging.
Head to the storm as they faced it before I
For where there are Irish their hearts are unchanging,
.Ind when they are changed, it is Ireland no more !
Ireland no more !
^t'n not so old in the Army List,
But we're not so new in the ring,
'or we earned our packs with Marshal Saxe
Klien Louis was our King.
Alt Douglas Haig's our Marshal now
And we're King George's men.
226 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
And after one hundred and seventy years
We're fighting for France again!
Ahy France ! And did we stand by you,
fVhen life was made splendid with gifts and
Ah^ France I And will we deny you
In the hour of your agony. Mother of Swords t
Old Days ! The wild geese as^ flighting.
Head to the storm as they faced it before !
For where there are Irish there* s looing andfl^itbi[,
And when we stop either, it*s Ireland no more I
Ireland m
PHARAOH AND THE SERGEANT
1897
". . . Consider that the meritorious services of the Sergeant Infi^^
attached to the Egyptian Army have been inadequately acknowledged' • * '
To the excellence of their work is mainly due the great improvement 1^
taken place in the soldiers of H.H. the Khedive. "
Extract moM LeT^^
CAID England unto Pharaoh, **I must make a man or •
That will stand upon his feet and play the game;
That will Maxim his oppressor as a Christian ought to
And she sent old Pharaoh Sergeant Whatisname.
It was not a Duke nor Earl, nor yet a ^ijcount—
It was not a big brass General that came;
But a man in khaki kit who could handle men a bif^
With his bedding labelled Sergeant Whatisname.
Said England unto Pharaoh, "Though at present sin^^
small,
You shall hum a proper tune before it ends,"
And she introduced old Pharaoh to the Sergeant once for^
And left *em in the desert making friends.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 227
It was not a Crystal Palace nor Cathedral;
It was not a public-house of common fame;
But a piece of red-hot sand, with a palm on either hand,
And a little hut for Sergeant Whatisname.
Said England unto Pharaoh, ''You've had miracles before,
When Aaron struck your rivers into blood;
But if you watch the Sergeant he can show you something
more.
He's a charm for making riflemen from mud."
It was neither Hindustani, French, nor Coptics;
It was odds and ends and leavings of the same.
Translated by a stick (which is really half the trick),
And Pharaoh harked to Sergeant Whatisname.
(There were years that no one talked of; there were times of
horrid doubt —
There was faith and hope and whacking and despair —
^"Kile the Sergeant gave the Cautions and he combed old
Pharaoh out,
And England didn't seem to know nor care.
That is England's awful way o* doing business —
She would serve her God (or Gordon) just the same —
For she thinks her Empire still is the Strand and HoU
bom Hill,
And she didn't think of Sergeant Whatisname.)
•
Said England to the Sergeant, "You can let my people go!"
(England used 'em cheap and nasty from the start),
A.nd they entered 'em in battle on a most astonished foe —
But the Sergeant he had hardened Pharaoh's heart
Which was broke, along of all the plagues of Egypt,
Three thousand years before the Sergeant came —
And he mended it again in a little more than ten,
nil Pharaoh fought like Sergeant Whatisname.
228 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
It was wicked bad campaigning (cheap and nasty from the
first),
There was heat and dust and coolie-work and sun.
There were vipers, flies, and sandstorms, there was cholen
and thirst,
But Pharaoh done the best he ever done.
Down the desert, down the railway, down the river,
Like Israelites from bondage so he came,
Tween the clouds o* dust and fire to the land of M*
desire,
And his Moses, it was Sergeant Whatisname!
We are eating dirt in handfuls for to save our d«Iy btt*^'
Which we have to buy from those that hate us most, . *
And we must not raise the money where the Sergeant r^
the dead,
And it's wrong and bad and dangerous to boast.
But he did it on the cheap and on the quiet,
And he's not allowed to forward any claim — .
Though he drilled a black man white, though he m^^
mummy fight,
He will still continue Sergeant Whatisname —
Private, Corporal, Colour-Sergeant, and Instructor
But the everlasting miracle's the same!
THE LAST OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE
I 8 9 I
TPHERE were thirty million English who talked of Eng-
land's might,
There were twenty broken troopers who lacked a bed for the
night.
INCLUSIVE EDITION. 1885-1918 229
They had ndther food nor money, they had neither service
nor trade;
They were only shiftless soldiers, the last of the Ijght Brigade.
They felt that life was fleering; they knew not that art was
long,
That though they were dying of famine, they lived in death-
less song.
They asked for a little money to keep the wolf from the door;
And the thirty million English sent twenty pounds and four!
''hey laid their heads together that were scarred and lined
and gray;
•^een were the Russian sabres, but want was keener than
they;
* nd an old troop sergeant muttered, "Let us go to the man
who writes
'^he things on Balaclava the kiddies at school recites."
^hcy went without bands or colours, a regiment ten-file
strong,
' o look for the Master-singer who had crowned them all in
his song;
-^nd, waiting his servant's order, by the garden gate they
suyed,
'^ desdatc little cluster, the last of the Light Brigade.
tVy strove to Stand to attention, to straighten the toil-
bowed back;
I^Hcy drilled on an empty stomach, the loose-kntt flies fell
slack;
'''Ith Kooping of weary shoulders, in garments tattered and
frayed,
^Vy diambled into his presence, the last of the Light Bri-
gade.
230 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
The old troop sergeant was spokesman, and '^Beggin' your
pardon," he said,
"You wrote o' the Light Brigade, sir. Here's all that isn't
dead.
An' it's all come true what you wrote, sir, regardin' the mouth
of hell;
For we're all of us nigh to the workhouse, an' we thought we'd
call an' tell.
"No, thank you, we don't want food, sir; but couldn't you
take an' write
A sort of *to be continued' and 'see next page' o' the fight?
We think that someone has blundered, an* couldn't you tell
'em how?
You wrote we were heroes once, sir. Please, write we are
starving now."
The poor little army departed, limping and lean and forlorn.
And the heart of the Master-singer grew hot with "the scorn
of scorn."
And he wrote for them wonderful verses that swept the land
like flame,
Till the fatted souls of the English were scourged with the
thing called Shame.
O thirty million English that babble of England's might,
Behold there are twenty heroes who lack their food to-night;
Our children's children are lisping to " honour the charge they
made — "
And we leave to the streets and the workhouse the charge of
the Light Brigade!
INCLUSIVE EDITION 1885-1918
KITCHENER'S SCHOOL
Btinj I Iratulalion ef Iht song Ihal xotti maJt kj a MeAamnuJan school-
itslir tf BniaJ It^aiOrj (tome time on lervitt at Suakim) vhen kt heard that
Kikhnur av imking money Jrom the Enj/ish it huild a MaJrissa /or Hui-
ii«j— «r a teUtifJor the Sudantil.
QH HUBSHEE, carry your shoes in your hand and bow
your head on your breast!
This is the message of Kitchener who did not break you in
It was pennitted to him to fulfil the long-appointed years;
Reaching the end ordained of old over your dead Emirs.
Ht stamped only before your walls, and the Tomb ye knew
was dust:
He gathered up under his armpits all the swords of your
trust:
He Jet a guard on your granaries, securing the weak from
the strong:
He said: — "Go work the waterwheels that were abolished so
He laid: — "Go safely, being abased. I have accomplished
my vow."
That was the mercy of Kitchener. Cometh his madness now !
He does not desire as ye desire, nor devise as ye devise:
He is preparing a second host — an army to make you wise.
^01 It the mouth of his clean-lipped guns shall ye learn his
name again,
*"' letter by letter, from Kaf to Kaf, at the mouths of his
chosen men.
23-2
RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
H
He has gone back to his own city, not seeking presents ^
bribes,
But openly asking the English for money to buy you Hiki^
and scribes.
LTsSt -
Knowing that ye are forfeit by battle and have no liglit
live,
He begs for money to bring you learning — and all the
lish give.
It is their treasure — it is their pleasure — thus are
hearts inclined:
For Allah created the English mad — the maddett of
mankind!
:4ei
b
They do not consider the Meaning of Things; they OQUalt
creed nor clan.
Behold, they clap the slave on the back, and behold^ he
a man!
I
They terribly carpet the earth with dead, and befare
cannon cool,
They walk unarmed by twos and threes to call the Hviiig
school.
How is this reason (which is their reason) to judge a scholar's
worth.
By casting a ball at three straight sticks and defending the
same with a fourth?
But this they do (which is doubtless a spell) and other matters
more strange.
Until, by the operation of years, the hearts of their scholars
change:
^
Till these make come and go great boats or engines upon die
rail
(But always the English watch near by to prop them when
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 233
Till these make laws of their own choice and Judges of their
own blood;
And all the mad English obey the Judges and say that that
Law is good.
Certainly they were mad from of old; but I think one new
thing,
'hat the magic whereby they work their magic — wherefrom
their fortunes spring —
'^lay be that they show all peoples their magic and ask no
price in return.
"Tierelorc, since ye are bond to that magic, O Hubshee, make
haste and learn!
^^taifily also is Kitchener mad. But one sure thing I
know —
If nc ^^ho broke you be minded to teach you, to his Madrissa
^ ^rid carry your shoes in your hand and bow your head
on your breast,
*'or K^ who did not slay you in sport, he will not teach you
in jest.
LORD ROBERTS
I 9 I 4
U£ passed in the very battle-smoke
Of the war that he had descried.
Three hundred mile of cannon spoke
When the Master-Gunner died.
He passed to the very sound of the guns;
But, before his eye grew dim,
He had seen the faces of the sons
Whose sires had served with him.
234 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
He had touched their sword-hilts and greete-
With the old sure word of pnuse;
And there was virtue in touch and speech
As it had been in old days.
So he dismissed them and took his rest.
And the steadfast spirit went forth
Between the adoring East and West
And the tireless guns of the North.
Clean, simple, valiant, well-beloved.
Flawless in faith and fame,
Whom neither ease nor honours moved
An hairVbreadth from his aim.
Never again the war-wise face.
The weighed and urgent word
That pleaded in the market-place —
Pleaded and was not heard!
Yet from his life a new life springs
Through all the hosts to come.
And Glory is the least of things
That follow this man home.
BRIDGE-GUARD IN THE KARRCX)
I 9 o I
"... and will supply details to guard the Blood Rioer Bridge,**
District Orders — Lines of Communication. South African War.
CUDDEN the desert changes,
The raw glare softens and clings.
Till the aching Oudtshoorn ranges
Stand up like the thrones of Kings —
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 235
Ramparts of slaughter and peril —
Blazing^ amazing, aglow —
TTwixt the sky-line's belting beryl
And the wine-dark flats below.
Royal the pageant closes,
Lit by the last of the sun —
Opal and ash-of-roses.
Cinnamon, umber, and dun.
The twilight swallows the thicket.
The starlight reveals the ridge.
The whistle shrills to the picket —
We are changing guard on the bridge.
ne —
(Few, forgotten and lonely,
Where the empty metals shi
No, not combatants — only
Details guarding the line.)
We slip through the broken panel
Of fence by the ganger's shed;
We drop to the waterless channel
And the lean track overhead;
We stumble on refuse of rations.
The beef and the biscuit-tins;
We take our appointed stations.
And the endless night begins.
We hear the Hottentot herders
As the sheep click past to the fold—
And the click of the restless girders
As the steel contracts in the cold —
236 TIUDYAKD KIPLING'S VEl
Voices of jackals calling
And, loud in the hush betw
A morsel of dry earth falling
From the flanks of the scarred ravine.
R^fl
And the solemn firmament marches.
And the i f heaven rise
Framed thn le iron arches —
Banded a.™ . red by the ties,
Till we fee! th track hu
And we see nr headlight _
And we gather 1 wait her coming-
The wonderful north-bound train.
(Few, foi^cten and lonely.
Where the white car-windows shine —
No, not combatants — only
Details guarding the line.)
Quick, ere the gift escape usi
Out of the darkness we reach
For a handful of week-old papers
And a mouthful of human speech.
And the monstrous heaven rejoices,
And the earth allows again.
Meetings, greetii^s, and voices
Of women talking with men.
So we return to our places,
As out on the bridge she rolls;
And the darkness covers our faces.
And the darkness re-enters our souls.
J
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 237
More than a little lonely
Where the lessening tail-lights shine.
No — not combatants — only
Details guarding the line!
SOUTH AFRICA
1903
T IVED a woman wonderful,
(May the Lord amend her!)
Neither simple, kind, nor true,
But her Pagan beauty drew
Christian gentlemen a few
Hotly to attend her.
Chris i tan gentlemen a few
From Berwick unto Dover;
For she was South Africa^
And she was South Africa^
She was Our South Africa^
Africa all over !
Half her land was dead with drouth,
Half was red with battle;
She was fenced with fire and sword
Plague on pestilence outpoured,
Locusts on the greening sward
And murrain on the cattle!
True^ ah true^ and overtrue.
That is why we love her !
For she is South Africa^
And she is South Africa^
She is Our South Africa^
Africa all over !
23^
Bitter hard her lovers toiled.
Scandalous their payment, —
Food forgot on trains derailed; 1
Cattle-dung where fuel failed; I
Water where the mules had staled;
And sackcloth for their raiment!
So she filled thdr moadu with dust
And their bonei widi fever;
Greeted them with cruel lies;
Treated ' them de«|Mts|ul-wiii^ .
Meted.them c«lagiitn»
Till they vowed to leave herl
They took ship and they took sail.
Raging, from her borders —
In a little, none the less,
They format their sore duresse.
They forgave her waywardness
And returned forordersl
They esteemed her favour more
Than a Throne's foundation.
For the glory of her face
Bade farewell to breed and race —
Yea, and made their burial-place
Altar of a Nation!
Wherefore, being bought by blood.
And by blood restored
To the arms that nearly lost,
She, because of all she cost.
Stands, a very woman, most
Perfect and adored 1
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 239
On yourfeety and lei them know
This is why we love her !
For she is South Africa^
She is Our South Africay
Is Our Own South Africay
Africa all over !
THE BURIAL
1902
(C. 7* Rhodes y buried in the MatoppoSy April lo, 1902)
\X7'HEN that great Kings return to clay,
^ ^ Or Emperors in their pride,
Grief of a day shall fill a day.
Because its creature died.
But we — we reckon not with those
Whom the mere Fates ordain.
This Power that wrought on us and goes
Back to the Power again.
Dreamer devout, by vision led
Beyond our guess or reach,
The travail of his spirit bred
Cities in place of speech.
So huge the all-mastering thought that drove-
So brief the term allowed —
Nations, not words, he linked to prove
His faith before the crowd.
It is his will that he look forth
Across the world he won —
The granite of the ancient North —
Great spaces washed with sun.
There shall he palieoi: wfcejlfajwt
(Ab whai dw Dea^ hednecOi
And there ainit a pppfde'l feet.
In die padM th^^ pRpMjed.
There, till the viwta he feretaw
Splendid and iriwk ariae,
And tmimasiiwd Enpiiet draw
To oouneil 'neadi U» ^ei.
The immenie and bfoocfing Spirit adH
Shall quicken and oontroL
Living he was die land, and dead.
ISs soul diall be her sottll
THINGS AND THE MAN
(in MEMORIAM, JOSEPH chamberlain)
I 904
"And Joseph dreamed a dream, utd he ttdd it hit brethrca and the;
him yet the more." — Gtntiit xxmi. j.
QH YE who hold the written due
To all save all unwritten things^
And, half a league behind, pursue
The accomplished Fact with flouts and flings.
Look! To your knee your baby brings
The oldest tale since Earth began —
The answer to your worryings:
"Onct en a time there was a Man"
-^
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1335-1918 241
^e, single-handed, met and slew
Magicians, Armies, Ogres, Kings,
lonely 'mid his doubting crew —
**In all the loneliness of wings" —
He fed the flame, he filled the springs,
He locked the ranks, he launched the van
Straight at the grinning Teeth of Things.
*'Once on a time /here was a Many
e peace of shocked Foundations flew
^Before his ribald questionings,
i broke the Oracles in two,
-^nd bared the paltry wires and strings.
e headed desert wanderings;
He led his soul, his cause, his clan
little from the ruck of Things.
**Once on a time there was a Man''
rones. Powers, Dominions block the view
"^\^ith episodes and underlings —
e meek historian deems them true
^iNor heeds the song that Clio sings —
^^he simple central truth that stings
The mob to boo, the priest to ban;
'things never yet created things —
''Once on a time there was a Man,'*
Vx)lt is fallen from the blue.
wakened realm full circle swings
ere Dothan's dreamer dreams anew
^Of vast and farborne harvestings;
-^nd unto him an Empire clings
That grips the purpose of his plan,
^^y Lords, how think you of these things?
Once — in our time — is there a Man ?
242 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
THE SETTLER
1903
(SoiUh Affkan Wm' tniei^ Mmy^ 1902)
pjERE^ where my fresh-turned furrows run.
And the deep soil glistens red,
I will repair the wrong that was done
To the living and the dead.
Here, where the senseless bullet fell.
And the barren shrapnel burst,
I will plant a tree, I will dig a well.
Against the heat and the thirst.
Here, in a large and a sunlit land,
Where no wrong bites to the bone,
I will lay my hand in my neighbour's hand.
And together we will atone
For the set folly and the red breach
And the black waste of it all;
Giving and taking counsel each
Over the cattle-kraal.
Here will we join against our foes —
The hailstroke and the storm.
And the red and rustling cloud that blows
The locust's mile-deep swarm.
Frost and murrain and floods let loose
Shall launch us side by side
In the holy wars that have no truce
'Twixt seed and harvest-tide.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 243
Earth, where we rode to slay or be slain,
Our love shall redeem unto life.
We will gather and lead to her lips again
The waters of ancient strife,
From the far and fiercely guarded streams
And the pools where we lay in wait.
Till the com cover our evil dreams
And the young corn our hate.
And when we bring old fights to mind.
We will not remember the sin —
If there be blood on his head of my kind.
Or blood on my head of his kin —
For the ungrazed upland, the untilled lea
Cry, and the fields forlorn:
The dead must bury their dead, but ye-
Ye serve an host unborn."
««
Hless then, Our God, the new-yoked plough
And the good beasts that draw,
*'\nd the bread we eat in the sweat of our brow
According to Thy Law.
-After us Cometh a multitude —
Prosper the work of our hands,
"Xliat we may feed with our land's food
The folk of all our lands!
I^ere, in the waves and the troughs of the plains,
Wliere the healing stillness lies.
And the vast, benignant sky restrains
And the long days make wise —
Bless to our use the rain and the sun
And the blind seed in its bed.
That we may repair the wrong that was done
To the living and the dead!
y
^:^u
^44 RUDYARD KIPLING'S
SUSSEX
1902
r^OD gave all men all earth to lov€»
But since our hearts ate small.
Ordained for each one spot should prove
Beloved over all;
That, as He watched Creation's birth.
So we, in oodlike mood.
May of our bve create our earth
^d see that it is good.
So one shall Baltic pines content.
As one some Surrey glade.
Or one the palm-grove's droned lament
Before Levuka's Trade.
Each to his choice, and I rejoice
The lot has fallen to me
In a fair ground — in a fair ground —
Yea, Sussex by the sea!
No tender-hearted garden crowns.
No bosomed woods adorn
Our blunt, bow-headed, whale-backed Downs,
But gnarled and writhen thorn —
Bare slopes where chasing shadows skim.
And, through the gaps revealed.
Belt upon belt, the wooded, dim.
Blue goodness of the Weald.
Clean of officious fence or hedge,
Half-wild and wholly tame.
The wise turf cloaks the white cliff edge
As when the Romans came.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 245
Vlhmt sign of those that fought and died
At shut of sword and sword?
The barrow and the camp abide,
The sunlight and the sward.
Here leaps ashore the full Sou 'west
All heavv-winged with brine.
Here lies above the folded crest
The Channel's leaden line;
And here the sea-fogs lap and cling,
And here, each warning each,
The sheep-bells and the ship-bells ring
Along the hidden beach.
We have no waters to delight
Our broad and brookless vales —
Onlv the dewpond on the height
l/nfed, that never fails —
Whereby no tattered herbage tells '
Which way the season flies —
Only our close-bit thyme that smells
Like dawn in Paradise.
Here through the strong and shadeless days
The tinkling silence thrills;
Or little, lost, Down churches praise
The Lord who made the hills:
But here the Old Gods guard their round.
And, in her secret heart.
The heathen kingdom Wilfrid found
Dreams, as she dwells, apart.
Though all the rest were all my share,
WiA equal soul I'd see
Her nine-and-thirtv sisters fair.
Yet none more fair than she.
246 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Choose ye your need from Thames to Tweed,
And I will choose instead
Such lands as lie 'twixt Rake and Rye,
Black Down and Beachy Head.
I will go out against the sun
Where the rolled scarp retires,
And the Long Man of Wilmington
Looks naked toward the shires;
And east till doubling Rother crawb
To find the fickle tide.
By dry and sea-fbigotten walls,
Our ports of stranded pride.
I will go north about the shaws
And the deep ghylls that breed
Huge oaks and old, the which we hold
No more than Sussex weed;
Or south where windy Piddinghoe's
Begildcd dolphin veers
And red beside wide-banked Ousc
Lie down our Sussex steers.
So to the land our hearts we give
Till the sure magic strike.
And Memory, Use, and Love make live
Us and our fields alike —
That deeper than our speech and thought.
Beyond our reason's sway,
Clay of the pit whence we were wrought
Yearns to its fellow-clay.
God pves all men all earth to love,
Bui since man's heart is small.
Ordains Jor each one spot shall prove
Belooed ooer aU.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 247
Each to his choice^ and I rejoice
The lot has fallen to me
In a fair ground — in a fair ground —
JVtf, Sussex by the sea!
MY BOY JACK
I 9 I 4 - I 8
U AVE you news of my boy Jack?"
* * Not this tide.
"When d'you think that he'll come back?"
Sot with this wind blowingy and this tide.
'*Has any one else had word of him?"
Not this tide,
-f^or what is sunk will hardly swim^
Not with this wind blowings and this tide.
**0h, dear, what comfort can I find?"
None this tidcy
Nor any tidCy
Except he did not shame his kind —
Not even with that wind blowings and that tide.
Then hold your head up all the morcy
This tidCy
And every tide;
Because he was the son you bore.
And gave to that wind blowing and that tide !
ANATivirr-
1914-1*
TBEIUewaUimHtM
AUitftfnm aU ■»# fc^ii
(Wilkauael Whkmiael)
**I» h wdl wtdi tke duld, B it «dl?"
XBt WUBK limllB I UUfUL
"Per I kimr not km b Wi^
And I knoir not where he ii Ind."
A Star stood forth in Hetpen;
The Watchers ran to see
Tie Sign of the Promise pten —
"But there comes no riga to me.
(To me! To me!)
"My child died in the dark.
Is it well mth the child, is it well?
There was none to tend htm ch- mark.
And I know not how He fell."
The Cross was raised on high;
The Mother grieved hesid^^
"But the MotJier saw Him die
And took Him when He died.
(He died! HediedQ
"Seemly and undefiled
His burial-place was made—
Is it well, is it well with the child?
For I know not where he is lud."
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 249
On the dawning of Easier Day
Comes Mary Magdalene;
Bui ihe Sione was rolled away.
And the Body was not within —
(Within! Within!)
"Ah, who will answer my word?
The broken mother prayed.
"They have taken away my Lord,
And I know not where He is laid/'
" The Star stands forth in Heaven.
The watchers watch in vain
For Sign of the Promise given
Of peace on Earth again —
(Again! Again!)
"But I know for Whom he fell"—
The steadfast mother smiled,
"Is it well with the child — is it well?
It is well — it is well with the child!
f»
DIRGE OF DEAD SISTERS
1902
{Far the Nurses who died in the South African Win)
^^^O recalls the twilight and the rangM tents in order
(Violet peaks uplifted through the crystal evening air ?)
^^d the clink of iron teacups and the piteous, noble laughter.
And the faces of the Sisters with the dust upon their hair?
^^ow and not hereafter, while the breath is in our nostrils.
Now and not hereafter, ere the meaner years go by —
^"^<t us now remember many honourable women.
Such as bade us turn again when we were like to die.)
::: RVDYARD KIPLING'S XTRSE
Who recalls the morning and the thunder through the foot-
hills
(Tufts of fleecy shrapnel strung along the empty plains?)
And the sun-scarred RedXross coaches creeping gutfdcd to
the culvert.
And the faces of the Sisters looidng gravely from the trains-
(Wlien the daj-s were torment and the nights were cloudfi^
terror,
Wlien the Powers of Darkness had dominion on our soa)^'
Wlien we fled consuming through the Seven Hells of Feve^^
These put out their hands to us and healed and made ^
whole.)
Wlio recalls the midnight by the bridge's wrecked abutme#^
(Autumn rain that rattled like a Maxim on the tin?)
And the lightning-dazzled levels and the streaming, stnunir^ —
wagons.
And the faces of the Sisters as they bore the wounded icT^
(Till the pain was merciful and stunned us into silence —
When each nerve cried out on God that nuule the misuse^
clay;
When the Body triumphed and the last poor shame d^
parted —
These abode our agonies and wiped the sweat away.)
Who recalls the noontide and the funerals through the mark^
(Blanket-hidden bodies, flagless, followed by the flies?)
And the footsore firing-party, and the dust and stench an^
staleness.
And the faces of the Sisters and the glory in their eyes?
(Bold behind the battle, in the open camp all-hallowed.
Patient, wise, and mirthful in the ringed and reeking town,
These endured unresting till they rested from their labours-
Little wasted bodies, ah, so light to lower down!)
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 251
t their graves are scattered and their names are clean for-
gotten,
Sarth shall not remember, but the Waiting Angel knows
em that died at Uitvlugt when the plague was on the city —
ier that fell at Simon's Town in service on our foes.
hcrefore we they ransomed^ while the breath is in our nostrilsy
Now and not hereafter — ere the meaner years go by —
aise with love and worship many honourable womeny
Those that gave their lives for us when we were like to die !
THE VAMPIRE
1897
A FOOL there was and he made his prayer
(Even as you and I !)
To a rag and a bone and a hank of hair
(We called her the woman who did not care)
But the fool he called her his lady fair —
(Even as you and I !)
Ohy the years we waste and the tears we waste
And the work of our head and hand
Belong to the woman who did not know
{And now we know that she never could know)
And did not understand !
A fool there was and his goods he spent
(Even as you and I !)
Honour and faith and a sure intent
(And it wasn't the least what the lady meant)
But a fool must follow his natural bent
(Even as you and I !)
^S2 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Ohf the toil we lost and the spoil we lost
And the excellent things we planned
Belong to the woman who dtdnU know why
{And now we know that she never knew why)
And did not understand !
The fool was stripped to his foolish hide
(Even as you and I !)
Which she might have seen when she threw him a^de—
(But it isn't on record the lady tried)
So some of him lived but the most of him died —
(Even as you and I !)
** And it isnU the shame and it isn*t the blame
That stings like a white hot brand —
It*s coming to know that she never knew why
(Seeingy at lasty she could never know why)
And never could understand ! "
THE ENGLISH FLAG
I 8 9 I
jihove the portico aflag-staf h€4ar%ng the Union Jsck, remained JlttUinn^
Jhe flames for some time, bui uliimaiely when it felithe crowds rent the mr
jhouts, and seemed to see significance in the incident.
Daily Papeks^
\\7'INDS of the World, give answer! They are whiru-
pering to and fro —
And what should they know of England who only England
know ? —
The poor little street-bred people that vapour and fume and
brag,
They are lifting their heads in the stillness to yelp at the
English Flag!
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 253
^^st wc borrow a clout from the Boer — to plaster anew with
dirt?
^ Irish liar's bandage, or an English coward's shirt?
^e may not speak of England; her Flag's to sell or share,
^hat is the Flag of England ? Winds of the World, declare !
[Tie North Wind blew: — "From Bergen my steel-shod van-
guards go;
I chase your lazy whalers home from the Disko floe.
By the great North Lights above me I work the will of God,
^d the liner splits on the ice-field or the Dogger fills with
cod.
l barred my gates with iron, I shuttered my doors with
flame,
because to force my ramparts your nutshell navies came,
took the sun from their presence, I cut them down with
my blast,
^nd they died, but the Flag of England blew free ere the
spirit passed.
r'lie lean white bear hath seen it in the long, long Arctic
nights,
riie musk-ox knows the standard that flouts the Northern
Lights:
^^'Vhat is the Flag of England? Ye have but my bergs to
dare,
*c have but my drifts to conquer. Go forth, for it is
there!"
The South Wind sighed: — "From the Virgins my mid-sea
course was ta'en
"Oirer a thousand islands lost in an idle main,
"Where the sea-egg flames on the coral and the long-backed
breakers croon
Their endless ocean legends to the lazy, locked lagoon.
254 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Strayed amid lonely islets, mazed amid outer keys,
I waked the palms to laughter — I tossed the scud in the
breeze.
Never was isle so little, never was sea so lone.
But over the scud and the palm-trees an English flag was
flown.
I have wrenched it free from the halliards to hang for a
wisp on the Horn;
I have chased it north to the Lizard — ribboned and roUcd
and torn;
I have spread its fold o'er the dying, adrift in a hopeless
sea;
I have hurled it swift on the slaver, and seen the slave set
free.
My basking sunfish know it, and wheeling albatross.
Where the lone wave fills with fire beneath the Southern
Cross.
What is the Flag of England? Ye have but my reefs to
dare,
Ye have but my seas to furrow. Go forth, for it is there'*
The East Wind roared:— "From the Kuriles, the Bitter
Seas, I come,
* And me men call the Home- Wind, for I bring the English
home.
*Look — look well to your shipping! By breath of my ta^
typhoon
* I swept your close-packed Praya and beached your best at:
Kowloon !
*The reeling junks behind me and the racing seas before,
*I raped your richest roadstead — I plundered Singapore!
'I set my hand on the Hoogli; as a hooded snake she rose;
*And I flung your stoutest steamers to roost with the
startlcJ crows.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 255
sver the lotos closes, never the wild-fowl wake,
at a soul goes out on the East Wind that died for Eng-
land's sake —
[an or woman or suckling, mother or bride or maid —
ecause on the bones of the English the English Flag is
stayed.
he desert-dust hath dimmed it, the flying wild-ass knows,
he scared white leopard winds it across the taintless
snows.
Tiat is the Flag of England ? Ye have but my sun to dare,
e have but my sands to travel. Go forth, for it is there ! "
I West Wind called: — "In squadrons the thoughtless
galleons fly
hat bear the wheat and cattle lest street-bred people die.
hey make my might their porter, they make my house
their path,
ill I loose my neck from their rudder and whelm them all
in my wrath.
draw the gliding fog-bank as a snake is drawn from the
hole,
hey bellow one to the other, the frighted ship-bells toll,
3r day is a drifting terror till I raise the shroud with my
breath,
id they see strange bows above them and the two go
locked to death.
It whether in calm or wrack-wreath, whether by dark or
day,
cave them whole to the conger or rip their plates away,
St of the scattered legions, under a shrieking sky,
>ping between the rollers, the English Flag goes by.
2C6
RUDYARD KIPLING'S
"'The dead dumb fog hath wrapped it — the fiozen den
have kissed —
"The naked stars have seen it, a fidUcyw-star in the mist
'*\Vhat is the Flag of Enghnd? Te have but my breith to
dare,
''Ye have but mv waves to conquer. Go fbrdi, for it is
there!"
_ r
u
THE DEAD KING
(EDWARD VII.)
I 9 I O
Zf/'HO in the Realm to-day lays down dear life for the sakf ^
a land more dear ? .
Andy unconcerned for his own estate, toils till the f^
grudged sands haze run ?
Let him approach. It is proven here
Our King asks nothing of any man more than Our King hims
has done.
For to him above all was Life good, above all he command^^
Her abundance full-handed.
The peculiar treasure of Kings was his for the taking:
All that men come to in dreams he inherited waking: —
His marvel of world-gathered armies — one heart and zJ'
races;
His seas 'neath his keels when his war-castles foamed to their
places;
The thundering foreshores that answered his heralded land-
ing;
The huge lighted cities adoring, the assemblies upstanding;
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 257
^'He Councils of Kings called in haste to learn how he was
minded —
The Kingdoms, the Powers, and the Glories he dealt with
unblinded.
To him came all captains of men, all achievers of glory,
Hot from the press of their battles they told him their story.
They revealed him their lives in an hour and, saluting, de-
parted.
Joyful to labour afresh — he had made them new-hearted.
And, since he weighed men from his youth, and no lie long
deceived him.
He spoke and exacted the truth, and the basest believed him.
And God poured him an exquisite wine, that was daily re-
newed to him.
In the clear-welling love of his peoples that daily accrued ta
him.
Honour and service we gave him, rejoicingly fearless;
Paith absolute, trust beyond speech and a friendship as peer-
less.
And since he was Master and Servant in all that we asked
him,
We leaned hard on his wisdom in all things, knowing not how
we tasked him.
*or on him each new day laid command, every tyrannous
hour.
To confront, or confirm, or make smooth some dread issue
of power;
To deliver true judgment aright at the instant, unaided,
Ifi the strict, level, ultimate phrase that allowed or dissuaded;
To foresee, to allay, to avert from us perils unnumbered.
To stand guard on our gates when he guessed that the watch-
men had slumbered;
To win time, to turn hate, to woo folly to service and, mightily
schooling
Km strength to the use of his Nations, to rule as not ruling.
258 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
These were the works of our King; Earth's peace was tk
proof of them.
God gave him great works to fulfil, and to us the behoof of than.
We accepted his toil as our right — none spared, none excused
him.
When he was bowed by his burden his rest was refused him-
We troubled his age with our weakness — the blacker our
shame to us!
Hearing his People had need of him, straightway he came to i
us.
As he received so he gave — nothing grudged, naught denyingi
Not even the last gasp of his breath when he strove for uSi
dying.
For our sakes, without question, he put from him all that he
cherished.
Simply as any that serve him he served and he perished.
All that Kings covet was his, and he flung it aside for us-
Simply as any that die in his service he died for us!
Who in the Realm to-day has choice of the easy road or the haT^
to tread ?
Andy much concerned for his own estate^ would sell his soul ^^
remain in the sun ?
Let him depart nor look on Our dead.
Our King asks nothing of any man more than Our King hif^'
self has done.
V\HEN EARTH'S LAST PICTURE IS PAINTEP
1892
'\\/'HEN Earth's last picture is painted and the tubes arc
twisted and dried,
When the oldest colours have faded, and the youngest critic
has died.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 259
We shall rest, and, faith, we shall need it — lie down for an
teon or two.
Till the Master of All Good Workmen shall put us to work
anew.
And those that were good shall be happy: they shall sit in a
eolden chair;
They shall splash at a ten-league canvas with brushes of
comets' hair.
They shall find real saints to draw from — Magdalene, Peter,
and Paul;
They shall work for an age at a sitting and never be tired at
aU!
And only the Master shall praise us, and only the Master
shall blame;
And no one shall work for money, and no one shall work for
fame,
Bat each for the joy of the working, and each, in his separate
star,
Shall draw the Thing as he sees It for the God of Things as
They arc!
"CLEARED"
1890
(In memory 0/ thi PameU Commission)
({ELP for a patriot distressed, a spotless spirit hurt.
Help for an honourable clan sore trampled in the dirt !
'KMn Queenstown Bay to Donegal, Oh listen to my song.
The honourable gentlemen have suffered grievous wrong.
26o RUDYARD KIFUNCS VBBSB
Thdr noble namet were menttoned— C% die btmiag Ukt
disgrace! —
^ a brutal Saxon paper in an Irith ahooting-caae;
Tney sat upon it for a year, then ateeled dieir heart to bme
it>
And "coruscating innocence" the leaned Judges giTC iL
Bear witness. Heaven, of that grim crime beneath At nt-
geon's knife.
The "honourable gentlemen" deplwed the Ion of lifel
Bear witness of tliMe chantii^ chdti that buih and ihi^ind
snigger,
No man laid hand upon the knife or finger to the trigprl
Geared in the face of all mankind beneath the winking aktOt ''
Like phcenixes from Phceniz Park (and what lay there) tlvT
rise!
Go shout it to the emerald seas — give word to Erin no*'
Her honourable gentlemen are cleared — and this is howr'
They only paid the Moonlighter his catde-hocking price^
They only helped the murderer with counsel's best advice^
But — sure it keeps their honour white — the learned Coc*
believes
They never give a piece of plate to murderers and thieve**
They never told the ramping crowd to card a woman's hidft
They never marked a man for death — what fault of theio
he died?—
They only said "intimidate," and talked and went away—
By God, the boys that did the work were braver men thu
they!
Their sin it was that fed the fire — small blame to rfiem thit
heard —
The boys get drunk on rhetoric, and madden at a word —
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 261
7 knew whom they were talking at, if they were Irish too,
; gentlemen that lied in Court, they knew, and well they
knew!
y only took the Judas-gold from Fenians out of jail,
y only fawned for dollars on the blood-dyed Clan-na-
Gael.
lack is black or white is white, in black and white it's
down,
f*Tt only traitors to the Queen and rebels to the Crown,
sared," honourable gentlemen! Be thankful it's no
more: —
widow's curse is on your house, the dead are at your
door.
roa the shame of open shame; on you from North to South
hand of every honest man flat-heeled across your mouth.
ss black than we were painted"? — Faith, no word of
black was said;
lightest touch was human blood, and that, you know,
runs red.
sticking to your fist to-day for all your sneer and scoff,
I by the Judge's well-weighed word you cannot wipe it off.
i up those hands of innocence — go, scare your sheep
together,
blundering, tripping tups that bleat behind the old bell-
wether;
if they snufF the taint and break to find another pen,
them it's tar that glistens so, and daub them yours again !
262 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
" The charge is old " ? — As old as Cain — as fresh as yestcr- ^
Old as the Ten Commandments — have ye talked those Xin
away?
If words are words, or death is death, or powder sends tk
ball,
You spoke the words that sped the shot — the curse be on
you all.
"Our friends believe'*? Of course they do — as sheltered
women may;
But have they seen the shrieking soul ripped from the quiver-
ing clay?
They ! — If their own front door is shut, they'll swear the whole
world's warm:
What do they know of dread of death or hanging fear of harin-
The secret half a county keeps, the whisper in the lane,
The shriek that tells the shot went home behind the bro^^^^^
pane.
The dry blood crisping in the sun that scares the honest b^^'
And shows the boys have heard your talk — what do tt^^
know of these?
But you — you know — ay, ten times more; the secrets o[
the dead.
Black terror on the country-side by word and whisper bred,
The mangled stallion's scream at night, the tail-cropped
heifer's low.
Who set the whisper going first? You know, and well you
know!
INCXUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 263
My soul ! I'd sooner tie in jail for murder plain and straight.
Pure crime I'd done with my own hand for money, lust, or
hate
Than take a seat in Parliament by fellow-felons cheered,
Vi'hile one of those "not provens" proved me cleared as you
are cleared.
Cleared— you that "lost" the League accounts — go, guard
our honour still,
Go, help to make our country's laws that broke God's law
at will —
Oie hand stuck out behind the back, to signal "strike again";
The other on your dress-shirt-front to show your heart is
clane.
Ilblack is black or white is white, in black and white it's
down,
■ou're only traitors to the Queen and rebels to the Crown.
If print is print or words are words, the learned Court per-
pends:—
"care not ruled by murderers, but only — by their friends.
THE BALLAD OF THE RED EARL
I 8 9 I
'I'nnat for themucriticiie toominuldr the method* (he Iriih followed,
^'^ ther mi^t dephire aotat of thrir results. During the put few years
'jiW hid been going through what was tantamount to a revolucion. —
J^ED EARL, and will ye take for guide
The silly camel-birds,
That ye bury your head in an Irish thorn,
On a desert of drifting words?
264 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Ye have followed a man for a God« Red Eail»
As the Lord o* Wrong and Rig|it;
But the dav is done wim the setting
V^ ye follow into the ni|
He gave you jaar own old words, Red Earit
For food on die wastrel way;,
V^ ye rise and eat in the nimt, Red Earl,
That fed so full in the day?
Ye have followed fast, ye have followed far.
And where cUd the wandering lead?
From the day that ye praised die spoken wofd
To the day ye must gloss the deed.
And as ye have given your hand for gun.
So must ye give in loss;
And as ye ha' come to the brink of the pit.
So must ye loup across.
For some be rogues in grain. Red Earl,
And some be rogues in fact.
And rogues direct and rogues elect;
But all be rogues in pact.
Ye have cast your lot with these, Red Earl;
Take heed to where ye stand.
Ye have tied a knot with your tongue. Red Earl,
That ye cannot loose with your hand.
Ye have travelled fast, ye have travelled far.
In the grip of a tightening tether,
Till ye find at the end ye must take for friend
The quick and their dead together.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 265
t have played with the Law between your lips,
And mouthed it daintilee;
It the gist o' the speech is ill to teach,
Per ye say: "Let wrong go free."
dd Earl, ye wear the Garter fair,
And gat your place from a King:
o ye make Rebellion of no account,
And Treason a little thing?
nd have ye weighed your words, Red Earl,
*rhat stand and speak so high?
r%d is it good that the guilt o* blood.
Be cleared at the cost of a sigh?
rid is it well for the sake of peace.
Our tattered Honour to sell,
-nd higgle anew with a tainted crew —
Red Earl, and is it well ?
"« have followed fast, ye have followed far.
On a dark and doubtful way,
^^ the road is hard, is hard. Red Earl,
And the price is yet to pay.
c ahaU pay that price as ye reap reward
Pot the toil of your tongue and pen —
^ the praise of the blamed and the thanks of the shamed,
And the honour o' knavish men.
266 RUDYARD KIPLING'S
D<:*c^:
They scarce shall veil their somi, Red Ear!
And the worst at the last shall be.
When you tell your heart that it does not 1
And your eye that it does not see.
ULSTER
I 9 I 2
("Their webt shall not become garments, neither shaU they c
selves with their works: their wc^ks are worics of iiuquity anc
violence is in their hands." — Isaiah lix. 6.)
npHE dark eleventh hour
Draws on and sees us sold
To every evil power
We fought against of old.
Rebellion, rapine, hate,
Oppression, wrong and greed
Are loosed to rule our fate.
By England's act and deed.
The Faith in which we stand,
The laws we made and guard.
Our honour, lives, and land
Are given for reward
To Murder done by night.
To Treason taught by day.
To folly, sloth, and spite.
And we are thrust away.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 267
The blood our fathers spilt,
CXir love, our toils, our pains.
Are counted us for guilt,
And only bind our chains.
Before an Empire's eyes
The traitor claims his price.
What need of further lies?
We are the sacrifice.
We asked no more than leave
To reap where we had sown.
Through good and ill to cleave
To our own flag and throne.
Now England's shot and steel
Beneath that flag must show
How loyal hearts should kneel
To England's oldest foe.
We know the war prepared
On every peaceful home,
We know the hells declared
For such as serve not Rome —
The terror, threats, and dread
In market, hearth, and field —
We know, when all is said.
We perish if we yield.
Believe, we dare not boast.
Believe, we do not fear —
We stand to pay the cost
In all that men hold dear.
What answer from the North ?
One Law, one Land, one Throne.
If England drive us forth
We shall not fall alone!
268 RUDYARD KIPLING'S '
THE BALLAD OF EAST AND WEST
1889
QH, EAST it Eatt, taut tf^ttt u f^ttt^ mid never At Mir
thai/ meet.
Till Earth and Siy stmid pmei^ at Go^t gmU Jm/^
Seat;
But there is neither Etut nor West, Bonier, nee- ^tti, m
Birth,
When two strong men stand/see to/tee, thet^h th^ tamtptf
the ends of the earth I
Kainal is out with twenty men to raise the Bc»der nd^
And he has lifted the Colonel's mare that is the Colood'*
pride.
He has lifted her out of the stable-door between dte dawn ud
the day.
And turned the calkins upon her feet, and ridden her \s
away.
Then up and spoke the Colonel's son that ted a troop of the
Guides:
"Is there never a man of all my men can say where Kuw
hides?"
Then up and spoke Mohammed Khan, the son of dw Rt*'
saldar:
"If ye know the track of the morning-mist, ye know lAeB
his pickets are.
"At dusk he harries the Abazai — at dawn he is into Boour,
"But he must go by Fort Bukloh to his own place to Eut
"So if ye gallop to Fort Bukloh as fast as a tnitl can fly,
" By the favour of God ye may cut him off ere he win to the
Tongue of Jagai.
"But if he be past the Tongue of Jagai, right swiftly tun
ye then,
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 269
r the length and the breadth of that grisly plain is sown
with Kamal's men.
ere is rock to the left, and rock to the right, and low lean
thorn between,
d ye may hear a breech-bolt snick where never a man is
seen."
G>loners son has taken a horse, and a raw rough dun
was he,
h the mouth of a bell and the heart of Hell and the head
of a gallows-tree.
G>lonel's son to the Fort has won, they bid him stay to
eat —
} rides at the tail of a Border thief, he sits not long at his
meat.
\ up and away from Fort Bukloh as fast as he can
he was aware of his father's mare in the gut of the Tongue
ofjagai,
he was aware of his father's mare with Kamal upon her
back,
i when he could spy the white of her eye, he made the
pistol crack,
has fired once, he has fired twice, but the whistling ball
went wide.
I shoot like a soldier," Kamal said. "Show now if ye
can ride!"
up and over the Tongue of Jagai, as blown dust-devils
dun he fled like a stag of ten, but the mare like a barren
doe.
dun he leaned against the bit and slugged his head above,
the red mare played with the snaflle-bars, as a maiden
plays with a glove.
re was rock to the left and rock to the right, and low lean
thorn between,
thrice he heard a breech-bolt snick tho' never a man was
seen.
270 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
They have ridden the low moon out of the sky, didr boon
drum up the dawn,
The dun he went like a wounded bull, but the mare Gke t
new-roused fawn.
The dun he fell at a water-course — in a woeful heap fell IKi
And Kamal has turned the red mare back, and pulled Ae
rider free.
He has knocked the pistol out of his hand— "^mall room wis
there to strive,
**'T was only by favour of mine," quoth he, "ye rode sokng
alive:
'' There was not a rock for twenty mile, there was not a clomp
of tree,
"But covered a man of my own men with his rifle cocked oo
his knee.
"If I had raised my bridle-hand, as I have held it low,
"The little jackals that flee so fast were feasting all in «
row.
" If I had bowed my head on my breast, as I have held it high,
"The kite that whistles above us now were gorged till she
could not fly."
Lightly answered the Coloners son: "Do good to bird and
beast,
"But count who come for the broken meats before thou
makest a feast.
"If there should follow a thousand swords to carry my bones
away,
"Belike the price of a jackal's meal were more than a thirf
could pay.
"They will feed their horse on the standing crop, their mco
on the garnered grain,
"The thatch of the byres will serve their fires when all the
cattle are slain.
" But if thou thinkest the price be fair, — thy brethren wai'
to sup,
"The hound is kin to the jackal-spawn, — howl, dog, and ca
them up!
INCLUSIVE EDITION. 1885-1918 271
'*And if thou thinkest the price be high, in steer and gear and
stack,
"Give me my father's mare again, and I'll fight my own way
back!"
Kama! has gripped him by the hand and set him upon his
feet.
**No talk shall be of dogs/' said he, "when wolf and grey
wolf meet.
"May I eat dirt if thou hast hurt of me in deed or breath;
"What dam of lances brought thee forth to jest at the dawn
with Death?"
Lightly answered the Colonel's son: "I hold by the blood of
my clan:
"Take up the mare for my father's gift — by God, she has
carried a man!"
The red mare ran to the Colonel's son, and nuzzled against
his breast;
We be two strong men," said Kamal then, "but she loveth
the younger best.
So she shall go with a lifter's dower, my turquoise-studded
rein,
"My 'broidered saddle and saddle-cloth, and silver stirrups
twain."
The Colonel's son a pistol drew, and held it muzzle-end,
"Ye have taken the one from a foe," said he; "Will ye take
the mate from a friend?"
A gift for a gift," said Kamal straight; "a limb for the risk
of a limb.
Thy father has sent his son to me, I'll send my son to him!"
With that he whistled his only son, that dropped from a
mountain-crest —
He trod the ling like a buck in spring, and he looked like a
lance in rest.
"Now here is thy master," Kamal said, "who leads a troop of
the Guides,
''Aiid thou must ride at his left side as shield on shoulder
rides.
««
•4
««
M
RUDYARD KIPLING'S VBIC9S
" mi Death or I cut loose the tie, M camp Slid board and Vq^
"Thy life is hia — thy fate it u to goara him with tfav benf
"So, thou must eat the White Qacen't meat, and all her An
are thine,
"And thou must harry thy fadicr't hold for the peace of tiv
Border-line.
"And thou must make a tnxq>er toogji and hack thy wif v
power —
" Belike they irill ruse thee to Reiaaldar when I am haaged ■
Peahawur."
lliey hare looked each other between the eyea, and tke*
they found no fault,
They have taken the Oath of the Brotha-4n-Bk>od on
leavened bread and salt:
They have taken the Oath of the Brother-in-Blood on b*
and fresh-cut sod.
On the hilt and the haft of the Khyber knife, and the Won-
drous Names of God.
The Colonel's son he rides the mare and Kamal's boy the dun,
And two have come back to Fort Bukloh where there veol
forth but one.
And when they drew to the Quarter-Guard, full twenty
swords flew clear —
There was not a man but carried his feud with the blood of
the mountaineer.
"Ha* done! ha' done!" said the Colonel's son. "Put up die
steel at your sides!
"Last night ye had struck at a Border thief — to-night 't is
aman of the Guides!"
Oh, East is East, and finest is West, and never the twain shtB
meet.
Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God's great Judgment Seat;
But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birthy
When two strong men stand /ace to /ace, though they eome/rom
the ends of the earth !
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 273
THE LAST SUTTEE
1889
Stt wtMmy years Mgp a King died in one of ihe Rsjpooi Suues, His wioes^
^srqerdini the orders of the English against SuUee^ would kaoe kroken out ojf
the foiace and kumed themsehes with the corpse had not the gates keen barred.
Biaonetf them^ disguised as the King*s favourite daneing-giri, passed through
tktiiueif guards and reached the pyre, There^ her courage failings she prayed
kir cousin^ a haron of the King's court, to kill her. This he did, not knowing
9ko she was,
\JDAl CHAND lay sick to death
In his hold by Gungra hill.
All night we heard the death-gongs ring,
For the soul of the dying Rajpoot King,
All night beat up from the women's wing
A cry that we could not still.
All night the barons came and went,
The Lords of the CXiter Guard.
All night the cressets glimmered pale
On Ulwar sabre and Tonk jezail,
Mewar headstall and Marwar mail.
That clinked in the palace yard.
In the Golden Room on the palace roof
All night he fought for air:
And there were sobbings behind the screen,
Rustle and whisper of women unseen.
And the hungry eyes of the Boondi Queen
On the death she might not share.
274 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
He passed at dawn — the death-fire leaped
From ridge to river-head.
From the Malwa plains to the Abu scars:
And wail upon wail went up to the stars
Behind the grim zenana-bars.
When they knew that the King was dead.
The dumb priest knelt to tie his mouth
And robe him for the pyre.
The Boondi Queen beneath us cried:
" See, now, that we die as our mothers died
"In the bridal-bed by our master's sidel
"CXit, women! — to the fire I"
We drove the great gates home apace —
White hands were on the sill —
But ere the rush of the unseen feet
Had reached the turn to the open street,
The bars shot down, the guard-drum beat —
We held the dovecot still.
A face looked down in the gathering day.
And laughing spoke from the wall:
"Ohe, they mourn here: let me by —
"Azizun, the Lucknow nautch-girl, I!
"When the house is rotten, the rats must fly,
"And I seek another thraU.
For I ruled the King as ne'er did Queen, —
"To-night the Queens rule me!
"Guard them safely, but let me go.
Or ever they pay the debt they owe
In scourge and torture!" She leaped below
And the grim guard watched her flee.
it
it
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 275
They knew that the King had spent his soul
On a North-bred dancing-girl:
That he prayed to a iiat-nosed Lucknow god,
.And kissed die ground where her feet had trod,
.And doomed to death at her drunken nod.
And swore by her lightest curl.
"We bore the King to his fathers' place,
Where the tombs of the Sun-born stand:
^V^ere the grey apes swing, and the peacocks preen
On fretted pillar and jewelled screen,
y^nd the wild boar couch in the house of the Queen
On the drift of the desert sand.
The herald read his tides forth
We set the logs aglow:
^^ Friend of the Engfish, free from fear,
** Baron of Luni to Jeysulmeer,
** Lord of the Desert of Bikaneer,
"King of the Jungle, — go!
>i
-^Jf night the red flame stabbed the sky
M^th wavering wind- tossed spears:
-^^^d out of a shattered temple crept
Woman who veiled her head and wept,
called on the King — but the great King slept.
And turned not for her tears.
^"-^»ie watched, a bow-shot from the blaze.
The silent streets between,
^^Ho had stood by the King in sport and fray,
T'o blade in ambush or boar at bay.
And he was a baron old and grey,
And kin to the Boondi Queen.
^76 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Small thought had he to mark the strife —
Cold fear with hot desire —
When thrice she leaped from the leaping flame.
And thrice she beat her breast for shame.
And thrice like a wounded dove she came
And moaned about the fire.
He said: "O shameless, put aside
The veil upon thy brow!
Who held the King and all his land
"To the wanton will of a harlot's hand!
">^11 the white ash rise from the blistered brand?
Stoop down, and call him now!"
<i
4i
■4t
Then she: "By the faith of my tarnished soul,
"All things I did not well,
I had hoped to clear ere the fire died,
And lay me down by my master's side
"To rule in Heaven his only bride,
"While the others howl in Hell.
^'But I have felt the fire's breath,
"And hard it is to die!
^* Yet if I may pray a Rajpoot lord
"To sully the steel of a Thakur's sword
"With base-born blood of a trade abhorred
And the Thakur answered, "Ay."
He drew and struck: the straight blade drank
The life beneath the breast.
"' I had looked for the Queen to face the flame,
^*But the harlot dies for the Rajpoot dame —
■"Sister of mine, pass, free from shame.
"Pass with thy King to rest!"
INCLUSIVE EDITION. 1885-1918
The bUck ioa crashed above the white:
The little names and lean,
Red as slaughter and blue as steel,
That whistled and fluttered from head to heel,
Leaped up anew, for they found their meal
(>i the heart of — the Boondi Queen I
GENERAL JOUBERT
1900
IDUd, Somk Afrkan War, Mtnh rj, 1900)
\Y^1TH those that bred, with those that loosed the strife.
He had no part whose hands were clear of gain;
But subtle, strong, and stubborn, gave his life
To a lost cause, and knew the gift was vain.
Later shall rise a people, sane and great,
PoTged in strong fires, by equal war made one;
TelUi^ old battles over without hate —
Not least his name shall pass from sire to son.
He any not meet the onswecp of our van
In the doomed city when we close the score;
Ytt o'er his grave — his grave that holds a man —
(^r dccp-tongued guns shall answer his once more!
GEHAZI
19 ! S
\\7^HENCE comest thou, Gehazi,
So reverend to behold.
In scarlet and in ermines
And chain of England's gold?"
«l»
To keep • ^X qtt»o°"*
Vfhat «k *t! risen *^*?^»
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 279
The boils that shine and burrow,
The sores that slough and bleed —
The leprosy of Naaman
On thee and all thy seed?
Stand up> stand up, Gehazi,
Draw close thy robe and go,
Gehazi, Judge in Israel,
A leper white as snow!
THE BALLAD OF THE KING'S MERCY
1889
^BDHUR RAH MAN y tfu Durani Chief, of him is the
story told.
His mercy fills the Khyber hills — his grace is manifold;
He has taken toll of the North and the South — his glory
reachethfar.
And they tell the tale of his charity from Balkh to Kandahar.
Before the old Peshawur Gate, where Kurd and Kaffir meet,
Tht Governor of Kabul dealt the Justice of the Street,
And that was strait as running noose and swift as plunging
knife,
Tho* he who held the longer purse might hold the longer life.
There was a hound of Hindustan had struck a Euzufzai,
Wherefore they spat upon his face and led him out to die.
It chanced the King went forth that hour when throat was
bared to knife;
The Kaffir grovelled under-hoof and clamoured for his life.
Then said the King: "Have hope, O friend! Yea, Death
disgraced is hard.
"Much honour shall be thine;" and called the Captain of the
Guard,
28o RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Yar Khan, a bastard of the Blood, so city-babble saitlii
And he was honoured of the King — the which is silt 0
Death;
And he was son of Daoud Shah, the Reiver of the Plains,
And blood of old Durani Lords ran fire in his veins;
And 'twas to tame an Afghan pride nor Hell nor Heaven
could bind.
The King would make him butcher to a yelping cur of Hind.
"Strike!" said the King. "King's blood art thou-te
death shall be his pride!"
Then louder, that the crowd might catch: "Fear not-hi*
arms are tied!"
Yar Khan drew clear the Khyber knife, and struck, and
sheathed again.
"O man, thy will is done," quoth he; "A King this dog ha*
slain."
Abdhur Rahman ^ the Durani Chief y to the North anitht
South is sold.
The North and the South shall open their mouth to *
Ghilzaiflag unrolled y
When the big guns speak to the Khyber peaky and his iol'
Heratis fly:
Ye have heard the song — How long ? How long t Wolv^'
of the Abazai !
That night before the watch was set, when all the street
were clear,
The Governor of Kabul spoke: "My King, hast thou n
fear?
"Thou knowest — thou hast heard," — his speech died ath
master's face.
And grimly said the Afghan King: "I rule the Afghan rac
" My path is mine — see thou to thine. To-night upon thy b
"Think who there be in Kabul now that clamour for tl
head."
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 281
Tlitt night when all the gates were shut to City and to throne^
Within a little garden-house the King lay down alone.
Before the sinking of the moon, which is the Night of Nighty
Ymr Khan came softly to the King to make his honour white.
The children of the town had mocked beneath his horse's
hOOffSy
The hariots of the town had hailed him " butcher ! '' from their
roofs.
Bat is he groped against the wall, two hands upon him fell,
The King behind his shoulder spake: " Dead man, thou dost
not well!
JTis ill to jest with Kings by day and seek a boon by night;
^ And that thou bearest in thy hand is all too sharp to write.
^t three days hence, if God be good, and if thy strength
^^ remain,
^ "^hcn shalt demand one boon of me and bless me in thy pain.
^ ^or I am merciful to all, and most of all to thee.
^y butcher of the shambles, rest — no knife hast thou for
me!"
^Aihur Rmhnumythe Durani Chiefs holds hard by the South
md the North;
the[Ghihai knows ^ ere the me/ting snows , when the
swollen tanks break forthy
ff^hen the red-coats crawl to the sungar wall^ and his Usbeg
lances fail:
Vir have heard the song — How long T How long T Wohes
f^ the Zuka Kheyl !
They stoned him in the rubbish-field when dawn was in the
According to the written word, " See that he do not die."
They stoned him till the stones were piled above him on the
pkin,
^ those the labouring limbs displaced they tumbled back
«g«in.
282 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
One watched beside the dreary mound that veiled die bat-
tered thing,
And him the King with laughter called the Herald of tk
King.
It was upon the second night, the night of Ramazan,
The watcher leaning earthward heard the message of Ttf
Khan.
From shattered breast through shrivelled lips broke forth th^
rattling breath,
" Creature of God, deliver me from agony of Death."
They sought the King among his girls, and risked their liv^
thereby:
"Protector of the Pitiful, give orders that he die!"
** Bid him endure until the day," a lagging answer came;
"The night is short, and he can pray and learn to bless my
name."
Before the dawn three times he spoke, and on the day once
more :
"Creature of God, deliver me, and bless the King therefor!"
They shot him at the morning prayer, to ease him of his pain.
And when he heard the matchlocks clink, he blessed the King
again.
Which thing the singers made a song for all the wccrld to sing.
So that the Outer Seas may know the mercy of the King.
Abdhur Rahman y the Durani Chief y of him is the story toldy
He has opened his mouth to the North and the Souths they
have stuffed his mouth with gold.
Ye know the truth of his tender ruth — and sweet his favours
are:
Ye have heard the song — How long ? How long f—from
Balkh to Kandahar,
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 283
THE BALLAD OF THE KING'S JEST
1890
\\7HEN spring-time flushes the desert grass,
Our kafilas wind through the Khyber Pass.
Lean are the camels but fat the frails,
Light are the purses but heavy the bales,
As the snowbound trade of the North comes down
To the market-square of Peshawur town.
In a turquoise twilight, crisp and chill,
A kafila camped at the foot of the hill.
Then blue smoke-haze of the cooking rose.
And tent-peg answered to hammer-nose;
And the picketed ponies, shag and wild.
Strained at their ropes as the feed was piled;
And the bubbling camels beside the load
Sprawled for a furlong adown the road;
And the Persian pussy-cats, brought for sale.
Spat at the dogs from the camel-bale;
And the tribesmen bellowed to hasten the food;
And the camp-fires twinkled by Fort Jumrood;
And there fled on the wings of the gathering dusk
A savour of camels and carpets and musk,
A murmur of voices, a reek of smoke,
To tell us the trade of the Khyber woke.
The lid of the flesh-pot chattered high.
The knives were whetted and — then came I
To Mahbub AH, the muleteer.
Patching his bridles and counting his gear.
Crammed with the gossip of half a year.
But Mahbub Ali the kindly said,
"Better is speech when the belly is fed.**
284 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
So we plunged the hand to the mid-wrist deep
In a cinnamon stew of the fat-tailed sheep,
And he who never hath tasted the food,
By Allah! he knoweth not bad from good.
We cleansed our beards of the mutton-ffreaise.
We lay on the mats and were filled with peace,
And the talk slid north, and the talk slid soudi
With the sliding puffis from the hookah-moudi. — -•
Four things greater than all things are, —
Women and Horses and Power and War.
We spake of them all, but the last the most.
For I sought a word of a Russian post.
Of a shifty promise, an unsheathed sword
And a grey-coat guard on the Helmund ford.
Then Mahbub Ali lowered his eyes
In the fashion of one who is weaving lies.
Quoth he: "Of the Russians who can say?
'When the night is gathering all is grey.
'But we look that the gloom of the night shall ^ °^^
'In the morning flush of a blood-red sky.
' Friend of my heart, is it meet or wise
'To warn a King of his enemies?
'We know what Heaven or Hell may bring,
'But no man knoweth the mind of the King.
'That unsought counsel is cursed of God
'Attesteth the story of Wali Dad.
'His sire was leaky of tongue and pen,
'His dam was a clucking Khuttuck hen;
'And the colt bred close to the vice of each,
' For he carried the curse of an unstanched speec>
'Therewith madness — so that he sought
'The favour of kings at the Kabul court;
'And travelled, in hope of honour, far
'To the line where the grey-coat squadrons arc.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 285
** There have I journeyed too — but I
** Saw naught, said naught, and — did not die!
** He hearked to rumour, and snatched at a breath
*' Of 'this one knoweth* and * that one saith,' —
** Legends that ran from mouth to mouth
**Of a grey-coat coming, and sack of the South.
** These have I also heard — they pass
** With each new spring and the winter grassJ
** Hot-foot southward, forgotten of God,
'"Back to the city ran Widi Dad,
** Even to Kabul — in full durbar
]*The King held talk with his Chief in War.
"Into the press of the crowd he broke,
** And what he had heard of the coming spoke.
**Then Gholam Hyder, the Red Chief, smiled,
**As a mother might on a babbling child;
*'But those who would laugh restrained their breath,
"When the face of the King showed dark as death.
**Evil it is in full durbar
"To cry to a ruler of gathering war!
"Slowly he led to a peach-tree small,
**That grew by a cleft of the city wall.
".And he said to the boy: 'They shall praise thy zc\il
'* *So long as the red spurt follows the steel.
***And the Russ is upon us even now?
** 'Great is thy prudence — wait them, thou.
** 'Watch from the tree. Thou art young and strong.
"'Surely the vigil is not for long.
"The Russ is upon us, thy clamour ran?
'"Surely an hour shall bring their van.
'"Wait and watch. When the host is near,
"'Shout aloud that my men may hear.'
"Friend of my heart, is it meet or wise
"To warn a King uf his enemies?
286 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
"A guard was set that he might, not
''A score of bayonets ringed the tree.
"The peach-bloom fell in showers of snow,
"When he shook at his death as he looked below.
" By the power of God, who alone is great,
"Till the seventh day he fought with his fate.
"Then madness took him, and men declare
"He mowed in the branches as ape and bear,
"And last as a sloth, ere his bodv failed,
"And he hung like a bat in the forks, and wailed,
"And sleep the cord of his hands untied,
"And he tell, and was caught on the points and died.
"Heart of my heart, is it meet or wise
"To warn a King of his enemies?
"We know what Heaven or Hell may bring,
"But no man knoweth the mind of the King.
"Of the grey-coat coming who can say?
"When the night is gathering all is grey.
"Two things greater than all things are,
"The first is Love, and the second War.
"And since we know not how War may prove,
"Heart of my heart, let us talk of Love!"
WITH SCINDIA TO DELHI
1890
More than a hundred years agOy in a great battle f ought near Delhi, sm Indism
Prince rode fifty miles after the day was lost with a beggar-girl, who had lo9ed
him and followed him in all his camps ^ on his saddle-how. He lost the girl when
almost within sight of safety. A Mahratta trooper tells the story: —
T^HE wreath of banquet overnight lay withered on the
neck.
Our hands and scarves were saffron-dyed for signal of
despair.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885^1918 287
hkcn we went forth to Paniput to battle with the Mlechy —
re we came back from Paniput and left a kingdom there.
hxice thirty thousand men were we to force the Jumna
fords—
The hawk-winged horse of Damajee, mailed squadrons of
the Bhao,
^mrk levies of the southern hills, the Deccan's sharpest
swords,
And he» the harlot's traitor-son> the goatherd Mulhar
Rao!
Tirice thirty thousand men were we before the mists had
cleared.
The low white mists of morning heard the war-conch
scream and bray,
^e called upon Bhowani and we gripped them by the beard ,
We rolled upon them like a flood and washed their ranks
away.
n»c children of the hills of Khost before our lances ran,
We drove the black Rohillas back as cattle to the pen;
*T was then we needed Mulhar Rao to end what we began,
A thousand men had saved the charge; he fled the field
with ten !
There was no room to clear a sword — no power to strike a
blow.
For foot to foot, ay, breast to breast, the battle held us
fast —
Save where the naked hill-men ran, and stabbing from below
Brought down the horse and rider and we trampled them
and passed.
288 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
To left the roar of musketry rang like a falling flood — ^^
To right the sunshine rippled red from redder lance i^^
blade— ^
Above the dark Upsaras^ flew, beneath us plashed the ^sxsS^
And, bellying black against the dust, the Bhagwa Jhandtf'
swayed.
I saw it fall in smoke and fire, the Banner of the Bhao;
I heard a voice across the press of one who called in vain: —
''Ho! Anand Rao Nimbalkhur, ride! Get aid of Mulhar
Rao!
"Go shame his squadrons into fight — the Bhao — the
Bhao is slain!"
Thereat, as when a sand-bar breaks in clotted spume and
spray.
When rain of later autumn sweeps the Jumna water-head,
Before their charge from flank to flank our riven ranks gave
way —
But of the waters of that flood the Jumna fords ran red.
I held by Scindia, my lord, as close as man might hold;
A Soobah of the Deccan asks no aid to guard his life;
But Holkar's Horse were flying, and our chiefest chiefs were
cold,
And like a flame among us leapt the long lean Northern
knife.
I held by Scindia — my lance from butt to tuft was dyed,
The froth of battle bossed the shield and roped the bridle-
chain —
What time beneath our horses' feet a maiden rose and cried,
And clung to Scindia, and I turned a sword-cut from the
twain.
*The Choosers of the Slain.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 289
^^ set a spell upon the maid in woodlands long ago,
^hunter by the Tapti banks, she gave him water there:
He turned her heart to water, and she followed to her woe.
What need had he of Lalun who had twenty maids as fair?)
Now in that hour strength left my lord; he wrenched his mare
aside;
He'bound the girl behind him and we slashed and struggled
free.
Across the reeling wreck of strife we rode as shadows ride
From Paniput to Delhi town, but not alone were we.
*T was Lutif-Ullah Populzai laid horse upon our track,
A swine-fed reiver of the North that lusted for the maid;
I might have barred his path awhile, but Scindia called me
back.
And I — O woe for Scindia! — I listened and obeyed.
League after league the formless scrub took shape and glided
by-
League after league the white road swirled behind the white
mare's feet —
League after league, when leagues were done, we heard the
Populzai,
Where sure as Time and swift as Death the tireless footfall
beat.
Noon's eye beheld that shame of flight; the shadows fell, we
fled
Where steadfast as the wheeling kite he followed in our
train;
The black wolf warred where we had warred, the jackal
mocked our dead.
And terror bom of twilight-tide made mad the labouring
brain.
290 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
I gasped: — "A kingdom waits my lord; her love is but '^ ^
own.
"A day shall mar, a day shall cure, for her — but what ^ j
thee?
"'Cut loose the girl: he follows fast. Cut loose and ride
alone!"
Then Scindia 'twixt his blistered lips: — "My Queens
Queen shall she be!
" Of all who ate my bread last night *twas she alone that came
"To seek her love between the spears and find her crown
therein!
"One shame is mine to-day. What need the weight of double
shame?
" If once we reach the Delhi gate, though all be lost, I win!*'
We rode — the white mare failed — her trot a staggering
stumble grew, —
The cooking-smoke of even rose and weltered and hung low;
And still we heard the Populzai and still we strained anew,
And Delhi town was very near, but nearer was the foe.
Yea, Delhi town was very near when Lalun whispered: —
"Slay!
"Lord of my life, the mare sinks fast — stab deep and let
me die!"
But Scindia would not, and the maid tore free and flung
away,
And turning as she fell we heard the clattering Populzai.
Then Scindia checked the gasping mare that rocked and
groaned for breath,
And wheeled to charge and plunged the knife a hands-
breadth in her side —
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 291
le hunter and the hunted know how that last pause is
death —
The blood had chilled about her heart, she reared and fell
and died.
ir Gods were kind. Before he heard the maiden's piteous
scream
A log upon the Delhi road, beneath the mare he lay —
Mt mistress and lost battle passed before him like a dream;
The darkness closed about his eyes. I bore my King away !
THE DOVE OF DACCA
1891
TTHE freed dove flew to the Rajah's tower —
Fled from the slaughter of Moslem kings —
And the thorns have covered the city of Gaur.
Dove — dove — oh, homing dove!
Little white traitor, with woe on thy wings!
The Rajah of Dacca rode under the wall;
He set in his bosom a dove of flight —
If she return, be sure that I fall."
Dove — dove — oh, homing dove!
Pressed to his heart in the thick of the fight.
" Fire the palace, the fort, and the keep —
Leave to the foeman no spoil at all.
In the flame of the palace lie down and sleep
If the dove — if the dove — if the homing dove
Come and alone to the palace /¥all."
i<
292 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
The Kings of the North they were scattered tbroid-
The Rajah of Dacca he slew them all.
Hot from slaughter he stooped at the ford>
And the dove — the dove — oh, the homing dove!
She thought of her cote on the palace-wall.
She opened her wings and she flew away —
Fluttered away beyond recall;
She came to the palace at break of day.
Dove — dove — oh, homing dove.
Flying so fast for a kingdom's fall!
The Queens of Dacca they slept in flame —
Slept in the flame- of the palace old —
To save their honour from Moslem shame.
And the dove — the dove — oh, the homing dove.
She cooed to her young where the smoke-cloud rolled!
The Rajah of Dacca rode far and fleet.
Followed as fast as a horse could fly,
He came and the palace was black at his feet;
And the dove — the dove — the homing dove.
Circled alone in the stainless sky.
So the dove flew to the Rajah's tower —
Fled from the slaughter of Moslem kings;
So the thorns covered the city of Gaur,
And Dacca was lost for a white dove's wings.
Dove — dove — oh, homing dove,
Dacca is lost from the Roll of the Kings!
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 293
THE BALLAD OF BOH DA THONE
1888
(Burma fFar, iSSj^s)
Tku is iki kalUd ^ Boh Da Thone,
EmsFnienderto Thetham^s tknm^
Who hmriid the Disirict of Alalom:
Hmo hi ma wish his/aU ami ihe V. P. P.*
Aiihe hmtJ of Hademka Mukifji.
Senior Gomashia^ G. B. T*
^QH DA THONE was a warrior bold:
His sword and his rifle were bossed with gold,
*^J^cl the Peacock Banner his henchmen bore
^4 stiff with bullion, but stifFer with gore.
p ^ shot at the strong and he slashed at the weak
•^<)m the Salween scrub to the Chindwin teak:
1^^ crucified noble, he scarified mean,
^^^ filled old ladies with kerosene:
•,J^ hile over the water the papers cried,
'"Tile patriot fights for his countryside!"
^t little they cared for the Native Press,
he worn white soldiers in khaki dress,
^Vho tramped through the jungle and camped in the byre,
^Alio died m the swamp and were tombed in the mire,
* Value Payable Post •■ collect on delivery.
*Head Qerk, Government Bullock Train«
294 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Who gave up their lives, at the Queen's Q>nimand,
For the Pride of their Race and the Peace of the Land.
Now, first of the foemen of Boh Da Thone
Was Captain O'Neil of the Black Tyrone,
And his w^ a G^mpany, seventy strongs
Who hustled that dissolute Chief along.
There were lads from Galway and Louth and M eath
Who went to their death with a joke in their teeth,
And worshipped with fluency, fervour, and zeal
The mud on the boot-heels of "Crook" O'NeiL
But ever a blight on their labours lay,
And ever their quarry would vanish away,
Till the sun-dried boys of the Black Tyrone
Took a brotherly interest in Boh Da Thone,
And, sooth, if pursuit in possession ends.
The Boh and his trackers were best of friends.
The word of a scout — a march by night —
A rush through the mist — a scattering fight —
A volley from cover — a corpse in the clearing —
A glimpse of a loin-cloth and heavy jade earring —
The flare of a village — the tally of slain —
And . . . the Boh was abroad on the raid again!
They cursed their luck, as the Irish will,
They gave him credit for cunning and skill,
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 295
ri^cy buried their dead, they bolted their beef,
started anew on the track of the thief.
X^ill, in place of the ''Kalends of Greece," men said,
** ^^/hen Crook and his darlings come back with the head."
They had hunted the Boh from the hills to the plain —
He doubled and broke for the hills again:
1*Hey had crippled his power for rapine and raid,
'I'Hey had routed him out of his pet stockade,
A^^d at last, they came, when the Daystar tired.
To a camp deserted — a village fired.
A black cross blistered the Morning-gold,
But the body upon it was stark and cold.
The wind of the dawn went merrily past,
The high grass bowed her plumes to the blast.
And out of the grass, on a sudden, broke
A spirtle of fire, a whorl of smoke —
And Captain O'Neil of the Black Tyrone
Was blessed with a slug in the ulnar-bone —
'*he gift of his enemy Boh Da Thone.
Tow a slug that is hammered from telegraph-wire
a thorn in the flesh and a rankling fire.)
shot-wound festered — as shot-wounds may
steaming barrack at Mandalay.
left arm throbbed, and the Captain swore,
like to be after the Boh once more!"
296 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
The feyer held him — the Captun said,
"Td give a hundred to look at his head!
ft
The Hospital punkahs creaked and whirred.
But Babu Harendra (Gomashta) heard.
He thought of the cane*brake, green and dank.
That giidled his home by the Dacca tank.
He thought of his wife and his High School son.
He thought — but abandoned the thought — of a gun
His sleep was broken by visions dread
Of a shining Boh with a silver head.
He kept his counsel and went his way,
And swindled the cartmen of half their pay.
And the months went on, as the worst must do.
And the Boh returned to the raid anew.
But the Captain had quitted the long-drawn strife.
And in far Simoorie had taken a wife;
And she was a damsel of delicate mould,
With hair like the sunshine and heart of gold.
And little she knew the arms that embraced
Had cloven a man from the brow to the waist:
And little she knew that the loving lips
Had ordered a quivering life's eclipse.
Or the eye that lit at her lightest breath
Had glared unawed in the Gates of Death.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 297
0*'or these be matters a man would hide.
As a general rule, from an innocent Bride.)
And little the Captain thought of the past.
And, of all men, Babu Harendra last.
But slow, in the sludge of the Kathun road.
The Government Bullock Train toted its load.
Speckless and spotless and shining with ghee}^
In the rearmost cart sat the Babu-jee;
And ever a phantom before him fled
Of a scowling Boh with a silver head.
Then the lead-^art stuck, though the coolies slaved.
And the cartmen flogged and the escort raved,
And out of the jungle, with yells and squeals.
Pranced Boh Da Thone, and his gang at his heels!
Then belching blunderbuss answered back
The Snider's snarl and the carbine's crack,
And the blithe revolver began to sing
To the blade that twanged on the locking-ring,
And the brown flesh blued where the bayonet kissed.
As the steel shot back with a wrench and a twist.
And the great white bullocks with onyx eyes
hatched the souls of the dead arise.
And over the smoke of the fusillade
The Peacock Banner staggered and swayed.
^Butter.
298 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSB
The Babu shook at the horrible right,
And girded his ponderous loins for flight,
But Fate had ordained that the Boh should start
On a lone-hand raid of the rearmost cart.
And out of that cart, with a bellow of woe.
The Babu fell— flat on the top of the Boh!
For vears had Harendra served the State,
To the growth of his purse and the girth of his ^.^
There were twenty stone, as the tally-^man knows,
On the broad of the chest of this best of Bohs.
And twenty stone from a height discharged
Are bad for a Boh with a spleen enlarged.
Oh, short was the struggle — severe was the shock —
He dropped like a bullock — he lay like a block;
And the Babu above him, convulsed with fear,
Heard the labouring life-breath hissed out in his ear.
And thus in a fashion undignified
The princely pest of the Chindwin died.
Turn now to Simoorie, where, all at his ease.
The Captain is petting the Bride on his knees.
Where the whU of the bullet, the wounded man's screair^
Are mixed as the mist of some devilish dream —
Forgotten, forgotten the sweat of the shambles
Where the hill-daisy blooms and the grey monkey gamb
^Stomach.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 299
r>om the sword-belt set free and released from the steel,
e Peace of the Lord is on Captain O'Neil!
the hill to Simoorie — most patient of drudg<
e bags on his shoulder, the mail-runner trudges.
* VoT Captain O'Neil Sahib. One hundred and ten
* Rupees to collect on delivery."
Then
CTheir breakfast was stopped while the screw-jack and
hammer
Tore waxcloth, split teak-wood, and chipped out the dam-
mcr"0
^^5cn-cjrcd, open-mouthed, on the napery's
^^th a crash and a thud, rolled — the Head
snow,
of the Boh!
'^^ct gummed to the scalp was a letter which ran: —
''In Fielding FoacE Seevice.
" loth Jan,
, ^^^-^-^ Sir, — I have honour to send, as you said^
^^or final approval (see under) Boh's Head;
., ^^as took by myself in most bloody affair.
^y High Education brought pressure to bear.
^^ ^ow violate Liberty, time being bad,
'o mail V. P. P. (rupees hundred) Please add
^ Vfhatever Your Honour can pass. Price of Blood
Much cheap at one hundred, and children want food;
* Native aealing-wax.
300 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
''So trusting Your Honour will aomewhat retain
''True love and affection for Govt. Bullodc Tnun^-
"And show awful kindness to satisfy me,
I am.
"i am,
''Graceful Master,
"Your
«
H. MVKBKJU**
As the rabbit is drawn to the ratdesnake*s power.
As the smoker's eye fills at the opium hour,
As a horse reaches up to the manger above.
As the waiting ear yearns for the whisper of love.
From the arms of the Bride, iron-visaged and slow.
The Captain bent down to the Head of the Boh.
And e'en as he looked on the Thing where It lay
'Twixt the winking new spoons and the napkins' array.
The freed mind fled back to the long-ago days —
The hand-to-hand scuffle — the smoke and the blaze —
The forced march at night and the quick rush at dawn-
The banjo at twilight, the burial ere morn —
The stench of the marshes — the raw, piercing smell
When the overhand stabbing-cut silenced the yell —
The oaths of his Irish that surged when they stood
Where the black crosses hung o'er the Kuttamow flood.
As a derelict ship drifts away with the tide
The Captain went out on the Past from his Bride,
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 301
Back) back, through the springs to the chill of the year,
When he hunted the Boh from Maloon to Tsaleer.
As the shape of a coipse dimmers up through deep water.
In his eye lit the passionless passion of slaughter,
And men who had fought with O'Neil for the life
I Had gazed on his face with less dread than his wife.
For she who had held him so long could not hold him —
Though a four-month Eternity should have controlled him ! —
But watched the twin Terror — the head turned to head —
The scowling, scarred Black, and the flushed savage Red —
The spirit that changed from her knowing and flew to
Some grim hidden Past she had never a clue to.
But It knew as It grinned, for he touched it unfearing,
And muttered aloud, "So you kept that jade earring!"
Then nodded, and kindly, as friend nods to friend,
"Old man, you fought well, but you lost in the end."
The visions departed, and Shame followed Passion: —
"He took what I said in this horrible fashion?
*'/*// writ6 to Harendra!" With language unsainted
The Captain came back to the Bride . . . who had fainted.
And this is a fiction? No. Go to Simoorie
And look at their baby, a twelve-month old Houri^
302 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
A pert little, Irisb-eycd Kathleen Mavoumin —
She's alwavs about on the MaU of a momin' —
m
And you'll see, if her right shoalder-strap is displacedj
This: Gules upon argeni^ a Boh*s Head, ermsed!
THE SACRIFICE OF ER-HEB
I 887
j^ R-HEB beyond ihe HiUs ^ Ao^^ai
Bears witness to the truths and Ao^afmi
Hath told the men rf Garukh. Thence the tak
Comes westward 6*er the peaks to India,
The stor\' of Bisesa, Armod's child, —
A maiden plighted to the Chief in War,
The Man of Sixty Spears, who held the Pass
That leads to Thibet, but to-day is gone
To seek his comfort of the God called Budh
The Silent — showing how the Sickness ceased
Because of her who died to save the tribe.
Taman is One and greater than us all,
Taman is One and greater than all Gods:
Taman is Two in One and rides the sky,
Curved like a stallion's croup, from dusk to dawn.
And drums upon it with his heels, by which
Is bred the neighing thunder in the hills.
This is Taman, the God of all Er-Heb,
Who was before all Gods, and made all Gods,
And presently will break the Gods he made.
And step upon the Earth to govern men
Who give him milk-dry ewes and cheat his Priest:;,
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 303
Or leave his shrine unlighted — as Er-Heb
Left it unlighted and forgot Taman,
When all the Valley followed after Kysh
And Yabosh, little Gods but very wise,
And from the sky Taman beheld their sin.
He sent the Sickness out upon the hills
The Red Horse Sickness with the iron hooves,
To turn the Valley to Taman again.
And the Red Horse snuffed thrice into the wind,
The naked wind that had no fear of him;
And the Red Horse stamped thrice upon the snow,
The naked snows that had no fear of him;
A*id the Red Horse went out across the rocks,
-l^e ringing rocks that had no fear of him;
^'id downward, where the lean birch meets the snow,
^*id downward, where the grey pine meets the birch,
^nd downward, where the dwarf oak meets the pine,
*ill at his feet our cup-like pastures lay.
That night, the slow mists of the evening dropped,
dropped as a cloth upon a dead man's face.
And weltered in the valley, bluish-white
Like water very silent — spread abroad,
Like water very silent, from the Shrine
I/nlighted of Taman to where the stream
Is dammed to fill our cattle-troughs — sent up
White waves that rocked and heaved and stilled themselves,
Till all the Valley glittered like a marsh.
Beneath the moonlight, filled with sluggish mist
Knee-deep, so that men waded as they walked.
That night, the Red Horse grazed above the Dam,
Beyond the cattle-troughs. Men heard him feed.
And those that heard him sickened where they lay.
304 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Thus came the sickness to Er-Heb, and slew
Ten men, strong men, and of the women four;
And the Red Horse went hillward with the dawn.
But near the cattle-troughs his hoof-print lay.
That night) the slow mists of the evening dropped.
Dropped as a cloth upon the dead, but rose
A little higher, to a young girl's height;
mi all the valley glittered like a lake.
Beneath the moonlight, filled with sluggish mist.
That night, the Red Horse grazed beyond the Dam
A stoneVthrow from the troughs. Men heard him fi
And those that heard him sickened where they lay.
Thus came the sickness to Er-Heb, and slew
Of men a score, and of the women eight.
And of the children two.
Because the road
To Gorukh was a road of enemies,
And Ao-Safai was blocked with early snows.
We could not flee from out the Valley. Death
Smote at us in a slaughter-pen, and Kysh
Was mute as Yabosh, though the goats were slain;
And the Red Horse grazed nightly by the stream.
And later, outward, towards the Unlighted Shrine,
And those that heard him sickened where they lay.
Then said Bisesa to the Priests at dusk.
When the white mist rose up breast-high, and choked
The voices in the houses of the dead: —
"Yabosh and Kysh avail not. If the Horse
"Reach the Unlighted Shrine we surely die.
"Ye have forgotten of all Gods the chief,
"Taman!" Here rolled the thunder through the Hill.
And Yabosh shook upon his pedestal.
"Ye have forgotten of all Gods the chief
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 305
*'Too kmg." And all were dumb save one, who cried
On Yaboah with the Sapphire 'twixt His knees.
But found no answer in the smoky roof,
And, being smitten of the sickness, died
Before the altar of the Sapphire Shrine.
4«
«•
41
Then said Bisesa: — "I am near to Death,
And have the Wisdom of the Grave for gift
To bear me on the path my feet must tread.
If there be wealth on earth, then I am rich,
"For Annod is the first of all Er-Heb;
'*If there be beauty on the earth," — her eyes
Dropped for a moment to the temple floor, —
*^ Ye know that I am fair. If there be Love,
** Ye know that love is mine." The Chief in War,
The Man of Sixty Spears, broke from the press.
And would have clasped her, but the Priests withstood.
Saying: — "She has a message from Taman."
Then said Bisesa: — "By my wealth and love
^' And beauty, I am chosen of the God
"'Taman." Here rolled the thunder through the Hills
And Kvsh fell forward on the Mound of Skulls.
In darkness, and before our Priests, the maid
Between the altars cast her bracelets down.
Therewith the heavy earrings Armod made,
^lien he was young, out of the water-gold
Of Gorukh — threw the breast-plate thick with jade
Upon the turquoise anklets — put aside
The bands of silver on her brow and neck;
And as the trinkets tinkled on the stones.
The thunder of Taman lowed like a bull.
N
306 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Then said Bisesa, stretclung out her hands,
As one in darkness fearing Devils: — ^''Help!
"O Priests, I am a woman very weak.
"And who am I to know the will of Gods?
''Taman hath called me — ^whither shall I go?
The Chief in War, the Man of Sixty Spears,
Howled in his torment, fettered by the Priests,
But dared not come to her to drag her forth.
And dared not lift his spear agunst the Priests.
Then all men wept*
There was a Priest of Kysh
Bent with a hundred winters, hairless, blind.
And taloned as the great Snow-Eagle is.
His seat was nearest to the altar-fires.
And he was counted dumb among the Priests.
But, whether Kysh decreed, or from Taman
The impotent tongue found utterance we know
As little as the bats beneath the eaves.
He cried so that they heard who stood without: —
**To the Unlighted Shrine!" and crept aside
Into the shadow of his fallen God
And whimpered, and Bisesa went her way.
That night, the slow mists of the evening dropped.
Dropped as a cloth upon the dead, and rose
Above the roofs, and by the Unlighted Shrine
Lay as the slimy water of the troughs
When murrain thins the cattle of Er-Heb:
And through the mist men heard the Red Horse feed
In Armod's house they burned Bisesa's dower.
And killed her black bull Tor, and broke her wheel.
And loosed her hair, as for the marriage-feast.
With cries more loud than mourning for the dead.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 307
Across the fields, from Armod*s dwelling-place,
We heard Bisesa weeping where she passed
To seek the Unlighted Shrine; the Red Horse neighed
And followed her, and on the river-mint
His hooves struck dead and heavy in our ears.
Oct t of the mists of evening, as the star
(^f Ao-Safai climbs through the black snow-blurs
To show the Pass is clear, Bisesa stepped
IJjpon the great grey slope of mortised stone,
TA.C Causeway of Taman. The Red Horse neighed
B^Iiind her to the Unlighted Shrine — then fled
Koxth to the Mountain where his Stable lies.
TW^y know who dared the anger of Taman,
A*^cl watched that night above the clinging mists,
'f^T' up the hill, Bisesa's passing in.
'S^e set her hand upon the carven door,
fouled by a myriad bats, and black with time.
Whereon is graved the Glory of Taman
In letters older than the Ao-Safai;
^nd twice she turned aside and twice she wept.
Cast down upon the threshold, clamouring
For him she loved — the Man of Sixty Spears,
And for her father, — and the black bull Tor,
Hers and her pride. Yea, twice she turned away
Before the awful darkness of the door,
And the great horror of the Wall of Man
Where Man is made the plaything of Taman,
An Eyeless Face that waits above and laughs.
But the third time she cried and put her palms
Against the hewn stone leaves, and prayed Taman
To spare Er-Heb and take her life for price.
3o8 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
They know who watched, the doors were rent apart
And closed upon Bisesa, and the rain
Broke like a flood across the Valley, washed
The mist away; but louder than the ram
The thunder of Taman filled men with fear.
Some say that from the Unlighted Shrine she cried
For succour, very pitifully, thrice.
And others that she sang and had no fear.
And some that there was neither song nor cry.
But only thunder and the lashing rain.
Howbeit, in the morning men rose up,
Perplexed with horror, crowding to the Shrine.
And when Er-Heb was gathered at the doors
The Priests made lamentation and passed in
To a strange Temple and a God they feared
But knew not.
From the crevices the grass
Had thrust the altar-slabs apart, the walls
Were grey with stains unclean, the roof-beams swell
With many-coloured growth of rottenness.
And lichen veiled the Image of Taman
In leprosy. The Basin of the Blood
Above the altar held the morning sun:
A winking ruby on its heart. Below,
Face hid in hands, the maid Bisesa lay.
Er-Heb beyond the Hills of Ao-Sajai
Bears witness to the truths and Ao-Safai
Hath told the men of Gorukh. Thence the tak
Comes westward oer the peaks to India,
INCLUSIVE EDITION. 1885-1918 309
^^ LAMENT OF THE BORDER CATTLE
THIEF
1888
r\ WOE is me for the merry life
I led beyond the Bar,
And a treble woe for my winsome wife
That weeps at Shaiimar.
They have taken away my long jezail \
My shield and sabre fine.
And heaved me into the Central Jail
For lifting of the kine.
•
The steer may low within the byre^
The Jat may tend his grain,
But there'll be neither loot nor fire
Till I come back again.
And God have mercy on the Jat
When once my fetters fall.
And Heaven defend the farmer's hut
When I am loosed from thrall.
It's woe to bend the stubborn back
Above the grinching quern,
It's woe to hear the leg-bar clack
And jingle when I turn!
But for the sorrow and the shame,
The brand on me and mine,
I'll pay you back in leaping flame
And loss of the butchered kine.
"Native gun.
RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
For every cow I spared before —
In charity set free —
If I may reach my hold once more
I'll reive an honest three.
For every time I raised the lowe
That scared the dusty plun.
By sword and cord, by torch and tow
I'll light the land wilji twain!
Kde hard, ride hard to Abazai,
Young Sahib with the yellow hur —
LJe close, lie close as Khuttucks* lie.
Fat herds below Bonair!
The one I'll shoot at twilight-tide.
At dawn I'll drive the other;
The black shall mourn for hoof and hide.
The white man for his brother.
"Tis war, red war, I'll give you then,
War till my sinews fail;
For the wrong you have done to a chief of men,
And a thief of the Zukka Khey).
And if I fall to your hand afresh
I give you leave for the sin,
That you cram my throat with the foul pig's flesh.
And swing me in the skin!
'A tribe on the Indian fronrier.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 311
THE FEET OF THE YOUNG MEN
1897
^^^TOW the Four-way Lodge is opened, now the Hunting
Winds are kxisc —
Now the Smokes of Spring go up to clear the brain;
^I'^Dw the Young Men's hearts are troubled for the whisper of
the Trues,
Now the Red Gods make their medicine again!
^^^bo hath seen the beaver busied? Who hath watched the
black-tail mating?
Who hath lain alone to hear the wild-goose cry?
'Who hath worked the chosen water where the ouananiche is
waiting.
Or the sea-trout's jumping-crazy for the fly?
He musigp—fo — go away from here !
On thi oiher side the world he's overdue,
'Send your road is clear before you when the old Spring-
fret comes o^eryouy
And the Red Gods call for you I
^ for one the wet sail arching through the rainbow round
the bow,
And for one the creak of snow-shoes on the crust;
And for one the lakeside lilies where the bull-moose waits the
cow.
And for one the mule-train coughing in the dust.
^ »^o hath smelt wood-smoke at twilight? Who hath heard
the birch-log burning?
Who is Quick to read the noises of the night?
^t him follow with the others, for the Young Men's feet arc
turning
To the camps of proved desire and known delight!
Let him go — go^ etc.
312 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
I
Do you know the blackened timber — do you know thatndfll
stream
With the raw, right-angled log-jam at the end;
And the bar of sun-warmed shingle where a man may btfk
and dream
To the click of shod canoe-poles round die bend?
It is there that we are going with our rods and reels and tno»i
To a silent, smoky Indian that we know —
To a couch of new-puUed hemlock, with the stariight oooor
faces, y
For the Red Gods call us out and we must go!
Thry must go^gOy etc.
II
Do you know the shallow Baltic where the seas are steep and
short,
Where the bluff, lee-boarded fishing-luggers ride?
Do you know the joy of threshing leagues to leeward of yoot
port
On a coast youVe lost the chart of overside?
It is there that I am going, with an extra hand to bale her —
Just one able 'long-shore loafer that I know.
He can take his chance of drowning, while I sail and sail and
sail her.
For the Red Gods call me out and I must go!
He must go — gOy etc.
Ill
Do you know the pile-buiIt village where the sago-dealer
trade —
Do you know the reek of fish and wet bamboo?
Do you know the steaming stillness of the orchid-seen to
glade
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 313
^V^ien die blazoned, bird-winged butterflies flap through?
I "^ is there that I am going with my camphor, net, and boxes,
To a gentle, yellow pirate that I know —
my little wailing lemurs, to my palms and flying-foxes.
Tor the Red Gods call me out and I must go!
He musi go—go^ etc.
IV
you know the world's white roof-tree — do you know that
windy rift
Where the baflUng mountain-eddies chop and change?
you know the long day's patience, belly-down on frozen
drift.
While the head of heads is feeding out of range?
It is there that I am going, where the boulders and the snow'
lie.
With a trusty, nimble tracker that I know.
I hive sworn an oath, to keep it on the Horns of Ovis Poll,
And the Red Gods call me out and I must go!
He musi go — jo, etc.
^ow the Four-way Lodge is opened — now the Smokes of
Council rise —
Pleasant smokes, ere yet 'twixt trail and trail they choose —
^^ow the girths and ropes are tested: now they pack their last
supplies:
Now our Young Men go to dance before the Trues!
Who shall meet diem at those altars — who shall light them
to that shrine?
Velvet-footed, who shall guide them to their goal ?
Unto each the voice and vision: unto each his spoor and
sign —
Lonely mountain in the Northland, misty sweat-bath 'neath
the Line —
314 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
And to each a man that knows his naked soul!
White or yellow, black or copper, he is waiting, as a lover,
Smoke of funnel, dust of hooves, or beat of train —
Where the high grass hides the horseman or the glaiing Sia
discover —
Where the steamer hails the landing, or the surf-boat hnnp
the rover — i
Where the rails run out In sand-drift . . . Qinck! ^
heave the camp-lut over,
For the Red Gods make thdr medicine agaial
jind vie go — jo — -go away from here !
On the other tide the world we 're overdue I
'Send the road is clear before you when the old Sflin^
frel comei o'er you.
And the Red Gods call for you !
A BOT SCOUTS* PATROL SONG
TTIESE are our regulations —
There's just one law for the Scout
And the first and the last, and the present and the paM^
And the future and the perfect is "Look out!"
I, thou and he, look out!
We, ye and they, look out!
Though you didn't or you wouldn't
Or you hadn't or you couldn't;
You jolly well must look out!
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 315
Look out, when you start for the day
That your kit is packed to your mind;
There is no use going away
With half of it left behind.
Look out that your laces are tight.
And your boots are easy and stout.
Or you'll end with a blister at nighty
(Chorus) All Patrols look out!
Look out for the birds of the air.
Look out for the beasts of the field —
They'll tell you how and where
The other side's concealed.
When the blackbird bolts from the copse,
Or the cattle are staring about.
The wise commander stops
And (chorus) All Patrols look out!
Look out when your front is clear,
And you feel you are bound to win.
Look out for your flank and your rear —
That's where surprises begin.
For the rustle that isn't a rat.
For the splash that isn't a trout,
For the boulder that may be a hat
(Chorus) All Patrols look out!
For the innocent knee-high grass.
For the ditch that never tells.
Look out! Look out ere you pass —
And look out for everything else!
A sign mis-read as you run
May turn retreat to a rout—
For all things under the sun
(Chorus) All Patrols look out!
3i6 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Look out when your temper goes
At the end of a losing game;
When your boots are too tight for your toes:
And you answer and ai^e and blame.
It's the hardest part of the Law,
But it has to oe learnt by the Scout —
For whining and shirking and "jaw"
{Chorus) All Patrols look out!
THE TRUCE OF THE BEAR
1898
Y^AI^^> ^th tent and rifle, our careless white men go
By the pass called Muttianee, to shoot in the vale below.
Yearly by Muttianee he follows our white men in —
Matun, the old blind beggar, bandaged from brow to chin.
Eyeless, noseless, and lipless — toothless, broken of speech,
Seeking a dole at the doorway he mumbles his tale to each;
Over and over the story, ending as he began:
"Make ye no truce with Adam-zad — the Bear that walks Bt^
a Man !
"There was a flint in my musket — pricked and primed w**
the pan,
When I went hunting Adam-zad — the Bear that stands lil^^
a Man.
I looked my last on the timber, I looked my last on the sno^'
When I went hunting Adam-zad fifty summers ago!
"I knew his times and his seasons, as he knew mine, that fe^
Bv night in the ripened maizefield and robbed my house o^
bread.
I knew his strength and cunning, as he knew mine, diat crept
At dawn to the crowded goat-pens and plundered while I slept.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 317
**Up from his stony playground — down from his well-digged
CXit on the naked ridges ran Adam-zad the Bear;
Groaning, grunting, and roaring, heavy with stolen meals.
Two long marches to northward, and I was at his heels!
••
Two long marches to northward, at the fall of the second
night,
I ctme on mine enemy Adam-zad all panting from his flight.
There was a charge in the musket — pricked and primed was
die pan —
My finger crooked on the trigger — ^when he reared up like
a man.
**Horrible, hairy, human, with paws like hands in prayer.
Miking his supplication rose Adam-zad the Bear!
I looked at the swaying shoulders, at the paunch's swag and
swing.
And my heart was touched with pity for the monstrous, plead-
ing thing.
Touched with pity and wonder, I did not fire then . . .
1 have looked no more on women — I have walked no more
with men.
^'earer he tottered and nearer, with paws like hands that
From brow to jaw that steel-shod paw, it ripped my face
away!
"Sudden, silent, and savage, searing as flame the blow —
Faceless I fell before his feet, fifty summers ago.
I heard him grunt and chuckle — I heard him pass to his den.
He left me blind to the darkened years and the little mercy of
men.
3i8 RUDYARD KIPUNG'S VERSE
"Now ye go down in the morning .with guns of the ncwtf I
style, I
That load (I have felt) in the middie and range (I have hcuii) I
a mile?
Luck to the white man's rifle, that shoots so fast and tnK}
But — pay, and I lift my bandage and ihow wliat tbe i
can do!"
(Flesh like slag in the fiimace, knobbed and withered tiA
Matun, the old blind beggar, he pves good worth for at
pay.)
"Rouse htm at noon in the bushes, (tdlow and press him hinl-
Not for his ragings and roarings flindi ye from Adam-zuL
"But (pay, and I put back the bandage) this is the time V
Rar,
When he stands up like a tired man, tottering near and wtti
When he stands up as pleading, in wavering, man-brute guX)
When he veils the hate and cunning of his little, swinish eyA
"When he shows as seeking quarter, with paws like handl>
prayer, ^ '
Thai is the rime of peril — the time of the Truce of die Bearl
Eyeless, noseless, and lipless, aslrii^ a dole at the door,
Matun, the old blind beggar, he tells it o'er and o'er;
Fumbling and feeling the rifles, warming his hands st dlB
flame.
Hearing our careless white men talk of the morrow's game;
Over and over the story, ending as he hqnn: —
" T/iert is ito truce mth Admi^Md, At Bear that hoks Skt «
Man !"
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 319
RUSSIA TO THE PACIFISTS
I 9 I 8
^OD rest you, pewctfol gentlemen, let nothing you dismay,
But — cleave your sports a little while — the dead arc borne
this way!
Annies dead and Gdes dead, past all count or care.
God rest you, merry gentlemen, what portent see you there?
Snging: — Break ground for a wearied host
That have no ground to keep.
Give them the rest that they covet most . . .
And who shall next to sleep, good sirs.
In such a trench to sleep?
God rest you, peaceful gentlemen, but give us leave to pass.
We go to dig a nation's grave as great as England was.
For this Kingdom and this Glory and this Power and this Pride
Three hundred years it flourished — in three hundred days it
died.
Singing: — Pour oil for a frozen throng.
That lie about the ways.
Give them the warmth they have lacked so
long . . .
And what shall be next to blaze, good sirs.
On such a pyre to blaze?
God rest you, thoughtful gentlemen, and send your sleep is light !
Remains of this dominion no shadow, sound, or sight,
Except the sound of weeping and the sight of burning fire,
And die shadow of a people that is trampled into mire.
Singing: — Break bread for a starving folk
That perish in the field.
Give them their food as they take the yoke . . .
And who shall be next to yield, good sirs,
For such a bribe to yield?
320 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
God rest you, merry gentlemen, and keep you in your mirth!
Was ever Kingdom turned so soon to ashes, blood, and earth?
'Twixt the summer and the snow — seeding-time and frost-
Arms and victual, hope and counsel, name and country lost*
Singing: — Let down by the foot and ihe head —
Shovel and smooth it ail!
So do we bury a Nation dead . . .
And who shall be next to fall, good nrs.
With your good help to fall?
THE PEACE OF DIVES
I 903
npHE Word came down to Dives in Torment where he lay:
"Our World is full of wickedness, My Children maim and
slay,
"And the Saint and Seer and Prophet
"Can make no better of it
"Than to sanctify and prophesy and pray.
" Rise up, rise up, thou Dives, and take again thy gold,
"And thy women and thy housen as they were to thee of olc^
"It may be grace hath found thee
"In the furnace where We bound thee,
"And that thou shalt bring the peace My Son foretold."
Then merrily rose Dives and leaped from out his fire.
And walked abroad with diligence to do the Lord's desire;
And anon the battles ceased.
And the captives were released,
And Earth had rest from Goshen to Gadire.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885^1918 321
The Word came down to Satan that raged and roared alone,
*Mid the shouting of the peoples by the cannon overthrown
(But the Prophets, Saints, and Seers
Set each other by the ears,
Por each would claim the marvel as his own) :
" Rise up, rise up, thou Satan, upon the Earth to go,
** And prove the Peace of Dives if it be good or no:
"For all that he hath planned
"We deliver to thy hand,
''As thy skill shall serve, to break it or bring low/'
Then mightily rose Satan, and about the Earth he hied,
And breathed on Kings in idleness and Princes drunk with
pride.
But for all the wrong he breathed
There was never sword unsheathed,
-And the fires he lighted flickered out and died.
^eii terribly rose Satan, and he darkened Earth afar,
Till he came on cunning Dives where the money-changers
are;
And he saw men pledge their gear
Por the gold that buys the spear,
Aftci the helmet and the habergeon of war.
Yea to Dives came the Persian and the Syrian and the Mede —
And their hearts were nothing altered, nor their cunning nor
their greed —
And they pledged their flocks and farms
For the King-compelling arms.
And Dives lent according to their need.
322 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Then Satan said to Dives: — "Retarn again with me,
"Who hast broken His Commandment in the day .He K
free, ' 1
"Who grindest for thy greed, 1
"Man's belly-pinch ud need;
"And the blood of Man tD filthy naury)**
Then sofdy answered IMves where the money-diaBaat ^^*^
"My rcfiige is Our Master, O Mf Matter hi the nt.
" But behcdd all Earth ia laid
"In the Peace iriiich I hare mfd^
"And behold I wut on thee to trottUe itl"
Then angrily turned Satan> and aboat the Seat he ied, ^_
To shake the new-aown peoples with baolt, doabt, and dn^^**
' But, for all the sleight he used.
There was never squadron loMed.
And the brands he flung flew dying and fell dead.
But to Dives came Atlantis and the Captains of the West — ""^
And their hates were nothing weakened nor their anger ^^
unrest —
And they pawned their utmost trade
For the dry, decreeing blade;
And Dives lent and took of them their best.
Then Satan said to Dives: — "Declare thou by The Name^'*
"The secret of thy subtlety that tumeth mine to diame.
"It is known through all the Hells
"How my peoples mocked my spells,
"And my faithless Kings denied me ere I came."
Then answered cunning Dives: " Do not gold and hate alHd»*
" At the heart of every Magic, yea, and senseless fear bettde ^
"With gold and fear and hate
"I have harnessed state to state,
"And by hate and fear and gold th«r hates arc tied.
c «
t «
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 323
For hate men seek a weapon, for fear they seek a shield —
Keener blades and broader targes than their frantic neigh-
hours wield —
**For gold I arm their hands,
And for gold I buy their lands,
And for gold I sell their enemies the yield.
C«
««
Their nearest foes may purchase, or their furthest friends
may lease.
One by one from Ancient Accad to the Islands of the Seas.
** And their covenants they make
For the naked iron's sake.
But I — I trap them armoured into peace.
«
««
"Tlie flocks that Egypt pledged me to Assyria I drave,
"And Pharaoh hath the increase of the herds that Sargon
gave.
** Not for Ashdod overthrown
** Will the Kings destroy their own,
"Oi- their peoples wake the strife they feign to brave.
T^ not Carchemish like Calno? For the steeds of their
desire
TFicy have sold me seven harvests that I sell to Crowning
Tyre;
** -And the Tyrian sweeps the plains
With a thousand hired wains,
*' \nQ the Cities keep the peace and — share the hire.
•*Hast thou seen the pride of Moab? For the swords about
^ bond is to Philistia, in half of all he hath.
^^ And he dare not draw the sword
,, *iil Gaza give the word,
-^d he show release from Askalon and Gath.
324 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
"'Wilt thou call again thy peoples, wilt thou craze anew d^^
Kings?
"Lo! my lightnings pass before thee, and their whistling
servant brings,
"Ere the drowsy street hath stirred —
"Every masked and midnight word,
''And the nations break their fast upon these things.
''So I make a jest of Wonder, and a mock of Time and Space
"The roofless Seas an hostel, and the Earth a market-place,
"Where the anxious traders know
" Each is surety for his foe,
"And none may thrive without his fellows* grace.
"Now this is all my subtlety and this is all my wit,
"God give thee good enlightenment. My Master in the Pit
"But behold all Earth is laid
"In the Peace which I have made,
"And behold I wait on thee to trouble it!"
A SONG OF THE WHITE MEN
I 899
"^OW, this is the cup the White Men drink
When they go to right a wrong,
And that is the cup of the old world's hate —
Cruel and strained and strong.
We have drunk that cup — and a bitter, bitter cup —
And tossed the dregs away.
But well for the world when the White Men drink
To the dawn of the White Man's day!
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 325
Nowy this is the road that the White Men tread
When they go to clean a land —
Iron underfoot and levin overhead
And the deep on either hand.
We have trod that road — and a wet and windy road —
Our chosen star for guide.
Oh, weU for the world when the White Men tread
Their highway side by side!
Nowy this is the faith that the White Men hold
When they build their homes afar —
** Freedom for ourselves and freedom for our sons
Andy failing freedom. War."
We have proved our faith — bear witness to our faith,
Dear souls of freemen slain!
Oh, well for the world when the White Men join
To prove their faith again!
THE ROWERS
1902
When Gennany proposed that England should help her in a naval dem-
onstration to collect debts from Venezuela.)
npHE banked oars fell an hundred strong,
And backed and threshed and ground.
But bitter was the rowers' song
As they brought the war-boat round.
They had no heart for the rally and roar
That makes the whale-bath smoke —
When the great blades cleave and hold and leave
As one on the racing stroke.
326 RUDYARD KIPLING'S
They sang^-^'What reckoning do yoa keep.
And steer her by what star,
If we come unscathed from lit Southern deep
To be wrecked on a Baltic bar?
*^Last night you swore our voyage was done»
But seaward still we go.
And you tell us now of a secret vow
You have made with an open foe!
''That we must lie off a lighdess coast
And haul and back and veer.
At the will of die breed that have wronged us m<
For a year and a year and a year!
'^There was never a shame in Christendie
They laid not to our door —
And you say we must take the winter sea
And sail with them once more?
"Look South! The gale is scarce o'erpast
That stripped and laid us down.
When we stood forth but they stood fast
And prayed to see us drown.
"Our dead they mocked are scarcely cold.
Our wounds are bleeding yet —
And you tell us now that our strength is sold
To help them press for a debt!
" 'Neath all the flags of all mankind
That use upon the seas.
Was there no other fleet to find
That you strike hands with these?
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 327
^K)f evil times that men can choose
On evil fate to fall,
What brooding Judgment let you loose
To pick the worst of all ?
"In sight of peace — from the Narrow Seas
O'er half the world to run —
With SL cheated crew, to league anew
With the Goth and the shameless Hunl"
AN IMPERIAL RESCRIPT '
1890
^OW this is the tale of the Council the German Kaiser
decreed.
To ease the strong of their burden, to help the weak in their
need.
He sent a word to the peoples, who struggle, and pant, and
sweat.
That the straw might be counted fairly and the tally of bricks
be set.
The Lords of Their Hands assembled. From the East and
the West they drew —
Baltimore, Lille, and Essen, Brummagem, Clyde, and Crewe.
And some were black from the furnace, and some were brown
from the soil.
And some were blue from the dye-vat; but all were wearied of
toil.
And the young King said: — **I have found it, the road to
the rest ye seek:
**Thc strong shall wait for the weary, the hale shall halt for
the weak;
328 RUDYARD KIPLING^ VERSE
'* With the even tramp of an army where no man breab fnn
the line,
"Ye shall march to peace and plenty in the bond of brotber
hood — sign!"
The paper lay on the table, the strong heads bowed theitbf)
And a wail went up firom the peoples: — "Ay, sign— j^
rest, for we die!"
A hand was stretched to the goose-quill, a fist was cramped to
scrawl,
When — the laugh of a blue-eyed maiden ran clear throog^
the council-hall.
And each one heard Her laughing as each one saw Her
plain —
Saidie, Mimi, or Olga, Gretchen, or Mary Jane.
And the Spirit of Man That is in Him to the light of the
vision woke;
And the men drew back from the paper, as a Yankee delegate
spoke: —
"There's a girl in Jersey City who works on the telephone;
"We're going to hitch our horses and dig for a house of our
own,
"With gas and water connections, and steam-heat through to
the top;
"And, W. Hohenzollern, I guess I shall work till I drop."
And an English delegate thundered: — "The weak an' tht
lame be blowed!
"I've a berth in the Sou '-West workshops, a home in the
Wandsworth Road;
"And till the 'sociation has footed my buryin* bill,
"I work for the kids an' the missus. Pull up! I'll be damned
if I will!"
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 329
. over the Gennan benches the bearded whisper ran: —
iger, der giris und der dollars, dey makes or dey breaks
a man.
Schmitt haf collared der dollars, he collars der girl
deremit;
It if Schmitt bust in der pizness, we collars der girl from
Schmitt."
y passed one resolution: — "Your sub-committee believe
Ri can lighten the curse of Adam when you've lifted the
curse of Eve.
It till we are built like angels, with hanuner and chisel
and pen,
e will work for ourselves and a woman, for ever and ever,
amen."
7 this is the tale of the Council the German Kaiser held —
day that they razored the Grindstone, the day that the
Cat was belled,
day of the Figs from Thistles, the day of the Twisted
Sands,
day that the laugh of a maiden made light of the Lords of
Their Hands.
A DEATH-BED
I 9 I 8
T^HIS is the State above the Law.
The State exists for the State alone.'
[This is a gland at the back of the jaw ^
And an answering lump by the collar-bone^
Some die shouting in gas or fire;
Some die silent, by shell and shot.
Some die desperate, caught on the wire;
Some die suddenly. This will not.
RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
"Regis suprema voluntas Lex"
ill will follow Ike regular course of — throaUA
Some die pinned by the broken decks.
Some die sobbing between the boats.
Some die eloquent, pressed to death
By die iliding trench as their friends can \
Some die whdiy in half a breath.
Some — pve trouble for half a year.
" There is neidierETilMr'aaddiB life \
Except n die needs of the State onUa^
[Since it is rmtkir too lattfttM Jbtrjjllr,
All toe can do is to mask thi ^MK.]
Some die saindy io faith and Hope —
One died thus in a prison-yard —
Some <Ue broken by rape or the rope;
Some die easily. This dies hard.
"I wilt dash to pieces who bar my way.
Woe to the traitor! Woe to the weak!"
[Let him write what he wishes to say.
It tires him out if he tries to speak.]
Some die quiedy. Some abound
In loud self-pity. Others spread
Bad morale through the cots around .
This is a type that is better dead.
"The war was forced on me by my foes.
All that I sought was the right to live."
[Don't be afraid of a triple dose;
The pain will neutralize half we give.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 331
Here are the needles. See that he dies
While the effects of the drug endure. . . .
What is the question he asks with his eyesf —
YeSy All'Higtiesty to Gody be sure,]
ET DONA FERENTES
1896
^N EXTENDED observation of the ways and works of man.
From the Four-mile Radius roughly to the Plains of
Hindustan:
I have drunk with mixed assemblies, seen the racial ruction
rise,
'^nd the men of half Creation damning half Creation's eyes.
I have watched them in their tantrums, all that pentecostal
crew,
Pnnch, Italian, Arab, Spaniard, Dutch and Greek, and Russ
and Jew,
C^t and savage, buff and ochre, cream and yellow, mauve
and white;
^^tit never really mattered till the English grew polite;
^lU the men with polished toppers, till the men in long frock-
coats,
Till the men who do not duel, till the men who war with votes,
^lUthe breed that take their pleasures as Saint Lawrence took
his grid.
Began to "bqg your pardon" and — the knowing croupier
hid.
Then the bandsmen with their fiddles, and the girls that bring
the beer.
Felt the psychologic moment, left the lit casino clear;
33^ RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
But the uninstructed alien, from the Teuton to the Ganl»
Was entrapped, once more, my country, by that suave, deoe^
tive drawl.
In
As it was in ancient Suez or 'neath wilder, milder skies,
I "observe with apprehension" when the racial rucdonsriK;
And with keener apprehension, if I read the times aright,
Hear the old casino order: ** Watch jrour man, but be poGtfr
" Keep your temper. Never answer {ihai was why they sptt
and swore).
Don't hit first, but move together (there's no hurry) to die
door.
Back to back, and facing outward while the linguist tells 'em
how —
**Nous sommes allong ah notre batteau^ nous ne voulong pAS
un rowy^
So the hard, pent rage ate inward, till some idiot went too
far . . .
*'Let 'em have it!" and they had it, and the same was merry
war.
Fist, umbrella, cane, decanter, lamp and beer-mug, chair and
boot —
Till behind the fleeing legions rose the long, hoarse yell for
loot.
Then the oil-cloth with its numbers, like a banner fluttered
free;
Then the grand piano cantered, on three castors, down the
quay;
White, and breathing through their nostrils, silent, syste-
matic, swift —
They removed, effaced, abolished all that man could heave or
lift.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 333
h, my country, bless the training that from cot to castle
runs —
Tic pitfall of the stranger but the bulwark of thy sons —
Measured speech and ordered action, sluggish soul and un-
perturbed,
rUl we wake our Island-Devil — ^nowise cool for being curbed!
i'Vhen the heir of all the ages "has the honour to remain/'
When he will not hear an insult, though men make it ne'er so
Elain,
is lips are schooled to meekness, when his back is
bowed to blows —
Well the keen aas-vogels know it — well the waiting jackal
knows.
Boild on the flanks of Etna where the sullen smoke-pufFs
float-
er bathe in tropic waters where the lean fin dogs the boat —
ock the gun that is not loaded, cook the frozen dynamite —
ut oh, beware my Country, when my Country grows
polite!
THE HOLY WAR
I 9 I 7
^or here lay the excellent wisdom of him that built Mansoul, that the
walls could never be broken down nor hurt by the most mighty adverse
potentate unless the townsmen gave consent thereto." — Bun van's
Holy JVar.)
^ TINKER out of Bedford,
A vagrant oft in quod,
A private under Fairfax,
A minister of God —
iseMS'
I
My
W«5^^^-^-
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 335
The Pope, the swithering Neutrals,
The Kaiser and his Gott —
Their roles, their goals, their naked souls —
He knew and drew the lot.
Now he hath left his quarters.
In Bunhill Fields to lie.
The wisdom that he taught us
Is proven prophecy —
One watchword through our Armies,
One answer from our Lands: —
**No dealings with Diabolus
As long as Mansoul stands!"
A pedlar from a hovel^
The lowest of the loWy
The Father of the Novell
Salvation's first Defoe ^
Eight blinded generations
Ere Armageddon came^
He showed us how to meet ity
And Bunyan was his name !
FRANCE
I 913
^ROKE to every known mischance^ lifted over all
By the light sane joy of life^ the buckler of the Gaul;
Furious in luxury y merciless in toily
Terrible with strength that draws from her tireless soil;
Strictest judge of her own worthy gentlest of man's mindy
first to follow Truth and last to leave old Truths be hind-
trance y beloved of every soul that loves its fellow-kind !
336 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Ere our birth (rememberest thou?) side by side we lay
Fretting in the womb of Rome to begin our fray.
Ere men knew our tongues apart, our one task was knowir^
Each to mould the other's fate as he wrought his own.
To this end we stirred mankind till all Elarth was ours.
Till our world-end strifes begat wayside Thrones and Powers-^
Puppets that we made or broke to bar the other's path-
Necessary, outpost-folk, hirelings of our wrath.
To this end we stormed the seas, tack for tack, and burst
Through the doorways of new worlds, doubtful which w^
first,
Hand on hilt (rememberest thou?) ready for the blow —
Sure, whatever else we met, we should meet our foe.
Spurred or balked at every stride by the other's strength,
So we rode the ages down and every ocean's length!
Where did you refrain from us or we refrain from you?
Ask the wave that has not watched war between us two!
Others held us for a while, but with weaker charms.
These we quitted at the call for each other's arms.
Eager toward the known delight, equally we strove —
Each the other's mystery, terror, need, and love.
To each other's open court with our proofs we came.
Where could we find honour else, or men to test our claim?
From each other's throat we wrenched — valour's last re
ward —
That extorted word of praise gasped 'twixt lunge and guard
In each other's cup we poured mingled blood and tears.
Brutal joys, unmeasured hopes, intolerable fears —
All that soiled or salted life for a thousand years.
Proved beyond the need of proof, matched in every c^me,
O Companion, we have lived greatly through all time!
Yoked in knowledge and remorse, now we come to rest.
Laughing at old villainies that Time has turned to jest;
Pardoning old necessities no pardon can efface —
That undying sin we shared in Rouen market-place.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 $37
Kow we watch the new years shape, wondering if they hold
Fiercer lightnings in their heart than we launched of old.
Now we hear new voices rise, question, boast or gird,
Ai wc raged (rememberest thou?) when our crowds were
■tirred.
Now we count new keels afloat, and new hosts on land,
Mined like ours (rcmcmbcrcst thou?) when our strokes were
planned.
We were schooled for dear life's sake, to know each other's
bUde.
What can Blood and Iron make more than we hare made?
We hare learned by keenest use to know each other's mind.
What shaU Blood and Iron loose that we cannot bind?
Wt who swept each other's coast, sacked each other's home,
Since the sword of Brennus clashed on the scales at Rome
Listen, count and close again, wheeling girth to girth.
In the linked and steadfast guard set for peace on earth!
^nke to erery known mischance, lifted orer all
By the light sane joy of life, the buckler of the Gaul;
Furious in luxury, merciless in toil.
Terrible with strength renewed from a tireless soil;
Strictest judge of her own worth, gendest of man's mind,
First to face the Truth and last to leave old Truths behind —
Fnnce, belorcd of crery soul that loves or serves its kind!
"BEFORE A MIDNIGHT BREAKS IN STORM"
I 903
DEFORE a midnight breaks in storm,
Or herded sea in wrath,
Ye know what warcring gusts inform
The greater tempest's path?
TiU the loosed wind
Drive all lirom mind.
338 RUDYARD KIPLING^ VERSE
Enxpt IHstren, wfaidi, lo will prapbeu err,
O'ercjune titem, houteleai, fiom die ""hiwtiiig ■IK^v■^^
Ere riven ktgae aguiut the land
In piratTT m flcx^
Te know wtut waten tteal and ttsnd
Where seldom water atnocL
Yet iriw will noce,
TiU 6dds afloat^
And waahen cucaat and die retnnung wdD*
'Tnunpet what dicte poor beraldi strove to tdtf
Ye know who lue die Ciyatal Ball
CTo peer by atealth on Doom)*
The9i«lethat.sha{HBgfiittofall, .
Prepares an empty rocun.
Inen doth It pass
Like breath from glass.
But, on the extorted vision bowed intend
No man considers why It came or went.
Before the years reborn behold
Themselves mth stranger eycj
And the sport-making Gods of cJd,
Like Samson slaying, die.
Many shall hear
The all-pregnant sphere,
Bow to the birth and sweat, but — speech denied —
Sit dumb or — dealt in part — fall weak and wide.
Yet instant to fore-shadowed need
The eternal balance swings;
That winged men the Fates may breed
So soon as Fate hath wings.
These shall possess
Our littleness.
And in the imperial task (as worthy) lay <
Up our lives' all to piece one giant Day.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 339
THE BELL BUOY
1896
T^HEY christened my brother of old —
And a saintly name he bears —
They gave him his place to hold
At the head of the belfry-stairs,
Where the minster-towers stand
And the breeding kestrels cry.
Would I change with my brother a league inland?
{Shoal! Ware shoal!) Not I!
In the flush of the hot June prime,
O'ersleek flood-tides afire,
I hear hiln hurry the chime
To the bidding of checked Desire;
Till the sweated ringers tire
^And the wild bob-majors die.
Could I wait for my turn in the godly choir?
iShoal! 'fTare shoal!) Not!!
When the smoking scud is blown —
When the greasy wind-rack lowers —
Apart and at peace and alone,
He counts the changeless hours.
He wars with darkling Powers
(I war with a darkling sea);
Would he stoop to my work in the gusty mirk?
{Shoal! Ware shoal!) Not he !
There was never a priest to pray,
There was never a hand to toll,
When they made me guard of the bay.
And moored me over the shoal .
a TtUDYARD KIPLING'S VER
I rock, I reel, and I roll —
My lour great hanunen dy —
Could 1 speak or be adl at the Churdi'* «ai?
(^Am// Wtmshindl) Not It
The landmuxl marka have fiukdi
The fog<bank ^ides un^oeaNd,
The seftward lights are voled*
The apent dm fetgns her lert:
But my ear is lud to her bteaat^
I lift to the swell — I cryl
Could I wait in sloth on the Church's oath?
iShoal! 'IFanshoai!) Not II
At the careless end of night
I thrill to the nearing screw; %
I turn in the clearing light
And I call to the drowsy crew;
And the mud boils foul and blue
As the blind bow backs away.
Will they give mc their thanks if they clear the ban
{Shoal! • (fare shoal!) Not they!
The beach-pools cake and skim.
The bursting spray-heads freeze,
I gather on crown and rim
The grey, grained ice of the seas,
Where, sheathed from bitt to trees,
The plunging colliers He.
Would I barter my place for the Church's grao
{Shoal ! 'IFare shoal I) Not I !
Through the blur of the whirling snow,
Or the black of the inky sleet.
The lanterns gather and grow,
And I look for the homeward fleet.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 341
Rattle of block and sheet —
* Ready about — stand by!"
Shall I ask them a fee ere they fetch the quay ?
iShoaJ! 'fVare shoal I) Not I!
I dip and I surge and I swing
In the rip of the racing tide,
By the gates of doom I sing,
On the horns of death I ride.
A ship-length overside.
Between the course and the sand.
Fretted and bound I bide
Peril whereof I cry.
Would I change with my brother a league inland?
{Shoal! Ware shoal!) Not I!
THE OLD ISSUE
October 9, 1899
(Outbreak of Boer ff^ar)
HERE is nothing new nor aught unproven^* say the Trum-
Many feet have worn it and the road is old indeed.
"// is the King — the King we schooled aforetime ! "
(Trumpets in the marshes — in the eyot at Runnymede !)
Here is neither haste^ nor hatey nor anger^^ peal the Trumpets y
'* Pardon for his penitence or pity for his fall.
^If is the King ! " — inexorable Trumpets —
[Trumpets round the scaffold at the dawning by Whiteluill!)
342 RUDYARD KIPLING'S
*'He hath veiled the Crown and hid the Sceptre^** wan the Tnm-
petSy
**He hath changed the fashion of the lies thai cloak his wiS.
"Hard die the Kings— ah hard— dooms hard/" declmt it
TrumpetSy
Trumpets at the gang-plank where the hrawling troapMB
fill!
Ancient and Unteachablcy abide — abide the Trumpets!
Once again the Trumpets^ for the shuddering ground-swd
brings
Clamour over ocean of the harsh^ pursuing Trumpets —
Trumpets of the Vanguard that have sworn no truce mA
. Kings!
All we have of freedom, all we use or know —
This our fathers bought for us long and long ago.
Ancient Right unnoticed as the breath we draw —
Leave to live by no maix's leave, underneath the Law.
Lance and torch and tumult, steel and grey-goose wing
Wrenched it, inch and ell and all, slowly from the King.
Till our fathers 'stablished, after bloody years,
How our King is one with us, first among his peers.
So they bought us freedom — not at little cost —
Wherefore must we watch the King, lest our gain be lost.
Over all things certain, this is sure indeed,
Suffer not the old King: for we know the breed.
Give no ear to bondsmen bidding us endure.
Whining "He is weak and far"; crying "Time shall cure"
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 343
crime himself is witness, till the battle joins,
1>eeper strikes the rottenness in the people's loins.)
f Caive no heed to bondsmen masking war with peace.
SufiFer not the old King here or overseas.
They that beg us barter — wait his yielding mood —
¥k(^ the years we hold in trust — pawn our brother's
blood —
Bowso' great their clamour, whatsoe'er their claim,
Snfier not the old King under any name!
Hen is naugfU unproven — here is naught to learn.
It is written what shall fall if the King return.
He shall mark our goings, question whence we came.
Set his guards about us, as in Freedom's name.
He shall take a tribute, toll of all our ware;
He shall change our gold for arms — arms we may not bear.
He shall break his Judges if they cross his word;
He shall rule above the Law calling on the Lord.
He shall peep and mutter; and the night shall bring
Watchers 'neath our window, lest we mock the King —
Hate and all division; hosts of hurrying spies;
Money poured in secret, carrion breeding flies.
Strangers of his counsel, hirelings of his pay.
These shall deal our Justice : sell — deny— delay.
We shall drink dishonour, we shall eat abuse
For the Land we look to — for the Tongue we use.
4 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VESSEL
We shall take our station, dirt benea^ his feet.
While his hired captains jeer us in the street.
Cruel in the shadow, crafty in the sun,
Far heyond his borders shall his teachings run..
Sloven, sullen, savage, secret, uncontrolled,
LajHng on a new land evil of the old —
Long-forgotten bondage, dwarfing heart and bruft—
All Our fathers died to loose he shall bind again.
Here is naught at oenture, rartJom nor untrue —
Swings the wheel /ull-:Ctrcle, brims the cup anew, \
Here is naught unprooen, here is nothing hid; K
Step/or step and word/or word — so the old Kings £il
Step by stepy and word by word: who is ruled m^ nti.
Suffer not the old Kings: for we know the breed-
All the right they promise — all the wrong they briwg.
Stewards <^ the Judgment, suffer not this King I
THE LESSON
I 8 9 9- I 90 2
(fliw War)
JET US admit it fairly, as a business people should.
We have had no end of a lesson: it will do us no end %
good.
Not on a single issue, or in one direction or twun,
But conclusively, comprehensively, and several times an
again.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 345
"e all our most holy illusions knocked higher than Gilde-
roy*s kite,
have had a jolly good lesson, and it serves us jolly well
right!
s was not bestowM us under the trees, nor yet in the shade
of a tent,
swingingly, over eleven degrees of a bare brown conti-
nent.
01 Lamberts to Delagoa Bay, and from Pietersburg to
Sutherland,
the phenomenal lesson we learned — with a fulness ac*
corded no other land.
ms our fault, and our very great fault, and not the judg-
ment of Heaven.
made an Army in our own image, on an island nine by
seven,
ich faithftilly mirrored its makers' ideals, equipment, and
mental attitude —
I so we got our lesson: and we ought to accept it with
gratitude.
have spent two hundred million pounds to prove the fact
once more,
It horses are quicker than men afoot, since two and two
make four;
I horses have four legs, and men have two legs, and two
into four goes twice,
I nothing over except our lesson — and very cheap at the
price.
remember (this our children shall know: we are too near
for that knowledge)
our mere astonied camps, but Council and Creed and
CoUege-
346 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE I
All the obese, unchallenged old things that sdfle and o?ab |
us — J
Have felt the efFects of the lesson we got — an advantage ■]
money could buy us! i
Then let us develop this marvellous asset which we akv
command.
And which, it may subsequently transpire, wiU be worth « I
much as the Rand.
Let us approach this pivotal fact in a humble yet hopeM
mood —
We have had no end of a lesson, it will do us no end of good!
It was our fault, and our very great fault — and now we mit
turn it to use.
We have forty million reasons for failure, but not a siogk
excuse.
So the more we work and the less we talk the better rcsalti
we shall get —
We have had an Imperial lesson; it may make us an Empire
yet!
MESOPOTAMIA
I 9 I 7
npHEY shall not return to us, the resolute, the young
The eager and whole-hearted whom we gave:
But the men who left them thriftily to die in their own dungy
Shall they come with years and honour to the grave?
They shall not return to us, the strong men coldly slain
In sight of help denied from day to day:
But the men who edged their agonies and chid them in theii
pain,
Are they too strong and wise to put away?
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 347
Otodead shall not return to us while Day and Night divide —
Never while the bars of sunset hold.
But the idle-minded overlings who quibbled while they died,
Shall they thrust for high employments as of old?
Shall we only threaten and be angry for an hour?
When the storm is ended shall we find
Haw softly but how swiftly they have sidled back to power
By the favour and contrivance of their kind?
Even while they soothe us, while they promise large amends,
Even while they make a show of fear.
Do they call upon their debtors, and take council with their
friends,
To confirm and re-establish each career?
Thdr lives cannot repay us — their death could not undo —
The shame that they have laid upon our race.
Bot die slothfulness that wasted and the arrogance that slew.
Shall we leave it unabated in its place?
THE ISLANDERS
1902
VO DOUBT but ye are the People— your throne is above the
Kin^s.
^Iwo speaks in your presence must say acceptable things:
^^mngihe head in worships bending the knee in fear —
^fingingihe word well smoothen — such as a King should hear.
f«ced by your careful fathers, ringed by your leaden seas,
'^did ye wake in quiet and long lie down at ease;
348 RUDYARO KIPUNCS VERSE
Till yc sud of Strife, "Vnut it itf" of die Swoid, "Itiliv
from our ken";
111) ye made a sport of your dirunken hoMS aad a tojiifiB
armed men.
Ye sK^ped your eara to the wamii^ — ye wouU adtberbBk
nor heed —
Ye set your leisure before thdr toil and your hm* above ^
need. *
Because of your witkss learning and your beatta of wnra
and chaae.
Ye grudged your sons to their aerrice and your fieUa ftr tkfe
campmg-place.
Ye forced them to gjean in die l^iways die straw for ik
bricks they brought;
Ye forced them follow in byways die craft diat ye acMf
taught.
Ye hindered and hampered and crippled; ye thnist out cf
sight and away
Those that would serve you for honour and those that tend
you for pay.
Then were the judgments loosened; then was your dune
revealed.
At the hands of a little people, few but apt in the field.
Yet ye were saved by a remnant (and your land's long-iufif'
ing star),
When your strong men cheered in thnr millions while fo*"
striplings went to the war.
Sons of the sheltered city — unmade, unhandled, unmeet'
Ye pushed them raw to the battle as ye picked diem raw fno
the street.
And what did ye look they should compass? Warctift
learned in a breath,
Knowledge unto occasion at the first far view of Death?
So? And ye train your horses and the dogs ye feed and pme!
How are the beasts more worthy than the souls, your samficcl
But ye said, "Their valour shall show them"; but ye Slid.
"The end is close."
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 349
And ]re sent them comfits and pictures to help them harry
your foes:
And ye vaunted your fathomless power, and ye flaunted
your iron pride>
Ere — ^ye fawned on the Younger Nations for the men who
could shoot and ridel
Then ye returned to your trinkets; then ye contented your
souls
l^th the flannelled fools at the wicket or the muddied oafs at
the goals.
Ghren to strong delusion, wholly believing a lie.
Ye saw that the land lay fenceless, and ye let the months go
by
IXftiting some easy wonder, hoping some saving sign —
Idle — openly idle — in the lee of the forespent Line.
Idle— except for your boasting — and what is your boasting
wmh
If ye grudge a year of service to the lordliest life on earth?
Ancient, erortless, ordered, cycle on cycle set,
life so long untroubled, that ye who inherit foi^et
It was not made with the mountains, it is not one with the
deep.
Men, not gods, devised it. Men, not gods, must keep.
Men, not children, servants, or kinsfolk called from afar.
Bat each man bom in the Island broke to the matter of war.
Soberiy and by custom taken and trained for the same.
Each man bom in the Island entered at youth to the game —
As it were almost cricket, not to be mastered in haste.
But after trial and labour, by temperance, living chaste.
At it were almost cricket — as it were even your play.
Weighed and pondered and worshipped, and practised day
and day.
So ye shall bide sure-guarded when the restless lightnings
wake
In the womb of the blotting war-cloud, and the pallid nations
auake.
So, tt the haggard trumpets, instant your soul shall leap
3 so RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Forthright, accoutred, accepting — alert from the wdb
sleep.
So at the threat ye shall summon — so at the need ye il
send
Men, not children or servants, tempered and taught to
end;
Cleansed of servile panic, slow to dread or despise.
Humble because of knowledge, mighty by sacrifice. .
But ye say, ''It will mar our comfort/* Ye say, "It
minish our trade."
Do ye wait for the spattered shrapnel ere ye learn how a |
is laid?
For the low, red glare to southward when the raided co;
towns bum?
(Light ye shall have on that lesson, but little time to kai
WiO ye pitch some white pavilion, and lustily even the oc
With nets and hoops and mallets, with rackets and bats i
rods?
Will the rabbit war with your foemen — the red deer h
them for hire?
Your kept cock-pheasant keep you? — he is master of mi
a shire.
Arid, aloof, incurious, unthinking, unthanking, gelt,
Will ye loose your schools to flout them till their brow-b
columns melt?
Will ye pray them or preach them, or print them, or bal
them back from your shore?
Will your workmen issue a mandate to bid them strike
more?
Will ye rise and dethrone your rulers ? (Because ye were i
both?
Pride by Insolence chastened? Indolence purged by Slot
No doubt but ye are the People; who shall make you afri
Also your gods are many; no doubt but your gods shall
Idols of greasy altars built for the body's ease;
Proud little brazen Baals and talking fetishes;
Teraphs of sept and party and wise wood-pavement ga
INCLUSIVE EDITION. 188&-1918 351
Thise shall come down to the battle and snatch you from
under the rods?
Pram the gusty, flickering gun-roll with viewless salvoes rent,
And the pitted hail of the bullets that tell not whence they
were sent.
When ye are ringed as with iron, when ye are scourged as
with whips.
When the meat is yet in your belly, and the boast is yet on
your lips;
When ye go forth at morning and the noon beholds you broke.
Ere ye lie down at even, your remnant, under the yoke?
Xo ieuk ha ye are the People — absolute, strong, and wist;
WhMKryour heart has desired ye have not vilhheld/rom your
^ ^"'
Ok your own heads, in your own hands, the sin and the saving
Sest
THE VETERANS
(Wnnn far the giihering of survivors of the Indian Mutiny, Albert Hall,
'907)
"TPO-DAY, across our fathers' graves,
The astonished years reveal
The remnant of that desperate host
Which cleansed our East with steel.
Hail and farewell! We greet you here,
Wth tears that none will scorn —
O Keepers of the House of old,
Or ever we were bom !
352 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
One service more we dare to ask —
Pray for us, heroes, pray.
That when Fate lays on us our task
We do not shame the Day!
THE DYKES
1902
\\7'E HAVE no heart for the fishing, we have no hind for
the oar —
All that our fathers taught us of old pleases us now no more;
All that our own hearts bid us believe we doubt where we do
not deny —
There is no proof in the bread we eat or rest in the toil we ply-
Look you, our foreshore stretches far through sea-gate, dyke,
and groin —
Made land all, that our fathers made, where the flats and the
fairway join.
They forced the sea a sea-league back. They died, and thci^
work stood fast.
We were born to peace in the lee of the dykes, but the dm^
of our peace is past.
Far off, the full tide clambers and slips, mouthing and testing
all.
Nipping the flanks of the water-gates, baying along the wall;
Turning the shingle, returning the shingle, changing the set
of the sand . . .
We are too far from the beach, men say, to know how the out-
works stand.
So we come down, uneasy, to look, uneasily pacing the beach
These are the dykes our fathers made: we have never knowi
a breach.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 353
Tune and again has the gale blown by and we were not afraid;
14ow we come only to look at the dykes — at the dykes our
fathers made.
O'er die marsh where the homesteads cower apart the har-
' ried sunlight flies,
Shifts and considers, wanes and recovers, scatters and sickens
and dies —
An evil ember bedded in ash — a spark blown west by the
wind •
We are surrendered to night and the sea — the gale and the
tide behind!
At the bridge of the lower saltings the cattle gather and blare.
Roused by the feet of running men, dazed by the lantern
glare.
Unbar and let them away for their lives — the levels drown as
they stand.
Where the flood-wash forces the sluices aback and the ditches
deliver inland.
N^mefold deep to the top of the dykes the galloping breakers
stride.
And dieir overcarried spray is a sea — a sea on the landward
side.
Coming, like stallions they paw with their hooves, going they
snatch with their teeth,
lill die bents and the furze and the sand are dragged out,
and the old-time hurdles beneath.
Bid men gather fuel for fire, the tar, the oil and the tow —
R»mc we shall need, not smoke, in the dark if the riddled
sea-banks go.
Bid the ringers watch in the tower (who knows how the dawn
shall prove?)
E*ch with his rope between his feet and the trembling bells
above.
354 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Now we can only wait till the day, wut and apportion oar
shame.
These are the dykes our fathers left, but we would not look
to the same.
Time and again were we warned of the dykes, time and again
we delayed:
Now, it may fall, we have slain our sons, as our fathers we
have betrayed.
Walking along the wreck of the dykes, watching the wofkof
the seas!
These were the dykes our fathers made to our great proCt
and ease.
But the peace is gone and the profit is gone, with the M sat^
days withdrawn ...
That our own houses show as strange when we come back '•-^
the dawn !
THE DECLARATION OF LONDON
Juke 29, 1911
("On the rc-assembling of Parliament after the Coronadon^ the Government
have no intention of allowing their followers to vote according to their
convictions on the Declaration of London, but insist on a strictly party
vote." — Das/y Papers.)
"IX/^E were all one heart and one race
When the Abbey trumpets blew.
For a moment's breathing-space
We had forgotten you.
Now you return to your honoured place
Panting to shame us anew.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 355
We have walked with the Ages dead —
With our Past alive and ablaze.
And you bid us pawn our honour for bread,
This day of all the days! •
And you cannot wait till our guests are sped,
Or last week's wreath decays?
The light is still in our eyes
Of Faith and Gentlehood,
Of Service and Sacrifice;
And it does not match our mood,
To turn so soon to your treacheries
That starve our land of her food.
Our ears still carry the sound
Of our once-Imperial seas.
Exultant after our King was crowned,
Beneath the sun and the breeze.
It is too early to have them bound
Or sold at your decrees.
Wait till the memory goes.
Wait till the visions fade.
We may betray in time, God knows.
But we would not have it said.
When you make report to our scornful foes.
That we kissed as we betrayed !
THE WAGE-SLAVES
1902
QH GLORIOUS are the guarded heights
Where guardian souls abide —
Self-exiled from our gross delights —
Above, beyond, outside:
3S6 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
An ampler arc their spirit swings —
Commands a juster view —
We have their word for all these things^
No doubt their words are true.
Yet we, the bondslaves of our day.
Whom dirt and danger press —
Co-heirs of insolence, delay.
And leagued unfaithfulness —
Such is our need must seek indeed
And, having found, engage
The men who merely do the work
For which they draw the wage.
From forge and farm and mine and bench.
Deck, altar, outpost lone —
Mill, school, battalion, counter, trench.
Rail, senate, sheepfold, throne —
Creation's cry goes up on high
From age to cheated age:
"Send us the men who do the work
"For which they draw the wage!"
Words cannot help nor wit achieve.
Nor e'en the all-gifted fool.
Too weak to enter, bide, or leave
The lists he cannot rule.
Beneath the sun we count on none
Our evil to assuage.
Except the men that do the work
For which they draw the wage.
When through the Gates of Stress and Sti
Comes forth the vast Event —
The simple, sheer, sufficing, sane
Result of labour spent —
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 357
They that have wrought the end unthought
Be neither saint nor sage,
But only men who did the work
For which they drew the wage.
Wherefore to these the Fates shall bend
(And all old idle things — )
Wherefore on these shall Power attend
Beyond the grip of kings:
Each in his place, by right, not grace,
Shall rule his heritage —
The men who simply do the work
For which they draw the wage.
Not such as scorn the loitering street.
Or waste to earn its praise.
Their noontide's unreturning heat
About their morning ways;
But such as dower each mortgaged hour
Alike with clean courage —
Even the men who do the work
For which they draw the wage —
Men, like to Gods, that do the work
For which they draw the wage —
Begin — continue — close that work
For which they draw the wage!
THE SONG OF THE LATHES
I 9 I 8
le words of the tune hummed at her lathe by Mrs. L. Embsay, widow.)
fans and the beltings they roar round me.
le power is shaking the floor round me
e lathes pick up their duty and the midnight-shift
takes over.
It is good for me to be here!
358 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Guns in Flanders — Flanders guns !
(I had a man that worked 'em once !)
Shells for guns in FlanderSy Flanders !
Shells for guns in Flanders^ Flanders I
Shells for guns in Flanders ! Feed the guns !
The cranes and the carriers they boom over ntie,
The bays and the galleries they loom over me,
With their quarter-mile of pillars growing little in Ac
distance —
It is good for me to be here!
The Zeppelins and Gothas they raid over us. .
Our lights give warning, and fade over us.
(Seven thousand women keeping quiet in the darkness!)
Oh, it's good for me to be here!
The roofs and the buildings they grow round me.
Eating up the fields I used to know round me;
And the shed that I began in is a sub-inspector's office —
So long have I been here!
I've seen six hundred mornings make our lamps grow dim.
Through the bit that isn't painted round our sky-light rim,
And the sunshine through the window slope according to
the seasons.
Twice since I've been here.
The trains on the sidings they call to us
With the hundred thousand blanks that they haul to us;
And we send 'em what we've finished, and they take it
where it's wanted,
For that is why we are here !
INCLUSIVE EDITIC»>}. 1885-1918 359
Man's hate passes as his love will pass.
God made wtunan what she always was.
Them that bear the burden they mil never grant forgiveness
So long as they are here! ■
Onct I was a woman, but that's by with me.
All 1 loved and looked for, it must die with me;
But the Lord has left me over for a servant of the Judgment,
And I serve His Judgments here!
Guns in F/anders — Flartders guns !
(1 W a son that worked 'em onee !)
Skelb/orptns in Flanders, Flanders !
ShiUs for guns in Flanders, Flanders !
Shells/or guns in Flanders I Feed the gum
RIMMON
' 90J
f^ULY with knees that feign to quake —
Bent head and shaded brow, —
Yet once again, for my father's sake,
In Rimmon's House I bow.
The curtains part, the trumpet blares.
And the eunuchs howl aloud;
And the gilt, swag-bellied idol glares
Insolent over the crowd.
36o Rin>YARD J^mmQ^.WBKKi
"Tiu u RimmtUt Imd iff Ikf Emi^-
"Ftar Him Md hm tkr hmt "■
AndliratchniycomtadssUdedirirniirdi '
That rode to the mi^ with BW.
For we remember the ion and die Hud
And the rocb iriwreoa IK trnd.
Ere we cmme to s Marched and a noraitd ku
That did not know ntr pod;
As we remember tlie sacnfice
Dead men an handled laid— -
Shun while diey ■erred E& mytterie^
And that He would not aid.
Not though we gashed ourselves and wept,
For the high-priest bade us wait;
Saying He went on a journey or slept,
Or was drunk or had taken a mate.
(Praise ye Rimmon, King of Kings,
Who ruleth Earth and Sky.'
And again I bow as the censer swii^
And the God Enthroned goes by.)
Ay, we remember His sacred ark
And the virtuous men that knelt
To the dark and the hush behind the dark
Wherein we dreamed He dwelt;
Until wc entered to hale Him out.
And found no more than an old
Uncleanly image girded about
The loins with scarlet and gold.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 361
•
Him wc o'crsct with the butts of our spears —
Him and his vast designs —
To be the scorn of our muleteers
And the jest of our halted lines.
By the picket-pins that the dogs defile,
In the dung and the dust He lay,
Till the priests ran and chattered awhile
And wiped Him and took Him away.
Hushing the matter before it was known,
They returned to our fathers afar.
And hastily set Him afresh on His throne
Because he had won us the war.
Wherefore with knees that feign to quak
Bent head and shaded brow —
To this dead dog, for my father's sake.
In Rimmon's House I bow!
€t
THE CITY OF BRASS"
1909
^^ft was a people whom after their works thou shalt see wept over for their
\cfi^ <^minioii: and in this palace is the last information respecting lords coU
\fC^ in the dust.
The Arabian Nights,
fN A land that the sand overlays — the ways to her gates
are untrod —
y/ multitude ended their days whose fates were made splendid
by Gody
: ; RLDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
7;.; thi'y pcH' drunk and were smiUen with madness andw(fi
to their /a/I,
And of these is a story written: hu Allah Alone knometh all! I.' c
^^llen the wine stirred in their heart their bosoms dilatedi 1^:,
They rose to suppose themselves kings over all diiflg*
created —
To decree a new earth at a birth without labour or sorroir^
To declare: "We prepare it to-day and inherit to-monof.'*
They chose themselves prophets and priests of nuimte
understanding,
Men swift to see done, and outrun, their extreniest coc
manding—
Of the tribe which describe with a jibe the perversiooi ^
Justice —
Panders avowed to the crowd m^atsoever its lust is.
Swiftly these pulled down the walls that thor fathers h^
made them —
The impregnable ramparts of old, they razed and relaid th^^
As playgrounds of pleasure and leisure with limitless entri^^
And havens of rest for the wastrels where once walked t^
sentries;
And because there was need of more pay for the shouters
marchers,
They disbanded in face of their foemen their yeomen an
archers.
They replied to their well-wishers' fears — to their enemies*
laughter.
Saying: "Peace! We have fashioned a God Which shall
save us hereafter.
We ascribe all dominion to man in his factions conferring.
And have given to numbers the Name of the Wisdom un-
erring.*'
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 363
They said : *' Who has hate in his soul ? Who has envied his
neighbour?
Let him arise and control both that man and his labour."
They said: "Who is eaten by sloth? Whose un thrift has
destroyed him ?
He shall levy a tribute from all because none have employed
him."
They said: "Who hath toiled, who hath striven, and
gathered possession?
Let him be spoiled. He hath given full proof of transgress
sion."
^cy said: "Who is irked by the Law? Though we may not
remove ity
V hi lend us his aid in this raid, we will set him above it !*'
^ the robber did judgment again upon such as displeased
him,
^e slayer, too, boasted his slain, and the judges released
lum*
A* for their kinsmen far off, on the skirts of the nation,
They harried all earth to make sure none escaped reprobation,
They awakened unrest for a jest in their newly-won borders,
™cl jeered at the blood of their brethren betrayed by their
orders.
They instructed the ruled to rebel, their rulers to aid them;
And, since such as obeyed them not fell, their Viceroys obeyed
them.
When the riotous set them at naught they said: " Praise the
upheaval!
For the show and the word and the thought of Dominion is
evil!"
They unwound and flung from them with rage, as a rag that
defiled them
The imperial gains of the age which their forefathers piled
them.
364 RUDYARD KIPLING'S
:h:^.:
They ran panting in haste to lay watte and embitter lor ever
The wellsprings of Vl^sdom and Strength wlikh are Fatih '
and Endeavour. ^
They noaed ou t and digged ap and dragged forth and ezpoiod
to deririon
AU doctrine of purpose and wordi and restraint and premiao:
And it ceased, and God granted diem aU thinga lor which tlief
had striven.
And the heart of a beast in the phce of a man's heart wsi
given. • . .
When they were fullest of wine and most flagrant m enotp
Out of the sea rose a sign — out of Heaven a terror.
Then they saw, then they heard, d^en they knew — for none
troubled to hide it,
An host had prepared their destruction, but still they denied it
They denied what they dared not abide if it came to the trial,
But the Sword that was forged while they lied did not heed
their denial.
It drove home, and no time was allowed to the crowd thatwtf
driven.
The preposterous-minded were cowed — they thought owe
would be given.
There was no need of a steed nor a lance to pursue them;
It was decreed their own deed, and not chance, should undo
them.
The tares they had laughingly sown were ripe to the reaping.
The trust they had leagued to disown was removed from their .
keeping.
The eaters of other men's bread, the exempted from hardship,
The excusers of impotence fled, abdicating their wardship,
For the hate they had taught through the State brought the
State no defender,
And it passed from the roll of the Nations in headlong sur-
render!
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 365
THE HYiENAS
ii FTER the burial-parties leave
And the baffled kites have fled;
The wise hyenas come out at eve
To take account of our dead.
How he died and why he died
Troubles them not a whit.
They snout the bushes and stones aside
And dig till they come to it.
They are only resolute they' shall eat
That they and their mates may thrive,
And they know that the dead are safer meat
Than the weakest thing alive.
(For a goat may butt, and a worm may sting.
And a child will sometimes stand;
But a poor dead soldier of the King
Can never lift a hand.)
They whoop and halloo and scatter the dirt
Until their tushes white
Take good hold in the army shirt.
And tug the corpse to light.
And the pitiful face is shewn again
For an instant ere they close;
But it is not discovered to living men — '•
Only to God and to those
Who, being soulless, are free from shame.
Whatever meat they may find.
Nor do they defile the dead man's name —
That is reserved for his kind.
366 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VBRSB
THE REFORMERS
I 901
fJOT in ihe camp his vktmty Bes
Or triumph $n ihe mmrhH-plmce^
Who is his Nation* s sacrifice
To turn the judgment from his race.
Happy 18 he who, bral mod tau^t
By sleek, suffidng Circumstance —
Whose Gospel "was die apparelled thought^
Whose Gods were Luxury and Chance—
Sees, on the threshold of his days.
The old life shrivel like a scroll.
And to unheralded dismays
Submits his body and his soul;
The fatted shows wherein he stood
Foregoing, and the idiot pride,
That he may prove with his own blood
All that his easy sires denied —
Ultimate issues, primal springs.
Demands, abasements, penalties —
The imperishable plinth of things
Seen and unseen, that touch our peace.
For, though ensnaring ritual dim
His vision through the after-years.
Yet virtue shall go out of him —
Example profiting his peers.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 367
With great things charged he shall not hold
Aloof till great occasion rise,
But serve, fiill-hamessed, as of old.
The Days that are the Destinies.
He shall forswear and put away
The idols of his sheltered house;
And to Necessity shall pay
Unflinching tribute of his vows.
He shall not plead another's act,
Nor bind him in another's oath
To weigh the Word above the Fact,
Or make or take excuse for sloth.
The yoke he bore shall press him still.
And, long-ingrained effort goad
To find, to fashion, and fulfil
The cleaner life, the sterner code.
Not in the camp his victory lies —
The world {unheeding his return)
Shall see it in his children's eyes
And from his grandson's lips shall learn !
THE COVENANT
9 I 4
^/"E thought we ranked above the chance of ill.
Others might fall, not we, for we were wise
lerchants in freedom. So, of our free-will
We let our servants drug our strength with lies.
368 RUDYARD KIFUNCS VEBSB
The pleasire and the pcnson had ita way
On us as on the meaneatt till we learoed
That he who lies will steal, who tteah irill alajr.
Neither God'* judgment nor man'a hevt waa tntaed.
Yet there remains Hit McrGy-7-to be KnAt
Through wrath and jperil till we deanae ue wrong
By that last right which oar ferefiBtheri tI'^p^
When their Law failed them and iti itewaida were bough' -^
This is our cause. God help ua, and make ttrong
Our will to meet Him latei*, unathamedl
THE OLD MEN
1902
'T'HIS is our lot if at live so long and l^/ottr unto tht
That me outlive the impatient years and the miuk I
patient friend:
And hecause we know we have heath in our mouth and thit
we have thoughts in our head,
IVe shall assume that we are alive, whereas we are really
We shall not acknowledge that old stars fade or bri^t^^'
planets arise
(That the sere bush buds or the desert blooms or the andef^'
well-head dries),
Or any new compass wherewith new men adventure 'neac^
new skies.
We shall lift up the ropes that constrained our youth, to ^ittd
on our children's hands;
We shall call to the water below the bridges to rstniti and
replenish our lands;
We shall harness horses (Death's own pale horses) and
scholarly plough the sands.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 369
AATc shall lie down in the eye of the sun for lack of a light on
our way —
AVe shall rise up when the day is done and chirrup, "Behold,
it is day!"
We shall abide dll the battle is won ere we amble into the
fray.
We shall peck out and discuss and dissect, and evert and ex-
trude to our mind.
The flaccid* tissues of long-dead issues offensive to God and
mankind —
(Precisely like vultures over an ox that the Army has left
behind).
^c shall make walk preposterous ghosts of the glories we once
'^modestly smearing from muddled palettes amazing pig-
ments mismated —
^d our friends will weep when we ask them with boasts if
our natural force be abated.
*^^ Lamp of our Youth will be utterly out, but we shall
« subsist on the smell of it;
'^nd whatever we do, we shall fold our hands and suck our
y. gums and think well of i t.
^^> we shall be perfectly pleased with our work, and that
is the Perfectest Hell of it !
^•j is our lot if we live so long and listen to those who love
^^4 we are shunned by the people about and shamed by the
^^ Powers above us.
^^herefoTt be free of your harness betimes; buty being free^ be
assured^
-^^at he who hash no/ endured to the deaths from his birth he
hash never endured I
370 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
THE OUTLAWS
1914
TPHROUGH learned and laborious years
They set themselves to find
Fresh terrors and undreamed-of fears
To heap upon mankind.
All that they drew from Heaven above
Or digged from earth beneath.
They laid into their treasure-trove
And arsenals of death:
While, for well-weighed advantage sake.
Ruler and ruled alike
Built up the faith they meant to break
When the fit hour should strike.
They traded with the careless earth.
And good return it gave:
They plotted by their neighbour's hearth
The means to make him slave.
When all was ready to their hand
They loosed their hidden sword.
And utterly laid waste a land
Their oath was pledged to guard.
Coldly they went about to raise
To life and make more dread
Abominations of old days,
That men believed were dead.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 371
They paid the price to reach their goal
Across a world in flame;
But their own hate slew their own soul
Before that victory came.
THE WHITE MAN'S BURDEN
I 899
'pAKE up the White Man's burden-
Send forth the best ye breed —
Go bind your sons to exile
To serve your captives' need;
To wait in heavy harness.
On fluttered folk and wild —
Your new-caught> sullen peoples,
Half-devil and half-child.
Take up the White Man's Burden —
In patience to abide.
To veil the threat of terror
And check the show of pride;
By open speech and simple.
An hundred times made plain.
To seek another's profit,
And work another's gain.
Take up the White Man's burden —
The savage wars of peace —
Fill foil the mouth of Famine
And bid the sickness cease;
And when your goal is nearest
The end for others sought.
Watch Sloth and heathen Folly
Bring all your hope to nought.
372 RUDYARD KIFLn^CS VERSE
n
y
Take up die White Man's burdeih—
No tawdry ruk of kiiq;8.
But tcnl of serf and sweeper —
The tale of common dungs.
The ports ye diall not enter,
The roads ye shall not trnd.
Go make them with vour living.
And marie them with your dead.
Take up the White Man's burden^
And reap lus old reward:
The blame of those yt better,
The hate of those yt guard —
The cry of hosts ye hufmiur
(Ah, slowly!) toward die light: —
''Why brought ye us from bondage,
"Our loved Egyptian ni^t?"
Take up the White Man's burden —
Ye dare not stoop to less —
Nor call too loud on Freedom
To cloak your weariness;
By all ye cry or whisper,
By all ye leave or do,
The silent, sullen peoples
Shall weigh your Gods and you.
Take up the White Man's burden —
Have done with childish days —
The lightly proffered laurel.
The easy, ungrudged praise.
Comes now, to search your manhood
Through all the thankless years.
Cold, edged with dear-bought wisdom.
The judgment of your peers!
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 373
HYMN BEFORE ACTION
1896
'pffi
earth is full of anger.
The seas are dark with wrath.
The Nations in their harness
Go up against our path:
Ere yet we loose the legions —
Ere yet we draw the blade,
Jehovah of the Thunders,
Lord God of Battles, aid!
High lust and forward bearing.
Proud heart, rebellious brow —
Deaf ear and soul uncaring,
We seek Thy mercy now!
The sinner that forswore Thee,
The fool that passed Thee by.
Our times are known before Thee —
Lord, grant us strength to die!
For those who kneel beside us
At altars not Thine own.
Who lack the lights that guide us,
Lord, let their faith atone!
If wrong we did to call them,
By honour bound they came;
Let not Thy Wrath befall them.
But deal to us the blame.
From panic, pride, and terror,
Revenge that knows no rein.
Light haste and lawless error,
Protect us yet again.
OokeThoafl
MuK finn the ■nMiKiiB|| «
In nlence and a
To taste Thy fa
Ah. Miry |Mfced ^4
Rememur* readi «ad «rre '
The Mol dutt cemet tMnmov
Before dw God A«tgml ri
Snce each wu .honi « voaun^
For each at otter need ' <
True comrade and tnu '
Madoona, intcmdat
E'en now d
E'en now we face the my —
As Thou didst help our fathets.
Help Thou our host to-day.
Fulfilled of ugns and wondcn.
In life, in death made dear —
Jehovah of the Thunden,
Lord God of Battles, hear!
A SONG AT COCK-CROW
I 9 I 8
'T*HE first time that Peter denied his Lord
He shrank from the cudgel, the scourge and dte
But followed far off to see what they would do,
TiU the cock crew — tiU the cock crew —
After Gethscmane, till the cock crew!
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 37s
The first time that Peter denied his Lord
T^nras only a maid in the palace who heard>
As he sat by the fire and warmed himself through.
Then the cock crew! Then the cock crew!
("Thou also art one of them.") Then the cock crew!
The first time that Peter denied his Lord
He had neither the Throne, nor the Keys nor the Sword —
Apoor silly fisherman, what could he do,
Wncn the cock crew — ^when the cock crew —
But weep for his wickedness when the cock crew?
The next time that Peter denied his Lord
He was Fisher of Men, as foretold by the Word,
Wth the Crown on his brow and the Cross on Kis shoe,
When the cock crew — ^when the cock crew —
^^ fUmders and PUardy when the cock crew!
J^ next time that Peter denied his Lord
^^«s Mary the Mother in Heaven Who heard,
^jA She grieved for the maidens and wives that they slew
'^cn the cock crew — when the cock crew —
^^ t^irmonde and AerschM when the cock crew!
*^ next time that Peter denied his Lord
^'^e Babe in the Manger awakened and stirred,
^d He stretched out His arms for the playmates
^ He knew —
]J nen the cock crew — ^when the cock crew —
^**^ the waters had covered them when the cock crew!
ije next time that Peter denied his Lord
^Was Earth in her agony waited his word,
j^t he sat by the fire and naught would he do,
*nough the cock crew — though the cock crew —
^^^^ aU Christendom^ though the cock crew !
376 RUDYARI> mFUNCS
The last dnw diat FMer denidd Ui LorI,
The Father toc^ from lum the Keyt and die Sv
And the Mother and Babe brake im P"gF*«*" ■
When the cock crew — when dw ooA cw"-
(JBeeauie tf hit wicluAuu) wim At €mk cnrv/
THE QUESTEOTf
I 9 I 6
DRETHREN, how ahall it hn mth me
When the war ia lud asde.
If it be proven that I am be
For wnom a world has djedi
If it be proven that all my good,
And die greater good I will make.
Were purchased me by a multitude
Who suffered for my sake?
That I was delivered by mere mankind
Vowed to one sacrifice,
And not, as I hold them, battle-blmd.
But dying with open eyes?
That they did not ask me to draw the sword
When they stood to endure thor lot —
That they only looked to mc for a word,
And I answered I knew them not?
If it be found, when the battle clears.
Their death has set me free, . ^_^
Then how shall I live with myself through the yea^""^^
Which they have bought fin- mei
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 377
Brethren, how must it fare with me,
Or how am I justified.
If it be proven that I am he
For whom mankind has died —
If it be proven that I am he
Who, being questioned, denied?
RECESSIONAL
1897
G^
>OD of our fathers, known of old.
Lord of our far-flung battle-line.
Beneath whose awful Hand we hold
Dominion over palm and pine —
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet.
Lest we forget — ^lest we forget!
The tumult and the shouting dies;
The Captains and the Kings depart:
Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice.
An humble and a contrite heart.
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet.
Lest we forget — lest we forget!
Far-called, our navies melt away;
On dune and headland sinks the fire:
Lo, all our pomp of yesterday
Is one with Nineveh and Tyre!
Judge of the Nations, spare us yet.
Lest we fbiget — lest we forget!
378 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
If, drunk with sight of power, we loose
Wild tongues that have not Thee in
Such boastings as die Gentiles use.
Or lesser breeds without the Law —
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet.
Lest we forget — lest we forget!
For heathen heart that puts her trust
In reeking tube and iron shard.
All valiant dust that builds on dust.
And guarding, calls not Thee to gua
For frantic boast and foolish word —
Thy mercy on Thy People, Lord!
"FOR ALL WE HAVE AND ARE
I 9 14
UOR all we have and are.
For all our children's fate,
Stand up and take the war.
The Hun is at the gate!
Our world has passed away
In wantonness o'erthrown.
There is nothing left to-day
But steel and fire and stone!
Though all we knew depart,
The old Commandments stand:—
" In courage keep your heart.
In strength lift up your hand."
»»
Once more we hear the word
That sickened earth of old: —
"No law except the Sword
Unsheathed and uncontrolled.
>»
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 379
Once more it knits mankind,
Once more the nations go
To meet and break and bind
A crazed and driven foe.
&)mfort, content, delight,
The ages' slow-bought gain.
They shrivelled in a night.
Only ourselves remain
To face the naked days
In silent fortitude.
Through perils and dismays
ReneT7ed and re-renewed.
Though all we made depart,
The old Conmiandments stand: —
"In patience keep your heart.
In strength lift up your hand."
No easy hope or lies
Shall bring us to our goal.
But iron sacrifice
Of body, will, and soul.
There is but one task for all —
One life for each to give.
What stands if Freedom fall?
Who dies if England live?
THE THREE-DECKER
I 894
" The three-xfolume novel is extinct"
thirty foot she towered from waterline to rail.
x>ot a watch to steer her, and a week to shorten sail;
tc all modem notions, I've found her first and best —
T certain packet for the Islands of the Blest.
I
380 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Fiur held the breeze behind us — 'rwas warm with lovtn'
prayers.
We'd stolen wills for ballast and a crew of missing heirs.
They s!iipf>ed as Able Bastards till the Wicked Nurse cm-
fessed,
And they worked the old three-decker to the Islands of tbt
Blest.
By ways no gaze could follow, a course unspoiled of cook,
Per Fancy, fleetest in man, our titled berths we took
With maids of matchless beauty and parentage unguesscd,
And a Church of England parson for the Islands of the Blat
We asked no social questions — we pumped no hidden shamr'
We never talked obstetrics when the Little Stranger came;
We left the Lord in Heaven, we left the fiends in Hell.
We weren't exactly Yussufs, but— Zuleika didn't tcU.
No moral doubt assatk't us, so when the port we neared.
The villain had his flogging at the gangway, and we chetrfi-
'Twas fiddle in the foc's'le — 'twas garlands on the mast,
For every one got married, and I went ashore at last.
I left 'em all in couples akissing on the decks.
I left the lovers loving and the parents signing cheques.
In endless English comfort, by county-folk caressed,
I left the old three-decker at the Islands of the Blest! . - '
That route is barred to steamers: you'll never lift again
Our purple-painted headlands or tJic lordly kee;>s ofSpail''.
They're just beyond your skyline, howe'cr bo far you cr*''*
In a ram-you-damn-you liner with a brace of bucking sere**-
Swing round your aching search-light — 'twill show no haven i
peace.
Ay, blow your shrieking sirens at the deaf, grey-beatded sets'-
Boom out the dripping oil-bags to skin the deep's anrest—
And you aren't one knot the nearer to the Islands of the Kestl
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 381
^ But when you're threshing, crippled, with broken bridge and
rail,
^ i At a drogue of dead convictions to hold you head to gale,
^\ Calm as the Flying Dutchman, from truck to tafFrail dressed.
You'll see the old three-decker for the Islands of the Blest.
Toull see her tiering canvas in sheeted silver spread;
You'll hear the long-drawn thunder 'neath her leaping figure-
head;
While far, so far above you, her tall poop-lanterns shine
Unvexed by wind or weather like the candles round a shrine !
ftiD down — ^huU down and under — she dwindles to a speck,
With noise of pleasant music and dancing on her deck.
All's well — all's well aboard her — she's left you far behind,
With a scent of old-world roses through the fog that ties you
Mind.
u
y^ crews are babes or madmen? Her port is all to make?
^*re manned by Truth and Science, and you steam for
v|. steantiing's sake ?
o^ll, tinker up your engines — you know your business best —
^"^^ taking tired people to the Islands of the Blest!
"THE RHYME OF THE THREE CAPTAINS
1890
^ -^"^Vr MUd m^piors to rtfer to one oj the exploits of the notorious Paul Jones ^
on Amerieon pirate. It is founded on fact,]
• . • AT THE close of a winter day,
Their anchors down, by London town, the
Three Great Captains lay;
And one was Admiral of the North from Solway Firth to Skye,
And one was Lord of the Wessex coast and all the lands
thereby.
382 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
And one was Master of the Thames from Limehouae to Black
wall,
And he was Chaplain of the Fleet — the bravest of them alL
Their good guns guarded their great grey »des that were thirty
foot in the sheer,
When there came a certain tracUng brig with news of a privi-
teer.
Her rigging was rough with the clotted drift that drives in t
Northern breeze,
Her sides were clogged with the lazy weed that spawns in tbe
Eastern seas.
Light she rode in the rude tide-rip, to left and right she idU
And the skipper sat on the scuttle-butt and stared at an cmplf
hold.
'* I ha' paid Port dues for your Law/' quoth he, "and iriiereii
the Law ye boast
"If I sail unscathed from a heathen port to be robbed on i
Christian coast?
"Ye have smoked the hives of the Laccadives as we bum the
lice in a bunk,
"We tack not now for a Gallang prow or a plunging Pd-ho
junk;
"I had no fear but the seas were clear as far as a sail might
fare
"Till I met with a lime-washed Yankee brig that rode off
Finisterre.
"There were canvas blinds to his bow-gun ports to screen the
weight he bore,
"And the signals ran for a merchantman from Sandy Hook
to the Nore.
"He would not fly the Rovers' flag — the bloody or the bUck»
"But now he floated the Gridiron and now he flaunted the
Jack.
"He spoke of the Law as he crimped my crew — he swore
it was only a loan;
"But when I would ask for my own again, he swore it was
none of my own.
<«
«(
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 383
'He has taken my little parrakeets that nest beneath the Line,
'He has stripped my rails of the shaddock-frails and the
green unripened pine.
'He has taken my bale of dammer and spice I won beyond
the seas,
"He has taken my grinning heathen gods — and what should
he want o' these?
My foremast would not mend his boom, my deck-house
patch his boats;
He has whittled the two, this Yank Yahoo, to peddle for
shoe-peg oats.
"I could not fight for the failing light and a rough beam-sea
beside,
"But I hulled him once for a clumsy cn'mp and twice "because
he lied.
"Had I had guns (as 1 had goods) to work my Christian
harm,
"I had run him up from his quarter-deck to trade with his
own yard-arm;
"I had nailed his ears to my capstan-head, and ripped them
off with a saw.
And soused them in the bilgewater, and served them to him
raw;
I had flung him blind in a rudderless boat to rot in the rock-
ing dark,
1 had towed him aft of his own craft, a bait for his brother
shark;
1 had lapped him round with cocoa-husk, and drenched him
with the oil.
And lashed him fast to his own mast to blaze above my
spoil;
'1 had stripped his hide for my hammock-side, and tasselled
his beard in the mesh,
"And spitted his crew on the live bamboo that grows through
the gangrened flesh;
"I had hove him down by the mangroves brown, where the
mud-reef sucks and draws,
€t
€€
■
384 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
"McxM^lbythehedtohbo^nfcedltotriitfarfhelti^
claws. 1
He is lazar witJun and fime witboat; ye can nom Ini&rl
enow.
For he carries the taint of a muskjr ihip— die left of Aej
slaver's dhow." ,;
The skipper looked at the tiering gant and die IndvtrfESV
and cold.
And the Captwis Three full courteouily peeted doimst ill
gutted hold.
And the Captuns Three called courteoody from deck n
scuttle-butt: —
** Good Sir, we ha* dealt with diat merchantman or ever jvt
teeth were cut.
^'Your words be words of a lawless race, and the Lsvit
standeth thus:
** He comes of a race that have never a Law, and he never hti
boarded us.
^* We ha* sold him canvas and rope and spar — ^we know tW
his price is fair,
"'And we know that he weeps for the lack of a Law as he lides
off Finisterre.
" And since he is damned for a gallows-thief by you and better
than you,
"We hold it meet that the English fleet should know thatvc
hold him true."
The skipper called to the tall tafFrail: — "And what b A*^
to me?
"Did ever you hear of a Yankee brig that rifled a Seventy-
three?
" Do I loom so large from your quarter-deck that I lift like&
ship o* the Line?
"He has learned to run from a shotted gun and harry sach
craft as mine.
"There is never a law on the Cocos Keys, to hold a white
man in.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 385
** But we do not steal the niggers' meal, for that is a nigger's
sin.
**Must he have his Law as a quid to chaw, or laid in brass on
his wJieel?
**Doe8 he steal with tears when he buccaneers? 'Fore Gad,
then, why does he steal?"
*The skipper bit on a deep-sea word, and the word it was not
sweet,
I^'or he could see the Captains Three had signalled to the Fleet.
Sut three and two, in white and blue, the whimpering flags
began}—
^'We have heard a tale of a — foreign sail, but he is a mer-
chantman."
The skipper peered beneath his palm and swore by the Great
Horn Spoon: —
'* 'Fore Gad, the Chaplain of the Fleet would bless my pica-
roon!"
By two and three the flags blew free to lash the laughing
air: —
"We have sold our spars to the merchantmen — we know that
hb price b fair."
The skipper winked his Western eye, and swore by a China
storm: —
"They ha' rigged him a Joseph's jury-coat to keep his
honour warm."
The halliards twanged against the tops, the bunting bellied
broad.
The skipper spat in the empty hold and mourned for a wasted
cord.
Masthead — masthead, the signal sped by Uie line o' the Brit-
ish craft:
The skipper called to his Lascar crew, and put her about and
laughed: —
"It's mainsail haul, my bully boys all — we'll out to the seas
again —
"Ere they set us to paint their pirate saint, or scrub at his
grapnel-chain.
386 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
'It's fore-sheet free, with her head to the sea, and the swing
of the unbought brine —
'We'll make no sport in an English court till we come as 4
ship o' the Line:
'Till we come as a ship o' the Line, my lads, of thirty foot in
the sheer,
'Lifting again from the outer main with news of a privateer;
'Flying his pluck at our mizzen-truck for weft of Admiralty,
'Heaving his head for our dipsy-lead in sign that we keep
the sea.
'Then fore-sheet home as she lifts to the foam — ^wc stand on
the outward tack,
' We are paid in the coin of the white man's trade — the bezant
is hard, ay, and black.
'The frigate-bird shall carry my word to the Kling and the
Orang-Laut
'How a man may sail from a heathen coast to be robbed in a
Christian port;
'How a man may be robbed in Christian port while Three
Great Captains there
'Shall dip their flag to a slaver's rag — to show that his trade
is fair!"
THE CONUNDRUM OF THE WORKSHOPS
1890
\X^HEN the flush of a new-born sun fell first on Eden's
green and gold.
Our father Adam sat under the Tree and scratched with a
stick in the mould;
And the first rude sketch that the world had seen was joy to
his mighty heart.
Till the Devil whispered behind the leaves, "It's pretty, but
is it Art?"
3 -.
■s.
INCLUSIVE EDITION. 1885-1918 387
Wherefore he called to his wife, and fled to fashion his work
anew —
The first of his race who carred a fig for the first, most dread
review;
And he left his lore to the use of his sons — and that was a
glorious gain
When the Devil chuckled "Is it Art?" in the ear of the
branded Cain.
They builded a tower to shiver the sky and wrench the stars
apart.
Till the Devil grunted behind the bricks: "It's striking, but is
it Art?"
The stone was dropped at the quarry-side and the idle derrick
swung.
While each man talked of the aims of Art, and each in an alien
tongue.
They fought and they talked in the North and the South;
they talked and they fought in the West,
Till the waters rose on the pitiful land, and the poor Red Clay
had rest —
Had rest till that dank blank-canvas dawn when the dove was
preened to start.
And the Devil bubbled below the keel: "It's human, but is it
Art?"
The tale is as old as the Eden Tree — and new as the new-cut
tooth —
For each man knows ere his lip-thatch grows he is master of
Art and Truth;
And each man hears as the twilight nears, to the beat of his
djring heart.
The Devil drum on the darkened pane: "You did it, but was
it Art?"
:^:*ci:..
388 RUDYARD KIPLING'S
We have learned to wluttle the Eden Tree to the ahapeof a
8urplice-peg»
We have learned to bottle our parents twain in the ydkof la
addled egg.
We know that me tail muit wag the dog, for the hone ii
drawn by the cart;
But the Devil whoops, as he whbooped of old: " Il^s Glenr,bBt
is it Art?"
When the flicker of London sun falls faint on the Cbb^oon'i
green and gold.
The sons of Adam rit them down and scratch with tiKtrpcBi
in the mould —
They scratch with thdr pens in- the mould of thdrgraveibSttl
the ink and the anguish start.
For the Devil mutters behind the leaves: "It*s pretty, batisit
Art?"
Now, if we could win to the Eden Tree where the Four Great
Rivers flow,
And the Wreath of Eve is red on the turf as she left it long
ago.
And if we could come when the sentry slept and sofdy scurry
through.
By the favour of God we might know as much — as our fsAtf
Adam knew!
EVARRA AND HIS GODS
1890
J^EAD here:
This is the story of Evarra — man —
Maker of Gods in lands beyond the sea.
Because the city gave him of her gold.
Because the caravans brought turquoises.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 389
Because his life was sheltered by the King,
So that no man should maim him, none should steal.
Or break his rest with babble in the streets
When he was weary after toil, he made
An image of his God in gold and pearl,
^th turquoise diadem and human eyes,
A wonder in the sunshine, known afar.
And worshipped by the King; but, drunk with pride.
Because the city bowed to him for God,
He wrote above the shrine: ** Thus Gods are madcy
^*And whoso makes them otherwise shall die,^*
And all the city praised him. • • . Then he died.
Read here the story of Evarra — man —
Maker of Gods in lands beyond the sea.
Because the city had no wealth to give.
Because the caravans were spoiled afar.
Because his life was threatened by the King,
So that all men despised him in the streets.
He hewed the living rock, with sweat and tears.
And reared a God against the morning-gold,
A terror in the sunshine, seen afar.
And worshipped by the King; but, drunk with pride.
Because the city fawned to bring him back.
He carved upon the plinth: " Thus Gods are made^
**And whoso makes them otherwise shall die, "
And all the people praised him. . . . Then he died.
Read here the story of Evarra — man —
Maker of Gods in lands beyond the sea.
Because he lived among a simple folk.
Because his village was between the hills.
Because he smeared his cheeks with blood of ewes.
He cut an idol from a fallen pine.
Smeared blood upon its cheeks, and wedged a shell
Above its brow for eye, and gave it hair
390 RUDYARD KIPLING'S
Of tnuling moss, and plaited straw for ciowiu
And all the vil^ge praised him for this craft.
And brought him butter, honef, milk, and cords.
Wherefore, because the shoutings drove him mad,
He scratched upon that log: ** Thus Gods mre mmb,
**And whoso makes ihem oihermise shmll die J*
And all the people praised him. . • • ThenhedioL
Read here the story of Et
Maker of Gods in lemds keyond the sea.
Because his God deduced one dot of blood
Should swerve one hair's-breadth bom the poise's pttkf
And chafe his bnun, Evarra mowed- alone.
Rag-wrapped, among the cattle in the fields.
Counting his fingers, jesting with the trees.
And mocking at the mist, until his God
Drove him to labour. Out of dung and horns
Dropped in the mire he made a monstrous God,
Uncleanly, shapeless, crowned with plantain tufts.
And when the cattle lowed at twilight-time.
He dreamed it was the clamour of lost crowds.
And howled among the beasts: " Thus Gods are mad^i
^^ And whoso makes them otherwise shall die^
Thereat the cattle bellowed. . . . Then he dic^
Yet at the last he came to Paradise,
And found his own four Gods, and that he wrote;
And marvelled, being very near to God,
What oaf on earth had made his toil God's law,
Till God said mocking: "Mock not. These be thine
Then cried Evarra: **I have sinned!" "Not so.
"If thou hadst written otherwise, thy Gods
"Had rested in the mountain and the mine,
"And I were poorer by four wondrous Gods,
"And thy more wondrous law, Evarra. Thine,
"Servant of shouting crowds and lowing kine!"
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 391
treaty with laughing mouth, but tear-wet eyes,
arra cast his Gods from Paradise.
is the story of Evarra — man —
r of Gods in lands beyond the sea.
THE BENEFACTORS
j4^ ' ^^ avails the classic bent
And what the cultured wordy
Against the undoctored incident
That actually occurred ?
And what is Art whereto we press
Through paint and prose and rhym
When Nature in her nakedness
Defeats us every time ?
It is not learning, grace nor gear.
Nor easy meat and drink.
But bitter pinch of pain and fear
That makes creation think
When in this world's unpleasing youth
Our god-like race began.
The longest arm, the sharpest tooth.
Gave man control of man;
Till, bruised and bitten to the bone
And taught by pain and fear,
He learned to deal the far-off stone.
And poke the long, safe spear.
RSC^H
RUDYARD KIPLING'S VEl
So tooth and nail were obsolete
As means againsc a foe,
Till, bored by uniform defeat.
Some genius built the bow.
Then stone and javelin proved as vain
As old-time tooth and nail;
Till, spurred anew by fear and pain,
Man fashicmed coata of nuuL
Then was dtere aafety ibr dw tidb ,
And dangv tor du; poaTj
Till aomeme mixad a pbaderiAidi
Redressed die scale once BMtc^
Helmet and armour <Usappeared
With sword and bow and pike.
And, when the smoke of batde cleared,
All men were armed alike. . . .
And when ten million such were slain
To please one crazy king,
Man, schooled in bulk by fear and pain*
Grew weary of the thing;
And, at the very hour designed.
To enslave him past recdl.
His tooth^tone-arrow-gun-shy mind
Turned and abolished all.
^il Power, each Tyrant, eoery Moh
Whose head has grovm too iarge.
Ends by destroying its own job
And teoris its own discharge;
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 393
And Many whose mere necessities
Move all things from his pathy
TremUes meanwhile at their decrees y
And deprecates their wrath I
IN THE NEOLITHIC AGE
1895
YN THE Neolithic Age savage warfare did I wage
For food and fame and woolly horses' pelt;
I was singer to my clan in that dim, red Dawn of Man,
And I sang of all we fought and feared and felt.
Yea, I sang as now I sing, when the Prehistoric spring
Made the piled Biscayan ice-pack split and shove;
And the troll and gnome and dwerg, and the Gods of Cliff and
Beig
Were about me and beneath me and above.
But a rival of Solutr^, told the tribe my style was ontr^ —
'Neath a tomahawk, of diorite, he fell.
And I left my views on Art, barbed and tanged, below the
heart
Of a manmiothistic etcher at Crenelle.
•
Then I stripped them, scalp from skull, and my hunting dogs
fed fbU,
And their teeth I threaded neatly on a thong;
And I wiped my mouth and said, "It is well that they are
dead.
For I know my work is right and theirs was wrong."
«!'
394 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
But my Totem saw the shftme; from his ndgepok-Anne k
came.
And he told me in a virion of the nig^t: —
**There are nine and sixty ways of oonstructing tribal li^i
*' And every single one of Aem is r^t!"
Then the silence closed upon me till They put new dodung
on me
Of whiter, weaker flesh and bone more frail;
And I stepped beneath Time's fingeft once again t trilid
singer,
And a minor poet certified by TrailL
Still they skirmish to and fro, men my messmates on the sdo^*
When we headed off the aurochs turn for turn;
When the rich Allobrogenses never kept amanuenses,
And our only plots were piled in lakes at Berne.
Still a cultured Christian age sees us scuflle, squeak, and rag^^
Still we pinch and slap and jabber, scratch and dirk;
Still we let our business slide — as we dropped the half-dressed
hide-
To show a fellow-savage how to work.
Still the world is wondrous large, — seven seas from marge to
^ marge —
And it holds a vast of various kinds of man;
And the wildest dreams of Kew are the facts of KhatmandbUi
^ And the crimes of Clapham chaste in Martaban.
Here's my wisdom for your use, as I learned it when the moos^
And the reindeer roared where Paris roars to-night: —
" There are nine and sixty ways of constructing tribal lays^
*^ And — every — single — one — of — them — is — righil "
INCLUSIVE EDITION. 1885-1918 395
NATURAL THEOLOGY
PRIMITIVE
•
T ATE my fill of a whale that died
And stranded after a month at sea.
There is a pain in my inside.
Why have the Gods afflicted me?
Ow! I am purged till I am a wraith!
Wow! I am sick till I cannot see!
What is the sense of Religion and Faith?
Look how the Gods have afflicted me!
PAGAN
How can the skin of rat or mouse hold
Anything more than a harmless flea? . .
The burning plague has taken my household.
Why have my Gods afflicted me?
All my kith and kin are deceased.
Though they were as good as good could be,
I will out and batter the family priest.
Because my Gods have afflicted me!
MEDIyEVAL
My privy and well drain into each other
After the custom of Christendie. . . .
Fevers and fluxes are wasting my mother.
Why has the Lord afflicted me?
The Saints are helpless for all I offer —
So are the clergy I used to fee.
Henceforward I keep my cash in my coffer,
Because the Lord has afflicted me.
RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
MATERIAL
I run eight hundred hens to the acre
They die by dozens mysteriously. . . .
I am more than doubtful concerning my Maker.
Why has the Lord afflicted me?
What a return for all ""' endeavour —
Not to mention tht S. D !
I am an atheist now buK for ever,
Because this God has afflicted me!
PROGRESSIVE ^^|
Money spent on ui Army or Fleet
Is homicidal lunscy. . . .
My son has been killed in the Mona retrea^
Why is the Lord afflicting me?
Why are murder, pillage and arson
And rape allowed by the Deity?
I mil write to the Times, deriding our parson
Because my God has afflicted me.
We had a kettle: we let it leak:
Our not repairing it made it worse.
We haven't had any tea for a week. ,
The bottom is out of the Universe 1
CONCLUSION
"Hiis was none of the good Lord's pleasure.
For the Spirit He breathed in Man is free;
But what comes after is measure for measute.
And not a God that afflicteth thee.
. ^1^1 HON, 188S-1918 397
As was the sowing so the reaping
Is now and evermore shall be.
Thou art delivered to thine own keeping.
Only Thyself hath afflicted thee!
THE STORY OF UNG
I 894
QNCE, on a glittering ice-field, ages and ages ago,
Ungy a maker of pictures, fashioned an image of snow.
Fashioned the form of a tribesman — gaily he whistled and
sung.
Working the snow with his fingers. Read ye the story of Ung I
Pleased was his tribe with that image — came in their hundreds
to scan-
Handled it, smelt it, and grunted: "Verily, this is a man!
"Thus do we carry our lances — thus is a war-belt slung.
"Lol it is even as we are. Glory and honour to Ung! "
L»ter he pictured an aurochs — later he pictured a bear —
Pictured the sabre- tooth tiger dragging a man to his lair —
Pictured the mountainous mammoth, hairy, abhorrent,
alone —
^t of the love that he bore them, scriving them clearly on
bone.
Swift came his tribe to behold them, peering and pushing and
still—
^ of the berg-battered beaches, men of the boulder-hatched
hill—
unters and fishers and trappers, presently whispering low:
^et, they are like — and it may be. But how does the
Picture-man know?
398 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
**Ung — hath he slept with the Aurochs — ^watched where tk
Mastodon roam?
"Spoke on the ice with the Bow-head — followed the Sabn-
tooth home?
^'Nay ! These are toys of his fancy! If he have cheated us ao^
*'How is there truth in his image — the man that he fashioned
of snow?"
Wroth was that maker of pictures — ^hotly he answered theaD:
"Hunters and fishers and trappers, children and fools are ye
all!
"Look at the beasts when ye hunt them!" Swift from tk
tumult he broke,
Ran to the cave of his father and told him the shame tint
they spoke.
And the father of Ung gave answer, that was old and wiscifl
the craft,
Maker of pictures aforetime, he leaned on his lance m
laughed
" If they could see as thou seest they would do what thou htst
done,
"And each man would make him a picture, and — ^what would
become of my son?
"There would be no pelts of the reindeer, flung down at thy
cave for a gift,
"Nor dole of the oily timber that comes on the Baltic drift;
"No store of well-drilled needles, nor ouches of amber pak;
"No new-cut tongues of the bison, nor meat of the stranded
whale.
" Thou hast not toiled at the fishing when the sodden trammels
freeze,
"Nor worked the war-boats outward through the rush of the
rock-staked seas,
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 399
Tet they bring thee fish and plunder — full meal and an
easy bed —
' And all tor the sake of thy pictures." And Ung held down
his head.
Thou has not stood to the Aurochs when the red snow reeks
of the fight.
** Men have no time at the houghing to count his curls aright.
**And the heart of the hairy Mammoth, thou sayest, they do
not see,
** Yet they save it whole from the beaches and broil the best
for thee.
*^ And now do they press to thy pictures, with opened mouth
and eye,
*^And a little gift in the doorway, and the praise no gift can
buy:
**But — sure they have doubted thy pictures, and that is a
grievous stain —
'"'Son that can see so clearly, return them their gifts again!"
.And Ung looked down at his deerskins — their broad shell-
tasselled bands —
And Ung drew forward his mittens and looked at his naked
hands;
And he gloved himself and departed, and he heard his father,
behind:
Son that can see so clearly, rejoice that thy tribe is blind!"
«
Straight on the glittering ice-field, by the caves of the lost
Dordogne,
Ung, a maker of pictures, fell to his scriving on bone —
Even to mammoth editions. Gaily he whistled and sung,
Blessing his tribe for their blindness. Heed ye the Story of
Ung!
RUDYARD KIFLINGta
THE CRAFTSMAN
QNCE, after lons-dniwn rerd at Hie BJecmakl*
He to the overbeaiiiig Boaneqet
Jontoa, uttered 0f half m it were Hqaor,
Blessed be t^ nntageQ
Saying how, at an alehooae under Cotawdd,
He had made sore of his very Qeopatra,
I^unk with encinnoua, salvation-oontenuiiag
Love for a tin^.
How, while he hid from &- Thotiuu'i keqio^
Crouched in a ditch and drenched by die nudnight
Dews, he had listened to gipsy Juliet
Rail at the dawning.
How at Bankside, a boy drowning kittens
Wnced at the business; whereupon his nster —
Lady Macbeth aged seven — dirust 'em under.
Sombrely scornful.
How on a Sabbath, hushed and compasnonate —
She being known since her birth to me townsldk—
Stratford dredged and delivered from Avon
Dripping Ophelia.
So, with a thin third finger marrying
Drop to wine-drop domed on the table,
Shakespeare opened his heart till the sunrise-
Entered to hear him.
London wakened and he, imperturbable,
Passed from waking to hurry after shadows . . .
Busied upon shows of no earthly importance?
Yes, but he knew iti
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 401
THE FILES
I 903
(Thi Suk^dUor Sfumks)
FILES—
* The Flics-
Office Files!
Oblige me by referring to the Files.
Eveiy question man can raise.
Every phrase of every phase
Of that question is on record in the Files
(Threshed out threadbare — fought and finished in the Files).
Ere the Universe at large
Was our new-tipped arrows* targe —
Ere we rediscovered Mammon and his wiles —
Faenza, gentle reader, spent her — five-and-twentieth leader —
(You will find him, waA some others, in the Files).
Warn all coming Robert Brownings and Carlyles,
It will interest them to hunt among the Files,
Where unvisited, a-cold.
Lie the crowded years of old
In that Kensall-Green of greatness called the Files
(In our newspaPire-la-Chaise the Office Files),
Where the dead men lay them down
Meekly sure of long renown,
And above them, sere and swift,
Packs the daily deepening drift
Of the all-recording, all-effacing Files —
The obliterating, automatic Files.
Count the mighty men who slung
Ink, Evangel, Sword, or Tongue
When Reform and you were young —
Made their boasts and spake according in the Files —
(Hear the ghosts that wake applauding in the Files!)
402 RUDYARD KIPLING^ VERSB
Trace each all-forgot career
From long primer through brevier
Unto Death, a para mimon in the Files
(Para minion — solid — bottom of the Files). • • •
Some successful Kings and Queens adorn the Files.
They were great, their views were leaded.
And their deaths were triple-headed,
So they catch the eye in running through the Kki
(Show as blazes in the mazes of the FiIm);
For their ^'paramours and priests,**
And their gross, jack4xxiced feasts,
And their ''epoch-maridng actions" see the FikSi
Was it Bomba fled the blue Sidlian ides?
Was it Sa£B, a professor
Once of Oxford, brought redress or
Garibaldi? Who remembers
Forty-odd-year-old Septembers? —
Only sextons paid to (Ug among the Files
(Such as I am, bom and bred among the Files).
You must hack through much deposit
Ere you know for sure who was it
Came to burial with such honour in the Files
(Only seven seasons back beneath the Files).
"Very great our loss and grievous —
"So our best and brightest leave us,
"And it ends the Age of Giants," say the Files;
All the '60— '70— '80— '90 Files
(The open-minded, opportunist Files —
The easy "O King, live for ever" Files).
It is good to read a little in the Files;
'Tis a sure and sovereign balm
Unto philosophic calm.
Yea, and philosophic doubt when Life beguiles.
When you know Success is Greatness,
When you marvel at your lateness
In apprehending facts so plain to Smiles
(Self- helpful, wholly strenuous Samuel Smiles).
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 403
When your Imp of Blind Desire
Bids you set the Thames afire.
You'll remember men have done so — ^in the Files.
You'll have seen those flames transpire — in the Files
(More than once that flood has run so — ^in the Files).
When the Conchimarian horns
Of the reboandc Noms
Usher gentlemen and ladies
With new lights on Heaven and Hades,
Guaranteeing to Eternity
All yesterday's modernity;
When Brocken-spectres made by
Some one's breath on ink parade by,
Very earnest and tremendous.
Let not shows of shows offend us.
When of everything we like we
Shout ecstatic : ** ^od ubiqucy
**^uod ab omnibus means semper I**
Oh, my brother, keep your temper!
Light your pipe and take a look along the Files.
You've a better chance to guess
At the meaning of Success
(Which is Greatness — vide press)
When you've seen it in perspective in the Files.
THE VIRGINITY
T^RY as he will, no man breaks wholly loose
From his first love, no matter who she be.
Oh, was there ever sailor free to choose,
That didn't settle somewhere near the sea?
Myself, it don't excite me nor amuse
To watch a pack o' shipping on the sea.
But I can understand my neighbour's views
From certain things which have occurred to me.
Men must keep toucli-Aitli tfbjpdiAjraMdtBii
To earn their.linng, emt lAam'^kOf art tat;
Andsooune back wpoa the la—twcniu
Same M the Mukw aetded BflW the IM.
He knows he's never g
He knows he's done ud I
And yet he likes to feel dw^ there to ne—
If he diould aik hei^-fli die naed to be.
Even though she coat hun dl he had «d loae,
Even though she made him akk to hear or M^
Still, what the left of him will moatly chooK
Her skirts to nt by. How oooMa nch to hei
Parsons in pulpits, tax-p^en hi ftms.
Kings en your tkrones, you hum as well at mt.
We've only one virpnity to lose,
jlnd where vie hit it there our hearts will ke I
THE LEGENDS OF EVIL
1890
TpHIS is the sorrowful story
Told ss the twilight fails
And the monkeys walk tt^ther
Holding their neighbours' tails: —
"Our Others lived in the forest,
"Foolish people were they,
"They went down to the cornland
"To teach the farmers to play.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 405
€€
Our fathers frisked in the millet,
Our fathers skipped in the wheat,
"Our fathers hung from the branches,
"Our fathers danced in the street.
"Then came the terrible farmers,
"Nothing of play they knew,
"Only . . . they caught our fathers
"And set them to labour too!
«
<«
Set them to work in the cornland
"With ploughs and sickles and flails.
Put them in mud-walled prisons,
"And — cut off their beautiful tails!
"Now, we can watch our fathers.
Sullen and bowed and old,
Stooping over the millet,
"Sharing the silly mould.
«<
<<
«c
Driving a foolish furrow.
Mending a muddy yoke,
Sleeping in mud-walled prisons,
"Steeping their food in smoke.
"We may not speak with our fathers,
"For if the farmers knew
"They would come up to the forest
"And set us to labour too."
This is the horrible story
Told as the twilight fails
And the monkeys walk together
Holding their neighbours' tails.
4o6 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
II
'T^WAS when the rain fell steady an' the Ark was pitched
an* ready,
That Noah got his orders for to take the bastes below;
He dragged them all together by the horn an' hide an' feather,
An' all excipt the Donkey was agreeable to go.
First Noah spoke him fairly, thin talked to him sevarely,
An* thin he cursed him squarely to the glory av the Lord:—
" Divil take the ass that bred you, and the greater ass that
fed you —
"Divil go wid ye, ye spalpeen!" an' the Donkey wint
aboard.
But the wind was always failin', an' 'twas most onaisy sailin'.
An' the ladies in the cabin couldn't stand the stable air;
An' the bastes betwuxt the hatches, they tuk an* died in
batches,
Till Noah said: — "There's wan av us that hasn't paid his
fare!"
For he heard a flusteration 'mid the bastes av all creation —
The trumpetin' av elephints an' bellowin' av whales;
An' he saw forninst the windy whin he wint to stop the shindy
The Divil wid a stable-fork was bedivillin' their tails.
The Divil cursed outrageous, but Noah said umbrageous: —
**To what am I indebted for this tenant-right invasion?"
An* the Divil gave for answer: "Evict me if you can, sir,
"For I came in wid the Donkey — on Your Honour's
invitation."
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 407
PAN IN VERMONT
1893
(About the 15th of thU month you may expect our Mr. — , with the usual
Spring Seedy etc. Catalogues. — Florists* Announcement.,)
IT'S forty in the shade to-day the spouting eaves declare;
The boulders nose above the drift> the southern slopes are
bare;
Hub-deep in slush Apollo's car swings north along the Zod-
iac. Good lack, the Spring is back, and Pan is on the road!
His house is Gee & Tellus* Sons> — so goes his jest with men —
He sold us Zeus knows what last year; he'll take us in again.
Disguised behind a livery-team, fur-coated, rubber-shod —
Yet Apis from the bull-pen lows — he knows his brother God !
Now down the lines of tasselled pines the yearning whispers
wake —
Rtys of old thy love behold. Come in for Hermes' sake!
How long since that so-Boston boot with reeling Maenads
ran?
Numen adest ! Let be the rest. Pipe and we pay, O Pan.
(What though his phlox and hollyhocks ere half a month
demised?
\Miat though his ampelopsis clambered not as advertised?
Though every seed was guaranteed and every standard true —
Forget, forgive they did not live! Believe, and buy anew!)
Now o'er a careless knee he flings the painted page abroad —
Such bloom hath never eye beheld this side' the Eden Sword;
Such fruit Pomona marks her own, yea. Liber oversees
That we may reach (one dollar each) the Lost Hesperides!
4oS RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Serene, assenting, unabashed, he writes our orders d/Mir
Blue Asphodel on all our paths — a few true bays for crowt-* <
Uncankered bud, immortal flower, and leaves that never {A- ^
Apples of Gold, of Youth, of Health — and — thank 7oa,FM^{
that's all.
He's off along the drifted pent to catch the Windsctf train,
And swindle every citizen from Keene to Lake ChampliiB;
But where his goatVhoof cut the crust — beloved, bak
below —
He's left us (1*11 forgive him all) the may-flower 'neath hrf
snow!
VERSES ON GAMES
(To an Almanac of Twelve Sports by W. Nicholson, 1898.)
pjERE is a horse to tame
Here is a gun to handle —
Qod knows you can enter the game
If you II only pay for the same.
And the price of the game is a candle —
j1 single flickering candle !
January {Hunting) Certes, it is a noble sport.
And men have quitted seiie and swum for't.
But I am of the meeker sort
And I prefer Surtees in comfort.
Reach me my Handley Cross again,
My run, where never danger lurks, is
With Jorrocks and his deathless train —
Pigg, Binjimin, and Artexerxes.
February {Coursing) Most men harry the world for fua—
Each man seeks it a different way,
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 409
But "of all daft devils under the sun,
A greyhound's the daftest" says Jorrocks J.
March (Racing) The horse is ridden — the jockey rides —
The backers back — the owners own
But . . . there are lots of things beside.
And / should let this game alone.
April (Rawing) The Pope of Rome he could not win
From pleasant meats and pleasant sin
These who, replying not, submit
Unto the curses of the pit
Which that stern coach (oh, greater shame)
Flings forth by number not by name.
Can Triple Crown or Jesuit's oath
Do what one wrathful trainer doth?
May (Fishing) Behold a parable. A fished for B
C took her bait; her heart being set on D.
Thank heaven who cooled your blood and cramped your
wishes.
Men and not Gods torment you, little fishes!
June (Cricket) Thank God who made the British Isles
And taught me how to play,
I do not worship crocodiles,
Or bow the knee to clay!
Oive me a willow wand and I
With hide and cork and twine
From century to century
Will gambol round my shrine!
JcLV (Archery) The child of the Nineties considers with
laughter
The maid whom his sire in the Sixties ran after.
While careering himself in pursuit of a girl whom
The Twenties will dub a "last century heirloom."
.af,\
SarwMMKM. igiif"m.i Bead hoc tfe annl lanndlf «
^Or B^L VnD ULttJ nBllif flDCS^
iTTace, bt^n or uuv onxtkfows
Decewek (^ian^) Onr the ice die fies
nncct uid poiacQ uid fiir.
Sears IB mf truc-knre's eyci
Teach me to do and dare.
Now win I fly as she flies-
Woe for me stars that n
Stars I befadd in her eyes.
Now do I see io 1117 bead!
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 411
Now we must come away.
What are you oui of pocket t
* Sorry to spoil your play
Bui somebody says we must pay
And the candle* s down to the socket —
Its horrible tallowy socket.
TOMLINSON
I 8 9 I
)WTomlinson gave up the ghost in his house in Berkeley
Square,
a Spirit came to his bedside and gripped him by the
hair —
)irit gripped him by the hair and carried him far away,
he heard as the roar of a rain-fed ford the roar of the
Milky Way:
he heard the roar of the Milky Way die down and drone
and cease,
they came to the Gate within the Wall where Peter holds
the keys,
md up, stand up now, Tomlinson, and answer loud and
high
e good that ye did for the sake of men or ever ye came to
die—
e good that ye did for the sake of men in little earth so
lone J"
the naked soul of Tomlinson grew white as a rain-washed
bone.
. have a friend on earth," he said, ** that was my priest and
guide,
d well would he answer all for me if he were at my side.'*
4» RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE *
— "For that ye strove in neighbour-love it shall be
fur,
"But now ye wait at Heaven's Gate and not tn Bctk^
Square:
"Though we called your fnend from his bed this mght,be
could not speak for you,
"For the race is run by one and one and never by two and
two,"
Then Tomlinson looked up and down, and tittle gala «»,
there.
For the naked stars grinned overhead, and he saw dist b
soul was bare.
The Wind that blows between the Worlds, it cut him Bbi
knife.
And Tomlinson took up the talc and spoke of his good tt
life.
"O this I have read in a book," he said, " and that was told to
me,
"And this I have thought that another man thought of i
Prince in Muscovy."
The good souls flocked tike homing doves and bade htm dcir
the path,
And Peter twirled the jangling Keys in weariness and wnlh-
"Ye have read, ye have heard, ye have thought," he sui,
"and the tale is yet to run:
"By the worth of the body that once ye had, give answer- I
what ha' ye done?"
Then Tomlinson looked back and forth, and little good it boit,
For the darkness stayed at his shoulder-blade and Heavoi'i
Gate before: —
"O this I have felt, and this I have guessed, and this I haw
heard men say,
"And this they wrote that another man wrote of a carl in
Norroway,"
"Ye have read, ye have felt, ye have guessed, good ladt! Te
have hampered Heaven's Gate;
"There's little room between the stars in idleness to prate!
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 413
**0 none may reach by hired speech of neighbour, priest, and
kin
**Through borrowed deed to God's good meed that lies so fair
within;
"Get hence, get hence to the Lord of Wrong, for the doom has
yet to run,
"And . . . the faith that ye share with Berkeley Square
uphold you, Tomlinson!"
The Spirit gripped him by the hair, and sun by sun they fell
Till they came to the belt of Naughty Stars that rim * the
mouth of Hell.
The first are red with pride and wrath, the next are white with
pain.
Hot the third are black with dinkered sins that cannot bum
again:
They may hold their path, they may leave their path, with
never a soul to mark,
Thcjr may bum or freeze, but they must not cease in the Scorn
of the Outer Dark.
The Wind that blows between the Worlds, it nipped him to
the bone,
And he yearned to the flare of Hell-gate there as the light of
his own hearth-stone.
The Devil he sat behind the bars, where the desperate legions
drew.
But he caught the hasting Tomlinson and would not let him
through.
"Wot ye the price of good pit-coal that I must pay?" said he,
"That ye rank yoursel' so fit for Hell and ask no leave of me ?
"I am all o'er-sib to Adam's breed that ye should give me
scorn,
**For I strove with God for your First Father the day that he
was bom.
^Stdown, sit down upon the slag, and answer loud and high
414 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSB^
"The haifn that yc did to the Sons of Men or ever you
to die."
And TooUinson looked up and up, and saw against the niglit
The belly of a tortured star blood-red in Hell-Mouth ligbf,
And Tcmluison looked down and down, and saw beneacti hii
feet
The Irontlct of a tortured stsr nnlk>iriute in Heli-Mauli
heat.
"O I had a love on earth," said he, ** that kissed mc to my Ml;
"And if ye would call my love to mc I know she would answer
all."
— "All that ye did in love forbid it shall be written fair,
"But now ye wait at Hell-Mouth Gate and not in BerWcy
Square:
"Though We whistled your love from her bed to-night, 1 ow
she would not run,
"For the sin ye do by two and two ye must pay kroatW
one ! "
The Wnd that blows between the Worlds, it cut him Kkt*
knife,
AndTomlinson took up the tale and spoke of his ^s in life'
"Once I ha' laughed at the power of Love and twice at tu
grip of the Grave,
"Anddirice I ha' patted my God on the head that men miglil
call me brave."
The Devil he blew on a brandercd soul and set it aade f 1
cool: —
"Do ye think I would waste my good pit-coal on the hide a
a brain-sick fool?
"1 see no worth in the hobnailed mirth or the jolthead jest ye
did
"That I should waken my.gentiemcn that are sleeping thtce
on a grid."
Then Tomlinson looked back and forth, and there waa bttle
Space.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 415
^ ^faJr, this I ha' heard," quo' Tomlinson, **and this was
noised abroad,
"And this I ha' got from a Belgian book on the word of a dead
French lord."
—"Ye ha' heard, ye ha* read, ye ha' got, good lack! and the
tale b^ns afresh —
"Have ye sinned one sin for the pride o' the eye or the sin-
ful lust of the flesh ?"
Then Tomlinson he gripped the bars and yammered, **Let
me in —
"For I mind that I borrowed my neighbour's wife to sin the
deadly sin."
The Devil he grinned behind the bars, and banked the fires
high:
"Did ye read of that sin in a book?" said he; and Tomlinson
said, "Ay!"
The Devil he blew upon his nails, and the little devils ran,
And he said: "Go husk this whimpering thief that comes in
the guise of a man:
** Winnow him out 'twixt star and star, and sieve his proper
worth:
** There's sore decline in Adam 'si line if this be spawn of
earth."
Smpusa's crew, so naked-new they may not face the fire,
But weep that they bin too small to sin to the height of their
desire,
Over the coal they chased the Soul, and racked it all abroad,
As children rifle a caddis-case or the raven's foolish hoard
And back they came with the tattered Thing, as children
after play.
And they said: "The soul that he got from God he has bar-
tered clean away.
"We have threshed a stook of print and book, and winnowed
a chattering wind,
"And many a soul wherefrom he stole, but his we cannot find.
"We have handled him, we have dandled him, we have seared
him to the bone,
4i6
RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
«<
And Sire, if tooth and ntil show tmdi he hat no aonlof 1
<c
own. ]■
The Devil he bowed his head on his bccast and nimbleddeM
and low: — ■
"I'm aU o'er-sib to Adam's bteed diat I ahould hid lin|tl
Yet close we lie, and deep we lie, and if I gKwt Um phoe^ ■
My gentlemen that are so proud would flout me tomffaoil
They'd call my house a conmion stews and me a cuckal
host, I
And — I would not anger my gendemen for die sake of il
shifdess ^ost." I
The Devil he looked at the mangled Soul that pfayed tDtbetl
the flame, I
And he thought of Holy Charity, but he thou^t of IuiomI
good name: — I
" Now ye could haste my coal to waste, and sit ye down tobj-m
" Did ye think of that theft for yourself?" said he; andToB- 1
linson said, "Ay!" 1
The Devil he blew an outward breath, for his heart was ftv I
from care: — I
"Ye have scarce the soul of a louse," he said, "but the roots I
of sin are there. I
"And for that sin should ye come in were I the lord alone. I
" But sinful pride has rule inside — ay, mightier than myoiwo* I
"Honour and Wit, fore-damned they sit, to each his Priest I
and Whore; I
"Nay, scarce I dare myself go there, and you they'd torture I
sore. I
"Ye are neither spirit nor spirk," he said; "ye are ndditf '
book nor brute —
"Go, get ye back to the flesh again for the sake of Msn*s
repute.
"Tm all o'er-sib to Adam's breed that I should mock yoor
pain,
" But look that ye win to worthier sin ere ye come back agsin.
"Get hence, the hearse is at your door — the grim black stal-
lions wait —
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 417
**Thcy bear your clay to place to-day. Speed, lest ye come
too late!
Go back to Earth with a lip unsealed — go back with an open
eye,
And carry my word to the Sons of Men or ever ye come ta
die:
"That the sin they do by two and two they must pay for one
by one,
''And . . . the God that you took from a printed book
be with you, Tomlinson!"
m*
K<
EN-DOR
Behold there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at En-dor." i Samuel,
xxviii. 7.
npHE road to En-dor is easy to tread
For Mother or yearning Wife.
There, it is sure, we shall meet our Dead
As they were even in life.
Earth has not dreamed of the blessing in store
For desolate hearts on the road to En-dor.
Whispers shall comfort us out of the dark —
Hands — ah God! — that we knew!
Visions and voices — look and hark! —
Shall prove that the tale is true,
And that those who have passed to the further shore
May be hailed — at a price — on the road to En-dor.
But they are so deep in their new eclipse
Nothing they say can reach,
Unless it be uttered by alien lips
And framed in a stranger's speech.
The son must send word to the mother that bore,
Through an hireling's mouth. 'Tis the rule of En-dor.
4i8 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
And not for nothing these gifts are shown
By such as delight our dead.
They must twitch and stiffen and slaver and groan
Ere the eyes are set in the head.
And the voice from the belly begins. Therefore,
We pay them a wage where they ply at En-dor.
Even so, we have need of faith
And patience to follow the clue.
Often, at first, what the dear one saith
Is babble, or jest, or untrue.
(Lying spirits perplex us sore
Till our loves — and their lives — are well-known a€
En-dor).
Oh the road to En-dor is the oldest road
And the craziest road of all !
Straight it runs to the Witches abodcy
As it did in the days of Saul,
And nothing has changed of the sorrow in store
For such as go down on the road to En-dor !
THE FEMALE OF THE SPECIES
1911
TX/'HEN the Himalayan peasant meets the he-bear in hi9
pride,
He shouts to scare the monster, who will often turn aside.
But the she-bear thus accosted rends the peasant tooth and
nail.
For the female of the species is more deadly than the male.
When Nag the basking cobra hears the careless foot of man,
He will sometimes wriggle sideways and avoid it if he can.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 419
^ut his mate makes no such motion where she camps beside
the trail.
I**or the female of the species is more deadly than the male.
^Hien the early Jesuit fathers preached to Hurons and Choc-
taws,
TTiey prayed to be delivered from the vengeance of the
squaws.
*Twas the women, not the warriors, turned those stark en-
thusiasts pale.
For the female of the species is more deadly than the male.
Man's timid heart is bursting with the things he must not say.
For the Woman that God gave him isn't his to give away;
But when hunter meets with husband, each confirms the
other's tale —
Tlie female of the species is more deadly than the male.
Bi4an, a bear in most relations — worm and savage otherwise, —
Man propounds negotiations, Man accepts the compromise.
Very rarely will he squarely push the logic of a fact
To its ultimate conclusion in unmitigated act.
Pear, or foolishness, impels him, ere he lay the wicked low.
To concede some form of trial even to his fiercest foe.
Mirth obscene diverts his anger — Doubt and Pity oft perplex
Him in dealing with an issue — to the scandal of The Sex!
But the Woman that God gave him, every fibre of her frame
IWes her launched for one sole issue, armed and engined for
the same;
And to serve that single issue, lest the generations fail,
The female of the species must be deadlier than the male.
Sle who faces Death by torture for each life beneath her
breast
May not deal in doubt or pity — must not swerve for fact or
jest.
TTnoe be pvireiy axa^e Jliqaiuas— «;€ ia tkeae kr kBOor
5ae die 0c3fe=* Liw ve &«e Wy is dbst Ljv and nodung die. Ij
>cre cd irriz^ ao skts cq Eviae tku tke powcts that make
Ai tse M:d&er or ck Isnat and tke Mbtress of the Matt.
Asd wisez Bsise ami Man are Uiking and siie strides un-
Her rifftz as Ksxaae ^aai baroo), her equipment is the same
Soe -Is wgdicd a» cooYictkxis — in default of grosser ties;
Her coc7s::ti<:c5 are her children. Heaven help him who
Hf vtII rr.^t -o suave disoxssion* but the instant, white-hot,
Wakened female ci the species waning as for spouse and
Unprovoked and awfiil charges — even so the she-bear fights.
Speech that drips, corrodes, and poisons — even so the cobra
bites,
Scientific \-iviscction of one ner^'e till it is raw
And the victim writhes in anguish — like the Jesuit with the
squaw !
So it comes that Man, the coward, when he gathers to confer
With his fellow-braves in council, dare not leave a place for
her
Where, at war with Life and Conscience, he uplifts his erring
hands
To some God of Abstract Justice — which no woman under-
stands.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885^1918 421
id Man knows it! Knows, moreover, that the Woman
that God gave him
jst command but may not govern — shall enthral but not
enslave him.
d She knows, because She warns him, and Her instincts
never fail,
at the Female of Her Species is more deadly than the Male.
A RECANTATION
I 91 7
(to lyde of the music halls)
Tl/'HAT boots 1/ on the Gods to calif
SincCy answered or unheard^
We perish with the Gods and all
Things made — except the Word.
Ere certain Fate had touched a heart
By fifty years made cold,
I judged thee, Lyde, and thy art
O'erblown and over-bold.
But he — but he, of whom bereft
I suffer vacant days —
He on his shield not meanly left-
He cherished all thy lays.
Witness the magic coffer stocked
With convoluted runes
Wherein thy very voice was locked
And linked to circling tunes.
422 RUDYARD KIPLING'S
D^r*:^:
Witnesft thy portnut» smoke-defiled.
That decked his shelter-place.
Life seemed more present, wrote die
Beneath thy well-known fooe.
And when the grudging dajrs restored
Him for a breath to nome.
He, mth fresh crowds of youdi, adored
Thee making mirth in Rome.
Therefore, I humble, join the hosts,
Loyal and loud, who bow
To thee as Queen of Song — and ^losts,
For I remember how
Never more rampant rose the Hall
At thy audacious line
Than when the news came in from Gaul
Thy son had — followed mine.
But thou didst hide it in thy breast
And, capering, took the brunt
Of blaze and blare, and launched the jest
That swept next week the front.
Singer to children ! Ours possessed
Sleep before noon — but thee,
Wakeful each midnight for the rest.
No holocaust shall free!
Yet ihey who use the Word assigned^
To hearten and make whole y
Not less than Gods have served mankind^
Though vultures rend their soul.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 423
THE EXPLANATION
1890
T OVE and Death once ceased their strife
At the Tavern of Man's Life.
Called for wine, and threw — alas! —
Each his quiver on the grass.
When the bout was o'er they found
Mingled arrows strewed the ground.
Hastily they gathered then
EsLch the loves and lives of men.
Ah, the fateful dawn deceived!
Mingled arrows each one sheaved.
Death's dread armoury was stored
With the shafts he most abhorred;
Love's light quiver groaned beneath
Venom-headed darts of Death.
Thus it was they wrought our woe
At the Tavern long ago.
Tell me, do our masters know.
Loosing blindly as they fly.
Old men love while young men die ?
A PILGRIM'S WAY
not look for holy saints to guide me on my way,
nale and female devilkins to lead my feet astray,
e are added, I rejoice — if not, I shall not mind,
J as I have leave and choice to meet my fellow-kind,
as we come and as we go (and deadly-soon go we!)
people, Lord, Thy people, are good enough for me!
4*4 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Tlius I will honour pious men whose virtue sKines so bri^t
(Thoi^ none are more amazed than I when I by chance In ,
right),
And I will bity foolish men for woe th^ sins have Invd
(Though ninety-nine per cent, of mitie I brought on nyoMl
head).
And, Amorite or E^en^te, or General Averagee,
The people, Lord, Thy'*f)eople, are good enough for mel
And when they bore me overmuch, I will not shake mine can,
Recalling many thousand such whom I have bored u toff-
And when they labour to impress, I will not doubt nor socff;
Since I myself have done no less and — sometimes pulled it off.
Yea, as we are and we are not, and we pretend to be,
The people. Lord, Thy people, are good enough lor me!
And when they work me random wrong, as oftentimes hstli
been,
I will not cherish hate too long (my hands are none too deso).
And when they do mc random good I will not feign soifn*-
No more than those whom I have cheered with wayiie
charities.
But, as we give and as we take — whate'er our tfdcings be^
The people, Lord, Thy people, are good enou^ lor mc^-
But when I meet with frantic folk who nnfuUy declare
There is no pardon for their ^n, the same I will not sp^^
Till I have proved that Heaven and Hell which in our liea^
we have
Show nothing irredeemable on either side the grave.
For as we live and as we die — if utter Death there be —
The people, Lord, Thy people, are good enough for me!
Deliver me from every pride — the Middle, High, and Low-
That bars me from a brother's side, whatever pride he show.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 425
^nd purge me from all heresies of thought and speech and pen
That bid me judge him otherwise than I am judged. Amen I
That I may sing of Crowd or King or road-borne company,
That I may labour in my day, vocation and degree,
To prove the same in deed and name, and hold unshakenly
(VVhere'er I go, whate'er I know, whoe'er my neighbour be)
This single faith in Life and Death and to Eternity:
*The people. Lord, Thy people, are good enough for me!"
THE ANSWER
1892
tL ROSE, in tatters on the garden path.
Cried out to God and murmured 'gainst His Wrath,
Because a sudden wind at twilight's hush
Had snapped her stem alone of all the bush.
And God, Who hears both sun-dried dust and sun.
Had pity, whispering to that luckless one.
"Sister, in that thou sayest We did not well —
What voices heardst thou when thy petals fell?"
And the Rose answered, '* In that evil hour
"A voice said, 'Father, wherefore falls the flower?
"'For lo, the very gossamers are still.'
"And a voice answered, 'Son, by Allah's Will!'"
Then softly as a rain-mist on the sward,
Came to the Rose the Answer of the Lord:
"Sister, before We smote the Dark in twain,
"Ere yet the stars saw one another plain,
"Time, Tide, and Space, We bound unto the task
"That thou shouldst fall, and such an one should ask."
Whereat the withered flower, all content,
Died as they die whose days are innocent;
While he who questioned why the flower fell
Caught hold of God and saved his soul from Hell.
426 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
MARY'S SON
I 9 I I
f F YOU stop tx> find out what your wages will b^
And how they will clothe and feed you,
Willie, my son, don't you go on the Sea,
For the Sea will never need you.
If you ask for the reason of every command,
And argue with people about you,
Willie, my son, don't you go on the Land,
For the Land will do better without you.
If you stop to consider the work you have done
And to boast what your labour is worth, dear.
Angels may come for you, Willie, my son,
But you'll never be wanted on Earth, dear!
THE GIFT OF THE SEA
1890
TTHE dead child lay in the shroud,
And the widow watched beside;
And her mother slept, and the Channel swept
The gale in the teeth of the tide.
But the mother laughed at all.
" I have lost my man in the sea,
"And the child is dead. Be still," she said,
"What more can ye do to me?"
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 427
The widow watched the dead,
And the candle guttered low,
And she tried to sing the Passing Song
That bids the poor soul go.
.And "Mary take you now," she sang,
"That lay against my heart."
.And "Mary smooth your crib to-night,"
But she could not say "Depart."
nrhen came a cry from the sea.
But the sea-rime blinded the glass,
.^nd "Heard ye nothing, mother?" she said,
" Tis the child that waits to pass."
-^nd the nodding mother sighed.
"Tis a lambing ewe in the whin,
"^ ''For why should the christened soul cry out
"That never knew of sin?"
O feet I have held in my hand,
"O hands at my heart to catch,
How should they know the road to go,
"And how should they lift the latch?"
hey laid a sheet to the door.
With the little quilt atop,
hat it might not hurt from the cold or the dirt.
But the crying would not stop.
e widow lifted the latch
And strained her eyes to see,
d opened the door on the bitter shore
To kt the aoul go free.
438 RUDYARD KIPLING'S
lliere was neither glimmer nor ^u»t,
There wM ndther s^nrit «»' spark.
And "Heard ye nodiin^ manheri" die •
" TIs crying for me in the dtric"
And the nodding mother si^ed:
"Tis sorrow makes ye dull;
"Have ye yet to team tlie err of the tern,
"Or die wail (^ the irind-Uown gaUf
"The terns are blown inland*
"The grey gall kXknn die p*"^
"T wasnever alnnl, the voiee I heard,
"O mother, I hear it nowl"
"Ue still, dear lamb, Ue still;
"The child is passed from harm, ^^^
" Tis the ache in your breast that broke your rc"^^
"And the feel of an empty arm."
She put her modier aude,
"In Mary's name let bel ^
"For the peace of my soul I must go," she said.
And she went to the calling sea.
In the heel of the wind-bit pier,
Where the twisted weed was piled,
She came to the life she had missed by an hour
For she came to a little child.
She laid it into her breast.
And back to her mother she came.
But it would not feed and it would not heed.
Though she gave it her own child's name.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 429
And the dead child dripped on her breast,
And her own in the shroud lay stark;
And "God forgive us, mother," she said,
"Wc let it die in the dark!"
THE KING
I 894
'PAREWELL, Romance! the Cave-men said;
"With bone well carved he went away,
"Flint arms the ignoble arrowhead.
And jasper tips the spear to-day.
Changed are the Gods of Hunt and Dance,
And He with these. Farewell, Romance!"
«
«
«<
«
Farewell, Romance!" the Lake-folk sighed;
We lift the weight of flatling years;
"^'The caverns of the mountain-side
"Hold Him who scorns our hutted piers.
"**Lost hills whereby we dare not dwell,
*** Guard ye His rest. Romance, Farewell!"
*** Farewell, Romance!" the Soldier spoke;
" By sleight of sword we may not win,
"**But scuffle 'mid uncleanly smoke
"Of arquebus and culverin.
"** Honour is lost, and none may tell
^*Who paid good blows. Romance, farewell!
* 'Farewell, Romance!" the Traders cried;
"Our keels have lain with every sea;
* ''The dull-returning wind and tide
"Heave up the wharf where we would be;
" ""The known and noted breezes swell
' *Our trudging sails. Romance, farewell!"
9»
430 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
«
Good-bye, Romance!" die Skipper sud;
He vanished with the coal we bum.
"Our dial marks full-^team ahead,
"Our speed is timed to half a turn.
"Sure as the ferried barge we ply ^
" Twixt port and port. Romance, good-bye^
"Romance!" the season-tickets mourn,
**He never ran to catch his train,
" But passed with coach and guard and hom-"''''''^^
"And left the local— late again!" ^^
Confound Romance! • • • And all unscef^^^^
Romance brought up the nine-fifteen.
His hand was on the lever laid.
His oil-can soothed the worrying cranks,
His whistle waked the snowbound grade.
His fog-horn cut the reeking Banks;
By dock and deep and mine and mill
The Boy-god reckless laboured still!
Robed, crowned and throned, He wove his spell, ^
Where heart-blood beat or hearth-smoke airlto^
With unconsidered miracle,
Hedged in a backward-gazing world:
Then taught his chosen bard to say:
"Our King was with us — yesterday!"
THE LAST RHYME OF TRUE THOMAS
I 893
TpHE King has called for priest and cup.
The King has taken spur and blade
To dub True Thomas a belted knight.
And all for the sake o* the songs he made.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 431
They have sought him high, they have sought him low.
They have sought him over down and lea.
They have found him by the milk-white thorn
That guards the gates o' Faerie.
'Twos bent beneath and blue above^
Their eyes were held that they might not see
The kine that grazed beneath the knoweSy
Ohy they were the Queens 0' Faerie!
it
4(
Now cease your song," the King he said,
Oh, cease your song and get you dight
To vow your vow and watch your arms,
"For I will dub you a belted knight.
**For I will ^vc you a horse o' pride,
Wi' blazon and spur and page and squire;
Wi' keep and tail and seizin and law,
"And land to hold at your desire."
True Thomas smiled above his harp.
And turned his face to the naked sky,
"Where, blown before the wastrel wind
The thistle-down she floated by.
'■' I ha' vowed my vow in another place,
"And bitter oath it was on me.
^*I ha' watched my arms the lee-long* night,
"Where five-score fighting men would flee.
"**My lance is tipped o' the hammered flame,
"My shield is beat o' the moonlight cold;
* 'And I won my spurs in the Middle World,
"A thousand fathom beneath the mould.
43» RUDYARD KIPUNCS VERSE
ll
' And what should I make «i' a liorse o* pride,
"And what should I make wi' a sword so brcnw^
"Bot tpill the rings o* the Gentle Folk
"And flyte my kin in the Fairy Town?
"And what should I make wi* blazon and belt,
"Wi' keep and tul and soan and fee,
*And what should I do wi' page and squire
"lliat am a king tn my own couatrie?
"For I send eut and I aeod wtat,
"And I send far u my will mar flee,
**By dawn wid dusk and tbe driuang run,
"And syne my Sendings return to me.
"They come wi' news of the groanin' earth,
"They come wi' news o' the roarin' sea,
"Wi' word of Spirit and Ghost and Flesh,
"And man, that's mazed among the three."
The King he bit his nether Up,
And smote his hand upon his knee:
"By the faith o' my soul. True Thomas," he
"Ye waste no wit in courtesie!
"As I desire, unto my pride,
"Can I make Earls by three and three,
'To run before and ride behind
"And serve the sons o' my body."
"And what care I for your row-foot earls,
"Or all the sons o' your body?
" Before they win to the Pride o' Name,
" I trow they all ask leave o' me.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 433
For I make Honour wi' muckle mouth,
As I make Shame wi' mincin' feet,
**To sing wi' the priests at the market-cross,
"Or run wi' the dogs in the naked street.
** And some they give me the good red gold,
"And some they give me the white money,
** And some they give me a clout o' meal,
"For they be people of low degree.
^* And the song I sing for the counted gold
"The same I sing for the white money,
** But best I sing for the clout o' meal
"That simple people given me."
The King cast down a silver groat,
A silver groat o' Scots money,
** If I come wi' a poor man's dole," he said,
"True Thomas, will ye harp to me?"
'^* V^henas I harp to the children small,
"They press me close on either hand.
** And who are you," True Thomas said,
"That you should ride while they must stand?
* X^ight down, light down from your horse o' pride,
** I trow ye talk too loud and hie,
* -And I will make you a triple word,
** And syne, if ye dare, ye shall 'noble me."
s has lighted down from his horse o' pride,
^And set his back against the stone,
ow guard you well," True Thomas said,
*Ere I rax your heart from your breast-bone!
9>
434 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
True Thomas played opon his harp.
The fairy harp that couldna lee.
And the first least word the proud King heatd.
It harpit the salt tear out o' his e'e.
«
«
Oh, I see the love that I lost long syne,
"I touch the hope that I may not see.
And all that I did of hidden shame,
''Like little snakes they hiss at me.
''The sun is lost at noon — at noon!
"The dread o' doom has grippit me.
"True Thomas, hide me under your cloak,
"God wot, I'm little fit to dee!"
*Twas bent beneath and blue above —
*Twas open field and running flood —
Where y hot on heath and dyke and wally
The high sun warmed the adder^s brood.
<«
Lie down, lie down," True Thomas said.
"The God shall judge when all is done,
"But I will bring you a better word
"And lift the cloud that I laid on."
True Thomas played upon his harp,
That birled and brattled to his hand,
And the next least word True Thomas made.
It garred the King take horse and brand.
"Oh, I hear the tread o' the fighting-men,
"I see the sun on splent and spear.
"I mark the arrow outen the fern
"That flies so low and sings so clear!
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 43 S
"Advance my standards to that war,
*'And bid my good knights prick and ride;
"The gled shall watch as fierce a fight
" As e'er was fought on the Border side!"
^Twas bent beneath and blue above^
'Twas nodding grass and naked sky,
JVherey ringing up the wastrel mindy
The eyass stooped upon the pye.
True Thomas sighed above his harp^
And turned the song on the midmost string;
And the last least word True Thomas made,
He harpit his dead youth back to the King.
'"'Now I am prince, and I do well
"To love my love withouten fear;
**To widk with man in fellowship,
"And breathe my horse behind the deer.
**My hounds they bay unto the death,
"The buck has couched beyond the burn,
"My love she waits at her window
"To wash my hands when I return.
"For that I live am I content
"(Oh! I have seen my true love's eyes)
"To stand wi' Adam in Eden-glade,
"And run in the woods o' Paradise!"
*Twas naked sky and nodding grass ^
*Twas running ^ood and wastrel windy
JVherey checked against the open pasSy
The red deer turned to wait the hind.
436 Rin)YARD KIPLING'S VERSE
True Thomas laid his harp away.
And louted low at the saddk^side;
He haj taken stimip and hauden rein.
And set the Kii^ on his horse o' pride.
"Sleep ye or wake," True Thomas said,
"That sit so still, that muse so long?
"Sleep ye or wake? — ^till the Latter Steep
" I trow ye*U not finget my song.
" I ha' harpit a shadow out o* the sun
To stand before your fttcc and cry;
I ha' armed the earth beneadi your heel.
And over your head I ha' dusked the sky.
cc
C4
" I ha' harpit ye up to the Throne o' God,
** I ha' harpit your midmost soul in three;
**I ha' harpit yc down to the Hinges o' Hell,
"And — ye — would — make — a Knight o* mc!
M
THE SONS OF MARTHA
TpHE Sons of Mary seldom bother, for they have inheri
that good part;
But the Sons of Martha favour their Mother of the can
soul and the troubled heart.
And because she lost her temper once, and because she i
rude to the Lord her Guest,
Her Sons must wait upon Mary's Sons, world without c
reprieve, or rest.
It is their care in all the ages to take the buffet and cush
the shock.
It is their care that the gear engages; it is their care that
switches lock.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 437
I their care that the wheels run truly; it is their care to
embark and entrain,
y, transport, and deliver duly the Sons of Mary by land
and main.
f say to mountains, "Be ye removM." They say to the
lesser floods "Be dry."
er their rods are the rocks reprovM — they are not afraid
of that which is high.
1 do the hill-tops shake to the summit — then is the bed
of the deep laid bare,
t the Sons of Mary may overcome it, pleasantly sleeping
and unaware.
f finger death at their gloves' end where they piece and
repiece the living wires.
"ears against the gates they tend: they feed him hungry
belund their fires.
Y at dawn, ere men see clear, they stumble into his
terrible stall,
hale him forth like a haltered steer, and goad and turn
him till evenfall.
Iiese from birth is Belief forbidden; from these till death is
Relief afar.
r are concerned with matters hidden — ^under the earth-
line their altars are:
secret fountains to follow up, waters withdrawn to restore
to the mouth,
gather the floods as in a cup, and pour them again at a
city's drouth.
'' do not preach that their God will rouse them a little
before the nuts work loose.
• do not teach that His Pity allows them to leave their
job when they dam-well choose.
«S8 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
As in Ak thronged and the lighted ways, so in the dirk and
the desert they stand,
Wary and watchful all their daya that their brethren's dijl
nay be long in the land.
Raise ye the stone or deare the wood to make a path more
fair or flat;
LOj it is black already mth blood some Son of Martha spilU
ftw thati
Not asa ladder from earth to HeftTcn, not as a witness to uj
creed,
But ample service amply gtfen to Us own hand
mon need.
they know W|
And the Sons of Mary smile and are blessM — they
angels are on their side.
They know tn them is the Grace confess^, and for them iR
the Mercies multiplied.
They sit at the Feet — they hear the Word — they seeiw
truly the Promise runs.
They have cast their burden upon the Lord, and — the IM
He lays it on Martha's Sons!
THE PALACE
1902
AX/HEN I was King and a Mason — a Master proven u^l
^^ okilled- !
I cleared me ground for a Palace such a« « King siraiild bnii
I decreed and dug down to my levels. Presently> ondct it
gait,
I came on the wreck of a Palace such as a King had built.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 439
There was no worth in the fashion — there was no wit in the
plan —
Hither and thither, aimless, the ruined footings ran —
Masonry, brute, mishandled, but carven on every stone:
^^^ter me cometh a Builder. Tell him^ I too have known,*'
Swift to my use in my trenches, where my weU-planned
ground-works grew,
I toffibled his quoins and his ashlars, and cut and reset them
anew.
Lime I milled of his marbles; burned it, slacked it, and spread;
Taking and leaving at pleasure the gifts of the humble dead.
Yet I despised not nor gloried; yet, as we wrenched them
apart,
I read in the razed foundations the heart of that builder's
heart.
Ai he had risen and pleaded, so did I understand
The form of the dream he had followed in the face of the thing
he had planned.
When I was a King and a Mason — in the open noon of my
Thcjr sent me a Word from the Darkness — ^They whispered
and called me aside.
They said — "The end is forbidden." They said — "Thy use
is fulfilled.
"Thy Palace shall stand as that other's — the spoil of a King
who shall build."
I called my men from my trenches, my quarries, my wharves,
and my sheers.
AD I had wrought I abandoned to the faith of the faithless
years.
Only I cut on the timber — only I carved on the stone:
^AfUr me comHh a Builder. Tell him, I too have known /"
EKT^I^ OF THE WAR
-4 7"
K. -^I
• M
vludilipM;
ASas
Mt kc
T^«
aa£s$ ac some jest. IwouUl
•-It T "vxj. i::\L It rri^r serrs =« in a dme when jests arc
Ax OsiT Sos
BjiSCSZ;? r-iT i-l^ir Cxd
=iy Mother. She
o« grief for me.
T*'i Armv
r: X r
B.V;
T'
I- ^rj
:>. Frfscrc: did he find
:h J : '>xiy . will, and mind :
:cr. >trsr.;^th he came to prove
Cc^^.^a^-:^?csh:^•, and Love:
::jh Lev- r:? Death he went:
:h Death he lies content.
The Wonder
Bcviy ar.i 5r:r!t I surrendered whole
To harsh Instructors — and received a soul ,
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 441
If mortal man could change me through and through
From all I was — ^what may The God not do?
Hindu ^epoy in France
I man in his own country prayed we know not to what
Powers,
pray Them to reward him for his bravery in ours.
The Coward
I could not look on Death, which being known.
Men led me to him, blindfold and alone.
Shock
My name, my speech, my self I had forgot.
My wife and children came — I knew them not.
I died. My Mother followed. At her call
And on her bosom I remembered all.
A Grave near Cairo
Gods of the Nile, should this stout fellow here
Get out — get out! He knows not shame nor fear.
Pelicans in the Wilderness
(A grave near halfa)
blown sand heaps on me, that none may learn
Tierc I am laid for whom my children grieve. . . .
ings that beat at dawning, ye return
it of the desert to your young at eve!
The Favour
Ji favoured me from the first, well knowing I could not
endure
» wait on him day by day. He quitted my betters and
came
RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
f over the fields, and, when he had made all surt,
"Thyuneisat end," he said, "but at least I have saved iO i
name."
The Becikner _^
On die fit«t hoar of^ foe .1U7
la the frotit twaAl'ISL'
(Children io bosM at a plar
Stand up to irneh tt wJL)
ILA.F.<Aiiiiiir>wmaa>. :
Laughing throudi doud^ hif,jiulk.«eeth tttU nnshed.
Cities and men he amote fivm cnnefhead.
His deaths delivered, he returned to pUy
Childlike, with childish things now put away.
The Repined Man
I was of delicate mind. I stepped aside for my needs.
Disdaining the common office. I was seen from afar ant
kiUed. . . .
How is this matter for mirth? Let each man be judged b]
his deeds.
/ Aave paid my price to lioe with myself on the terms thtt j
willed.
Native Watbr-Caruer (M. E. F.)
Prometheus brought down fire to men.
This brought up water.
The Gods are jealous — now, as then.
Giving no quarter.
Bombed in London
On land and sea I strove with anrioos care
To escape conscription. It was in the ur!
INCXrUSIVE EDITION. 1885-1918 443
The Sleepy Sentinel
diless the watch that I kept: now I have none to keep.
u slain because I slept: now I am slain I sleep,
no man reproach me again, whatever watch is unkept —
eep because I am slain. They slew me because I slept.
Batteries out of Ammunition
If any mourn us in the workshop, say
We died because the shift kept holiday.
Common Form
If any question why we died.
Tell them, because our fathers lied.
A Dead Statesman
I could not dig: I dared not rob:
Therefore I lied to please the mob.
Now all my lies are proved untrue
And I must face the men I slew.
What tale shall serve me here among
Mine angry and defrauded young?
The Rebel
If I had clamoured at Thy Gate
For gift of Life on Earth,
And, thrusting through the souls that wait.
Flung headlong into birth —
Even then, even then, for gin and snare
About my pathway spread,
Lord, I had mocked Thy thoughtful care
Before I joined the Dead!
But now? ... I was beneath Thy Hand
Ere yet the Planets came.
And now — though Planets pass, I stand
The witness to Thy shame.
»
lUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
The Obedient
Daily, though no ears attended,
Did my prayers arise.
Daily, though no fire descended
Did I sacrifice.
Though .. ' kness did not lift,
TJi :d no lighter odds,
Thoi is bestowed no gift.
None the less,
None , I served the Gods!
A Drif- off Tarentum ^H
He from the wind-bittsn north with ship uid oompi
descended.
Searchii^ for eggs of death spawned by invisible hi
Many he found and drew forth. Of a sudden the i
ended
In flame and a clamorous breath not new to the eyc-p
gulls.
Destroyers in Collision
For Fog and Fate no charm is found
To lighten or amend.
I, hurrying to my bride, was drowned —
Cut down by my best friend.
Convoy Escort
I was a shepherd to fools
Causelessly bold or afraid.
They would not abide by my niles.
Yet they escaped. For I stayed.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 445
Unknown Female Corpse
Headless, lacking foot and hand.
Horrible I come to land.
I beseech all women's sons
Know I was a mother once.
Raped and Revenged
One used and butchered me: another spied
Me broken — for which thing an hundred died.
So it was learned among the heathen hosts
How much a freeborn woman's favour costs.
Salonikan Grave
I have watched a thousand days
Push out and crawl into night
Slowly as tortoises.
Now I, too, follow these.
It is fever, and not the fight —
Time, not battle — that slays.
The Bridegroom
Call me not false, beloved.
If, from thy scarce-known breast
So little time removed.
In other arms I rest.
For this more ancient bride
Whom coldly I embrace
Was constant at my side
Before I saw thy face.
446 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
CXir marriage, often
By miracle delayed —
At last is consummate,
And cannot be unmade.
Live, then, whom Life shall cure.
Almost, of Memory,
And leave us to endure
Its immortality.
V. A. D. (Mediterranean)
Ah, would swift ships had never been, for then we ne*er had
found.
These harsh ^gean rocks between, this little virgin drowned^
Whom neither spouse nor child shall mourn, but men she
nursed through pain
And — certain keels for whose return the heathen look in vain*
JUSTICE
October, 1918
jdCROSS a world where all men griette
And grieving strive the more^
The great days range like tides and leave
Our dead on every shore.
Heavy the load we undergo^
And our own hands prepare^
If we have parley with thejoe^
The load our sons must bear.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 447
Before we loose the word
That bids new worlds to birth.
Needs must we loosen first the sword
Of Justice upon earth;
Or else all else is vain
Since life on earth began.
And the spent world sinks back again
Hopeless of God and Man.
A People and their King
Through ancient sin grown strong,
Because they feared no reckoning
Would set no bound to wrong;
But now their hour is past,
And we who bore it find
Evil Incarnate held at last
To answer to mankind.
For agony and spoil
Of nations beat to dust.
For poisoned air and tortured soil
And cold, commanded lust.
And every secret woe
The shuddering waters saw —
Willed and fulfilled by high and low —
Let them relearn the Law.
That when the dooms are read.
Not high nor low shall say: —
**My haughty or my humble head
Has saved me in this day."
That, till the end of time.
Their remnant shall recall
Their fathers' old, confederate crime
Availed them not at all.
448 RUDYARD DFUNGS VERSB
That nddier sckioh nor prietl%
Nor Kii^giflMj binld iwin
ofba
A people with the hcvt of bentB
Whcrebf onr dead ib^akep
In honour, mihetniyed.
And wc in finth and honoor keep
That peace far vUch thef paid.
SEVEN
I 91 8
i.^i:^
CEVEN Watchmen atdng in a tower,
^ Watching what had oome upon mankind.
Showed the Man the dory and the Power, _^nd.
And bade him shape the Kii^om to his m
**A11 things on Earth your will shall win yoa.'
(Twas so thdr council ran) »»
^'But the Kingdom — the Kii^om is witlun
Said the Man's own mind to the Man.
For time — and some dme —
As it was in the bitter jrears before
So It shall be in the over-sweetened hoar —
That a man's mind is wont to tell him more
Than Seven Watchmen ntting in a tower.
TO THOMAS ATKINS
{Prelude to Barrack Room BaBads)
T HAVE made for you a song^
And it may be right or wrongs
But only you can tell me if it's true;
I have tried for to explain
Both your pleasure and your pain^
And, Thomas y here's my test respects to you I
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 188&-1918 449
0 therein surely come a day
When they II give you all your pay ^
And treat you as a Christian ought to do;
Soy until that day comes rounds
Heaven keep you safe and sounds
Andy Thomas y here*s my best respects to you I
BOBS
{Field Marshal Lord Roberts of Kandahar)
TPHERE'S a little red-faced man,
* Which is Bobs,
Rides the tallest 'orse 'e can —
Our Bobs.
If it bucks or kicks or rears,
'E can sit for twenty years
With a smile round both 'is ears —
Can't yer, Bobs?
Then 'ere*s to Bobs Bahadur — little Bobs, Bobs, Bobs!
'E's our pukka Kandahader —
Fightin' Bobs, Bobs, Bobs!
'E's the Dook of Aggy Chel^;
'E's the man that done us well.
An* we'll follow 'im to 'ell —
Won't we, Bobs?
If a limber's slipped a trace,
'Ook on Bobs.
If a marker's lost 'is place.
Dress by Bobs.
*Get ahead.
450 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
For *e's eyes all up *is coat.
An' a bugle in 'is throat.
An' you will not play the goat
Under Bobs.
'E's a little down on drink
Chaplain Bobs;
But it keeps us outer Clink —
Don't it, Bobs?
So we will not complain
Tho' 'e's water on the brain^
If 'e leads us straight again —
Blue-Ught Bobs.
If you stood 'im on 'is head.
Father Bobs,
You could spill a quart of lead
Outer Bobs.
'E's been at it thirty years,
An-amassin' souveneers
In the way o' slugs an' spears —
Ain't yer Bobs?
What 'c does not know o' war,
Gen'ral Bobs,
You can arst the shop next door —
Can't they, Bobs?
Oh, 'e's little but he's wise;
'E's terror for 'is size.
An' — '^ — does — not — advertize —
Do yer, Bobs?
Now they've made a bloomin' Lord
Outer Bobs,
Which was but 'is fair reward —
Weren't it, Bobs?
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 188&-1918 451
So *c'll wear a coronet
Where 'is 'elmet used to set;
But we know you won't forg
WiU ycr, Bobs?
Then *ere*s to Bobs Bahadur — little Bobs, Bobs, Bobs,
Pocket-Wellin'ton 'an arder^ —
Fightin' Bobs, Bobs, Bobs!
This ain't no bloomin' ode.
But you've 'elped the soldier's load.
An' for benefits bestowed,
Bless yer, Bobs!
DANNY DEEVER
J^HAT are the bugles blowin' for?" said Files-on-Parade.
"To turn you out, to turn you out," the Colour-Sergeant
said.
What makes you look so white, so white?" said Files-on-
Parade.
I'm dreadin' what I've got to watch," the Colour-Sergeant
said.
For they're hangin' Danny Deever, you can hear the
Dead March play.
The regiment's in 'ollow square — they're hangin' him
to-day;
They've taken of his buttons ofF an' cut his stripes away.
An' they're hangin' Danny Deever in the momin'.
'And a half.
<<
452 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
"What makes the rear-rank breathe so 'ard?" said Filcs-^^^"
Parade.
It's bitter cold, it's bitter cold," the Colour-Sergeant sm- — ^**
What makes that front-rank man fall down?" said WAe^-c:^^^
Parade.
A touch o' sun, a touch o' sun," the Colour-Sergeant said.
They are hangin' Danny Deever, they are marchin' ^'
'im round,
They 'ave 'alted Danny Deever by 'is coffin on rir"^^
ground;
An' 'e'U swing in 'arf a minute for a sneakin' shootirr^
hound —
O they're hangin' Danny Deever in the momin'!
Is cot was right-'and cot to mine," said Files-on-Parade.
E's sleepin' out an* far to-night," the Colour-Sergeant said.
"I've drunk 'is beer a score o' times," said Files-on-Parade-
"'E's drinkin* bitter beer alone," the Colour-Sergeant said.
They are hangin' Danny Deever, you must mark 'im to
'is place.
For 'e shot a comrade sleepin' — you must look 'im in the
face;
Nine 'undred of 'is county "an' the Regiment's disgrace.
While they're hangin' Danny Deever in the mornin'.
"What's that so black agin the sun?" said Files-on-Parade.
"It's Danny fightin' 'ard for life," the Colour-Sergeant said.
" What's that that whimpers over'ead ? " said Files-on-Paradc.
"It's Danny's soul that's passin' now," the Colour-Sergeant
said.
For they're done with Danny Deever, you can 'ear the
quickstep play.
The regiment's in column, an' they're marchin' us away;
Ho! the young recruits are shakin', an' they'll want their
beer to-day,
After hangin* Danny Deever in the mornin'!
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 453
TOMMY
I WENT into a public-*ouse to get a pint o* beer,
The publican *e up an* sez, "We serve no red-coats here."
The girts be'ind the bar they laughed an' giggled fit to die,
I outs into the street again an' to myself sez I :
O it's Tonuny this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, go
away";
But it's "Thank you. Mister Atkins," when the band
begins to play —
The band begins to play, my boys, the band begins to
play,
O it's "Thank you. Mister Atkins," when the band
begins to play.
I went into a theatre as sober as could be,
They gave a drunk civilian room, but 'adn't none for me;
They sent me to the gallery or round the music-'alls.
But when it comes to fighdn', Lord! they'll shove me in the
stalls!
For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an* "Tommy, wait
outside";
But it's "Special train for Atkins" when the trooper's
on the tide —
The troopship's on the tide, my boys, the troopship's on
the tide,
O it's "Special train for Atkins" when the trooper's on
the tide.
Tea, makin' mock o' uniforms that guard you while you sleep
Is cheaper than them uniforms, an' they're starvation cheap;
An' hustlin' drunken soldiers when they're goin' large a bit
Is five times better business than paradin' in full kit.
-^i?^^
J RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Tlien it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an* "Tommj,
'ow's yer soul?"
But it's "_Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin
to roll —
The drums b^;in to roU, my boys, the drums be^ toraU,
O it's " Thin red line of 'croes " when the drums faepn W
We aren't no thin red 'eroes, nor we ares't Do
too,
But nngle men in barricks, most remarkable like yoa;
An' if sometimes our conduck isn't all your fancy paints,
Why, sir^t men in barricks don't grow into plaster saint*;
While it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an* "Toofflj'i
fall be'ind,"
But it's "Please to walk in front, sir," when there's
trouble in the wind —
There's trouble in the wind, my boys, there's trouble m
the wind,
Oit's "Please to walk in front, sir," when there's troubl'
in the wind.
You talk o' better food for us, an' schools, an' fires, an' lU-
We'll wait for extry rations if you treat us rational.
Don't mess about thecook-roomslops, butproveit toourfw
The Widow's Uniform is not the soldier-man's disgrace.
For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Chuck Irim
out, the brute!"
But it's "Saviour of 'is country" when the guns be^ to
shoot;
An' it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an* anydiii^ you
please;
An' Tommy ain't a blocuntn' fool — you bet th«t Tommy
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 455
"FUZZY-WUZZY"
{Soudan Expeditionary Force)
\X^E'VE fought with many men acrost the seas,
An' some of 'em was brave an' some was not:
TTie Pay than an' the Zulu an' Burmese;
But the Fuzzy was the finest o' the lot.
We never got a ha'porth's change of 'im:
'E squatted in the scrub an' 'ocked our 'orses,
*£ cut our sentries up at Syizkiniy
An' *e played the cat an' banjo with our forces.
So 'ere's to you, Fuzzy-Wuzzy, at your 'ome in the
Soudan;
You're a pore benighted 'eathen but a first-class fightin'
man;
Wc gives you your certificate, an' if you want it signed
We'll come an' 'avc a romp with you whenever you're
inclined.
^e took our chanst among the Kyber 'ills,
The Boers knocked us silly at a mile.
The Burman give us Irriwaddy chills.
An' a Zulu impi dished us up in style:
But all we ever got from such as they
Was pop to what the Fuzzy made us swaller;
We 'eld our bloomin' own, the papers say.
But man for man the Fuzzy knocked us 'oiler.
Then 'crc's to you, Fuzzy-Wuzzy, an* the missis and the
• kid;
CXir orders was to break you, an' of course we went an'
did.
456 RUDYARD KIFUNG^ VERSE
We sloshed yoo with Martmis^ an* it wmant *ar% fiur;
But for all the odds ^in* joa^ Fvar-Waz, yoa brake
the square.
*E 'asn*t got Dopapetsof Isown,
*E 'asa't got no medals nor icwaidi^
So we must certify the skill Vs Aomn^
In usin* of *is long two-*anded swoids:
When 'e*s *opfpin in an* out amoog the bodi
\Mth 'is oc^n-'eaded shield an* showd spear.
An 'appy day with Fuzzy oo the mah
WiU last an 'ealthy Tommy for a 3rcar.
So *ere's io you, Fuzzy-Wnzzy, an* your friends whidi tie
no more.
If we 'adn't lost some messmates we would *dp yon ^
deplore.
But give an' take's the gospel, an we'll call die btlgaio
fair,
For if you 'ave lost more than us, you crumpled up tk
square!
'E rushes at the smoke when we let drive.
An*, before we know, 'e's 'ackin' at our 'ead;
*E's all 'ot sand an* ginger when alive,
An* *e*s generally shammin' when 'c's dead.
'E's a daisy, 'e's a ducky, 'e*s a lamb!
'E's a injia-nibber idiot on the spree,
*£*s the on'y thing that doesn't give a damn
For a Regiment o* British Infantree!
So *ere*s /o vou, Fuzzv-Wuzzv, at vour 'ome in the
Soudan;
You're a pore benighted 'eathen but a first-class fightin
man;
An* 'ere*s fo vou, Fuzzv-Wuzzv, with vour 'avrick *ead
J." » •
ot air —
You big black boundin' beggar — for you broke a British
square I
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 457
SOLDIER, SOLDIER
COLDIER, soldier come from the wars,
"Why don't you march with my true love?"
'"We're fresh from off the ship an' 'e's, maybe, give the slip,
"An' you'd best go look for a new love."
New love! True love!
Best go look for a new love,
The dead they cannot rise, an' you'd better dry your
eyes.
An' you'd best go look for a new love.
*' Soldier, soldier come from the wars,
**What did you see o' my true love?"
*'I seen 'im serve the Queen in a suit o' rifle-green,
** An' you'd best go look for a new love."
^'Soldier, soldier come from the wars,
**Did ye sec no more o' my true love?"
"^'I seen 'im runnin* by when the shots begun to fly —
""'But you'd best go look for a new love."
** Soldier, soldier come from the wars,
**Did aught take 'arm to my true love?"
"'I couldn't see the fight, for the smoke it lay so white —
^*And you'd best go look for a new love."
«<
«9
Soldier, soldier come from the wars,
rU up an* tend to my true love!"
E's lying on the dead with a bullet through 'is 'ead,
"An* you'd best go look for a new love."
"Soldier, soldier come from the wars,
"I'U down an' die with my true love!"
"The pit wc dug'U 'ide 'im an' the twenty more beside 'im —
"An' you'd best go look for a new love.'*
4S» RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
"Soldier^ soldier come from the wars,
"Do ma bring no sign from my true love?"
"I bni^ a lock of 'air that 'e alius used to weir, |
"An" you'd best go look for a new lovp."., ,, ■„ ;■. y
"Soldier, iDldier come from the wars,
"O then I know it's true I've lost m.y true lovel"
"An* I tcU you truth again — when you've lost the fcelo'pii
"Yott'd best take me for your n^Io*^ '
True love! New lovel
Beat take 'im for a new love, : f, :, , ' /
The dead they cannot rise, an* yoa'd better dff jW
eyes
An' you'd best take 'im for your new love.
SCREW-GUNS
CMOKIN' my pipe on the mountings, sniffin' the monuo
^ cool,
I walks in my old brown gaiters along o' my old brown muld
With seventy gunners be'ind me, an' never a beggar forgets j
It's only the pick of the Army that handles the dear little pet*
— 'Tss! Tss!
For you all iove the screw-guns — the screw-^uns they »11
love you!
So when we call round with a few guns, o' course you will
know what to do — hoo! hoo!
Jest send in your Chief an' surrender — it's worse if yoo
fights or you runs:
You can go where you please, you can skid up the trees,
but you don't get away from the guns!
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 459
y sends us along where the roads are, but mostly we goes
where they ain't,
d climb up the side of a sign-board an' trust to the stick
o' the paint:
ve chivied the Naga an' Looshai, we've give the Afreedee-
man fits,
we fancies ourselves at two thousand, we guns that are
built in two bits — 'Tss! 'Tss!
For you all love the screw-cuns . • •
man doesn't wonc, why, we drills 'im an' teaches 'im 'ow
to behave;
bca;ar can't march, why, we kills 'im an' rattles 'im into
'is grave.
Ve got to stand up to our business an' spring without
snatchin' or fuss,
'ou say that you sweat with the field-guns? By God, you
must lather with us — 'Tss! Tss!
For you all love the screw-guns . . .
eagles is screamin' around us, the river's a-moanin' be-
k>w,
t clear o' the pine an' the oak-scrub, we're out on the
rocks an' the snow,
the wind is as thin as a whip-lash what carries away to
the plains
rattle an' stamp o' the lead-mules — the jinglety-jink o'
the chains — 'Tss ! 'Tss !
For you all love the screw-guns • • •
e's a wheel on the Horns o' the Mornin', an' a wheel on
the edge o' the Pit,
I drop into nothin' beneath you as straight as a beggar
can spit:
46o RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
■
With the sweat ninnin* out o* four ahiit-aleeves, an' dieiBi
off the snow in your face.
An' Wf o' the nien on the dng-iopes to hold the old gon la'cflE
place— Tw! Tw!
For you all love die screw-guns • • •
Smoldn' my pipe on the mountings, sniflbi* die momin*-
I climbs in my old brown gaiters along o* my old brown mol^^
The monkey can say wluit our road was the wild-goat ^^^^
knows where we passed.
Stand easy, you long-eared old darlings 1 Out
WidishrapndT Hold fast— Tss! Tss!
For you all love the screw-guns— the screw-gons lhtJ9
all love you!
So when we take tea with a few guns, o* course yon wiKJ
know what to do — ^hoo! hoo!
Jest send in your Chief an' surrender — it's worse if
you fights or you runs:
You may hide in the caves, they'll be only your graves^
but you can't get away from the guns!
CELLS
I'VE a head like a concertina, I've a tongue like a buttwi-
stick,
I've a mouth like an old potato, and I'm more than a little
sick.
But I've had my fun o' the Corp'ral's Guard; I've made ^^
cinders fly, . - «ft
And I'm here in the Clink for a thundering drink and blact^^^^
the Corporal's eye.
With a second-hand overcoat under my head.
And a beautiful view of the yard,
O it's pack-drill for me and a fortnight's C. B.
For "drunk and resisting the Guard!"
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 461
Mad drunk and resisting the Guard —
'Strewth, but I socked it them hard!
So it's pack-drill for me and a fortnight's C. B.
For "drunk and resisting the Guard."
started o' canteen porter, I finished o' canteen beer,
ut a dose o' gin that a mate slipped in, it was that that
brought me here,
was that and an extry double Guard that rubbed my nose
in the dirt —
at I fell away with the Corp'ral's stock and the best of the
CorpVal's shirt.
left my cap in a public-house, my boots in the public road,
•nd Lord knows where — and I don't care — ^my belt and my
tunic goed.
hey'll stop my pay, they'll cut away the stripes I used to
wear,
'Ut I left my mark on the Corp'ral's face, and I think he'll
keep it there!
Y wife she cries on the barrack-gate, my kid in the barrack-
yard,
*in't that I mind the Ord'ly room — it's that that cuts so
hard,
^^ke my oath before them both that I will sure abstain,
soon as I'm in with a mate and gin, I know I'll do it
again!
With.a second-hand overcoat under my head.
And a beautiful view of the yard,
es, it's pack-drill for me and a fortnight's C. B.
For "drunk and resisting the Guard!"
Mad drunk and resisting the Guard —
'Strewth, but I socked it them hard!
it's pack-drill for me and a fortnight's C. B.
For "drunk and resisting the Guard."
4fi> RCDYARD KIPLING'S \^RSE
GlTsGA DIN
VOU Bay talk o' gio and fieer
Wacii yoa re <juxrterca izie oat ere,
Ab* tou'r sect to pcniiT-figlits mn' Aldeishot it;
Bm when tt cmxs to r
Toa win do yixir work n gr,
Ab* yoi^ Edc dte bi ocs of 'im that's got i
Nonr ta lajia's soan^
Wlmc I lued toipe c
A^crrin' of *Er Majesty to. {occn,
QfaU thdn bUckhccdcnw
The finest man ] knew
Was our regi"!^'!^' bh;«^^ Gunga Din.
Ife was "Kn! Dm! Kb!
"Ton Bmpin* lamp o' bridc-dast, Gangs Unl
"Hal Slippy Utiermo !
"Water, get it! Pmtutlm^
"Ton squidgy-noacd <dd idol, Gut^ Din."
The uniform 'c wore
Was nothin* much hefore.
An' father less than 'arf o' that be^nd,
F<w a piece o' twisty rag
An' a goatskin water-bag
Was all the field-equipment 'e could find.
When the sweacin' troc^train lay
In a »<Un' through the day.
Where the 'eat would make your bloonun* eyebrows ^
We shouted "Harry By!"*
Till our throats were biicky-dry,
Then we wopped "im 'cause 'e couldn't save us alL
'Bring water swifdr- *0 twuUfcl.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 463
It was "Din! Din! Din!
"You 'cathcn, where the mischief 'ave you been?
"You put somtjuUee^m it
"Or I'll marrovi^ you this minute
"If you don't fill up my helmet, Gunga Din!"
*E would dot an' carry one
Till the longest day was done;
An' *e didn't seem to know the use o' fear.
If we charged or broke or cut.
You could bet your bloomin' nut,
'E'd be waitin' fifty paces right flank rear.
With 'is mussick' on 'is back,
'E would skip with our attack.
An' watch us till the bugles made "Retire"
An' for all 'is dirty 'ide
'E was white, clear white, inside
When 'e went to tend the wounded under fire!
It was "Din! Din! Din!"
With the bullets kickin' dust-spots on the green
When the cartridges ran out.
You could hear the front-ranks shout,
"Hi! ammunition-mules an' Gunga Din!"
I sha'n't forgit the night
When I dropped be'ind the fight
With a bullet where my belt-plate should 'a' been.
I was chokin' mad with thirst,
An' the man that spied me first
Was our good old grinnin', gruntin' Gunga Din.
'E lifted up my 'ead,
An' he plugged me where I bled,
■Be quick. 'Hit you. *Waiter-«kiiu
4&4 RUDYARD KIPLING'S
Aa* 'e guv me 'arf-a--innt o' water green.
It WM crawlin' ind it ttunk.
But of all die drinks I've drunk,
I'm gratefulleat to one from Gunga IXn.
Itwaa"DuilIMnIDinI
" 'Ere's a bqgar vith a bullet throogh la
"'E's chawin' up the ground,
"An' 'e's kickin all around:
"For Gawd's sake git the water, Gunga Dinl"
*E carried me away
To where a dooli lay,
An' a bullet come an' drilled the beggar dean.
'£ put me Mfe innde,
An just before *e died,
"I 'ope you liked your drink," sez Gunga Um.
So I'll meet 'im later on
At the place where 'c is gone —
Where it's always double drill and no canteen.
'E'U be squattin' on the coals
Givin' drink to poor damned souls.
An' I'll get a swig in hell from Gunga Din!
Yes, Din! Din! Din!
You Lazarushian-leather Gunga Din!
Though I've belted you and flayed you.
By the livin' Gawd that made you,
You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din!
OONTS
(Jforthem India Transport Train)
'\\7'0T makes the soldier's 'eart to penk, wot makes
perspire?
It isn't standin' up to charge nor lyin' down to fire;
But it's everlastin' waitin' on a cverlastin' road
For the commissariat camel an' 'is commissariat load.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 465
O the oont,* O the oont, O the commissariat oont!
With 'is silly neck a-bobbin' like a basket full o'
snakes;
We packs 'im like an idol, an* you ought to 'ear 'im grunt.
An' when we get 'im loaded up 'is blessed girth-rope
breaks.
t makes the rear-guard swear so 'ard when night is drorin'
in,
every native follower is shiverin* for 'is skin?
in't the chanst o' being rushed by Paythans from the 'ills,
the commissariat camel puttin' on 'is bloomin' frills!
0 the oont, O the oont, O the hairy scary oont!
A-trippin' over tent-ropes when we've got the night
alarm!
We socks 'im with a stretcher-pole an' 'eads 'im off in
front,
An' when we've saved 'is bloomin' life 'e chaws our
bloomin' arm.
'orse 'e knows above a bit, the bullock's but a fool,
elephant's a gentleman, the battery-mule's a mule;
the commissariat cam-u-el, when all is said an' done,
a devil an' a ostrich an' a orphan-child in one.
O the oont, O the oont, O the Gawd-forsaken oont!
The lumpy-'umpy 'ummin'-bird a-singin' where 'e lies,
'E's blocked the whole division from the rear-guard to
the front.
An' when we get him up again — the beggar goes an'
dies!
gall an' chafe an' lame an' fight — 'e smells most awful vile.
lose 'isself for ever if you let 'im stray a mile.
game to graze the 'ole day long an' 'owl the 'ole night
through.
when 'e comes to greasy ground 'e splits 'isself in two.
s/: — 00 is pronounced like u in "bull/' but by Mr. Atkins to rhyme
with "front."
466 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
O the oonty O the oont, O the floppin*, dropjun* oont!
When 'is long legs give from under an' *is meltin' eye
is dim.
The tribes is up behind us, and the tribes is out in front-
It ain't no jam for Tommy, but it's kites an' crows for
*im.
So when the cruel march is done, an' when the roads is blind,
An' when we sees the camp in front an' 'ears the shots bc'ind,
Ho! then we strips 'is saddle off, and all 'is woes is past:
'£ thinks on us that used 'im so, and gets revenge at last
O the oont, O the oont, O the floatin', bloarin' oont!
The late lamented camel in the water-cut 'e lies;
We keeps a mile be'ind 'im an' we keeps a mile in frt)Dt,
But 'e gets into the drinkin'-casks, and then o' course
we dies.
LOOT
TF YOU'VE ever stole a pheasant-egg be'ind the keeper's
back.
If youVe ever snigged the washin* from the line,
If you've ever crammed a gander in your bloomin* 'aversack,
You will understand this little song o* mine.
But the service rules are *ard, an' from such we are debarred.
For the same with English morals does not suit.
{Comet \ Toot! toot!)
Why, they call a man a robber if *e stuffs *is marchin' clobber^
With the —
{Chorus) Loo! loo! Lulu! lulu! Loo! loo! Lulu! Loot!
loot! loot!
Ow the loot!
Bloomin* loot!
* Clothes.
INCLUSIVE EDITION. 1885-1918 467
That's the thing to make the boys git up an shoot!
It's the same with dogs an' men,
If you'd make 'em come again
Clap 'em forward with a Loo! loo! Lulu! Loot!
iff) Whoopee! Tear 'im, puppy! Loo! loo! Lulu!
Loot! k)ot! loot!
If you've knocked a nigger edgeways when *e 's thrustin' for
your life.
You must leave 'im very careful where 'e fell;
An' may thank your stars an' gaiters if you didn't feel 'is
knife
That you ain't told off to bury 'im as well.
Then the tweadn' Tommies wonder as they spade the beggars
under
Why kx>tin' should be entered as a crime.
So, if my song you'U 'ear, I will learn you plain an clear
"Ow to pay yourself for fightin' overtime.
(chorus) With the loot, • • .
Now remember when you're 'acking round a gilded Burma
god
That 'is eyes is very often precious stones;
An' if you treat a nigger to a dose o' cleanin'-rod
'E's like to show you everything 'e owns.
When 'e won't prodooce no more, pour some water on the
floor
Where you 'ear it answer 'ollow to the boot
{Comet: Toot! toot!)—
When the ground begins to sink, shove your baynick down
the chink.
An' you're sure to touch the —
{Chorus) Loo ! loo ! Lulu ! Loot ! loot ! loot !
Ow the loot! ....
/ aEli :!>fTcr keep nv pKloB's, bot Fw leuned 701 i^l
Be: 3cc': toc atyg sax I told Toa 90.
A=' 9CW I'B fcoi ^ooi-brc, fer Fm gettin' rather dry,
As' I SM xaocker nuon' np m toot
^CiFKtf:- Tooc! na«>—
So "ok* pxxria^ to duoc tlux wears the Wkkvw's do'^
An' dK HctH flcnd 'est all tlicT want o* kx>t!
(.dvaii Yes, the loot,
Bkxxma' boc!
la the tank sb' the oKst-on aa' the boot!
lis the sa^Tte with dogs in" men, '
1/ rai'j f^jfc'* 'esa ccxne ■*|r''—
i/l^) \Vhocf> 'em farwatd with a Lm>! loo! Lnbi! Loot'-
loot' loot!
Heeya! :^ck Im. puppy! Loo! loo! Lnhil Lootl
loot! loot:
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 469
"SNARLEYOW"
THIS 'appened in a battle to a batt'ry of the corps
Which 18 first among the women an' amazin' first in war;
An' what the bloomin' battle was I don't remember now,
But Two's ofF4ead^ *e answered to the name o' Snarleyow.
Down in the Infantry, nobody cares;
Down in the Cavalry, Colonel 'e swears;
But down in the lead with the wheel at the flog
Turns the bold Bombardier to a little whipped dog!
Tliey was movin' into action, they was needed very sore.
To learn a little schoolin' to a native army-corps,
They 'ad nipped against an uphill, they was tuckin' down the
brow,
When a tricky trundlin' roundshot give the knock to Snarle^
yaw.
They cut *im loose an' left 'im — 'e was almost tore in two —
Bat he tried to follow after as a well- trained 'orse should do;
E went an' fouled the limber, an' the Driver's Brother
squeals:
"Pull up, pull up for Snarleyow — 'is head's between 'is 'eels ! "
The Driver 'umped 'is shoulder, for the wheels was goin'
roundy
An' there ain't no "Stop, conductor!" when a batt'ry's
changin' ground;
Sez 'e: ''I broke the beggar in, an' very sad I feels,
**Bat I could n't pull up, not for you — your 'ead between
your 'eels!
»»
*Tke leading right-hand horse of No. i gun.
470
RUDYARD KIPLING'S
*E *ad n*t 'airdlT spoke the word, before a droppin* shdl
A little right the batt'iy an* between the sections fell;
An* when the smoke *ad cleared away, before die Gmbe^
wheels |]
There lay the Driver's Brother with 'is 'cad between Is'edi
Then sez the Driver's Brother, an' 'is words was very pbiii
"" For Gawd's own sake get over me, an* put me out o* piin."
They saw 'is wounds was nxxtial, an' they judged that itwtf
best.
So they took an' drove the limber straight across 'is badm'
chest.
The Driver 'e give nothin' 'cept a little coughin' grunt.
But 'e swun? 'is 'orses 'andsome when it came to "AcW
Front"!"
An' if one wheel was juicy, you may lay your Monday head
T was juicier for the niggers when the case begun to spreti
■
The moril of this stor\', it is plainly to be seen:
You *av n't got no families when servin* of the Queen —
You 'av n't got no brothers, fathers, sisters, wives, or sons—
If you want to win your battles take an' work your bloomifl'
guns!
Down in the Infantry, nobody cares;
Down in the Cavalr\', Colonel 'e swears;
But down in the lead with the wheel at the flog
Turns the bold Bombardier to a litde whipped dogi
THE WIDOW AT WINDSOR
' AVE you 'card o* the Widow at Windsor
^ With a hairy gold crown on 'er 'ead?
She 'as ships on the foam — she 'as millions at 'ome,
An* she pays us poor beggars in red.
lOw, poor beggars in red!)
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 471
I 'er nick on the cavalry 'orses,
«*s 'cr mark on the medical stores —
troopers you'll find with a fair wind be'ind
: takes us to various wars,
oor beggars! — barbarious wars!)
Then 'ere 's to the Widow at Wndsor,
An' 'ere 's to the stores an' the guns,
The men an' the 'orses what makes up the forces
O' Missis Victorier's sons.
(Poor beggars! Victorier's sons!)
nde o' the Widow at Windsor,
alf o' Creation she owns:
e bought 'er the same with the sword an' the flame,
pre've salted it down with our bones.
oor beggars! — it 's blue with our bones!)
oflF o' the sons o' the widow,
is off o' the goods in 'er shop,
t Kings must come down an' the Emperors frown
a the ^^^dow at Wndsor says "Stop!"
oor beggars! — we're sent to say "Stop!")
Then 'ere 's to the Lodge o' the Widow,
From the Pole to the Tropics it runs— •
To the Lodge that we tile with the rank an' the file,
An' open in form with the guns.
(Poor beggars! — it's always they guns!)
e 'card o' the Widow at Windsor,
afest to leave 'er alone:
sentries we stand by the sea an' the land
-ever the bugles are blown.
3or beggars! — an' don't we get blown!)
>ld o' the Wings o* the Mornin',
lop round the earth till you're dead;
a won't get away from the tune that they play
le bloomin' old rag over'ead.
X)r beggars! — it 's *ot over'ead!)
Then 'crc 's to the sons o' the Widow,
Wherever, 'owever they roam.
'Ere "s all they desire, an' if they requiK
A speedy return to their 'ome.
(Poor bc^ars! — they'll never see 'omeO
'T^HER£ was a row in Silver Street that's near to Dubfo
Quay,
Between an Irish regiment an' English cavalree;
It started at Revelly an' it lasted on till dark:
The first man dropped at Harrison's, the last foritinst ^
Park.
For it was: — "Belts, belts, belts, an' that's one b
O buckle an' tongue
Was the song that we sung
From Harrison's down to the Park !
There was a row in Silver Street — the regiments was out,
They called us "Delhi Rebels," an' we answered '"ITw**
about!"
That drew them like a hornet's nest — we met them goodu
lat^e,
The English at the double an' the Irish at the charge.
Then it was: — "Belts, &c."
There was a row in Silver Street — an' I was in it too;
We passed the time o' day, an' then the belts went whinu"-
I misremember what occurred, but, subscquint the stoia^
A Freeman's Journal Supplemint was all my uniform.
O it was: — "Belts, &c"
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 473
ere was a row in Silver Street — they sent the Polis there,
; English were too drunk to know, the Irish did n't care;
: when they grew impertinint we simultaneous rose,
half o' them was LifFey mud an' half was tatthered clo'es.
For it was:— "Belts, &c."
re was a row in Silver Street — it might ha' raged till now,
some one drew his side-arm clear, an' nobody knew how;
was Hogan took the point an' dropped; we saw the red
blood run:
so we all was murderers that started out in fun.
While it was: "Belts, &c."
re was a row in Silver Street — but that put down the
shine,
. each man whisperin' to his next: — *"T was never work
o' mine!"
went away like beaten dogs, an* down the street we bore
him,
poor dumb corpse that couldn't tell the bhoys were sorry
for him.
When it was:— "Belts, &c."
re was a row in Silver Street — it isn't over yet,
half of us are under guard wid punishments to get;
s all a merricle to me as in the Clink I lie:
:rewas a row in Silver Street — begod, I wonder why!
But it was: — "Belts, belts, belts, an* that's one for
you!"
An' it was "Belts, belts, belts, an* that's done for
you!"
O buckle an' tongue
Was the song that we sung
From Harrison's down to the Park!
474 RUDYARD KOUNGV IfSMBB
IHE TOUNG BRITISH SCXJUER
TI^HEN the 'uf-nade feetm^goci OBt to tbeEut
*E acts like a babe an* *e dn^ Gke a fceaa^
An' 'e wonden becaoae 'e it freqnetit lii f « »mt\
Ere 'e 'a fit &«* to aerve aa a aoldier.
Serve, aerve> aerve as a aoldier.
Serve, aerve, aerve aa a anldier.
Serve, aerve, aerve aa a aoldier,
So-oldier Q^tbe Qneenl
Now all you recmitiea what's drafted to-daf,
Tou shut up your rag-boz an' 'ark ta my lay.
An' I'll ung you a soldier aa far as I may:
A soldier what's fit for a soldier.
Fit, fit, fit for a soldier . . .
First mind you steer dear o' die grog-aeUers' hots,
For they sell you Fixed Bay'nets that rota out your goO"
Ay, drink that 'ud cat the live steel from your butts—
An' it's bad for the young British soldier.
Bad, bad, bad for the soldier . . .
When the cholera comes — as it will past a doubt^
Keep out of the wet and don't go on the shout.
For the sickness gets in as the liquor dies out.
An' it crumples the young British soldier.
Crum-, crum-, crumples the soldier . , ,
But the worst o' your foes is the sun over'ead:
You must wear your 'elmet for all that is said:
If 'e finds you uncovered 'e'll knock you down dead.
An' you'll die like a fool of a aoldier.
Fool, fool, fool of a aoldier . . .
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 475
're cast for fatigue by a sergeant unkind,
grouse like a woman nor crack on nor blind;
idy and civil, and then you will find
hat it's beer for the young British soldier.
Beer, beer, beer for the soldier . . .
if you must marry, take care she is old —
•p-sergeant's widow's the nicest, I'm told,
auty won't help if your rations is cold,
or love ain't enough for a soldier.
'Nough, 'nough, 'nough for a soldier . . .
ivife should go wrong with a comrade, be loth
K)t when you catch 'em — you'll swing, on my oath! —
'im take 'er and keep 'er: that's Hell for them both,
n' you're shut o' the curse of a soldier.
Curse, curse, curse of a soldier . . .
first under fire an' you're wishful to duck
look nor take 'eed at the man that is struck,
jikful you're livin', and trust to your luck
nd march to your front like a soldier.
Front, front, front like a soldier • . •
'arf of your bullets fly wide in the ditch,
call your Martini a cross-eyed old bitch;
luman as you are — you treat her as sich,
1* she'll fight for the young British soldier.
Fight, fight, fight for the soldier . . .
shakin' their bustles like ladies so fine,
ms o* the enemy wheel into line,
low at the limbers an' don't mind the shine,
)r noise never startles the soldier.
Start-, start-, startles the soldier . . .
476 RDDYARD DFUNCS VERSE
If TODrvOcer'sdari .^ Ifae wgenMlodk «UBe,
RwrihTf it's nia to im from ■ fishcs-
So ukc open oracTf Be dim, ■■d nt Q^bt^
Aad vxh far wppoWB Ske a aokfier.
Vxh^ wsit, wait Eke m mkSa- . . .
When jreu^rv wounded and Idt on A^anistaii's pUiH^
And the wotnen axat out to cut op what rctnaiiu,
Jot niffl ic your rifle and bknr out your bnim
An' |D to foar Gawd tke m nUier.
Go, go^ go Ife a solfiEr,
Go^ gOf go Boe a nUcr,
Go, go, go Eke a wUer,
8a-(difier^dK)>Mal
MANDALAY
D Y THE old Moulmdn Pagoda, loohdn' eastward to tit I
sea, . , . I
For the wind is in die palm-trees, and the tcmpIe-bells iM 1
say:
"Come yoa back, von British soldier; come you back 1>
Mandalay!"
Ctnnc Tou back to Mandalay,
\nere'tfae old FVmlU lay:
Can't you 'ear dieir paddles chunkin' from Rangt''^
to Mandalay?
On the road to Mandalay,
\Mierc the fl\-in'-&shes play,
An' the dawn comes up like thunder outer Ck^
'crost the Bay!
*Er petticoat was >-aller an* 'er little cap was grera.
An' 'er name was Supi-yawjat — jes' me same u Tbeefc^^
^cen.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 477
An' I seed her first a^mokin' of a whackin' white cheroot.
An' a-wasdn' Christian kisses on an 'eathen idol's foot:
Bloomin' idol made o' mud —
Wot they called the Great Gawd Budd —
Plucky lot she cared for idols when I kissed 'er where
she stud I
On the road to Mandalay . • .
When the mist was on the rice-fields an' the sun was droppin'
slow.
She'd git 'er little banjo an' she'd sing ''KullaJo-lo!''
VVith 'er arm upon my shoulder an' 'er cheek agin my cheek
iVe useter watcn the steamers an' the hathis pilin' teak.
Elephints a-pilin' teak
In the sludgy, squdgy creek.
Where the silence 'ung that 'eavy you was 'arf afraid
to speak!
On the road to Mandalay . . .
fet that's all shove be'ind me — long ago an' fiir away,
^' there ain't no 'busses runnin' from the Bank to Man-
dalay;
^' I'm leamin' 'ere in London what the ten-year soldier tells:
If you've 'card the East a-callin', you won't never 'eed
naught else."
No! you won't 'eed nothin' else
But them spicy garlic smells,
An' the sunshine an' the palm-trees an' the tinkly
temple-bells;
On the road to Mandalay . . .
^ sick o' wastin' leather on these gritty pavin'-stones,
I* the blasted Henglish drizzle wakes the fever in my bones;
W I walks with fifty 'ousemaids outer Chelsea to the
Strand,
fc' they talks a lot o' lovin', but wot do they understand?
478 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE i
Beefy face an* grubby 'and —
Law! wot do they understand?
I've a neater, sweeter maiden in a cleaner, gna*|
land!
On the road to Mandalay • • .
Ship me somewheres east of Suez, where the best is Eke tk
worst.
Where there are n*t no Ten G>mmandments an* a man m
nuse a thirst;
For the temple-bells are callin*, an* it's there that I would be-
By the old Moulmein Pagoda, looking lazy at the sea;
On the road to Mandalay,
Where the old Flotilla lay.
With our sick beneath the awnings when we went tt
Mandalay!
O the road to Mandalay,
Where the flyin'-fishes play,
An* the dawn comes up like thunder outer Chim
'crost the Bay!
TROOPIN'
(O/J English Army in the Easi)
•T^RQOPIN', troopin*, troopin' to the sea:
'Ere's September come again — the six-year men are t^*
O leave the dead be'ind us, for they cannot come ^^^^x.^
To where the ship's a-coalin' up that takes us *omc t^^^
We're goin' *ome, we're goin* 'ome,
Our ship is al the shore.
An' you must pack your 'aversack.
For we won't come back no more.
Ho, don't you grieve for me,
My lovely Mary-Ann,
For ril marry you yit on a fourp'ny bit
As a time-expired man.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 479
t Malabar's in 'arbour with the Jumner at 'er tail,
^ the time-expired's waitin' of 'is orders for to sail.
! the weary waitin' when on Khyber 'ills we lay,
t the time-cxpired's waitin' of 'is orders 'ome to-day.
ey'll turn us out at Portsmouth wharf in cold an' wet an^
rain.
wearin' Injian cotton kit, but we will not complain,
ey'll kill us of pneumonia — for that's their little way —
t damn the chills and fever, men, we're goin' 'ome to-day!
Dopin', troopin', winter's round again!
I the new drafs pourin' in for the old campaign;
>, you poor recruities, but you've got to earn your pay —
iat's the last from Lunnon, lads ? We're goin' there to-day.
oopin*, troopin*, give another cheer —
re's to English women an' a quart of English beer,
ic Colonel an' the Regiment an' all who 've got to stay,
iwd's Mercy strike 'em gentle — Whoop! we're goin' 'ome
to-day.
We're goin' 'ome, we're goin' 'ome.
Our ship is at the shore.
An' you must pack your 'aversack,
For we won't come back no more.
Ho, don't you grieve for me.
My lovely Mary-Ann,
For I'll marry you yit on a fourp'ny bit
As a time-expired man.
THE WIDOW'S PARTY
"\)^HERE have you been this while away,
Johnnie, Johnnie?"
d)ut with the rest on a picnic lay.
Johnnie, my Johnnie, aha!
4to RUDYARD KIPLING'S VEBSE
1ac]r fBrd osont of ikc nnscK-yaia
To Gbwq knows incre nvm CSonport omq^
And jvB cm t iuuk vhm yon fftt tnecndg
And inc Widov f^wtM inc pvty*
** Wktt cfid fan get to cnt and drink
loluuney Johnnie?'*
Joluune, mj Joluuut» aha!
A bit o betf tiuit were tnice jcar nnred^
A bit o luiiiion aa hwmi aa a IwMfd^
And a kml nc killed with a aefgean^a snofd.
When the Widow give the psrtj •
*' What did jroa do fior knives and folks,
Johnnie, Johnnie?**
We carries *em with us wherever we walks,
Johnnie, my Johnnie, aha!
And some was sliced and some was halved.
And some was crimped and some was carved,
And some was gutted and some was starved,
Wlien the W*idow give the party.
**\Vhat ha* you done with half your mess,
Johnnie, Johnnie?**
They could n*t do more and they would n't do ks^^
Johnnie, my Johnnie, aha!
They ate their whack and they drank their fill,
And I think the rations has made them ill.
For half my comp'ny*s lying still
\\Ticrc the Widow give the party*
"How did you get away — away,
Johnnie, Johnnie?"
On the broad o* my back at the end o' the day,
Johnnie, my Johnnie, aha!
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 481
I corned away like a bleedin' tofF,
For I got four niggers to carry me off,
As I lay in the bight of a canvas trough.
When the Widow give the party.
"What was the end of all the show,
Johnnie, Johnnie?"
Ask my Colonel, for I don't know,
Johnnie, my Johnnie, aha!
We broke a King and we built a road —
A court-house stands where the reg'ment goed.
And the river's clean where the raw blood flowed
When the Widow give the party.
{Bugle: Ta — rara — ra-ra-rara!)
FORD O' KABUL RIVER
ITABUL town's by Kabul river —
Blow the bugle, draw the sword —
There I leP my mate for ever.
Wet an' drippin' by the ford.
Ford, ford, ford o* Kabul river,
Ford o' Kabul river in the dark!
There's the river up and brimmin', an' there's 'arf
a squadron swimmin'
'Cross the ford o' Kabul river in the dark.
iCabui town's a blasted place —
Blow the bugle, draw the sword —
Strcwth I sha'n't forget 'is face
Wet an' drippin' by the ford !
Ford, ford, ford o' Kabul river,
Ford o' Kabul river in the dark!
Keep the crossing-stakes beside you, an* they will
surely guide you
'Cross the ford o' Kabul river in the dark.
482 Rin^YARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Kabul town is sun and dust —
Blow the bugle, draw the sword —
I'd ha' sooner drownded fust
'Stead of 'im beside the ford.
Ford, ford, ford o' Kabul river,
Ford o' Kabul river in the darki
You can 'ear the 'orses threshio', yoo ciil '« 4
men a-splashin',
'Cross the ford o' Kabul river in tlie duL
Kabul town was ours to takt
Blow the bugle, draw the
I'd ha' left it for 'is sake —
'Im that left me by the ford.
Ford, ford, ford o' Kabul river.
Ford o' Kabul river in the dark
It's none so bloomin' dry there; ain't you nCTtt
com in' nigh there,
'Cross the ford o' Kabul river in the dark!
Kabul town 'II go to hell —
Blow the bugle, draw the sword —
'Fore I see him 'live an' well —
'Im the best beside the ford.
Ford, ford, ford o' Kabul river.
Ford o' Kabul river in the dark! ^
Gawd 'elp 'em if they blunder, for their booB "• P"
*em under.
By the ford o' Kabul river in the dark.
Turn your 'orse from Kabul ttwn —
Blow the bugle, draw the swonj —
'Im an' 'arf my troop is down,
Down and drownded by die ford.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 483
Ford, ford, ford o* Kabul river,
Ford o' Kabul river in the dark!
There's the river low an' fallin', but it ain't no use
o' callin'
'Cross the ford o' Kabul river in the dark!
GENTLEMEN-RANKERS
\3 THE l^on of the lost ones, to the cohort of the
damned,
t'o my brethren in their sorrow overseas,
^gs a gentleman of England cleanly bred, machinely cram-
med,
^d a trooper of the Empress, if you please.
s, a trooper of the forces who has run his own six horses,
\nd faith he went the pace and went it blind,
d the world was more than kin while he held the ready tin,
3ut to-day the Sergeant's something less than kind.
We're poor little lambs who've lost our way.
Baa! Baa! Baa!
We're little black sheep who've gone astray.
Baa — aa — aa!
Gentlemen-rankers out on the spree.
Damned from here to Eternity,
God ha' mercy on such as we.
Baa! Yah! Bah!
» it's sweet to sweat through stables, sweet to empty
kitchen slops,
Lnd it's sweet to hear the tales the troopers tell,
dance with blowzy housemaids at the regimental hops
kjid thrash the cad who says you waltz too well.
I, it makes you cock-a-hoop to be "Rider" to your troop,
Uid branded with a blasted worsted spur,
en you envy,0 how keenly,one poor Tommy living cleanly
Vho blacks your boots and sometimes calls you "Sir."
If dw honte we never write to, and the oaths we never ktiftj
And aD we know most distant and most dear.
AcmaB tbe snoring barrack-room return to break
Can joa blame us if we soak ourselves in beer?
When dw dninkcn c<xnrade mutters and the great ;
lantern gutters
And dw horror of our fall is written plain,
Evcfy secret, sclf-rcvealtng on the aching whitewadwdi
ing.
Do yOD wonder that we drug ourselves from pain?
We haivc dooc with Hope and Honour, we arc tost to Ifi't
and Truth,
We are dropping down the ladder rung by rung.
And the measure of our torment is the measure of our yMii-
God help us, for we knew the worst too young!
Our shame is clean repentance for the crime that brought the
sentence,
(Xir pride it is to know no spur of pride,
And the Curse of Reuben holds us till an alien turf enfoldsBI
And we die, and none can tell Them where wc died.
We're poor little lambs who've lost our way,
Baa! Baa! Baa!
We're little black sheep who've gone astray,
Baa — aa — aa!
Gentlemen-rankers out on the spree.
Damned from here to Eternity,
God ha' mercy on such as we.
Baa! Yah! Bah!
ROLTE MARCHIN*
\X7'E'RE marchin'on relief over Injia's sunny plains,
A little front o' Christmas-time an' just be*ind theRJi^
Ho! get away you buUock-man,you*ve'eard thebugkblo*^
There's a regiment a-comin' down the Grand Trunk Ro^
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 485
With its best foot first
And the road it-sliding past,
An' every blooming campin'-ground exactly like the
last;
White the Big Drum says.
With 'is "rowdy-dowdy-^ow !" —
"Kiio ki J jytearHi don't you hamsher orgy jaw f"^
there's them Injian temples to admire when you see.
te's the peacock round the corner an' the monkey up the
tree,
there's that rummy silver-grass a-wavJn' in the wind,
the old Grand Trunk a^trailin* like a rifle-sling be'ind.
While it's best foot first, . . .
lalf-past five's Revelly, an' our tents they down must
come,
■■ a lot of button-mushrooms when you pick 'em up at
it's over in a minute, an' at six the column starts,
le the women and the kiddies sit an' shiver in the carts.
An it's best foot first, . . .
then it's open order, an' we lights our pipes an' sings,
we talks about our rations an' a lot of other things,
we thinks o' friends in England, an' we wonders what
they're at,
'ow they would admire for to hear us sling the batJ^
An* it's best foot first, . . .
none so bad o' Sundays, when you're lyin' at your ease,
watch the kites a-wheelin' round them feather-'eaded
hy don't you get on? 'Luiguage. Thomas's first and firmest
ction is that he is « profound Orientalist and a fluent speaker of
uitani. At a matter of fact, he depends largely on the sign-language.
We*ie
It' ^ ^ _
Ho! get awmr too bullock-aaii, yoo'TC *c»d die hgk
hlomd;
There*s a regiment ft-comiii* down the Grand Tnink Road;
With Its best foot first
And the n»d a-sBdmg past.
An* cmenr bloomin' campin'-gToond cxacdy Eke tk
last:
Whik the B^ Drum says.
With Ts "rowdr^Jomdr-domr* —
ktsjjTTmrrti don*t jrou hmmsher mrgyjcm f "
SHILUX* A
J^JY NAME is O'KcUy, Ttc heard the RcveUy
From Birr to Bareilly, from Leeds to Lahore,
Hong-Kong and Peshawur.
Lucknow and Etawah,
And fifty-five more all cndin* in "pore."
Black Dieath and his quickness, die depth and the thicb^
Of sorrow and sickness IVe known on my way.
But Fm old and Fm nervis.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 487
Vm cast from the Service,
And all I deserve is a shillin' a day.
(Chorus) ShiUin'aday,
Bloomin' good pay —
Lucky to touch it, a shillin' a day!
Oh, It drives me half crazy to think of the days I
Went slap for the Ghazi, my sword at my side.
When we rode Hell-for-leather
Both squadrons together.
That didn't care whether we lived or we died.
But it's no use despairin', my wife must go charin'
An' me commissairin', the pay-bills to better.
So if me you be'old
In the wet and the cold,
By the Grand Metropold won't you give me a letter?
(Fir// chorus) Give 'im a letter —
'Can't do no better.
Late Troop-Sergcant-Major an' — runs with
a letter!
Think what 'e's been.
Think what 'e's seen.
Think of his pension an'
Gawd save the Queen!
"BACK TO THE ARMY AGAIN"
I'M 'ere in a dcky ulster an' a broken billycock 'at,
A4ayin' on to the sergeant I don't know a gun from a bat;
My shirt's doin' duty for jacket, my sock's stickin' out o'
mv boots.
An' I'm leamin' the damned old goose-step along o' the new
recruits!
488 RIJDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Back to the Army again, sergeant,
Back to the Army again.
Don't look so 'ard, for I 'aven't no card,
]"m back to the Army again!
I dmw my six years' service. 'Er Majesty sez: "Gooddar"
Tou'll please to come when you're rung for, an" 'ere'i yw
ole back-pay;
An' fair-pence a day for bac' — an' bloomin' gen'rous, tx\
An now you can make yo— fortune — the same is jnw
orfcers do."
Back to the Army again, sergeant.
Back to the Army i^ain,
*Ok did I learn to do right-about-turn?
I'm back to the Army again!
A man o' four-an '-twenty that 'asn't learned of a trade—
Beade "Reserve" agin' him — 'e'd better be never made.
I tried my luck for a quarter, an' that was enough ior iMi
An' I thought of 'Er Majesty's barricks, an' I thoi^tl'd
Back to the Army again, sergeant,
Back to the Army again.
T isn't my fault if I dress when I 'alt —
I'm back to the Army again!
The sergeant arst no questions, but 'e winked the other fj''
'E sez to me, "Shun!" an' I shunted, the same as in M^
gone by; _ ,
For 'e saw the set o' my shoulders, an' I couldn't *elp 'old**
straight
When me an' the other rookies come under the barrick-g»
INCLUSIVE EDITION. 1885-1918 489
Back to the Army again, sergeant
Back to the Army again.
*Oo would ha* thought I could carry an' port?^
Fm back to the Army again!
I took my bath, an' I wallered — for, Gawd, I needed it so!
I smelt the smell o' the barricks, I 'eard the bugles go.
I *eard the feet on the gravel — the feet o' the men what
drill—
An* I scz to my flutterin' 'eart-strings, I sez to *em, "Peace,
be still!"
Back to the Army again, sergeant.
Back to the Araiy again.
'Oo said I knew when the troopship was due?
Fm back to the Army again!
I carried my slops to the tailor; I sez to *im, "None o' your
lip!
You tight 'em over the shoulders, an' loose 'em over the 'ip,
Por the set o' the tunic's 'orrid.'* An' *c sez to me, "Strike
me dead,
^t I thought you was used to the business!" an' so 'e done
what I said.
Back to the Army again, sergeant,
Back to the Araiy again.
Rather too free with my fancies? Wot — me?
Fm back to the Army again!
Next week Fll 'ave 'em fitted; FU buy me a swagger-cane;
ThcyTl let me free o' the barricks to walk on the Hoe again
li^ the name o' William Parsons, that used to be Edward Clay,
An* — any pore beggar that wants it can draw my fourpence
a day!
^ Cany and port his rifle.
I
t9o RUDYARD KHUNCS
Buk to the Anaj agKO, Nigeaa^
Back to the Amy igain.
C^t o' the coU an' the ruiif aetgeui^
Out o' the coU an' the run.
"Oo'itbere?
A man that's too good to be lost yooj
A man that U 'uidled an' made —
A man that will pay iriiat 'e coit 70a
In leanun* the odiera their trade — paradel
You're dioppin' the pick o' the Axmf
Became you don't *elp 'em remain.
But drives em to cheat to get out o* the street
An* back to the Ari^f againi
"BIRDS OF PREY" MARCH
(TVoops/or Foreign Service)
V4ARCH! TV mud is cakin" good about our tit»»?
Front! — eyes front, an' watch the Colour-casin') il"I
Front! The faces of the women in the 'ouscs
Ain't the kind o' things K> take aboard the ship.
Chetr! .■/»' we' ff never march to victory.
Cheer! Jn vk II never Hoe to 'ear the cannon roar!
The Larie Birds a' Prey
They Kill carry us away,
.in' you'// never see your soldiers any more !
Wheel! Oh, keep your touch; we're goin' round a coT"
Time! — mark time, an' let the men be'ind us dose.
lA>rvl! The transport's foil, an' 'alf our lot not on *ci^
Cheer, O cheer! We're goii^ off where no one know
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 491
ch! The Devil's none so black as 'e is painted!
Iieer! We'll 'ave some fun before we're put away,
an* 'and 'er out — a woman's gone and fainted!
Iieer! Get on! — Gawd *elp the married men to-day!
Come up, you 'ungry beggars, to yer sorrow.
Ear them say they want their tea, an' want it quick!)
won't have no mind for slingers,^ not to-morrow —
o; you'll put the 'tween-decks stove out, bein* sick!
! The married kit 'as all to go before us!
bourse it*s blocked the bloomin' gangway up again!
:r, O cheer the 'Orse Guards watchin' tender o'er us,
ecpin* us since eight this mornin' in the rain !
k in 'eavy marchin'-order, sopped and wringin' —
ck, before our time to watch *er 'cave an' fall,
's your 'appy 'ome at last, an' stop your singin'.
It! Fall in along the troop-deck! Silence all!
r .' For we^ll never live to see no bloomin' victory I
r ! An* weUl never live to *ear the cannon roar !
{One cheer more !)
The jackal an* the kite
*Ave an *ealthy appetite ^
you* 11 never see your soldiers any more I (*Ip ! Urroar I)
The eagle an* the crow
They are waitin* ever sOy
you* II never see your soldiers any more I {*Ip Urroar I)
YeSy the Large Birds 0* Prey
They will carry us away^
you* II never see your soldiers any more I
* Bread soaked in tea*
KUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
"SOLDIER AN* SAILOR TOO"
(7^ R^al R^ment <^ Maraut)
^S I was spittin' into the Ditch aboard o' the Cmo£lhl
I aeed a man on a mao-o'-war got up in the Rcglu* '
style.
'E was aaipm* the paint from off of 'er riate*, an'iKtto
'im/'Oo ate your
Sez 'e, "I'm a Jdly— 'Er Majesty's JoUy^-Mldier an' aiiar
ttwl"
Now 'is woric iiepns by Gawd knows wfaen, and % mfci*
never dinxigh;
'E isn't one o' the rtg'Iar line, nor 'e isn't one of theoc*-
'£'s a kind of a giddy hanimJrodite — soklier an' sailor wt
An', after, I met 'im all over the world, a-doin' all kiadiof
things,
Uke landin' 'issclf with a Gatlin' gun to talk to them 'tiAfB
kings;
*£ sleeps in an 'ammick instead of a cot, an' 'c drills with ^
deck on a slew,
An' 'e sweats like a Jolly — 'Er Majesty's Jolly— sokfiff
an' sailor too!
For there isn't a job on the top o' the earth the beggar dW
know, nor do —
You can leave 'im at night on a bald man's 'ead, to paddle »
own canoe —
'E's a sort of a bloomin' cosmopolouse — soldier an' s«kf
We've fought 'em in trooper, we've fought 'em in dock, ***
drunk with 'em in betweens, ,
When they called us the seasick scull'ry-maids, an' we cil*-
'em the Ass-Marines;
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 493
Bue, when we was down for a double fatiiguey from Woolwich
to BernardmyOy
^^''e sent for the Jollies — *Er Majesty's Jollies — soldier an'
sailor too!
They think for 'emselves, an' they steal for 'emselves, and
they never ask what's to do,
Bia^ they're camped an* fed an* they*re up an' fed before our
bugle's blew.
Ho ! they ain*t no limpin* procrastitutes — soldier an' sailor
too.
You may say we are fond of an 'arness-cut, or *ootin' in
banick-yards,
Ox* startin* a Board School mutiny along o' the Onion Guards;
BmjLt once in a while we can finish in style for the ends of the
earth to view,
THc same as the Jollies — 'Er Majesty's Jollies — soldier
an* sailor too!
THcy come of our lot, they was brothers to us; they was
beggars we'd met an' knew;
t, barrin* an inch in the chest an' the arm, they was doubles
o* me an* you;
For they weren't no special chrysanthemums — soldier an'
sailor too!
To take your chance in the thick of a rush, with firing all
about,
I* nothing so bad when you've cover to 'and, an' leave an'
likin' to shout;
^ut to stand an' be still to the Birkenhead drill is a damn'
tough bullet to chew,
^' they done it, the Jollies — 'Er Majesty's Jollies^ — sol-
dier an' sailor too!
*ndr work was done when it 'adn't begun; they was younger
nor me an' you;
I
494 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSB
Their choice it was pldn between drownin' in 'eaps an' hei
mopped bv the screw.
So they stood an was still to the Birken*eMj dnU^ soldier a'
sulor too!
We*re most of us liars, we're 'aif of us thieves, an' the nt
are as rank as can be.
But once in a while we can finish in style (which I 'ope it
won't 'appen to me).
But it makes yon think better o* you an' your friends, an' die
work you may 'ave to do,
\Vhen you think o' the sinkin' Ficimier*s Jollies — soldier tn*
sailor too!
Now there isn't no room for to say ye don't know— dief
*a\-e proved it plain and true —
That, whether it's Widow, or whether it's ship, Victorier*!
work is to do,
An' they done it, the Jollies — *Er Majesty's Jollies— sol-
dier an* sailor too!
SAPPERS
(Royal Engineers)
\\ n^EX the Waters were dried an' the Earth did appctf»
V,"lt's all one," sa>-s the Sapper),
The Ia^PvI He created the Engineer,
Her M.iicstv*s Roval En^neer, i
With the rank and pay of a Sapper! I
WTien the KUxxi cx^me along for an extra monsoon,
T was Nvvah constructed the first pontoon
1 o the plans of' Her Majesty's, etc.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 188&-1918 49s
^r fatigue in the wet an' the sun,
ih got drunk, which he wouldn't ha' done
d trained with, etc.
ie Tower o' Babel had mixed up men's bat^
ever civilian was managing that,
one of, etc.
le Jews had a fight at the foot of a hill,
[oshua ordered the sun to stand still,
e was a Captain of Engineers, etc.
le Children of Israel made bricks without straw,
;re leamin' the regular work of our Corps,
^ork of, etc.
• since then, if a war they would wage,
js a-shinin' on history's page —
page for, etc.
lown their sidings an' help 'em entrain,
iweep up their mess through the bloomin' campaign
style of, etc.
id us in front with a fuse an' a mine
up the gates that are rushed by the Line,
mt by, etc.
id us behind with a pick an' a spade,
3r the guns of a bullock-brigade
L has asked for, etc.
: under escort in trousers and shirt,
heathen they plug us tail-up in the dirt,
ing, etc.
4^6 RUDYARD KIPLING'S
We blast out the rock an* we shovel the mud.
We make 'em good roads an' — they roU down die khiii^
Reporting, etc.
We make 'em thdr bridges, their wells, an' their hnO^
An' the telegraph-wire the enemy cuts,
• An' it's blamed on, etc.
An' when we return, an' from war we would cease,
They grudge us adomin' the billets of peace.
Which are kept for, etc.
We build 'em nice barracks — ^they swear they are bad,
That our Colonels are Methodist, married or mad,
Insultin' etc.
They haven't no manners nor gratitude too,
For the more that we help 'em, the less will they do.
But mock at, etc.
Now the Line's but a man with a gun in his hand,
An' Cavalry's only what horses can stand.
When helped by, etc.
Artillery moves by the leave o' the ground,
But we are the men that do something all round.
For we are, etc.
I have stated it plain, an' my argument's thus
("It's all one," says the Sapper)
There's only one Corps which is perfect — that's us;
An' they call us Her Majesty's Engineers,
Her Majesty's Royal Engineers,
With the rank and pay of a Sapper!
'Hillside.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 188&-1918 497
THAT DAY
GOT beyond all orders an' it got beyond all 'ope;
It got to shanimin' wounded an' retirin' from the 'alt.
companies was lookin' for the nearest road to slope;
: were just a bloomin' knock-out — an* our fault!
Now there aitCt no chorus *ere to give^
Nor there ain*t no band to play;
An* I wish I was dead *Jore I done what I didy
Or seen what I seed thai day !
was sick o' bein' punished, an' we let 'em know it, too;
ii' a company-commander up an' 'it us with a sword,
some one shouted "'Ook it!" an' it come to sove-ki-poo,
ji' we chucked our rifles from us — O my Gawd!
re was thirty dead an' wounded on the ground we
wouldn't keep —
there wasn't more than twenty when the front begun
togo—
, Christ! along the line o' flight they cut us up like sheep,
n' that was all we gained by doin' so!
ird the knives be'ind me, but I dursn't face my man,
or I don't know where I went to, 'cause I didn't 'alt to
see,
I 'eard a beggar squealin' out for quarter as 'e ran,
Ji' I thought I knew the voice an' — it was me!
was 'idin' under bedsteads more than 'arf a march away:
Vc was lyin' up like rabbits all about the country-side;
' the Major cursed 'is Maker 'cause 'e'd lived to see that
in the Colonel broke 'is sword acrost, an' cried.
■•■•'• ^^^"
498 RUDYARD KIPLING'S
Wemtiotceii 'fere we lOated -we ww ntnr dae^Kmit
We made it out a favour if an ocder was obejred.
Te^ every little dnuniiMr 'ad 'ia r^ts an* wxosigt to aaai,
So we had co pay fer ttadiin' — an' we paid!
Tbep^wiB ^id it 'andKMD^ but Tou know the Anny fcaoat;
m was put to graooun' Gamclt tin the RBiaents fdM^d
An* they gave us each a medal fer subdwn Ea^aod'i bet,
An* I *(^ you like my km^ — becmse it's trnel
Am' thert sm't »« tktnu 'trt /p pat.
Nor thert ain't i*o hmid to pity;
But I wish I was itad •Jart I dmt witM I £d.
Or tetn awW / seed thai d^ I
"THE MEN THAT FOUGHT AT MINDEN"
(/» the Lodge 6f Instruction)
'T^IE men ^t fou^t at Minden, they was rookies in their
time-
So was them that fought at Waterloo!
All the 'ole command, yuss, from Mindcn to Maiwand,
They V. as once dam' sweeps like you !
Then do not he discouraged, 'Eaoen is your 'e/per,
IFe'll /ram you not lo/orgel;
An' you mustn't swear an' curst, or you'll only ctuh it
XDorse,
For vse'll make you soldiers yet !
The men that fought at Mindcn, they 'ad stocks bcn«*
their chins.
Six inch 'igh an' more;
But fatigue it was their pride, and they mould not be deoied
To dean the cook-'ousc floor.
INCXUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 499
men that fought at Minden, they had anarchistic bombs
Served to 'em by name of 'and-grenades;
diey got it in the eye (same as you will by-an'-by)
When they dubbed their field-parades.
men that fought at Minden, they *ad buttons up an*
down,
Two-an'-twenty dozen of 'em told;
they didn't grouse an' shirk at an hour's extry work.
They kept 'em bright as gold.
men that fought at Minden, they was armed with mus-
ketoons.
Also, they was drilled by 'alberdiers;
n't know what they were, but the sergeants took good
care
They washed be'ind their ears.
men that fought at Minden, they 'ad ever cash in 'and
Which they did not bank nor save,
spent it gay an' free on their betters — such as me —
For the good advice I gave.
men that fought at Minden, they was civil — yuss, they
Never didn't talk o' rights an' wrongs,
they got it with the toe (same as you will get it — so!) —
For interrupting songs.
men that fought at Minden, they was several other things
Which I don't remember clear;
/Afl/'j the reason why, now the six-year men are dry
The rooks will stand the beer!
TkeH dortotie ttiteourageJ, 'Eaatn is your 'fiftr,
IfVff learn you not to/ernf.
Jm* you mustn't twtar tm curttt v yoi^ii m& i
wane.
And wifU make ytu nUitn ytll
SoUitrt yet, if you've p>l it iny
AS fat the sake of the Core;
SoUiertyet, if me 'ave to skin you —
Am «>' ^t the beer, Johnny Ra»—J»kmiy Uml
He / run an' grt the ieer, Johnny Ram !
CHOLERA CAMP
(Infantry in India)
■\X^E'VE got the cholerer in camp — it's worse than I
We're dyir' in the wilderness the same as Isnilites;
It's before us, an' be'ind us, an' we cannot get away,
An' the doctor's just reported we've ten more to-day!
OA, strike your camp an' go, the iugWs cai/in'.
The Rains arcfallin'—
The dead are bushed an stoned to keep 'em safe beloa.
The Band's a-doin 'all she knows t9 cheer its;
The Chaplain s gone and prayed to Gawd to 'earns —
To 'far us —
0 Lardtfor it's a-kHlin' ^ us so!
Since Augiisc, when it started, it's been sdckin* to ouroil,
'l*hough they 've 'ad us our by marches an' they've 'd ^
back by rait;
But it nin& as fast as tnx>p trains, and we cannot get ■«■!•
An' the sick-list to the Colonel makes ten more to-day.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 501
liere ain't no fun in women nor there ain't no bite to drink;
b'smuch too wet for shoo tin'; we can only march and think;
Ji' at evenin', down the nullahs^ we can 'ear the jackals say,
Cct up, you rotten beggars, you've ten more to-day!"
I' would make a monkey cough to see our way o' doin'
things —
ieutenants takin' companies an' Captains takin' wings,
n' Lances actin' Sergeants — eight file to obey —
>r we've lots o' quick promotion on ten deaths a day!
jr Colonel's white an' twitterly — 'e gets no sleep nor food,
jt mucks about in 'orspital where nothing does no good.
. sends us 'caps o' comforts, all bought from 'is pay —
it there aren't much comfort 'andy on ten deaths a day.
ir Chaplain's got a banjo, an' a skinny mule 'e rides,
1' the stuff he says an' sings us, Lord, it makes us split our
sides!
ith 'is black coat-tails a-bobbin' to Ta-ra-ra Boom-der-ay !
.*s the proper kind o' padre for ten deaths a day.
1* Father Victor 'elps 'im with our Roman Catholicks —
e knows an 'eap of Irish songs an' rummy conjurin'-tricks;
1' the two they works together when it comes to play or
pray.
» we keep the ball a-roUin' on ten deaths a day.
e've got the cholerer in camp — we've got it *ot an* sweet.
ain't no Christmas dinner, but it's 'elped an' we must eat;
Vve gone beyond the funkin', 'cause we've found it doesn't
a we re rockin' round the Districk on ten deaths a day!
502 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Ttien strike your camp an* go, ih€*Rains areJaUvi,
The BugU's callirr !
The dead are hushed an* stoned to keep Vm siffe iekm!
An* them thai do not like it they can lump it.
An* them thai can not stand it they can jump it;
We*ve got to die somewhere — some way — sonuow—
We might as well begin to do it now !
Theny Number One, let down the tent-pole slow.
Knock out the pegs an* *old the comers — so I
Fold in thejbeSyfurl up the ropes, an* stow I
Oh, strike — oA, strike your camp an* go I
{Gawd *elp us !)
THE LADIES
I'VE taken my fun where I've found it;
I've rogued an' I've ranged in my time;
IVe 'ad my pickin' o' sweethearts,
An' four o' the lot was prime.
One was an 'arf-caste widow.
One was a womai\ at Prome,
One was the wife of z, jemadar-sais}-
An' one is a girl at *ome.
Now I aren't no *and with the ladies,
For^ takin' *em all along.
You never can say till you* ve tried 'em.
An* then you are like to be wrong.
There's times when you'll think that you mightn't.
There's times when you'll know that you might;
But the things you will learn from the Yellow an* Br^
They'll 'elp you a lot with the White I
^ Head-groom.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 503
I was a young un at 'Oogli,
Shy as a girl to begin;
Aggie de Castrer she made me.
An' Aggie was clever as sin;
Older than me, but my first un —
More like a mother she were —
Showed me the way to promotion an' pay.
An' I learned about women from *er!
Then I was ordered to Burma,
Acdn' in charge o' Bazar,
An* I got me a dddy live 'eathen
Through buyin' supplies off 'er pa.
Funny an' yellow an* faithful —
Doll in a teacup she were.
But we lived on the square, like a true-married pair,
An* I learned about women from 'er!
Then we was shifted to Neemuch
(Or I might ha' been keepin' 'er now).
An' I took with a shiny she-devil.
The wife of a nigger at Mhow;
'Taught me the g^psy-folks' boUe;^
Kind o' volcano she were,
For she knifed me one night 'cause I wished she was
white,
And I learned about women from 'er!
Then I come 'ome in a trooper,
'Long of a kid o' sixteen —
*Girl from a convent at Meerut,
The straightest I ever 'ave seen.
Love at first sight was 'er trouble,
She didn*t know what it were;
An* I wouldn't do such, 'cause I liked 'er too much.
But — I learned about women from 'er!
' Slang.
504 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSB
IVe taken my fun where IVe found it.
An' now I must pay for my fiin.
For the more you 'ave known o' the others
The less will you settle to one;
An' the end of it's »ttin' and thinldn^
. An' dreamin' HeU-fires to see;
So be warned by my lot (which I know yon will not)»
An' learn about women from me!
IFhai did ike ColoneFs Lady think t
Nobody never knew.
Somebody asked the Sergeant* s IViJe^
An' she told *em true!
fFAen you get to a man in the case,
TheyWe like as a row of pins —
For the ColoneFs Lady an* Jiufy 0*Grady
Are sisters under their skins !
BILL 'AWKINS
" 'A^ ANYBODY seen Bill 'Awkins?"
"Now 'ow in the devil would I know?**
" *E*s taken my girl out walkin'.
An* I've got to tell 'im so —
Gawd — bless — 'im !
I've got to tell 'im so."
"D' yer know what 'c's like, BiU 'Awkins?"
"Now what in the devil would I care?"
'E's the livin'y breathin' image of an organ-grinde*.
monkey,
With a pound of grease in 'is 'air —
Gawd — bless — 'im !
An* a pound o' grease in 'is 'air."
«« »!?».
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 soS
An* s'pose you met Bill 'Awkins,
Now what in the devil 'ud ye do?"
I'd open 'is cheek to 'is chin-strap buckle.
An' bung up 'is both eyes, too—
Gawd — bless — 'im !
An' bung up 'is both eyes, too!"
Look 'ere, where 'e comes. Bill 'Awkins!
Now, what in the devil will you say?"
It isn't fit an' proper to be fightin' on a Sunday,
So I'll pass 'im the time o' day —
Gawd — bless — 'im !
I'll pass 'im the time o' day!"
THE MOTHER-LODGE
T^HERE was Rundle, Station Master,
An' Beazeley of the Rail,
An' 'Ackman, Commissariat,
An' Donkin' o' the Jail;
An' Blake, Conductor-Sergeant,
Our Master twice was 'e,
With 'im that kept the Europe-shop,
Old Framjee Eduljee.
idt—*' Sergeant ! Sir! Salute! Salaam!'*
ie — ** Brother^' an" it doesn't do no 'arm,
net upon the Level an' we parted on the Square^
I was Junior Deacon in my Mother-Lodge out there !
We'd Bola Nath, Accountant,
An' Saul the Aden Jew,
An' Din Mohammed, draughtsman
Of the Survey Office too;
5o6 RUDYARD KIPLING'S
D^:;^':
There was Babu Chuckerbutty,
An' Amir Singh the Sikh,
An' Castro from the fittin'-aheds»
The Roman Catholickl
We 'adn*t good regalia.
An' our Lodfle was old an' iNure,
But we knew we Ancient Ijindmarts,
An* we kep' 'em to a luur;
An' lookin' cm it backwards
It often strikes me thus.
There ain't such things as infidels,
Excep', per'aps, it's us.
For monthly, after Labour,
We'd all sit down and smoke
(We dursn't give no banquets.
Lest a Brother's caste were broke),
An' man on man got talkin'
Religion an' the rest,
An' every man comparin'
Of the God 'e knew the best.
So man on man got talkin'.
An' not a Brother stirred
Till mornin' waked the parrots
An' that dam' brain-fever-bird;
We'd say 'twas 'ighly curious,
An' we'd all ride 'ome to bed.
With Mo'ammed, God, an' Shiva
Changin' pickets in our 'ead.
Full oft on Guv'ment service
This rovin' foot 'ath pressed.
An' bore fraternal greetm's
To the Lodges east an' west.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 507
Accordin' as commanded.
From Kohat to Singapore,
But I wish that I might see them
In my Mother-Lodge once more!
I wish that I might see them,
My Brethren black an' brown,
With the trichies smellin' pleasant
An' the hog-dam^ passin' down;
An' the old khansamah^ snorin'
On the bottle-khana' floor.
Like a Master in good standing
With my Mother-Lodge once more.
dc—** Sergeant ! Sir! Salute! Salaam!**
t — ^^ Brother^* an* it doesn't do no *arm.
let upon the Level an* we parted on the Square^
' was Junior Deacon in my Mother-Lodge out there !
"FOLLOW ME 'OME"
"*HERE was no one like *im, 'Orse or Foot,
Nor any o* the Guns I knew;
ause it was so, why, o* course 'e went an' died.
Which is just what the best men do.
it*s kpock out your pipes an* follow me !
* it* s finish up your swipes an* follow me !
M, *ark to the big drum callin*^
Follow me— follow me *ome !
* Cigar-lighter. * Butler. 'Pantry.
So8 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
'I* mare she neighs the 'ole day long,
She paws the 'ole night through,
An' she won't take 'er feed 'cause o' waitin' for 'Ij stej_^^2'
Which is just what a beast would do. ^^^_
Is ^rl she goes with a bombardier B I
Before 'er raonth is through;
An' the banns are up in , for ^e's got the hciS beg
hooked,
Which is just what ■- nnUd do.
We fought 'bout a week it were —
No more tha" ■• wo;
But I strook 'im cp i wish I 'adn'i now.
Which is just what a man can't do.
■ ■ - 1
'E was all that I *ad in the way of a ftiend,
An' I've *ad to find one new;
But I'd give my pay an' stripe for to get the b^gar bv^'>
Which it's just too late to do.
So it's knock out your pipes an' follow me/
An' it's finish up your swipes an' follote me!
Oh, 'ark to the fifes a-crawlin' !
Follow me— follow me 'ome !
Take 'im away ! 'E's gone where the heit men go.
Take 'im away ! An' the gun-wheels tumin' slow.
Take 'im away ! There's more from the plate 'e e<^ ^ '
Take 'im away, with the limber an' the ^um.
For it's " Three rounds blank" an' follow me.
An' it's " Thirteen rank" an'folhw me;
Oh, passin' the love a' women.
Follow me— follow me 'ome I
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918
THE SERGEANT'S WEDDIN'
'|p WAS warned agin 'er —
That's what made 'im look;
She was warned agin' 'im —
That is why she took.
"Wouldn't 'ear no reason,
'Went an' done it blind;
We know all about 'em,
They've got all to find!
Cheer for the Sergeant's wedJin' —
Give 'em one cheer more I
Grey gun-'orset in the lando,
Jin' a rogue is married to, etc.
What's the use o' lellin'
'Arf the lot she's been?
'E's a bloomin' robber,
An' 'e keeps canteen.
*Ow did 'c get 'is buggy?
Gawd, you needn't ask!
'Made 'is Forty gallon
Out of every cask !
Watch 'im, with 'is 'air cut,
Count us filin' by —
Won't the Colonel praise 'is
Pop — u — lar — i — ty !
We 'ave scores to settle —
Scores for more than beer;
She's the girl to pay 'em —
That is why we're 'ere!
5IO RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
See the Chaplain thinkin'?
See the wom^i smile?
Twig the nuuTied winkin'
As they take the aide?
Keep jroor nde-arms quiet,
Dressin' by the BaiidL
Ho! Toa 'cdy beggars.
Cough be*ind joar 'and!
Now it*8 done an' over, *
'Ear the oigan squeaJk,
'**Foice itua imUhid o'er Eden''—
Ain't she got the cheek!
White an' laylock ribbons.
Think yourself so fine!
rd pray Gawd to take ycr
Tore I made yer mine!
Escort to the kerridge.
Wish 'im luck, the brute!
Chuck the slippers after —
[Pity 't ain't a boot!]
Bowin' like a lady,
Blushin' like a lad —
'Oo would say to see 'em
Both is rotten bad ?
Cheer for the Sergeant's weddin*—
Give 'em one cheer more !
Grey gun-orses in the lando^
An* a rogue is married /o, etc.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885^1918 511
THE JACKET
{Royal Horse Artillery)
'HROUGH the Plagues of Egyp' we was chasin' Arabi,
Gettin' down an' shovin' in the sun;
* you might 'ave called us dirty, an' you might ha' called us
Vn' you might 'ave 'eard us talkin' at the gun.
t the Captain 'ad 'is jacket, an' the jacket it was new —
'Qrse Gunners, listen to my song!)
* the wettin' of the jacket is the proper thing to do,
^or we didn't keep 'im waiting very long.
e day they gave us orders for to shell a sand redoubt,
u>adin' down the axle-arms with case;
t the Captain knew 'is dooty, an' he took the crackers out
\xi he put some proper liquor in its place,
the Captain saw the shrapnel, which is six-an'-thirty
clear.
*Qrse Gunners, listen to my song!)
Aill you draw the weight," sez *e, "or will you draw the
beer?"
\xi we didn't keep 'im waiting very long.
For the Captain^ etc.
^n we trotted gentle, not to break the bloomin' glass,
Though the Arabites 'ad all their ranges marked;
t we durs n't 'ardly gallop, for the most was bottled Bass,
kn' we'd dreamed of it since we was disembarked:
^e fired economic with the shells we 'ad in 'and,
*Orse Gunners, listen to my song!)
t the beggars under cover *ad the impidence to stand,
^* we couldn't keep 'em waitin' very long.
And the Captain^ etc.
S"
RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
So we finished 'arf the liquor (an* the Captain took ckmi-
pagne).
An* the Arabites was shoodn' all die while;
An' we left our wounded 'appy with die emptiet on theplifl^
An' we used the bloomin' guns for pnjem/r/
We limbered up an* galloped — there weie nothin* dae tD<b-
('Orse Gunners, listen to my song I)
An' the Battery come aJxxmdin* Qce a boandin' kaifn%
But they didn't watch us oomia* very hog.
As the CapUun^ etc
We was goin' most extended — we was drivin* very finci
An' the Arabites were loosin' 'igh an' wide.
Till the Captain took the glacis with a rattlin' ''right m-
cline,"
An' we dropped upon their 'eads the other side.
Then we give 'em quarter — such as 'adn't up and cut
('Orse Gunners, listen to my song!)
An' the Captain stood a limberful of fizzy somethin' Brutt,
But we didn't leave it fizzing very long.
For the Captairiy etc.
We might ha' been court-martialled, but it all come out ^
right
When they signalled us to join the main command.
There was every round expended, there was every gufl^
An' the Captain waved a corkscrew in 'is 'andl
Btit the Captain ^ad * is jacket ^ etc.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 513;
THE 'EATHEN
'cathen in 'is blindness bows down to wood an' stone;
lon't obey no orders unless they is 'is own;
>s 'is side-arms awful: 'e leaves 'em all about,
m comes up the Regiment an' pokes the 'eathen out.
Jong 0* dirtinesSy all along 0' mess^
Jong 0' doin* things raiher-more-or-lesSy
Jong of abby-nay^ kul^ an^ hazar-ho^
i you keep your rifle an* yourself jus' so !
>ung recruit is 'aughty — 'e draPs from Gawd knows*
where;
ad 'im show 'is stockin's an' lay 'is mattress square;
3 it bloomin' nonsense — *e doesn't know, no more —
in up comes 'is Company an kicks 'im round the floor I
ung recruit is 'ammered — 'e takes it very hard;
s 'is 'ead an' mutters — 'e sulks about the yard;
s o' "cfuel tyrants" which 'e'll swing for by-an'-by,,
: others 'ears an' mocks 'im, an' the boy goes orf to cry-
ung recruit is silly — 'e thinks o' suicide;
t 'is gutter-devil; 'e asn't got 'is pride;
y by day they kicks *im, which 'elps 'im on a bit,
finds 'isself one mornin' with a full an' proper kit.
«' clear 0* dirlinesSy geUin* done with mesSy
n* shut 0 doin* things rather-more-or-less;
wfond of abby-nayy kuly nor hazar-hoy
ns to keep *is rifle an' *isselfjus' so !
■ Not now. * To-morrow. ' Wait a bit.
514
RUDYARD KDUNCS VERSE
Yon
'E learns
recniit is *Mppy—*c throws a chest to suit;
im grow mustaches; you 'ear 'im sLap 'is boot;
to drop the " bloodies'' from every word 'e afiifii
diows an 'ealthy brisket when 'e strips for ban u'
The cmd-trrant-aergeants
Thev vatch Im with Ts
they watdi "im 'arf a year;
comrades, they watch 'im with li
Thev watch
And the
im with the women at the regimental danoc,
send 'is name afoog ht
Ar.' now Vs 'arf o' nothin', an' aO a private yet,
'1$ rvX>n*. they up an' rags 'im to sec what they will get
They rjurs 'irr. low an' cunning each dirty trick they can,
But > ieams to sweat 'is temper an' *e learns to sweat *is man.
Ar.\ !a5t, a Colour-Seiiecant, as such to be obeyed,
*E schvv^ls ':s men at cricket, *e tells 'em on parade;
Thev sees 'ir?. ouick an' 'andv, uncommon set an* smart,
An' so 'e talks to orticers which *ave the Core at *eart.
'F leams to do 'is watchin' without it showin' plain;
'F lejims ro save a dummy, an' shove 'im straight again;
'F leams to check a ranker that's bujrin' leave to shirk;
An' 'e learns to make men like 'im so they'll learn to like their
work.
An* when it comes to marchin' hell see their socks are r^^*
An' when it comes to acrion 'e shows 'em how to sight.
'K knows their ways of thinkin* and Just what's in their mW*'
'F. knows when they are takin' on an when they've fell bc'ifl"*
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 515
*£ knows each talkin' corpril that leads a squad astray; *
'E feels 'is innards 'eavin', 'is bowels givin' way;
'E sees the blue-white faces all tryin' 'ard to grin.
An' 'e stands an' waits an' suffers till it's time to cap 'em in.
An' now the hugly bullets come peckin' through the dust,
An' no one wants to face 'em, but every beggar must;
Soy like a man in irons, which isn't glad to go.
They moves 'em off by companies uncommon stiff an' slow.
Of all 'is five years' schoolin' they don't remember much
Excep' the not retreatin', the step an' keepin' touch.
It looks like teachin' wasted when they duck an' spread an*
'op —
But if 'e adn't learned 'em they'd be all about the shop.
An' now it's "'Oo goes backward?'* an' now it's "*Oo comes
on?"
And now it's "Get the doolies," an' now the Captain's gone;
An' now it's bloody murder, but all the while they 'ear
'Is voice, the same as barrick-drill, a-shepherdin' the rear.
'E's just as sick as they are, 'is 'eart is like to split.
But 'e works 'em, works 'em, works 'em till he feels 'em take
the bit;
The rest is 'oldin' steady till the watchful bugles play.
An' 'e lifts *em, lifts 'em, lifts 'em through the charge that
wins the day!
The ^eathen in *is blindness bows down to woodan^ stone;
'£ don*t obey no orders unless they is *is own.
The *eaihen in *is blindness must end where *e began^
But the backbone of the Army is the Noncommissioned Man!
Keep away from dirtiness — keep away from mesSy
Don't get into doin* things rather^more-arJess !
Let's ha' done with abby-nay^ kuly and hazar-ho;
Mind you keep your rifle an' yourself jus' so I
5i6 RUDTARD KmjNG*S VESSB
THE, SHUT-ETE SENTRT
GEZ the Jumor Oidofy SennBt
^ TotlieSenvOnlafylint
"Oar Onlerir OrfVser^ fain ■rt',»
**TfM *c^ ^ all you cam.
"For the wine «m eld md the qght il eoldt
"An' the bctt «<e mMj go wraog,
So^ nfc c HIS Id tne ****f<^^-™y*^
"Too pan the wofd tikm^
S^itwu "Ramrnds ! What Ratmds f M Iwo ^mfni^ ^ '
*£*« 'gUm' amijtke strgrmmt's smsi, tmt, sentry, tluuy^
.in' it iMf "Pass ! AlFs well! Oh^ ain't V Aippin' ti^ '■
'EU imJ am affidazir prtttj hadly kj-an'-kj. "
The moon iras white on the buricks.
The road was white an' wide.
An' the Orderiy Oif cer R>ok it all,
An' the ten-foot ditch bendc.
An* the corporal pulled an' the sergeant ptubedr
An' the tntee they danced along.
But I'd shut my e>'es in the sentry4x>z.
So I didn't see nothin' wrong.
Though it was" Rounds ! What Rounds f 0 eorferd, '"
'im up !
*£*; usin' 'is cap as it shouldn't ht used, hut, sentry, f
your eye. g
An' it was Pass ! AlPs well! Ho, shun the/eamin' OtP
'Ell need," etc.
■Very diunk.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 517
*T was after four in the mornin';
We 'ad to stop the fun.
An' we sent *im 'ome on a bullock-cart,
With 'is belt an' stock undone;
But wc sluiced *lm down an' we washed 'im out,
An' a lirst-class job we made.
When we saved 'im, smart as a bombardier,
For six o'clock parade.
been "Rounds! fFhat Rounds? Ok, shone 'im
straight again !
usin' 'it sworJ/ora hicycle, hut, sentry, shut your eye"
was "Pass! Aits well!" '£"/ tailed me "Darlin'
Jane!
' need, " etc.
The drill was long an' 'eavy,
The sky was 'ot an' blue.
An' 'is eye was wild an' 'is 'atr was wet,
But 'is sergeant pulled 'im through.
Our men was good old trusties —
They'd done it on their 'ead;
But you ought to 'avc 'card 'em markin' time
To 'ide the things 'e said!
VMS "Right flank — wheel!" /or " 'Ait, an' stand at
rase ! "
"Left extend f" /or "Centre dose!" 0 marker, shut
your eye !
vas, " 'Ere, sir, 'ere ! he/ore the Colonel sees ! "
f needed affidavits pretty badly by-an'-by.
There was two-an '-thirty sergeants.
There was corp'rals forty-one,
There was just nine 'undred rank an' file
To swear to a touch o' sun.
5i8 RUDYARD KIPLING'S
:^i;*«iv(M^cm*iD^:;ci
Time was me *e 'd kined in die ientrf-boi^
As I *av€ not told in my song^
Bat I took my oath, wlucb were Bifafe-tratii,
I 'adn't seen notUn* wnmg.
Tliere's them that's 'ot an' 'ang^ty.
There's them that's cold an' 'and.
Bat there comes a night when the best geti dgh^
And then turns oat the GoanL
I've seen them Ide their fiqoar .
In every kind o' way.
But most depends on makin* friends
Widi PHvit Thomas A.!
IFien it is '^Rounds! JFtuU Rounds? *Ps tnn^
through *is nose.
^Es reelin\ rollin\roarin* ^tight^kutySentry^ shut your ejf -
An' it is '' Pass ! AlFswelir An' that's the way U pes:
We'll 'elp 'imfor 'is mother, an' 'e'll 'elp us hy-an'-ij !
"MARY, PITY WOMEN!"
VOU call yourself a man,
For all you used to swear.
An' leave me, as you can.
My certain shame to bear?
I 'ear! You do not care —
You done the worst you know.
I 'ate you, grinnin' there. . . .
Ah, Gawd, I love you so!
Nice while it lastedy an' now it is over —
Tear out your 'eart an' good-bye to your lover !
What's the use o' grievin'y when the mother that ioreyo
{Mary, pity women /) knew it all before you f
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918
It aren't no false alarm,
The finish to your fun;
You — you 'avc brung the 'arm.
An' I'm the ruined one;
An' now you'll off an' run
With some new fool in tow.
Your 'cart? You 'aven't none. . . .
Ah, Gawd, I love you so!
a mart is ttreJ there is naught vUl hind 'im;
solemn promised 'e will shove te'ind 'im.
s the p>od o' prayin'/or The IFrath to strike 'im
; pity womeni), when the rest are like 'im ?
What 'ope for me or — it?
What's left for us to do?
I've walked with men a bit,
But this — but this is you.
So 'elp me Christ, it's true!
Where can I 'ide or go?
You coward through and through! . . ,
Ah, Gawd, I love you so!
; more you give 'em the less are Ihey for givin' —
'« dead, an' you can not kiss 'im livin'.
the road 'e led you there is no relumin'
tpity women !), but you're late in leamin' !
You'd like to treat me fair?
You can't, because we're pore?
We'd starve? What do I care!
We might, but this is shore!
I want the name — no more —
The name, an' lines to show,
An' not to be an 'ore. . . .
Ah, Gawd, I love you so!
520 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Wha^S the good o' phadin', when the mother that tore you
{Mary, pity women I) knew it all before you f
Sleep on 'is promises an' wake to your sorrow
(Mary, pity women !),Jor we sail to-morrow !
"FOR TO ADMIRE"
•pHE Injian Ocean sets an' smiles
So sof , so bright, so bloomin' blue;
There aren't a wave for miles an" miles
Excep' the ji^le from the screw.
The ship is swep', the day is done,
The bugle's gone for smoke and play;
An' black ag'in the settin' sun
The Lascar sings, "Hum deekty kai!"^
For to admire an' for to see.
For to be'old this world so wide —
// never done no good to me,
Bttt I can't drop it if I tried!
I see the sei^ants pitchin' quoits,
I 'ear the women laugh an' talk,
I spy upon the quarter-deck
The Officers an' lydies walk.
I thinks about the things that was.
An' leans an' looks acrost the sea.
Till, spite of all the crowded ship.
There's no one leP alive but me.
The things that was which I 'ave seen,
In barrick, camp, an' action too,
I tells them over by myself.
An' sometimes wonders if they're true;
'I'm looking out.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918
For they was odd — most awful odd —
But all the same now they are o'er.
There must be 'eaps o' plenty such,
An' if I wait I'D see some more.
Oh, I 'ftve come upon the books.
An' frequent broke a barrick-rule.
An' stood beside an' watched myself
Be'avin' like a bloomin' fool.
I paid my price for lindin' out.
Nor never grutched the price I paid,
But sat in Clink without my boots,
Admitin' 'ow the world was made.
Be'old a cloud upon the beam.
An' 'umped above the sea appears
Old Aden, like a barrick-stove
That no one's lit for years an* yearsl
I passed by that when I began,
An' I go 'omc the road 1 came,
A time-expired soldier-man
With six years' service to 'is name.
My girl she said, "Oh, stay with me!"
My mother 'eld me to 'er breast.
They've never written none, an' so
They must 'ave gone with all the rest —
With all the rest which I 'ave seen
An' found an' known an' met along.
I cannot say the things I feet,
And so I sing my evenin' song:
For to admire an' for to see.
For to be'old this world so vide —
// never done no good to me.
But I can't drop it ij I tried I
KUDTASD KIFUNCS VBMJjg
1S99
" T^OHOfy* JOT aw ska i
Aaf mtm Am U is ^tr
Fwwm 'A^mx J» VaAudM.
Frvm York to Stngapore —
'Orse,foot, an' gum. The Senice Mm
'Encefiii niaiii, 1
THE ABSENT-MINDED BEGGAR
VJIT^JEN you've shoutirf "Rule Brituinia," when foo'"
sung " God save the Queen,"
When you've finished killing Kniger with your mouth,
Will you kindly drop a shilling in my little tunbourine
For a gentleman in kharki ordered South?
He's an absent-minded b^gar, and his weaknesses arcgrett-'
But we and Paul must take him as we find him —
He is out on active service, wiping something off a sUlf
And he's left a lot of little things behind himl
Duke's son — cook's son — son of a hundred kings —
(Fifty thousand horse and foot going to Table Bay!)
Each of 'em doing his country's work
(and who's to look after their thii^?)
Pass the hat for your credit's sake,
and pay — pay — pay!
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 523
There are girls he married secret, asking no permission to,
For he knew he wouldn't get it if he did.
There is gas and coals and vittles, and the house-rent falling
due.
And it's more than rather likely there's a Idd.
There are girls he walked with casual. They'll be sorry now
he's gone.
For an absent-minded beggar they will find him.
But it ain't the time for sermons with the winter coming on.
We must help the girl that Tommy's left behind him!
Cook's son — duke's son — son of a belted earl —
Son of a Lambeth publican — it's all the same to-day!
Each of 'em doing his country's work
(and who's to look after the girl?)
Pass the hat for your credit's sake,
and pay — pay — pay!
There are families by thousands, far too proud to beg or speak.
And they'll put their sticks and bedding up the spout.
And they'll live on half o' nothing, paid 'em punctual once a
week
'Cause the man that earns the wage is ordered out.
He's an absent-minded beggar, but he heard his country call,
And hb reg'ment didn't need to send to find him!
He chucked his job and joined it — so the job before us all
Is to help the home that Tommy's left behind him!
Duke's job — cook's job — gardener, baronet, groom
Mews or palace or paper-shop, there's someone gone away!
Each of 'em doing his country's work
(and who's to look after the room ?}
Pass the hat for your credit's sake,
and pay — pay — pay!
Let us manage so as, later, we can look him in the face.
And tell him — ^what he'd very much prefer —
That, while he saved the Empire, his employer saved his place
And his mates (that's you and me) looked out for her.
524 RUDYARD KIPLING'S
yrci:
He^s an absent-minded beggar and he may fecget it al^
But we do not want his kiddies to remind him
That we sent *em to the workhouse whik thdr daddj iiia-
meredPttul,
So we'll help the homes that Tonunv left behind himl
Cook's home — Duke's home — ^home of a millionaire,
(Fifty thousand horse and foot going to Table BayQ
Each of 'em doing his country's work
(and what have you got to spare?)
Pass the hat for your aedit*s sake,
and p«y— p«y-i«yl
CHANT-PAGAN
{English Irregular discharged)
\4^ E THAT 'ave been what Fve been —
Me that 'ave gone where I've gone —
Me that 'ave seen what I've seen —
'Ow can I ever take on
With awful old England again.
An' 'ouses both sides of the street.
And 'edges two sides of the lane.
And the parson an' gentry between.
An* touchin' my 'at when we meet —
Me that *ave been what I've been?
Me that 'ave watched 'arf a world
'Eave up all shiny with dew.
Kopje on kop to the sun,
An' as soon as the mist let 'em through
Our 'elios winkin' like fun —
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 525
Three sides of a ninety-mile square.
Over valleys as big as a shire —
Are ye there ? Are ye there f Are ye there ?
An* then the blind drum of our fire . . .
An* I*m roUiii* 'is lawns for the Squire,
Me!
Me that 'ave rode through the dark
Forty mile, often, on end,
Along the Ma'oUisberg Range,
With only the stars for my mark
An' only the night for my friend.
An' things runnin' off as you pass,
An' things jumpin' up in the grass.
An' the silence, the shine an' the size
Of the 'igh, unexpressible skies —
I am talun' some letters almost
As much as a mile to the post.
An' "mind you come back with the change"!
Me!
Me that saw Barberton took
When we dropped through the clouds on their 'ead.
An' they 'ove the guns over and fled —
Me that was through Di'mond '111,
An' Pieters an* Springs an' Belfast —
From Dundee to Vereeniging all —
Me that stuck out to the last
(An' five bloomin' bars on my chest) —
I am doin' my Sunday-school best.
By the 'elp of the Squire an' 'is wife
(Not to mention the 'ousemaid an' cook),
526 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VE8SB
To come in an* 'ands up an' be stilly
An* honestly work for my bread.
My livin* in that state of life
To which it shall please God to call
Mel
Me that 'ave followed mv trade
In the place where the Lightnings are made,
HTwixt the Runs and the Sun and the Mooo^
Me that lay down an' got up
Three years with the sky for my roof-
That 'ave ridden my 'unger an' diirst
Six thousand raw nule on the hoof.
With the Vaal and the Orange for cup.
An' the Brandwater Barin for dish> —
Oh! it's 'ard to be'ave as they wish
(Too 'ard, an* a little too soon),
ril 'ave to think over it first —
Me!
I will arise an' get 'cnce; —
I will trek South and make sure
If it's only my fancy or not
That the sunshine of England is pale.
And the breezes of England are stale.
An' there's somethin' gone small with the lot;
For / know of a sun an' a wind.
An' some plains and a mountain be'ind.
An' some graves by a barb-wire fence;
An' a Dutchman I've fought 'oo might give
Me a job were I ever inclined,
To look in an' ofFsaddle an' live
Where there's neither a road nor a tree —
But only my Maker an' me.
And I think it will kill me or cure,
So I think I will go there an' see.
Me!
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 $^7
M.I.
{Mounted Infantry of the Line)
ISH my mother could see me now, with a fence-post
under my arm,
a knife and a spoon in my putties that I found on a Boer
farm,
) of a sore-backed Argentine, with a thirst that you
could n't buy.
ised to be in the Yorkshires once
ussex, Lincolns, and Rifles once),
impshires, Glosters, and Scottish once! {ad lib.)
But now I am M. I.
: is what we are known as — that is the name you must call
u want officers' servants, pickets an* 'orseguards an' all —
lils for buryin'-parties, company-cooks or supply —
1 out the chronic Ikonas! Roll up the * M. I.!
ands are spotty with veldt-sores, my shirt is a button an'
friU,
the things Fve used my bay'nit for would make a tinker
ill!
don't know whose dam* column I'm in, nor where we're
trekkin* nor why.
e trekked from the Vaal to the Orange once —
:>m the Vaal to the greasy Pongolo once —
r else it was called the Zambesi once) —
For now I am M. I.
is what we are known as — we are the push you require
outposts all night under freezin*, an* rearguard all day
under fire.
^Number according to taste and service of audience.
S»8
RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Anjrdiing *ot or unwholesome? Anything dusty or diy?
Borrow *. bunch of Ikonas! Trot out the M, I.!
Our Seigeant-Major's a subaltern, our Captain's a Fusilier—
Our Adjutant's "late of Somebody's 'Orsc," an' a Mdboaroe
WKtJoneer;
But you couldn't spot us at 'arf a mile from the crackcK
cMval-ry.
They used to talk, about Lancers once,
Hunan, Dragoons, an' Lancers once,
*Elinet8, pistols, an' carbines once.
But now we are M. I.!
I
cractot.J
; known as — we are the orphans they
That is what we
blame
Forbeggin' the loan of an 'ead-stall an' makin' amount to the
same.
'Can't even look at their 'orseltnes but some one goes belkrin
"Hi!
"'Ere comes a burglin* Ikona!" Footsack you H.V-
We're trekkin' our twenty miles a day an' bcin' loved by the
Dutch,
But we don't hold on by the mane no more, nor lose our siir-
nips — much;
An' we scout with a senior man in chaise where the 'oly white
flags fly.
We used to think they were friendly once,
Didn't take any precautions once
(Once, my ducky, an' only once!)
But now we are M. L!
That is what we are known as — we are the beggars that g"^
Three days "to learn equitation," an' six months o' bloomi"
well trot!
Cow-guns, an' cattle, an' convoys — an' Mister De Wet on tftf
fly-
We are the rollin' Ikonas! We arc the M, I.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 529
new fat regiments come from home, imaginin' vain
V. C/s
; same as your talky-fighty men which are often Number
Threes^,
our words o* command are "Scatter" an' "Close" an*
"Let your wounded lie."
e used to rescue *em noble once, —
ivin* the range as we raised *em once,
ettin* 'em killed as we saved 'em once —
But now we are M. I.
t is what we are known as — ^we are the lanterns you view
r a fight round the kopjes, lookin' for men that we knew;
stlin' an' callin' together, 'altin' to catch the reply: —
p me! O 'elp me, Ikonas! This way, the M. I.!"
sh my mother could see me now, a-gatherin' news on my
own,
in I ride like a General up to the scrub and ride back like
Tod Sloan,
larkable close to my 'orse's neck to let the shots go by.
e used to fancy it risky once
Called it a reconnaissance once),
nder the charge of an orfcer once.
But now we are M. I.!
t is what we are known as — that is the song you must say
:n you want men to be Mausered at one and a penny a
day;
are no five-bob Colonials — we are the *ome-made supply,
for the London Ikonas! Ring up the M. I.!
sh myself could talk to myself as I left 'im a year ago;
uld tell 'im a lot that would save 'im a lot on the things
that *e ought to know!
Hone-holders when in action, and therefore generally under cover.
530 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
When I think o* that ignormnt bamck-biidt it aln
me ciy.
I used to belong in an Army once
(Gawd! what a mm little Army once).
Red litde, dead little Army onoe!
But now I am M. L!
That is what we are known at— we are die men that hm
been
Over a year at the bumnesa, amelt it an* hh it an' teeo.
fTe 'ave got *okl of the needful— ;)fo« will be told by and b^
Wait till you've 'eard the Ikonasy qxike to the old M. LI
Mount—^archy Ikanas I Sumd io ymut ^mtu mffm I
Mop off the frost on the saddles^ mop up the mUes on tkifUH'
Ota go the stars in the dawnin\ up goes our dust to the skj,
ff'aik—trot, Ikonas ! Trek jou,^ the old M. I. !
COLUMNS
{Mobile Columns of the Boer War)
OUT o' the wilderness, dusty an* dry
{Timcy an* *igh time to be trekkin* again /)
'Oo is it *eads to the Detail Supply?
ji section, a pompom, an* six *undred men.
'Ere comes the clerk with 'is lantern an' keys
{Time, an *igh time to be trekkin* again !)
"Surplus of everything — draw what you please
"For the section, the pompom, an* six *undredmen
^ Get ahead.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 531
What are our orders an' where do we lay?"
(Timcy an* *igh time to be trekkin* again /)
'You came after dark — you will leave before day,
" You section y you pompom y you six ^undred men /'
Down the tin street, 'alf awake an' unfed,
'Ark to 'em blessin' the Gen'ral in bed!
Now by the church' an' the outspan they wind —
Over the ridge an' it's all lef be'ind
For the section^ etc.
Soon thev will camp as the dawn's growin' grey.
Roll up tor cofiee an' sleep while they may —
The section^ etc.
Read their 'ome letters, their papers an' such,
For they'll move after dark to astonish the Dutch
fFith a section^ etc.
IJntin' for shade as the long hours pass —
Blankets on rifles or burrows in grass.
Lies the section^ etc.
Dossin' or beatin' a shirt in the sun.
Watching chameleons or cleanin' a gun,
Waits the section^ etc.
With nothin' but stillness as far as you please,
-An' the silly mirage stringin* islands an' seas
Round the section^ etc.
So they strips off their hide an' they grills in their bones,
Till the shadows crawl out from beneath the pore stones
Towards the section^ etc.
8t
lYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
An' the Mauser-bird stops an' the jackals begin,
An' the 'orse-guard comes up and the Gunners 'ook a
jis a 'in( to the pompom an* six 'xmdred men, . . .
Off through the dark with the stars to rely on —
(Alpha Centauri an' somethin' Orion)
Moves the section, et^.,
Same bloomin' 'ole "i! he ant-bear 'as broke,
Saine bloomin' stur same bloomin' joke
Down the section, et\.,
Same "which is right?*' lere the cart-tracks divide,
Same "give it up" from tnc same clever guide
To the section, etc.
Same tumble-down on the same 'idden farm.
Same white-eyed Kaffir 'oo gives the alarm . ~
OJtht section, etc.
Same shootin' wild at the end o* the night,
Same flyin'-tackle an* same messy fight,
By the section, etc.
Same ugly 'iccup an' same 'orrid squeal.
When it's too dark to see an' it's too late to feel
In the section, etc.
(Same batch of prisoners, 'airy an' still,
Watchin' their comrades bolt over the 'ill
From the section, etc.)
Same chiHy glare in the eye of the sun
As 'e gets up displeasured to sec what was done
By the section, etc
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 533
me splash o' pink on the stoep or the kraal,
1' the same quiet face which 'as finished with all
In the section^ the pompom^ an* six ^undred men.
it 0* the wildemesSy dusty an* dry
{Timey ah* *igh time to be trekkin* again /)
0 is it *eads to the Detail Supply ?
A section^ a pompom^ an* six *undred men.
THE PARTING OF THE COLUMNS
. . On ihe — ih instant a mixed detachment of Colonials left for
Town, there to rejoin their respective homeward-^ound contingents , after
months* service in the field. They were escorted to the station by the
r troops \n garrison and the bulk of Colonel *s column^ which has just
in to refit ^ preparatory to further operations. The leave-taking was of the
ordial character, the men cheering each other continuously.
— ^Any Newspaper, during the South African War.
E^VE rode and fought and ate and drunk as rations
come to hand,
tther for a year and more around this stinkin' land:
you are goin' home again, but we must see it through,
leedn't tell we liked you well. Good-bye — good luck to
you!
'ad no special call to come, and so you doubled out,
learned us how to camp and cook an' steal a horse and
scout,
itcver game we fancied most, you joyful played it too,
rather better on the whole. Good-bye — good luck to
you!
•re isn't much we 'ave n't shared, since Kruger cut and run,
■ same old work, the same old skofF^ the same old dust and
sun;
»Food.
»4 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
TWe Mme old chance that iaid us out, or winked an' let 01
through;
Hw aunc old life, the same old Death. Good-bye— gtod I
luck to you! I
Our blood 'as truly mixed with yours — all down tbe Rot
Cross train.
We've bit the same tl: tcr in BIoeming-typhoidlHit,
WeSe 'ad the same old imrc — the same relapses too,
Tie mnc old saw-l ver-chart. Good-bvc— good
hjck to ]f"ou!
Ikxt *t Was n*t merely this an" that (which all the world mif
know).
Twas how you talked an' looked at things which m«de «
like you so.
All independent, queer an' odd, but most amazin' new,
My word! you ^ook us up to rights. Good-bye— gcxl
luck to you!
TUnk o' the stories round the fire, the tales along the tret-"
O* Calgary an' WcUin'ton, an' Sydney and Quebec;
Of nuite an' fann. an' ranch an' run, an' moose an' cariboo.
An* p«\uts peckin' lambs to death! Good-bye — good luck
to youl
We've seen >-our 'ome by word o' mouth, we've watched y<»'
rivrrs shine,
We've 'card your bloomin' forests blow of eucalip' and pi^i
Your young, gay countries north an' south, we ^1 we o*"
'em t<x>.
For the>- was made by rank an' file. Good-bye — good la^
Well ne^-er read the papers now without inquirin' fiist
For word from all those friendly dcMps where you w«s tx^**
an' nursed.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 535
r, Dawson, Galle, an' Montreal — Port Darwin — ^Timaru,
jr're only just across the road! Good-bye — good luck
to you!
•
d-bye! — So-long! Don't lose yourselves — nor us, nor all
kind friends,
tell the girls your side the drift we're comin* — when it
ends!
d-bye, you bloomin' Atlases! You've taught us some-
thin' new:
world's no bigger than a kraaL Good-bye — good luck
to you!
TWO KOPJES
{Made Yeomanry towards End of Boer fFar)
QNLY two African kopjes,
Only the cart-tracks that wind
Empty and open between 'em,
O^ly the Transvaal behind; •
Only an Aldershot column
Marching to conquer the land . . •
Only a sudden and solemn
Visit, unarmed, to the Rand.
Then scorn not the African kopje,
The kopje that smiles in the heat,
The wholly unoccupied kopje,
The home of Cornelius and Piet.
You can never be sure of your kopje,
But of this be you blooming well sure,
A kopje is always a kopje.
And a Boojer is always a Boer!
CMr^
MmivA iRaK- tmk on hs ^de^
lleaka*! ■■mang kopje.
Qilr the doR of their vlmfa.
Only » tcfced CCTWPimdo,
CMt cnr gam at dKtr hedi . . .
Oi^ a Btde bnlKmR,
Osly anunral fcvt^
Aitr "by sectioos ledre,"
CWt "regret to report!"
Tbra mock not the Aftkan kofjcj
Eqicciallj' irben it is twins.
One sharp and one taUe-toppcd kopje
For that's where the trooUe befpia.
You never roi he, etc
Only two African kopjes
Baited the same as before —
Only we've had it » often,
Only we're taUi^ no took . . .
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 537
Only a wave to our troopers.
Only our flanks swinging past.
Only a dozen voorloopers,^
Only WtfVe learned it at last!
Then mock not the African kopje.
But take off your hat to the same.
The patient, impartial old kopje.
The kopje that taught us the game!
For all that we knew in the Columns,
And all they've forgot on the Staff,
We learned at the Fight o' Two Kopjes,
Which lasted two years an' a half.
O mock not the African kopje.
Not even when peace has been signed —
The kopje that isn't a kopje —
The kopje that copies its kind.
You can never be sure of your kopje,
But of this be you blooming well sure.
That a kopje is always a kopje.
And a Boojer is always a Boer!
THE INSTRUCTOR
{Non-commissioned Officers of the Line)
AT TIMES when under cover I 'ave said.
To keep my spirits up an' raise a laugh,
'Earin 'im pass so busy over-'ead —
Old. Nickel-Neck, '00 is n't on the Staff —
" There's one above is greater than us all,*
^ Leading horseman of the enemy.
538 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Before 'im I 'ave seen my Colonel fall,
An' watched 'im write my Captain's epitaph,
So that a long way off it could be read —
He 'ns the knack o' makin" men feel small-
Old A'histle Tip, 'oo is n't on the Staff.
RSE ^^1
The ■ ■ " ■
(I 'ave fled).
Beti
ly-crawi.
An' .
■r man instead
Ofyc
speshual —
Eoy
on the Staff.
An* thi matograph.
Now tl.. ', I recall
The peevisn voice .. y mushroom 'ead
• Of 'im we owned was greater than us all,
'Oo give instruction to the quick an' the dead—
The Shuddcrin' Beggar — not upon the Staff!
BOOTS
{Infantry Columns)
VX^E'RE foot — slog — slog — slog — sloggin' over Afrid'
Foot — foot — foot — foot — sloggin' over Africa —
(Boots — boots — boots — boots — movin* up and down agiin!)
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 atwhat'sin frontof }■'*'
(Boots — boots — boots — boots^movin' up an* down ag»iW'
Men — men — men — men — men go mad with watchin' 'ciH'
An* there's no discharge in the war!
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 188&-1918 539
J — try — try — to think o' something different —
— God — ^kcep — me from goin' lunatic !
-boota — boots — boots — movin' up an' down again!)
There's no discharge in the war!
count — count — count — the bullets in the bandoliers.
' — eyes — drop — they will get atop o* you
-boots — boots — boots — movin' up and down again) —
There's no discharge la the war!
I — stick — out — 'unger, thirst, an' weariness,
t — not — not — wot the chronic sight of *em —
3oots — boots — boots — ^movin* up an' down again.
An' there's no discharge in the war!
-so — bad — by — day because o' company,
jht — brings — ^long — strings — o' forty thousand mil-
on
xx>ts — boots — t)oots — movin' up an' down again.
There's no discharge in the war!
-marched — eix — ^wedcs in 'E41 an' certify
lot — fire — devils — dark or anything,
ots — boots — boots — boots — movin' up an' down
rain.
An' there's no discharge in the war!
THE MARRIED MAN
{Reservist of the Line)
T^HE bachelor *e fights for one
As joyful as can be;
But the married man don't call it fun.
Because 'e fights for three —
DTARD laPUNCS VERSE
i or tm isl' Et an' It
{Art T«o MO One nuke Three)
*E vaius IS finaii "a Btdc bit.
An *c vaats to so 'obk to "a tea!
1 "he ***»*■ fc* pokes ap 'is 'ead
doc;
VL. . . Hcs down instead,
A* *K ig)>t$ come on,
1 hit
)
. % Ettlcbit,
— ' - 'omc to "is tea.
To %kt anodKr dajr;
Bat die married man, 'e says "No fear!**
'E wants too out of tlte way
Of Im an* 'Er an' It
(An* *is road to *is brm or die sea),
*£ wants to finish *is fittk lut,
Aa 'e wants to go 'ome to *is tea.
The bachelor 'e fi^ts *is fi^t
An' stretches oat an* sochvs;
But the married man sits up all night —
For 'e don't like out-o'-doon.
*E11 strain an' listen an' peer
An* give the first alarm —
For the sake o' the breathin* 'e's used to 'eir
An' the 'ead on the thick of *is arm.
The bachelor may risk *is 'ide
To 'cip you when jrou're downed;
But the married man will wait bende
Till the ambulance comes round.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 541
'E'll take your 'ome address
An* all you've rime to say,
Or if 'e sees there's 'ope, 'e'U press
Your art'ry 'alf the day —
For 'Im an' 'Er an' It
(An' One from Three leaves Two),
For 'e knows you wanted to finish your bit,
An' 'e knows 'oo's wantin' you.
Yes, 'Im an' 'Er an' It
(Our *oly One in Three),
We're all of us anxious to finish our bit.
An* we want to get 'ome to our tea!
Yes, It an' 'Er an' *Im,
Which often makes me think
The married man must sink or swim
An' — 'e can't afford to sink!
Oh 'Im an' It an' 'Er
Since Adam an' Eve began!
So I'd rather fight with the bachel^
An' be nursed by the married man!
LICHTENBERG
{New South Wales Contingent)
^MELLS are surer than sounds or sights
To make your heart-strings crack —
They start those awful voices o' nights
That whisper, "Old man, come back!"
That must be why the big things pass
And the little things remain,
Like the smell of the wattle by Lichtenberg,
Riding in, in the rain.
I RUDYARD KIPLING'S VER
There was some silly fire on the flank
^nd the small wet tlrizzling down —
There were the sold-out shops and the bank
And the wet, wide-open town;
ytiid we were doing escort-duty
To somebody's baggage-train.
And I smelt wattle by Lichtenberg —
Riding in, in the rain.
It was all Australia to me —
All I had found or missed:
Every face I was crazy to see,
And every woman I'd kissed:
All that I should n't ha' done, God knows!
(As He knows I'll do it again),
That smell of the wattle round Litchtcnbcrg,
Riding in, in the rain!
And I saw Sydney the same as ever.
The picnics and brass-bands;
And my Httlc homestead on Hunter River
And my new vines joining hands.
It all came over me in one act
Quick as a shot through the brain —
With the smell of the wattle round Lichtenbc^,
Riding in, in the rain.
I have forgotten a hundred fights.
But one I shall not forget —
With the raindrops bunging up my sights
And my eyes bunged up with wet;
And through the crack and the stink of the cordite
(Ah Christ! My country again!)
The smell of the wattle by Ijcntcnberg,
Riding in, in the rain!
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 543
STELLENBOSH
{Composite Columns)
yHE General 'card the firin* on the flank,
An' 'e sent a mounted man to bring *im back
The silly, pushin* person's name an' rank
'Oo'd dared to answer Brother Boer's attack:
For there might 'ave been a serious engagement,
An' 'e might 'ave wasted *alf a dozen men;
So 'e order^ 'im to stop 'is operations rpund the kopjes.
An' 'e told 'im oS before the Staff at ten !
And it all goes into the laundry.
But it never comes out in the wash,
'Ow we're sugared about by the old men
('Eavy-stemed amateur old men!)
That 'amper an' 'inder an' scold men
For fear o' Stellenbosh!
The General 'ad " produced a great effect,"
The General 'ad the country cleared — almost;
The General '' 'ad no reason to expect,"
And the Boers 'ad us bloomin' well on toast!
For we might 'ave crossed the drift before the twilight,
Instead o' sitting down an' takin' root;
But we was not allowed, so the Boojers scooped the crowd,
To the last survivin' bandolier an' boot.
The General saw the farm'ouse in 'is rear.
With its stoep so nicely shaded from the sun;
Sez 'e, "I'll pitch my tabernacle 'ere,"
An' 'e kept us muckin' round till 'e 'ad done.
544 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
For 'c might 'avc caught the confluent pneumonia
From sleepin' in his gaiters in the dew;
So 'e took a ix)ok an' dozed while the other columns do8
And Dc Wet's commando out an' trickled through!
The General saw the mountain-range ahead.
With -•- ■-■'•-"■ -i">- "-' — "cy on the 'eight.
So 'e 'e-_ d instead,
An' telegi would n't fight.
For 'e mijr»«i lyed 'em with a pompom,
Or 'e m adron out to see-
But 'e was n them 'igh an' 'ostile kranza-
He was m < < a K. C. B
The General got 'is decc. i thick
(The men that backed is lies could not complain),
The Staff 'ad D. S. O.'s till we was sick,
An' the soldier — 'ad the work to do again!
For 'e might 'ave known the District was an 'otbed,
Instead of 'andin' over, upside-down.
To a man 'oo 'ad to fight 'alf a year to put it right,
While the General went an' slandered 'im in town!
An' it all went into the laundry,
But it never came out in the wash.
We were sugared about by the old men
(Panicky, perishin' old men)
That 'amper an' 'indcr an" scold men
For fear o' Steilenbosh!
HALF-BALLAD OF WATERVAL
(Non-commissioned Officers in Charge of Prisonen)
\\^HEN by the labour of my 'ands
I've 'elped to pack a transport tight
With prisoners for foreign lands.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 54.5
I ain't transported with delight.
I know it's only just an' right.
But yet it somehow sickens me,
For I 'ave learned at Waterval
The meanin* of captivity.
Be'ind the pegged barb-wire strands.
Beneath the tall electric light.
We used to walk in bare-'ead bands,
Explainin' 'ow we lost our fight;
An' that is what they'll do to-night
Upon the steamer out at sea,
If I 'ave learned at Waterval
The meanin' of captivity.
They II never know the shame that brands —
Black shame no livin* down makes white —
The mockin' from the sentry-stands,
The women's laugh, the gaoler's spite.
We are too bloomin'-much polite.
But that is 'ow I'd *ave us be . . .
Since I 'ave learned at Waterval
The meanin* of captivity.
They'll get those draggin' days all right,
Spent as a foreigner commands,
An' 'orrors of the locked-up night,
With 'Ell's own thinkin' on their 'ands.
I'd give the gold o' twenty Rands
(If it was mine) to set 'em free
For I 'ave learned at Waterval
The meanin' of captivity!
546 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
PIET
{Rsguhar of the Line)
T DO not love my Empire's foes.
Nor call 'em angels; still.
What is the sense of 'atin' those
'Oom you are paid to kill?
So, barrin' all that foreign lot
Which only joined for spite.
Myself, Fd just as soon as not
Respect the man I fight.
Ah there, Piet! — 'is trousles to 'is knees,
'Is coat-taib lyin' level in the buUet-sprinkled breen;
'E does not lose 'is rifle an' 'e does not lose 'is seat,
Tve known a lot o' people ride a dam' sight worse dun
Piet.
I've 'card *im cryin* from the ground
Like Abel's blood of old,
An' skirmished out to look, an' found
The beggar nearly cold.
I've waited on till 'e was dead
(Which couldn't 'elp 'im much).
But many grateful things 'e 's said
To me for doin' such.
Ah there, Piet! whose time 'as come to die,
'Is carcase past rebellion, but 'is eyes inquirin' why.
Though dressed in stolen uniform with badge o' nuik
complete,
I've known a lot o' fellers go a dam' ught worse than
Piet.
An* when there was n't aught to do
But camp and cattle-guards,
I've fought with 'im the 'ole day through
At fifteen 'undred yards;
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 S47
iftemoons o' lyin' still,
'earin' as you lay
lUets swish from 'ill to 'ill
scythes among the 'ay.
Ii there, Piet! — be'ind 'is stony kop.
1th 'is Boer bread an' biltong,^ an' 'is flask of awful
Dop«;
} Mauser for amusement an' 'is pony for retreat,
ire known a lot o' fellers shoot a dam' sight worse
than Piet.
loved 'is rifle 'neath my nose
ire I'd time to think,
rrowed all my Sunday do'es
sent me 'ome in pink;
ave crept (Lord, 'ow I've crept!)
1 'ands an' knees I've gone,
oored and floored and caught and kept
sent him to Ceylon !
1 there, Piet! — you've sold me many a pup,
hen week on week alternate it was you an' me ** 'ands
ud!"
It though I never made you walk man-naked in the
'eat,
■re known a lot of fellows stalk a dam' sight worse than
Piet.
?lewman's to Marabastad,
n Ookiep to De Aar,
my trusty friend 'ave 'ad,
ou might say, a war;
sin' what both parties done
•re 'e owned defeat,
more proud of 'avin' won,
1 1 am pleased with Piet.
^ Dried meat. * Cape brandy.
548 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Ah there, Pietl — picked up be'ind the drive!
The wonder wasn't 'ow 'c fought, but 'ow 'c kep' aE»t,
With nothin' in 'is belly, on 'is back, or to 'is feet—
I've known a lot o' men behave a dam' sight tor
than Piet.
No more III 'ear 'is rifle crack
Aloi^ the block'ousc fence — ,
The bcsgu's on the peaceful tack,
Regardless of expense;
For countin' what 'e eats an' draws,
An' gifts an' loans as well, .
'£'s gettin' 'alf the Earth, because
'E didn't give us 'Ell!
Ah there, E^et! with your brand-new Ei^ish plou^
Your gratis tents an' cattle, an' your most ungrsteftl
frow,
You've made the British taxpayer rebuild your country-
scat —
I've known some pet battalions charge a dam' sight lew
than PieL
"WJLFUL-MISSING"
ipeierters)
"TpHERE is a world outside the one you know,
To which for curiousness 'EU can't compare-
It is the place where " wilful-mi ssings " go.
As we can testify, for we are there.
You may 'ave read a bullet laid us low.
That we was gathered in "with reverent care'
And buried proper. But it was not so.
As we can testify, — for we are there!
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 549
They can't be certain — faces alter so
After the old aasvogel* 's 'ad 'is share.
The uniform 's the mark by which they go —
And — ain't it odd? — the one we best can spare.
We might 'ave seen our chance to cut the show —
Name, number, record, an' begin elsewhere —
Leavin' some not too late-lamented foe
One funeral — private — British — for *is share.
We may *ave took it yonder in the Low t
Bush-veldt that sends men stragglin' unaware
Among the Kaffirs, till their columns go.
An' they are left past call or count or care.
We might *ave been your lovers long ago,
IJsbands or children — comfort or despair.
Our death {fitC burial) settles all we owe,
An' why we done it is our own affair.
Marry again, and we will not say no,
Nor come to barstardise the kids you bear.
Wait on in 'ope — you've all your life below
Before you'll ever 'ear us on the stair.
There is no need to give our reasons, though
Gawd knows we all 'ad reasons which were fair;
But other people might not judge 'em so —
And now it doesn't matter what they were.
What man can weigh or size another's woe?
There are some things too bitter 'ard to bear.
Suffice it we 'ave finished — Domino!
As we can testify, for we are there.
In the side-world where "wilful-missings" go.
* Vulture.
550 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
UBIQUE
{JRayalAnittiiy)
'T'HERE is a wad you often wet, pwnoaiice it u f*
«
You bike/' **yoa bykwee,'' ''nbbikwe"— dhidiii' tol.^
It serves *Qrsc, Fieldt an' Garrison as motto for a attt.
An' when ]rou've found out all it means I'll tell yoa 'alf tk
rest* 9
Ubique means the hmg-range Knipp belnd the hnv-naff
'iU—
Ubique means you'll pick it up an'» while you do, stsod idl
Ubique means you've caught the flash an' timed it by tk
sound.
Ubique means five gunners' 'ash before you've loosed t
round.
Ubique means Blue Fuse/ an' make the 'ole to sink the tniL
Ubique means stand up an' take the Mauser's 'alf-mile 'ail
Ubique means the crazy team not God nor man can 'old.
Ubique means that 'orse's scream which turns your inntrds
cold!
Ubique means "Bank, 'Olbom, Bank — a penny all the
way —
The soothin', jingle-bump-an'-clank from day to peaceful
day.
Ubique means "They've caught De Wet, an' now we sha n t
be long."
Ubique means "I much regret, the beggar's goin' strong!"
* Extreme range
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 551
Ubique means the tearin' drift where, breech-blocks jammed
with mud.
The khaki muzzles duck an' lift across the khaki flood.
Ubique means the dancing plain that changes rocks to Boers.
Ubique means the mirage again an' shellin' all outdoors.
Ubique means "Entrain at once for Grootdefeatfontein**!
Ubique means "OfF-load your guns" — at midnight in the
rain!
Ubique means "More mounted men. Return all guns
to store."
Ubique means the R. A. M. R. Infantillery Corps!
Ubique means that wamin' grunt the perished linesman
knows,
When o'er 'is strung an' sufFerin' front the shrapnel sprays 'is
foes;
An' as their firin' dies away the 'usky whisper runs
From lips that 'ave n't drunk all day: "The Guns! Thank
Gawd, the Guns!"
Extreme, depressed, point-blank or short, end-first or any'ow.
From Colesberg Kop to Quagga's Poort — from Ninety-Nine
till now —
By what I've 'eard the others tell an' I in spots 'ave seen,
There's nothin' this side 'Eaven or 'Ell Ubique does n't mean !
THE RETURN
{All Arms)
DEIACE is declared, an' I return
To 'Ackneystadt, but not the same;
Things 'ave transpired which made me learn
The size and meanin' of the game.
"S ¥EBE
V/ Btt
i_».
t!
I
ic COOK to
concexc ovtt on die ok
X rsTTii 33SKT be applsed),
Pie -^yajtrn*? or x hkxxmsi sooL
XV. •'^^7 A. -TJ7' -
Px-r.-? Viica the aoooshine turns to sea,
Mcunrai:^ wifsA never let Toa near,
.\2' scar^ ro iR etemitr;
An' dre cuick-fcreathm' dart that fills
"he 'ciJcvs of the wikiemess^
the wind worries through the *ills—
rr.xv 'ave tausiht mc more or less.
Towns w::hout people, ten times took.
An* rtn nmes left an' burned at last;
An' starv-in* dogs that come to look
For owr.ers when a column passed;
An' quiet, 'omesick talks between
Men, met bv ni^t, vou never knew
Until — is face — bv shellfirc seen —
Once — an' struck off. Thty taught mc too-
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 SS3
The day's lay-out — the mornin* sun
Beneath your *at-brim as you sight;
The dinner-*ush from noon till one,
An' the full roar that lasts till night;
An' the pore dead that look so old
An' was so young an hour ago.
An' legs tied down before they're cold —
These are the things which make you know.
Also Time runnin' into years —
A thousand Places left be'ind —
An' Men from both two 'emispheres
Discussin' things of every kind;
So much more near than I 'ad known,
So much more great than I 'ad guessed —
An' me, Jike all the rest, alone —
But reachin' out to all the rest!
So 'ath it come to me — not pride.
Nor yet conceit, but on the 'ole
(If such a term may be applied).
The makin's of a bloomin' soul.
But now, discharged, I fall away
To do with little things again. .
Gawd, 'oo knows all I cannot say.
Look after me in Thamesfontein!*
If England was what England seems ^
An^ not the England of our dreams^
But only putty ^ brass^ an^ painty
'Ow quick we'd chuck 'er ! But she ain't!
London.
RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
"CITIES AND THRONES JND POIVER
^ITIES anJ Thrones and Powers,
Stand in Timt's eye.
Almost as long as flowers ^
a^bUh daily dU:
But, as new buds j>ut forth
To glad new men.
Out of the spent and unconsidered Earth,
The Cities rise again.
This season's DaffadH,
She never hears,
fFhai change, what chance, what chiil.
Cut down last year's; •
But with boid eountenartce.
And knowledge small.
Esteems her seven days' continuance.
To be perpetual.
So Time that is o'er-kinJt
ToaStka/ie,
Ordains ut e'en as Nind,
As bold as she:
That in our very death.
And burial sure.
Shadow to shadow, well persuaded, saith,
" See how our works endure!"
THE RECALL
\ AM the land of their fathers.
n me the virtue stays.
I will bring bade my children,
After certain days.
JAM
In T\
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 SSS
Under their feet in the grasses
My clinging magic runs.
They shall return as strangers.
They shall remain as sons.
Over their heads in the branches
Of their new-bought, ancient trees,
I weave an incantation
And draw them to my knees.
Scent of smoke in the evening.
Smell of rain in the night —
The hours, the days and the seasons.
Order their souls aright,
nil I make plain the meaning
Of all my thousand years —
Till I fill their hearts with knowledge.
While I fill their eyes with tears.
PUCK'S SONG
CEE you the ferny ride that steals
Into the oak*woods far?
O that was whence they hewed the keels
That rolled to Trafalgar.
And mark you where the ivy clings
To Bayham's mouldering walls?
O there we cast the stout railings
That stand around St. Paul's.
See you the dimpled track that runs
All hollow through the wheat?
O that was where they hauled the guns
That smote King Philip's fleet.
556 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
(Out of the Weald, the secret Wedd,
Men sent in ancient years.
The horse-shoes red at Flodden Fidd,
The arrows at Poitiers!)
See you our little mill that clacks.
So busy by die btook?
She has ground her com and paid her tax
Ever since Domesday Book.
See you our stilly woods of oak.
And the dread ditch beside?
O that was where the Saxons hndce
On the day that Hardd died.
See you the windy levels spread
About the gates of Rye?
O that was where the Northmen fled.
When Alfred's ships came by.
See you our pastures wide and lone.
Where the red oxen browse?
O there was a City thronged and known,
Ere London boasted a house.
And see you, after rain, the trace
Of mound and ditch and wall?
O that was a Legion's camping-place,
When Csesar sailed from Gaul.
And see you marks that show and fade,
Like shadows on the Downs?
O they are the lines the Flint Men made,
To guard their wondrous towns.
Trackway and Camp and City lost,
Salt Marsh where now is corn —
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 S57
Old Wars, old Peace, old Arts that cease.
And so was England born!
She is not any common Earth,
Water or wood or air.
But Merlin's Isle of Gramarye,
Where you and I will fare!
THE WAY THROUGH THE WOODS
THEY shut the road through the woods
Seventy years ago.
Weather and rain have undone it again.
And now you would never know
There was once a road through the woods
Before they planted the trees.
It is underneath the coppice and heath,
And the thin anemones.
Only the keeper sees
That, where the ring-dove broods.
And the badgers roll at ease.
There was once a road through the woods.
Yet, if you enter the woods
Of a sununer evening late.
When the night-air cools on the trout-ringed pools
Where the otter whistles his mate.
They fear not men in the woods.
Because they see so few
You will hear the beat of a horse's feet.
And the swish of a skirt in the dew,
Steadily cantering through
The misty solitudes.
As though they perfectly knew
The old lost road through the woods. . . .
But there is no road through the woods.
558 RUDYARD iaFUNG*5
y:*^:'
A THREE-PART SONG
T*M JUST in lore with all then tilfce.
The Weald and the Marah and die Down cooade.
Nor I don't know which I knvc die moat»
The Weald or the Marah or the white Chalk ooaitl
Fve buried my heart in a ferny hill,
Tirac* a fiddle km ahaw an* a gpeat high gilL
Oh hop-bine yaller an' wood-amdce Uue»
I reckon you*li keep her middling trael
I've loosed my mind ibr to oat and ran
On a Marsh that was old when Kings bc^un.
Oh Romney Level and Brenzett reeds,
I reckon you know what my mind needs 1
Fve given my soul to the Southdown grass,
And sheep-bells tinkled where you pass.
Oh Firle an' Ditchling an' sails at sea,
I reckon you keep my soul for mel
THE RUN OF THE DOWNS
'T^HE Weald is good, the Downs are hesh-
r II give you the run of 'em^ East to West.
Beachy Head and Winddoor Hill,
They were once and they are still.
Firle, Mount Cabum and Mount Harry
Go back as far as sums '11 carry.
Ditchling Beacon and Chanctonbury Ring>
They have looked on many a thing,
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 559
And what those two have missed between 'em,
I reckon Truleigh Hill has seen 'em.
Highden, Bignor and Duncton Down
Knew Old England before the Crown.
Linch Down, Treyford and Sunwood
Knew Old England before the Flood;
And when you end on the Hampshire side —
Butser's old as Time and Tide.
The Downs are sheepy the Weali is corriy
You he glad you are Sussex bom !
BROOKLAND ROAD
I
WAS very well pleased with what I knowed,
I reckoned myself no fool —
Till I met with a maid on the Brookland Road,
That turned me back to school.
Low down — low down !
Where the liddle preen lanterns shine —
0 maidsy Pve done with *ee all but oncy
And she can never be mine !
*Twas right in the middest of a hot June night.
With thunder duntin' round.
And I see'd her face by the fairy light
That beats from off the ground.
She only smiled and she never spoke.
She smiled and went away;
But when she'd gone my heart was broke
-And my wits was clean astray.
RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
O, stop your ringing andlet me be —
Let be, 6 BrookJand bells!
You 11 ring Old Goodmaji^ out of the sea.
Before I wed one else !
3
Old Goodman's Farm is rank sea-sand^
And was this t*'""«""id year;
But it shall tu; ich plough-land
Before I chi iear.
O, Fairfield ( i water-bound
Fnm witomn to ' ^ring;
•But it sliall turn ^ hill-ground
Before my bells ao ti ig.
O, leave me walk on booUand Road.
In die diunder and vann rain —
O, leave roe look where my lore goed.
And p'laps III see her again!
inert the lUJUgrtem Imterns shine—
0 mMJj, Fat Jome with 'ee ail hit one,
Jmd she CMM never be mitu 1
THE SACK OF THE GODS
^TRANGERS drawn fton tlte ends of the eaith, jewel
and plumed wetc we;
1 was Lord of the laca noe, and she was Queen of the S
I'ndcr the stars beyond our stars where the new-foiged me
orsglow,
HvtHy we stormed Valhalla, a million years ago!
■EaH Gwhria of tfe Goodwia SuMbf
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 561
^neath high Valhalla Hall the well-tuned horns beginy
n the swords are out in the underworld^ and the weary Gods
come in.
through high Valhalla Gate the Patient Angel goes
)pens the eyes that are blind with hate — he joins the hands
of foes.
t of the stars was under our feet, glitter of stars above —
cks of our wrath dropped reeling down as we fought and
we spumed and we strove.
Ids upon worlds we tossed aside, and scattered them to
and fro,
night that we stormed Valhalla, a million years ago!
' are forgiven as they forgive all those dark wounds and deep y
r beds are made on the Lap of Time and they lie down and
sleep,
' ^Te forgiven as they forgive all those old wounds that bleed.
' shut their eyes from their worshippers; they sleep till the
world has need.
with the star I had marked for my own — I with my set
desire —
in the loom of the Night of Nights — lighted by worlds
afire —
in a war against the Gods where the headlong meteors
glow,
ing our way to Valhalla, a million years ago!
i mil come back — come back again^ as long as the red Earth
rolls,
never wasted a leaf or a tree. Do you think He would squan^
der souls ?
562
RDDYARD KIK-ING'S VER
THE KINGDOM
"MOW we are come to our Kingdom,
■'■^ And the State is thus and thus;
Oor legioos wait at the Palace gate-
Little it profits us.
jVffS «v «« re«tf to our Kingdom !
Now we are come to our Kingdom,
And the Crown is ours to take —
VTith s naked sword at the Council \>oati, "
And nnder the throne the snake.
Norn «gr m* eomt la our KiagJtm !
No»' we arc cwne to our Kingdom,
And the Realm is outs by right.
With shame and fear for our daily cheer,
And heaviness at night.
Norn we mt tome taturKiii^'iam!
Now we are come to our Kingdcun,
But my love's eyelids f*U.
All that I wrought for, all that I fought for,
Delight her nodiinf u '^
My crown is of witfiered leaves.
For she ata in the duat and grieves.
NoTB we are come to our Kingdom I
TARRANT MOSS
I CLOSED and drew for my love's sake
That now is false K> me.
And I slew the Reiver of Tarrant Moss
And set Dumeny free.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 563
They have gone down, they have gone down,
They are standing all arow —
Twenty knights in the peat-water.
That never struck a blow!
Their armour shall not dull nor rust.
Their flesh shall not decay.
For Tarrant Moss holds them in trust.
Until the Judgment Day.
Their soul went from them in their youth.
Ah God, that mine had gone,
Whenas I leaned on my love's truth
And not on my sword alone!
Whenas I leaned on lad's belief
And not on my naked blade —
And I slew a thief, and an honest thief.
For the sake of a worthless maid.
They have laid the Reiver low in his place.
They have set me up on high,
But the twenty knights in the peat-water
Are luckier than I !
•And ever they give me gold and praise
^nd ever I mourn my loss —
^OT I struck the blow for my false love's sake
-And not for the Men of the Moss!
564 RUDTARD inFUNCS VERSE
SIR RICHARD'S SONG
(a. d. 1066)
I FCXXOWED mr Duke ere I wm a bra.
To take fraa Eo^and fief awl ke;
Bot DOW this game is ibe other way ovtr-
Bat now Kwgt^w^ hath takffii mel
I had 107 hofse, 017 dueld and banner,
And a bo7*i heart, ao iriiale and free;
But now I nng in anodwr manner —
Bat now Ei^^and hath taken me!
As for my Father in his tower.
Asking news of my ship at sea.
He will remember his own hour —
Tell him England hath taken me!
As for my Mother in her bower.
That rules my Father so cunnii^ly,
She will remember a muden's power-
Tell her England hath taken me!
As for my Brother in Rouen City,
A nimble and naughty page ia he.
But he will come to sufFer and pity —
Tell him England hath taken me!
As for my litde Sister wuting
In the pleasant orchards of NormandiCi
Tell her youth is the time for mating—
Tell her Ei^land hath taken me!
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 565
As for my comrades in camp and highway.
That lift their eyebrows scornfully.
Tell them their way is not my way —
Tell them England hath taken me!
Kings and Princes and Barons famed.
Knights and Captains in your degree;
Hear me a little before I am blamed —
Seeing England hath taken me I
Howso great man's strength be reckoned,
There are two things he cannot flee.
Love is the first, and Death is the second —
And Love in England hath taken me!
A TREE SONG
(a. d. 1200)
ryP ALL the trees that grow so fair.
Old England to adorn.
Greater are none beneath the Sun,
Than Oak, and Ash, and Thorn.
Sing Oak, and Ash, and Thorn, good sirs,
(All of a Midsummer morn!)
Surely we sing no little thing.
In Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!
Oak of the Clay lived many a day,
Or ever ^neas began.
Ash of the Loam was a lady at home.
When Brut was an outlaw man.
Thorn of the Down saw New Troy Town
(From which was London born);
'Witness hereby the ancientry
Of Oak, and Ash, and Thorn 1
S66 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Yew that is old in church yard -mould.
He breedeth a mighty bow.
Alder for shoes do wise men choose.
And beech for cups also.
But when ye have killed, and your bow! is spilltd,
And your shoes are clean outworn.
Back ye must speed for all that ye need,
To Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!
Ellum she hateth mankind, and waiteth
Till every gust be laid,
To drop a limb on the head of him
That anyway trusts her shade:
But whether a lad be sober or sad,
Or mellow with ale from the horn,
He will take no wrong when he lieth along
'Neath Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!
Oh, do not tell the Priest our plight,
Or he would call it a sin;
But — we have been out in the woods all night,
A-conjuring Summer in!
And we bring you news by word of mouth-
Good news for cattle and corn —
Now is the Sun come up from the South,
With Oak, and Ash, and Thorn !
Sing Oak, and Ash, and Thorn, good sirs
(All of a Midsummer morn) !
England shall bide till Judgment Tide,
By Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 567
THE FLOODS
T
^HE rain it rains without a stay
In the hills above us, in the hills;
And presently the floods break way
Whose strength is in the hills.
The trees they suck from every cloud.
The valley brooks they roar aloud —
Bank-high for the lowlands, lowlands.
Lowlands under the hills!
The first wood down is sere and small.
From the hills — the brishings off the hills;
And then come by the bats and all
We cut last year in the hills;
And then the roots we tried to cleave
But found too tough and had to leave—
Poldng through the lowlands, lowlands.
Lowlands under the hills!
The eye shall look, the ear shall hark
To the hills, the doings in the hills.
And rivers mating in the dark
With tokens from the hills.
Now what is weak will surely go,
And what is strong must prove it so —
Stand fast in the lowlands, lowlands.
Lowlands under the hills!
The floods they shall not be afraid —
Nor the hills above 'em, nor the hills-
Of any fence which man has made
Betwixt him and the hills.
568 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
The waters sKall not reckon twice
For any work of man's device,
But bid it down to the lowlands, lowlands,
Lowlands under the hills!
The floods shall sweep corruption clean-
By the hills, the blessing of the hills—
That more the meadows may be green
New-mended from the hills.
The crops and cattle shall increase,
Nor little childern shall not cease.
Go — plough the lowlands, lowlands,
Lowlands under the hills!
I
CUCKOO SONG
(Spring begins in Southern England on the 14th April, oe wUel 1^
Old Woman lets the Cuckoo out of her basket at MestUWd FiH*
known *s Heffle Cuckoo Fair.)
"T^ELL it to the locked-up trees.
Cuckoo, bring your song here!
Warrant, Act and Summons, please,
For Spring to pass along Here!
Tell old Winter, if he doubt.
Tell him squat and square — a!
Old Woman!
Old Woman!
Old Woman's let the Cuckoo out
At Hcffle Cuckoo Faii^al
March has searched and April tried—
'Tlsn't long to May now.
Not so far to Whitsuntide
And Cuckoo's come to stay nowl
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 569
Hear the valiant fellow shout
Down the orchard bare — a!
Old Woman!
Old Woman!
Old Woman's let the Cuckoo out
At Heffle Cuckoo Fair — a!
When your heart is young and gay
And the season rules it —
Work your works and play your play
'Fore the Autumn cools it!
Kiss you turn and turn-about.
But my lad, beware — a!
Old Woman!
Old Woman!
Old Woman's let the Cuckoo out
At Heffle Cuckoo Fair — a!
A CHARM
TpAKE of English earth as much
As either hand may rightly clutch.
In the taking of it breathe
Prayer for all who lie beneath.
Not the great nor well-bespoke.
But the mere uncounted folk
Of whose life and death is none
Report or lamentation.
Lay that earth upon thy heart.
And thy sickness shall depart!
^t shall sweeten and make whole
I<*evered breath and festered soul.
It shall mightily restrain
^)ver-busied hand and brain.
RDDYARD
ii;
It shall case thy mortal strife
"Gnnst the bnmortsl woe of life^
Tin thjsdf, lestmed, shall prove
wtf what grace the Heavens do move*
Take of Eiigpsh flowtfs
Spcii^'s ibll-fecM primfose%
^Hi^THfiipr s ^PuH ^Nu&veafted lose*
Aatnnui's wan4bwer of the dose^
Andy thy daikness to iDiiiiiei
Winters bee-duoi^gBd nry-ldooin*
oeeK and se^^e tBCU ivnei'e tneir diq6
Fran Oiffd^f*^f to Christmas-tidei
For these simples^ nsed at^^it^
Can ftstoie a fiufing aght.
These shall cleanse and purify
Webbed and inward-tuming ejre;
These shall show diee treasure hid.
Thy familiar fields amid;
And reveal (which is thy need)
Every man a King indeed!
THE PRAIRIE
T SEE the grass shake in the sun for leagues on ridier hMsit
I see a river loop and run about a ti^ess land—
An empty plain, a steely pond, a distance diamond-dear, ^
And low blue naked hills beyond. And what is that to fear.'
**Go softly by that river-wde or, when you would depart,
You'll find its every winding tied and knotted round ytitf
heart.
Be wary as the seasons pass, or you may ne'er outrun
The wind that sets that yellowed grass a-shiver 'neadi tke
Sun."
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 571
lear the summer storm outblown — the drip of the grateful
wheat.
lar the hard trail telephohe a far-ofF horse's feet.
lar the horns of Autumn blow to the wild-fowl overhead;
1 1 hear the hush before the snow. And what is that to
dread?"
ike heed what spell the lightning weaves — what charm the
echoes shape —
\xmnd among a million sheaves, your soul shall not escape,
home the door of summer nights lest those high planets
drown
memory of near delights in all the longed-for town.'
»»
hat need have I to long or fear? Now, friendly, I behold
futhful seasons robe the year in silver and in gold.
f I possess and am possessed of the land where I would be,
the curve of half Earth's generous breast shall soothe
and ravish me!"
JOBSON'S AMEN
'LESSED be the English and all their ways and works.
Cursed be the Infidels, Hereticks, and Turks!"
nen," quo' Jobson, "but where I used to lie
\ neither Candle, Bell nor Book to curse my brethren by:
It a palm-tree in full bearing, bowing down, bowing down,
I surf that drove unsparing at the brown, wailed town —
ches in a temple, oil-lamps in a dome —
a low moon out of Africa said: 'This way home!
> >>
57»
1 be the English and all that they profess.
Omed be the Savages that prance in nakedness!"
"Amen," quo' jobson, "but where I used to lie
Wm nddkcr shirt nor pantaloons to catch my brethren ■
"ButawtlUwheelsiowlr creaking, going round, going n
By a wattr-channel leaking over drowned, warr
PuTotS Tcry busy in the trellised pepper-vinc-
And a high sun over Asia shouting: ' Rise and shiner"
1 be the English and everything they own.
Cunid be the Infidels that bow to wood and stone!'*
"Amen," quo' Jobson, "but where 1 used to lie
Was ndther pew nor Gospelleer to save my brethren by:
" But a desert stretched and stricken, left and right, left aiJ
right.
Where the piled mirages thicken under white-hot light—
A skull beneath a sand-hill and a viper coiled inside — i
And a red wind out of Libya roaring: 'Run and hide!'"
"Blessid be the English and all they make or do.
Curs^ be the Hercticks who doubt that this is true!"
"Amen," quo' Jobson, "but where I mean to die
Is neither rule nor calliper to judge the matter by:
"But Himalaya heavenward-heading, sheer and vast, shcf
and v.ast,
In a million summits bedding on the last world's past—
A certain sacred mountain where the scented cedars climb,
And — the feet of my Beloved hurrying back through Time'
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 573
CHAPTER HEADINGS
PLAIN TALES FROM THE HILLS
OOK, you have cast out Love! What Gods arc these
You bid me please?
Ic Three in One, the One in Three? Not so!
< my own Gods I go.
t may be they shall g^ve me greater ease
lian your cold Christ and tangled Trinities.
Lispeth.
ilien the earth was sick and the skies were grey,
nd the woods were rotted with rain,
lie Dead Man rode through the autumn day
o visit his love again.
3i love she neither saw nor heard,
3 heavy was her shame;
nd tho' the babe within her stirred
le knew not that he came.
The Other Man.
ry "Murder" in the market-place, and each
^ turn upon his neighbour anxious eyes
Kking: "Art thou the man?" We hunted Cain
Mne centuries ago across the world.
his bred the fear our own misdeeds maintain
D-day.
His Wedded Wife.
io, stalk the red deer o'er the heather,
lide, follow the fox if you can !
bty for pleasure and profit together.
574
RUDYARD KIFLING-S
ADgw me the kontiiig of Bfan —
The chase of dbe IllI^lal^ dbe aeaidi for die Sool
To its nun — the hundng of Man.
fit
*' Stopped in die struct when die race was his own
Look at him cuttii^ it — cur to die bone!**
Ask ere the youngster be rated and chidden
What did he carry and how was he ridden?
Maybe they used him too much at the start.
Mavbe Fate s wd^t-doths are breaking his heart
InOuPruU^^kisYmiL
*'And some are sulky, iriuk some wiU phing^
( So ko ! SuaJj ! Sumd stilly you !)
Some you must gcnde, and some you must lunge*
( rW / Th^f ! Who wants io kill you ?)
Some — there are losses in every trade —
Will break their hearts ere bitted and made.
Will hght like fiends as the rope cuts hard.
And die dumb-mad in the breaking-yard."
Thrown Awij.
The World hath set its heavy yoke
Upon the old white-bearded folk
Who strive to please the King.
God*s mercy is upon the young,
God*s wisdom in the baby tongue
That fears not anything.
ToiTs Amenime^*
Xot though you die to-night, O Sweet, and wail,
A spectre at my door,
Shall mortal Fear make Love immortal fail —
I shall but love you more.
Who, from Death's House returning, give me still
One moment's comfort in my matchless ill.
By H'ord of MouA.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 575
y burnt a corpse upon the sand —
t light shone out afar;
luided home the plunging dhows
it beat from Zanzibar.
rit of Fire, where'er Thy altars rise,
)u art the Light of Guidance to*our eyes!
In Error.
le with an idle whip, ride with an unused heel,
t, once in a way, there will come a day
ten the colt must be taught to feel
s lash that falls, and the curb that galls, and the sting of
the rowelled steel.
The Conversion 0/ Aurelian McGoggin.
iras not in the open fight
: threw away the sword,
t in the lonely watching
die darkness by the ford.
I waters lapped, the night-wind blew,
U-armed the Fear was born and grew,
d we were flying ere we knew
Nn panic in the night.
The Rout of the fThite Hussars.
die daytime, when she moved about me,
die night, when she was sleeping at my side, —
^as wearied, I was wearied of her presence.
y by day and night by night I grew to hate her —
Nild God that she or I had died!
The Bronckhorst Divorce Case.
(tone's throw out on either hand
)m that well-ordered road we tread,
d all the world is wild and strange;
iirl and ghoul and Djinn and sprite
i^zr
Im ike Hmm §f SmUm.
shjJltidc,
Tteil
F^Iselkm.
3t tr.
Aloe
J—?
■Zftrt the bu^ijc cookd his hide,
e .'itrt su:: £=::rrecL znd blistered and dried;
rie r.u:ne-^nss^ hidden and lone;
rher^ the sjrtit-rat's mounds arc strown;
..1 the boT-k wbere the sly stream steals;
:hit 5nbs i: the b«llv azid heels,
:: y:c iirr or. Ji steed untried —
it :> ti: £c wivie — gp wide!
"^•■^ ;t 'H"'Lr rvr^ ih^ ksi men ride;-
' •^
J-. ^.■▼-•/
n'uii! Go wider
Cupid's Jrrtfvs,
He drank strong waters and his speech was coarse;
He purchased raiment and forbore to pay;
He stuck a trusting junior with a horse.
And won evmkhanas in a doubtful way.
Then, 'rwixt a vice and follv, turned aside
To do good deeds and straight to cloak them, lied.
A Bank Fraui-
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 577
COLD IRON
^y)LD is far the mistress — silver for the maid —
Copper for the craftsman cunning at his trade.**
Xjood!" said the Baron, sitting in his hall,
But Iron — Cold Iron — is master of them all."
o he made rebellion 'gainst the King his liege,
!imt>ed before his citadel and summoned it to siege.
Nay!" said the cannoneer on the castle wall,
But Iron — Cold Iron — shall be master of you all!
»f
7oe for the Baron and his knights so strong,
Then the cruel cannon-balls laid 'em all along;
te was taken prisoner, he was cast in thrall,
lid Iron — Cold Iron — was master of it all!
ct his King spake kindly (ah, how kind a Lord!)
What if I release thee now and pve thee back thy sword?'*
Nay!" said the Baron, "mock not at my fall,
DT Iron — Cold Iron — is master of men all."
Tears are for the craveny prayers are for the clown —
"^ersfor the silly neck that cannot keep a crown**
As my loss is grievous, so my hope is small,
Dr Iron — Cold Iron — must be master of men all!"
et his King made answer (few such Kings there be!)
Here is Bread and here is Wine — sit and sup with me.
M and drink in Mary's Name, the whiles I do recall
ow Iron — Cold Iron — can be master of men all!"
e took the Wine and blessed it. He blessed and brake the
Bread,
^th His own Hands He served Them, and presently He
said:
578 RUDYARD KIPLING'S
'<See! These Hands they jnerced with nails, oatade My dtf'
wall.
Show Iron — Cold Iron — to be master of men all:
"Wounds are for the desperate, blows are for the strong.
Balm and oil for weary hearts dl cut and bruised with wrQifi
I forgive thy treason — I redeem thy fall —
For Iron — Cold Iron — must be master of men all!"
" Crowns are for the oa!umi—S€epiresfor ike Mil
Thrones mnd powers for mij^ nun vfo imre lo tmke aniUUC
*'Nay!" said the Baron, kneeling in his hall,
'' But Iron — Cold Iron — is master of men all!
Iron out of Calvary is master of men alll'*
A SONG OF KABIR
r^H, LIGHT was the world that he weighed in his hands!
Oh, heavy the tale of his fiefs and his lands!
He has gone from the guddee and put on the shroud,
And departed in guise oi bairap^ avowed!
Now the white road to Delhi is mat for his feet.
The sal and the kikar^ must guard him from heat
His home is the camp, and the waste, and the crowd-'
He is seeking the Way as bairap avowed!
He has looked upon Man, and his eyeballs are dear— ^
(There was One; there is One, and but One, saith Kibi^J'-'
The Red Mist of Doing has thinned to a cloud —
He has taken the Path for iairap avowed!
To learn and discern of his brother the clod,
Of his brother the brute, and his brother the God,
He has gone from the council and put on the shroud
(''Can ye hear?" saith Kabir), a iairap avowed!
^Wandering holy man. * Wayside trees.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 579
A CAROL
QUR Lord Who did the Ox command
To kneel to Judah's King,
He binds His frost upon the land
To ripen it for Spring —
To ripen it for Spring, good sirs.
According to His Word.
Which well must be as ye can see —
And who shall judge the Lord?
When we poor fenmen skate the ice
Or shiver on the wold.
We hear the cry of a single tree
That breaks her heart in the cold —
That breaks her heart in the cold, good sirs,
And rendeth by the board.
Which well must be as ye can see —
And who shall judge the Lord?
Her wood is crazed and little worth
Excepting as to bum.
That we may warm and make our mirth
Until the Spring return —
Until the Spring return, good sirs.
When Christians walk abroad;
Which well must be as ye can see —
And who shall judge the Lord?
God bless the master of this house.
And all who sleep therein!
And guard the fens from pirate folk.
And keep us all from sin.
58o RUDYARD KIPLING'S
To walk in honesty, good sirs.
Of thought and deed and wordi
Which shall befriend our latter end.
And who shall judge the Lord?
>:*z
"MY NEW-<:UT ASHLAR*'
1^ Y NEW-CUT ashlar takes the light
Where crimson-blank the windows flare.
By my own woik before die ni^t^
Great Overseer, I make my prayer*
If there be good in diat I wrought
Thy Hand compelled it, Master, Thine —
Where I have fiuled to meet Thy Thought
I know, through Thee, the blame was mine.
The depth and dream of my desire.
The bitter paths wherein I stray —
Thou knowest Who hast made the Fire,
Thou knowest Who hast made the Clay.
Who, lest all thought of Eden fade,
Bring'st Eden to the craftsman's brain —
Godlike to muse o'er his own Trade
And manlike stand with God again!
One stone the more swings into place
In that dread Temple of Thy worth.
It is enough that, through Thy Grace,
I saw nought common on Thy Earth.
Take not that vision from my ken —
Oh whatsoe'er may spoil or speed.
Help me to need no aid from men
That I may help such men as need!
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 581
EDDFS SERVICE
(a. d. 687)
£DDI, priest of St. Wilfrid
In his chapel at Manhood End,
Ordered a midnight service
For such as cared to attend.
But the Saxons were keeping Christmas,
And the night was stormy as well.
Nobody came to service.
Though Eddi rang the bell.
** 'Wicked weather for walking,"
Said Eddi of Manhood End.
But I must go on with the service
For such as care to attend."
<<
The altar-lamps were lighted, —
An old marsh-donkey came.
Bold as a guest invited.
And stared at the guttering flame.
The storm beat on at the windows,
The water splashed on the floor.
And a wet, yoke-weary bullock
Pushed in through the open door.
"How do I know what is greatest,
How do I know what is least?
That is My Father's business,"
Said Eddi, Wilfrid's priest.
582 RUDYARD KIFLING-S VERSE
''But— three are gathered tpgether—
listen to me and attend.
I bring good news, my brethreni"
Said Eddi of Manhood End.
And he told the Qx of a Manger
And a Stall in Bethlehem,
And he spoke to the Ass of a Rider,
That rode to Jerusalem.
They steamed and dripped in die chanod.
They listened and never stirred.
While, just as though they were Bishopii
Eddi preached them The Woid,
Till the gale blew off on the marshes
And the windows showed the day,
And the Ox and the Ass together
Wheeled and clattered away.
And when the Saxons mocked him.
Said Eddi of Manhood End,
*' I dare not shut His chapel
On such as care to attend/*
THE LEGEND OF MIRTH
npHE Four Archangels, so the legends tell,
Raphael, Gabriel, Michael, Azrael,
Being first of those to whom the Power was shown,
Stood first of all the Host before The Throne,
And, when the Charges were allotted, burst
Tumultuous-winged from out the assembly first.
Zeal was their spur that bade them strictly heed
Their own high judgment on their lightest deed.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 583
Zeal was their spur that, when relief was given.
Urged them unwearied to new toils in Heaven;
For Honour's sake perfecting every task
Beyond what e'en Perfection's self could ask. • • •
And Allah, Who created Zeal and Pride,
Knows how the twain are perilous>near allied.
It chanced on one of Heaven's long-lighted days,
The Four and all the Host being gone their ways
Each to his Charge, the shining Courts were void
Save for one Seraph whom no charge employed.
With folden wings and slumber- threatened brow.
To whom The Word: "Beloved, what dost thou?"
"By the Permission," came the answer soft.
Little I do nor do that little oft.
As is The Will in Heaven so on Earth
Where by The Will I strive to make men mirth."
He ceased and sped, hearing The Word once more:
"Beloved, go thy way and greet the Four."
Systems and Universes overpast,
The Seraph came upon the Four, at last.
Guiding and guarding with devoted mind
The tedious generations of mankind
Who lent at most unwilling ear and eye
When they could not escape the ministry, , .
Yet, patient, faithful, firm, persistent, just
Toward all that gross, indifferent, facile dust.
The Archangels laboured to discharge their trust
By precept and example, prayer and law,
Advice, reproof, and rule, but, labouring, saw
Each in his fellows' countenance confessed.
The Doubt that sickens: "Have I done my best?"
IH
1
i
Even at they sighed and turned to toil anew.
The Ser^ih hailed them with observance due;
And, ofttr some tit talk of higher things.
Touched tentative on mundane happenings.
Tliia tbey permitting, he, emboldened thus,
Ihtdused of humankind promiscuous.
And, since the targe contention less avails
Than instances observed, he told them tales —
Ttles of the shop, the bed, the court, die Miee^
Intimate, demental, indiacreet:
Occanons iriien Coofuaon smiting swift
I^lcs jest on jeat aa anow-atides |»m die drift
Whence, one by one, beneadi derisive shiea*
The vicrims' bare, beirildered heads arise —
Tales of the passing of the sinrit, graced
With humoor blinding as the doun it faced —
Stark tales of ribaldy that broke aride
To tears, by laughter swallowed ere they dried —
Talcs to which neither grace nor gain accrue.
But only (Allah be exalted!) true.
And only, as.the Seraph showed that nig^t.
Delighting to the limits of delight.
These he rehearsed with artful pause and halt.
And such pretence of memory at fault,
That soon the Four — so well the bait was dirown —
Came to his aid with memories of their own —
Matters dismissed long since as small or vain.
Whereof the high significance hod lain
Hid, tiU the ungirt glosses made it phun.
Then, as enlightenment came broad and fas^
Each marvelled at his own oblivious past
Until — the Gates of Laughter opened wide —
The Four, with that bland Seraph at their side.
While they recalled, compared, and amplified.
In utter mirth forgot both Zeal and Pride!
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 585
High over Heaven the lamps of midnight burned
Ere, weak with merriment, the Four returned,
Not in that order they were wont to keep —
Knion to pinion answering, sweep for sweep.
In awful diapason heard afar —
But shoutingly adrift 'twixt star and star;
Reeling a planet's orbit left or right
As laughter took them in the abysmal Night;
Or, by the point of some remembered jest,
V^Tinged and brought helpless down through gulfs unguessed,
Where the blank worlds that gather to the birth
Leaped in the Womb of Darkness at their mirth,
And e'en Gehenna's bondsmen understood.
They were not damned from human brotherhood . • •
Not first nor last of Heaven's high Host, the Four
That night took place beneath The Throne once more.
O lovelier than their morning majesty.
The understanding light behind die eye!
O more compelling than their old command.
The new4eamed friendly gesture of the hand!
O sweeter than their zealous fellowship.
The wise half-smile that passed from lip to lip!
0 well and roundly, when Command was given,
They told their tale against themselves to Heaven,
And in the silence, waiting on The Word,
Received the Peace and Pardon of The Lord!
SHIV AND THE GRASSHOPPER
CHIV, who poured the harvest and made the winds to
blow.
Sitting at the doorways of a day of long ago,
Gave to each his portion, food and toil and fate,
Prom the King upon the guddee^ to the Beggar at the gate.
* Throne.
586 RUDYARD KIPLING'S
yr^:
ABMngs mmie he — Shim ihe Preserver.
Mmhadeol MmhMdea! HemsdemU^—
Them for the cM$el^ fodder far ihe kine^
AndMaihef^s hemifor sleefsf hemd, O iSteir Sm ^mml
Wheat he gave to rich felk, millet to the poor,
Broken scraps for holy men that bcff from door to door,
Cattle to the tiser, carrion to die kite»
And rags and bones to wicked ivohres withoaC the wiltf
night.
Naught he found too lofty, none he saw too low ■
Parbati beside him watched them come and go;
Thought to cheat her husband, turning Shiv to jest-
Stole the little grasshopper and hid it in her breast
So she tricked him^ Shim the Preseruer.
Mahadeo ! Mahadeo^ turn and see !
Tall are the camels^ heavy are the kine^
But this was Least of Little Things^ O tittle Son qfmiiu!
When the dole was ended, laughingly she said,
''Master, of a million mouths is not one unfed?'*
Laughing, Shiv made answer, "All have had their part,
Even he, the little one, hidden 'neath thy heart."
From her breast she plucked it, Parbati the thief.
Saw the Least of Little Things gnawed a new-grown \^'
Saw and feared and wondered, making prayer to Shiv,
Who hath surely given meat to all that live!
//// things made he — Shiva the Preserver.
Mahadeo ! Mahadeo ! He made ally —
Thorn for the camely fodder for the kine^
And Mothers heart for sleepy heady 0 little Son ofmif^'
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 587
THE FAIRIES' SIEGE
T HAVE been given my charge to keep —
Well have I kept the same!
Playing with strife for the most of my life,
But this is a different game.
7*11 not fight against swords unseen.
Or spears that I cannot view —
Hand him the keys of the place on your knees —
*T\3 the Dreamer whose dreams come true!
Ask him his terms and accept them at once.
Quick, ere we anger him, go!
Never before have I flinched from the guns.
But this is a different show.
7*11 not fight with the Herald of God
(I know what his Master can do!)
Open the gate, he must enter in state,
TTis the Dreamer whose dreams come true!
I'd not give way for an Emperor,
I'd hold my road for a King —
To the Triple Crown I would not bow down-
But this is a different thing.
7*11 not fight with the Powers of Air,
Sentry, pass him through!
Drawbridge let fall, 'tis the Lord of us all.
The Dreamer whose dreams come true!
THE CHILDREN
I 9 I 7
iSE were our children who died for our lands: they
were dear in our sight.
have only the memory left of their home-treasured
sayings and laughter.
588 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
The price of our loss shall be paid to our hands, not Mk
otfaer'i hereafter.
Nddier ifae Alien nor Priest shall decide on it. That il ov
rigltt.
But who shall return us the children f
At the hour die Barbarian chose to disclose his prcttliGCih
And nged against Man, they engaged, □□ the breasts Alt
diey bared for us.
The fitst felon-stroke of the sword he had long-ttaae fte-
pircd for us—
Tlieir bodiei were all our defease while we wrought off
dcfenMs.
They bought us anew with thar blood, forbearing to blunt
us.
Those hours which we had not made good when the JudgBMnl
o'crcame us.
They believed us and perished for it. Our statecraft, cor
learning
Delivered them bound to the Pit and alive to the hurniog
Whither they mirthfully hastened as josding for honoui^
Not Mnce her birth has our Earth seen such worth looiol
upon her.
Nor was thdr agony brief, or once only imposed on them- i
The wounded, the war-spent, the ^dc recaved no tseOtT
tion:
Being cured they returned and endured and achieved ot^
redemption, ,
Hopeless themselves of relief, till Death, marvelling, ckoe^
on them.
That flesh we had nursed from the first in all cleaiUMsa wu
given
To corruption unveiled and assailed by the malice of Heaven—
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 589
By the heart-4haking jests of Decay where it lolled on the
To be blanched or gay-painted by fumes — to be cindered by
fires —
To be senselessly tossed and retossed in stale mutilation
From crater to crater. For this we shall take expiation.
But who shall return us our children f
A SONG TO MITHRAS
(Hrmn of the XXX Legion: tax* jjo A. D.)
K/f ITHRAS, God of the Morning, our trumpets waken the
■*■" Wall!
" Rome is above the Nations, but Thou art over all ! "
Now as the names are answered, and the guards are marched
away,
Mithras, also a soldier, give us strength for the day!
Mithras, God of the Noontide, the heather swims in the heat.
Our helmets scorch our foreheads, our sandals burn our feet.
Now in the ungirt hour — now ere we blink and drowse,
Mithras, also a soldier, keep us true to our vows!
Mithras, God of the Sunset, low on the Western main —
Thou descending immortal, immortal to rise again !
Now when the watch is ended, now when the wine is drawn,
Mithras, also a soldier, keep us pure till the dawnl
Mithras, God of the Midnight, here where the great bull dies,
Look on thy children in darkness. Oh take our sacrifice!
Many roads thou hast fashioned — all of them lead to the
Light,
Mithras, also a soldier, teach us to die aright!
RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
THE NEW KNIGHTHOOD
"YyHO gives him the Bath?
"!," said the wet,
Rank-Junglc-sweat,
"I'll give him the Bath!"
Who'll sing the psalms?
"We," said the Palms.
"Ere the hot wind becalms^
"We'll sing the psalms."
Who lays on the sword?
"I," said the Sun,
"Before he has done,
"I'll lay on the sword."
"Who fastens his belt?
"I," said Short-Rations,.
"I Icnow all the fashions
"Of tightening a beltl"
Who gives him his spur?
"I," said his Chief,
Exacting and brief,
"I'll give him the spur."
Who'll shake his hand?
"I," said the Fever,
"And I'm no deceiver,
"I'll shake his hand."
Who brings him the wine?
"I," said Quinine,
" It's a habit of mine.
"ra come with his wine.'"
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 591
Who'll put him to proof?
"I," said All Earth.
"Whatever he's worth,
I'll put to the proof."
<<T>
Who'll choose him for Knight?
" I," said his Mother,
" Before any other,
"My Very own Knight.
»
after this fashion, adventure to seek.
Sir Galahad made — as it might be last week!
OUTSONG IN THE JUNGLE
Baloo
po]
^R the sake of him who showed
One wise Frog the Jungle-Road,
Keep the Law the Man-Pack make
For thy blind old Baloo's sake!
Clean or tainted, hot or stale,
Hold it as it were the Trail,
Through the day and through the night.
Questing neither left nor right.
For the sake of him who loves
Thee beyond all else that moves.
When thy Pack would make thee pain.
Say: "Tabaqui sings again."
When thy Pack would work thee ill.
Say: "Shere Khan is yet to kill."
When the knife is drawn to slay.
Keep the Law and go thy way.
(Root and honey, palm and spathe,
Guard a cub from harm and scathe!)
Wood and Water y Wind and TreCy
Jungle-Favour go with thee !
59* KDDXARD KIFUNG'S VERSB
AageriBdKCBofFear —
QtaJ^ EdbM eye* He dew.
Coln-|KHmi none nifty
Even ao widi
Suugik, wkoK mate ii Gmitesy.
Send BO iBBge befond thy leiq^th.
MJBOfi BO ifHicii pfflwh tny stRnKth.
Gnfe dqr gqie widi bode or goat,
Lest tUiK cfc ahonld choke thy thrott
After goigpi^ wooldst thoo slc)q>?
Look thy den be lud amd deep.
Lest m wrong, by thee feigot,
Dnw thy killer to the spot.
East and West and North and South,
Wash thy hide and dose thy mouth.
(Pit and rift and bhie pool-brim,
NGddksJungle follow him!)
ff'ooJ mJ Waier, fFinJ and Ttte^
Jungle-F^KOur go wiik thee !
Bagheeha
In the cage my life began;
Well I know the worth of Man.
By the Broken Lock that freed—
Man-cuby *ware the Man-cub's breed!
Scendng-dew or starli^t pale.
Choose no tangled tree-cat trail.
Pack or councO, hunt or den.
Cry no truce with Jackal-Men.
Feed them ^lence when they say:
"Come with us an easy way."
Feed them silence when they seek
Help of thine to hurt the weak.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885^1918 S93
Make no bandores boast of skill;
Hold thy peace above the kill.
Let nor call nor song nor sign
Turn thee from thy hunting-line.
(Morning mist or twilight clear.
Serve him, Wardens of the Deer!)
Wood and Water y Wind and Tree^
Jungle-Favour go with thee!
The Three
On the trail that thou must tread
To the thresholds of our dready
Where the Flower blossoms red;
Through the nights when thou shah lie
Prisoned from our Mother-sky y
Hearing usy thy loveSy go by;
In the dawns when thou shalt wake
To the toil thou canst not breaks
Heartsick for the Jungle's sake;
Wood and Watery Wind and TreCy
Wisdomy Strengthy and Courtesy y
Jungle-Favour go with thee!
RP SONG OF THE DANE WOMEN
TtiKT is a woman that you forsake her,
And the hearth-fire and the home-acre,
go with the old grey Widow-maker?
I has no house to lay a guest in —
t one chill bed for all to rest in,
at the pale suns and the stray bergs nest in.
I has no strong white arms to fold you,
t the. ten-times-fingering weed to hold you-
t on the rocks where the tide has rolled you.
594 RUDYARD KDUNCS
^i;..pi:fc^"m*i:-r^^:
Yet, when die agMof wmmcr **m***-^
And die ice fareaksy amd die biickJiiidi qiodDeii,
Yeaily you turn -from our ad^ and **
Sidken ag»in for die ahoutB and die d«n^iten.
You steal away to die lap|Miig wmten^
And look at your alup in ncx wintci^^piarten.
You foiget our miidiy and talk at tke tables
The kine in die ihed and the faotae in theitaMci
To pitch her aides and go ofcr her cables.
Then yon drive out where the atnmwclnnds swaDov,
And the sound of your oar-UadeSp CdEng hoUow,
ts all we have left through the mondis to follow.
Ah, what is Woman diat you forsake her.
And the hearth-fire and the home-acre.
To go with the old grey Widow-maker?
THE THOUSANDTH MAN
/^NE man in a thousand, Solomon says,
Will stick more close than a brother.
And it's worth while seeking him half your days
If vou find him before the other.
Nine hundred and ninety-nine depend
On what the world sees in you,
But the Thousandth Man will stand your friead
With the whole round world agin you.
Tis neither promise nor prayer nor show
Will settle the finding for 'ec.
Nine hundred and ninety-nine of 'em go
By your looks, or your acts, or your glory.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 595
But if he finds you and you find him,
The rest of the world don't matter;
For the Thousandth Man will sink or swim
With you in any water.
You can use his purse with no more talk
Than he uses yours for his spendings,
And laugh and meet in your daily walk
As though there had been no lendings.
Nine hundred and ninety-nine of 'em call
For silver and gold in their dealings; .
But the Thousandth Man he's worth 'em all,
Because you can show him your feelings.
His wrong's your wrong, and his right's your right.
In season or out of season.
Stand up and back it in all men's sight —
With that for your only reason !
Nine hundred and ninety-nine can't bide
The shame or mocking or laugh ter.
But the Thousandth Man will stand by your side
To the gallows- foot — and after!
THE WINNERS
^^HAT is the moral? Who rides may read.
When the night is thick and the tracks are blind
'Viend at a pinch is a friend indeed,
^ ^ a fool to wait for the laggard behind,
^'^n to Gehenna or up to the Throne,
^ travels the fastest who travels alone.
596 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
White hands ding to die dffhtcned rein»
Slipping the spur jfrom die booted heel,
Tendeiest vcuces ay "TVim again,'*
Red lips tarnish die scabbarded steel.
High hopes faint on a warm hearth stoned-
He travek the fastest who travels alone.
One may fall but he fidls by himself—
Falls by himself with himself to Uame.
One may attain and to him is pelf-
Loot of the city in Gold or Fame.
Plunder of eardi shall be aO his own
Who traveb the fastest and travels alone.
Wherefore the more ye be holpen and stayed
Stayed by a friend in the hour of toil.
Sing the heretical song I have made —
His be the labour and yours be the spoil.
Win by his aid and the aid disown —
He travels the fastest who travels alone!
A ST, HELENA LULLABY
UOW far is St. Helena from a little child at play?"
What makes you want to wander there with all thcwof
between ?
Oh, Mother, call your son again or else he'll run away.
(iVo one thinks of winter when the grass is green I)
"How far is St. Helena from a fight in Paris street?"
I haven't time to answer now — the men are falling fast
The guns begin to thunder, and the drums begin to beat
{I/you take the first stepy you will take the last /)
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 597
"How far is St. Helena from the field of Austerlitz?"
You couldn't hear me if I told — so loud the cannons roar.
But not so far for people who are living by their wits.
(" Gtfy go up " means " Gay go down " the wide world 0 Vr .')
"How far is St. Helena from an Emperor of France?"
I cannot sec — I cannot tell — the crowns they dazzle so.
The Kings sit down to dinner, and the Queens stand up to
dance.
(4fter open weather you may look for snow !)
"How far is St. Helena from the Capes of Trafalgar?"
A longish way — a longish way — with ten year more to run.
It's South across the water underneath a falling star.
{JVhat you cannot finish you must leave undone !)
"How far is St. Helena from the Beresina ice?"
An ill way — a chill way — the ice begins to crack.
But not so far for gentlemen who never took advice.
(ff^henyou can't go forward you must e'en come back !)
"How far is St. Helena from the field of Waterloo?"
A near way — a clear way — the ship will take you soon.
A pleasant place for gentlemen with little left to do.
[Morning never tries you till the afternoon !)
How far from St. Helena to the Gate of Heaven's Grace?"
That no one knows — that no one knows — and no one ever will.
But fold your hands across your heart and cover up your face,
And after all your trapesings, child> lie still!
CHIL'S SONG
T^IESE were my companions going forth by night-
(ForChil! Look you Jor Chil !)
^ow come I to whistle them the ending of the fight.
(Chill Vanguards of Chil !)
S98
RUDYARD KIPLING'S
Word they gave me overiiead of quarry newly alaiiii
Word I gave them underfoot of budc upon the {daiii.
Here's an end of every trail — they shall not qpeak sgnl
They that cried the hunting-oy — they that fidlowed fat-
{ForChil! Look jou Jar Chi/ 0
They that bade the sambhur wheel, or pinned him ii k
passed —
(CAsl! Vanputnb ^ ChU ly
They that lagged behind the scent — ^they that ran befac^
They that shunned the level horn — ^they that over4Mit.
Here's an end of every trail — they shall not MOxm moie.
Hiese were my companions. Pity 'twas they died!
{ForChil! Look you Jor Chil !)
Now come I to comfort them that knew them in their pride.
{Chil ! Vanguards of Chil !)
Tattered flank and sunken eye, open mouth and red,
Locked and lank and lone they lie, the dead upon their desL
Here's an end of every trail — and here my hosts arc fed!
THE CAPTIVE
"^OT with an outcry to Allah nor any complaining
He answered his name at the muster and stood to tfe
chaining.
When the twin anklets were nipped on the leg-bars tto
held them,
He brotherly greeted the armourers stooping to weld thdn-
Ere the sad dust of the marshalled feet of the chain-fang
swallowed him,
Observing him nobly at ease, I alighted and followed him.
Thus we had speech by the way, but not touching his 80f*
row —
Rather his red Yesterday and his regal To-morrow,
INCLUSIVE EDITION. 1885-1918 599
erein he statelily moved to the clink of his chains unre-
gardedy
wise abashed but contented to drink of the potion awarded.
iting aloofly his Fate^ he made haste with his story,
i the words of his mouth were as slaves spreading carpets
of glory
broidered with names of the Djinns — a miraculous weav-
ing—
the cool and perspicuous eye overbore unbelieving.
[ submitted myself to the limits of rapture —
ind by this man we had bound, amid captives his cap-
ture—
he returned me to earth and the visions departed.
on him be the Peace and the Blessing; for he was great-
hearted!
THE PUZZLER
IE Celt in all his variants from Builth to Bally-hoo,
His mental processes are plain — one knows what he will
do,
can logically predicate his finish by his start;
the English — ah, the English! — they are quite a race
apart.
ir psychology is bovine, their outlook crude and raw.
y abandon vital matters to be tickled with a straw,
the straw that they were tickled with — the chaff that
they were fed with —
y convert into a weaver's beam to break their foeman's
head with.
undemocratic reasons and for motives not of State,
f arrive at their conclusions — ^largely inarticulate.
g void of self-expression they confide their views to none;
sometimes in a smoking-room, one learns why things
were done.
RUDYARD iaPUNCS VERSE
Tes, aoBKOBKt in a smoking-raoni, through clouds of 'En*
and " Umi,"
Ohfcqttdy and hy iafaeotx, illuminatioQ comes,
On aoiBe step dat tfaer have taken, or some action dwy xf-
Embelfisfacd witii the ^rgot o( the Upper Fourth R^not'e.
In tekgrapbic aeateoces, hi ^Klded to thetr friend^
TbcT 1^( a iiiiiinJl^Bjg *-«nd there the matter mis
And' while the CMBH IrValenda to Kirkirall.
The Esehsh — d^MI P>*>'' ^y anything at all.
T I \ESS
*nrYiE Scoter may forget his Sword,
The SaJlonnan the Sea,
The MasoD may fotget the Word
And the Priest his Litany:
The Maid may for^t both jewel and gem,
And the Bride her wedding-dress —
But the Jew shall forget Jerusalem
Ere we forget the Press!
iVho once haih stood through the loaded hour
Ere, roaring like the gale,
The Harrild and the Hix devour
Their league-long paper-bale.
And has lit his pipe in the morning calm
Thai follows the midnight stress-
He hath sold his heart to the old Black An
We call the daily Press.
Who once hath dealt in the widest game
That all of a man can play.
No later love, no larger fame
Will lure him long away.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 6oi
As the war-horse smelleth the battle afar.
The entered Soul, no less,
He saith: "Ha! Ha!" where the trumpets are
And the thunders of the Press!
Canst thou number the days that we fulfil.
Or the Times that we bring forth?
Canst thou send the lightnings to do thy will.
And cause them reign on earth?
Hast thou given a peacock goodly wings
To please his foolishness?
Sit down at the heart of men and things.
Companion of the Press!
The Pope may launch his Interdict,
The Union its decree.
But the bubble is blown and the bubble is pricked
By Us and such as We.
Remember the battle and stand aside
While Thrones and Powers confess
That King over all the children of pride
Is the Press — the Press— the Press!
HADRAMAUTI
l^YiO knows the heart of the Christian ? How does he
reason ?
Vhat are his measures and balances? Which is his season
Slaughter, forbearance or bloodshed, and what devils move
him
ilien he arises to smite us? /do not love him.
D<:+ci
601 RUDYARD KIPLING'S
He invites the derision of strangers he enters all places.
Booted, bareheaded he enters. With shouts and embrscei
He asks of us news of the household wham we reckon nMnt'
less.
Ceruinly Allah created lum farty-lbld shameless!
_ _ •
So it is not in the Desert. One came to me weeping—
The Avenger of Blood on liis track — ^I took him in keepu^
Demanding not whom he had slun, I refreshed him, I fcdUi
As he were even a brother. But EhGs had bred hm
He was the son of an ape, ill at ease in his dothii^.
He talked with his head, hands and feet. I endured him viA
loathing.
Whatever his spirit conceived his countenance showed it
As a frog shows in a mud-puddle. Yet I abode it!
I fingered my beard and was dumb, in silence confronQOK
him.
His soul was too shallow for silence, e'en with Death hunong
him.
I said: "'Tis his weariness speaks," but, when he had it$tcd»
He chirped in my face like some sparrow, and, prcscntly»
jested!
Wherefore slew I that stranger? He brought me dishonor-
I saddled my mare, Bijli, I set him upon her.
I gave him rice and goat's flesh. He bared me to laughter.
When he was gone from my tent, swift I followed after,
Taking my sword in my hand. The hot wine had filled him<
Under the stars he mocked me — therefore I killed him!
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 188&-191ft foj
CHAPTER HEADINGS
THE NAULAHKA
\X^E MEET in an evil land
That is near to the gates of hell.
I wait for thy command
To serve, to speed or withstand.
And thou sayest, I do not well?
Oh Love, the flowers so red
Are only tongues of flame.
The earth is full of the dead.
The new-killed, restless dead.
There is danger beneath and overhead.
And I guard thy gates in fear
Of words thou canst not hear.
Of peril and jeopardy.
Of signs thou canst not see —
And thou sayest 'tis ill that I came?
This I saw when the rites were done,
And the lamps were dead and the Gods alone.
And the grey snake coiled on the altar stone —
Ere I fled from a Fear that I could not see.
And the Gods of the East made mouths at me.
V it is not good for the Christian's health to hustle the
Aryan brown,
the Christian riles, and the Aryan smiles and he weareth
the Christian down;
the end of the fight is a tombstone white with the name
of the late deceased,
the epitaph drear: "A Fool lies here who tried to hustle
the East."
6o« RUPYARD KIPLING'S
:«:k^
Beat off in our last fi^t were we?
The greater need to seek the sea.
For Fortune changeth as the moon
To caravel and picaroon*
Hien Eastward Ho! or Westward Ibl
Whichever wind may meetest blow.
Our quany sails on dther sea.
Fat prey for such bdd lads as we.
And every sun-dried buccaneer
Must hand and reef and watch and steer.
And bear great wrath of sea and sky
Before the plate-ships wallow by.
Now, as our tall bows take the foam.
Let no man turn his heart to home.
Save to desire treasure more.
And larger warehouse for his store.
When treasure won from Santos Bay
Shall make our sea-washed village gay.
Because I sought it far from men,
In deserts and alone,
I found it burning overhead.
The jewel of a Throne.
Because I sought — I sought it so
And spent my days to find —
It blazed one moment ere it left
The blacker night behind.
When a lover hies abroad.
Looking for his love,
Azrael smiling sheathes his sword.
Heaven smiles above.
Earth and sea
His servants be.
And to lesser compass round.
That his love be sooner found !
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 605
There was a strife 'twixt man and maid —
Oh that was at the birth of time!
But what befell 'twixt man and maid^
Oh that's beyond the grip of rhyme.
Twas, "Sweet, I must not bide with you,"
And "Love, I cannot bide alone";
For both were young and both were true.
And both were hard as the nether stone.
is pleasure in the wet, wet clay,
the artist's hand is potting it;
is pleasure in the wet, wet lay;
the poet's pad is blotting it;
is pleasure in the shine of your picture on the line
; Royal Acade-my;
le pleasure felt in these is as chalk to Cheddar cheese
it comes to a well-made Lie. —
[uite unwreckable Lie,
nost impeccable Lie!
ater-tight, fire-proof, angle-iron, sunk-hinge, time-lock,
steel-faced Lie !
private hansom Lie,
pair-and-brougham Lie,
I little-place-at-Tooting, but a country-house-with-
shooting
ring-fence-deer-park Lie.
We be the Gods of the East —
Older than all —
Masters of Mourning and Feast
How shall we fall?
6o6 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Will diey gape for the husks that ye profier
Or yearn to your song?
And we — have we nothing to oficr
Who ruled them so long —
In the fiinw of the incense, the clash of the cymbals, the Utit
of the conch and the gong?
Over the strife of the schools
Low the day bums —
Back with the kine from the pools
Each one returns
To the life that he knows where the altar-flame glowi ud
the tulsi^ is trimmed in the urns.
THE LIGHT THAT FAILED
CO WE settled it all when the storm was done
As comfy as comfy could be;
And I was to wait in the bam, my dears.
Because I was only three;
And Teddy would run to the nu.nbow's foot
Because he was five and a man;
And that's how it all began, my dears.
And that's how it all began!
"If I have taken the common clay
And wrought it cunningly
In the shape of a God that was digged a ckxl.
The greater honour to me."
"If thou hast taken the common clay,
And thy hands be not free
From the taint of the soil, thou hast made thy ^wil
The greater shame to thee."
The Holy B»m1,
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 188&-1918 607
The wolf-cub at even lay hid in the corn.
When the smoke of the cooking hung grey:
He knew where the doe made a couch for her fawn.
And he looked to his strength for his prey.
But the moon swept the smoke-wreaths away,
And he turned from his meal in the villager's close.
And he bayed to the moon as she rose.
The lark will make her hymn to God,
The partridge call her brood.
While I forget the heath I trod,
The fields wherein I stood.
TTis dule to know not night from morn.
But greater dule to know
I can but hear the hunter's horn
That once I used to blow.
There were three friends that buried the fourth.
The mould in his mouth and the dust in his eyes.
And they went south and east and north —
The strong man fights but the sick man dies.
There were three friends that spoke of the dead —
The strong man fights but the sick man dies —
*'And would he were here with us now," they said,
"The sun in our face and the wind in our eyes."
Yet at the last, ere our spearmen had found him.
Yet at the last, ere a sword-thrust could save.
Yet at the last, with his masters around him.
He spoke of the Faith as a master to slave.
Yet at the last, though the Kafirs had maimed him,
Broken by bondage and wrecked by the reiver.
Yet at the last, tho' the darkness had claimed him.
He called upon Allah, and died a Believer!
6o8 RUDYARD KIPLING'S
GALLiaS SONG
(And Gallio cand for none of tfaeie tilings— Acts wm, 17)
A LL day long to the judgmentraeat
The crazed Provincials ^
All day bng at their ruler's feet
Howled for the blood of the Jew.
Insurrection with one accord
Banded itself and woke;
And Paul was about to open his month
When Achaia's Deputy spoke —
"Whether the God descend from above
Or the Man ascend upon high,
WTiether this maker of tents be Jove
Or a younger deity —
I will be no judge between your gods
And your godless bickerings.
Lie tor, drive them hence with rods
I care for none of these things!
Were it a question of lawful due
Or Caesar's rule denied,
Reason would I should bear with you
And order it well to be tried;
But this is a question of words and names.
I know the strife it brings.
I will not pass upon any your claims.
I care for none of these things.
One thing only I see most clear,
As I pray you also see.
Claudius Caesar hath set me here
Rome's Deputy to be.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 6oq,
is Her peace that ye go to break —
ot mine, nor any king's.
jt, touching your clamour of 'Conscience sake,'
:are for none of these things.
liether ye rise for the sake of a creed,
r riot in hope of spoil,
]ually will I punish the deed,
jually check the broil;
owise permitting injustice at all
•om whatever doctrine it springs —
lit — whether ye follow Priapus or Paul,
care for none of these things!"
THE BEES AND THE FLIES
A FARMER of the Augustan Age
Perused in Virgil's golden page.
The story of the secret won
From Proteus by Cyrene's son —
How the dank sea-god showed the swain
Means to restore his hives again.
More briefly, how a slaughtered bull
Breeds honey by the bellyful.
The egregious rustic put to death
A bull by stopping of its breath,
Disposed the carcass in a shed
With fragrant herbs and branches spread.
And, having well performed the charm.
Sat down to wait the promised swarm.
Nor waited long. The God of Day
Impartial, quickening with his ray
Evil and good alike, beheld
The carcass — and the carcass swelled.
RUDYARD KIPLING'S VEVSE
Big with new birth the belly heaves
Beneath its screen of scented leaves.
Past anj doubt, the bull conceives!
The burner bids men bring more HItcs
To boose the profit that arrives;
Prepares on pan, and key and kettle,
SwBCt nmsac that shall make 'em settle;
But when to crown the work he goes,
Gods! \Mut I stink salutes his noise!
Where are the honest twlers? Where
The gravid mistress of their care?
A busv scene, indeed, he sees.
But not a sign or sound of bees.
Worms of the riper grave unhid
By any kjndiy colIin-Ud,
Obscene and shamekss Vi the light.
Seethe in insatiate ^qietite.
Through putrid <^d, while above
The tussiiig t4ow-dy seeks his love,
\\'hose offspring, supfHOg where they supt.
Consume comiptiim twice corrupt.
ROAD-SONG OF THE BJND^R-LOG
piElRE we go in a flui^ festoon.
Half-way up to the jealous moon!
Don't you envy our prancehil bands?
Don't you wish you had extra hands?
Wouldn't you like if your tails were — so —
Curved in the shape of a Cupid's bow?
Now you're angry, but — never mind,
Brvlher, thy tail hangs down bthind !
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 6ii
Here we sit in a branchy row.
Thinking of beautiful things we know;
Dreaming of deeds that we mean to do,
All complete, in a minute or two —
Something noble and grand and good.
Won by merely wishing we could.
Now we're going to — never mind.
Brother y thy tail hangs down behind!
All the talk we ever have heard
Uttered by bat or beast or bird —
Hide or fin or scale or feather —
Jabber it quickly and all together!
Excellent! Wonderful! Once again!
Now we are talking just like men.
Let's pretend we are . . . Nevermind!
Brother y thy tail hangs down behind!
This is the way of the Monkey-kind!
foin our leaping lines that scumfish through the pineSy
ocket by where^ light and highy the wild-grape swings,
rubbish in our wakey and the noble noise we makey
e — be surey weWe going to do some splendid things!
THE FABULISTS
I 9 I 4 - I 8
TIEN all the world would keep a matter hid.
Since Truth is seldom friend to any crowd,
I write in fable, as old ^sop did,
sting at that which none will name aloud,
this they needs mu^t do, or it will fall
:ss they please they are not heard at all
6u RUDTARD KirUNG^ mSSB
When despemtc Fdly ddf
TowoAcaahmannfimt
When daSgent Sfech dammiKA finedoni's death.
And banded Fear coanHBdetk HaBoar's gra'
^▼cn in that ccrtan hoar hcfare the fri
Unleas men pleaae thef are not heaid at aD.
Needs most aD plos^ yet
Needs most aU toil, fet aone not al far gain.
But that men taking f*T^r^^T nay take heed,
Wliom piesent tofl dud match from later pain.
Thus some have toiled hot thdr rewaid was small
though they pleaseilj thej wac not heard at all
nil was the lock that lay upon oor Gps,
This waui the yoke diat we have nndeigone.
Denying us all pleasant fellowslups
As in our time and generation.
Our pleasures unpursued age past recall.
And for our pains — we are not heaud at all.
What man hears aught except the groaning guns?
\Miat man heeds aught save what each instant brings?
Wlien each man's life all imaged life outruns^
\Miat man shall pleasure in imaginings?
So it hath fallen, as it was bound to fall.
We are not, nor we were not, heaud at all.
"OUR FATHERS ALSO'*
T^HRONES, Powers, Dominions, Peoples, Kings,
Are changing 'neath our hand.
Our fathers also see these things
But they do not understand.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 613
By — they are by with mirth and tears.
Wit or the worlcs of Desire —
Cushioned about on the kindly years
Between the wall and the fire.
The grapes are pressed, the corn is shocked —
Standeth no more to glean;
For the Gates of Love and Learning locked
When they went out between.
All lore our Lady Venus bares.
Signalled it was or told
By the dear lips long given to theirs
And longer to the mould.
All Profit, all Device, all Truth
Written it was or said
By the mighty men of their mighty youth,
Which is mighty being dead.
The film that floats before their eyes
The Temple's Veil they call;
And the dust that on the Shewbread lies
Is holy over all.
Warn them of seas that slip our yoke
Of slow-conspiring stars —
The ancient Front of Things unbroke
But heavy with new wars?
By — they are by with mirth and tears.
Wit or the waste of Desire —
Cushioned about on the kindly years
Between the wall and the fire!
6i4 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE '
A BRITISH-ROMAN SONG
(a. d. 406)
V|Y FATHER'S father saw it not,
^** And I, belike, shall never come.
To look on that so-holy spot —
The very Rome —
Crowned by all Time, all Art, all Might
The equal work of Gods and Man,
City beneath whose oldest height —
The Race began!
Soon to send forth again a brood,
Unshakeable, we pray, that clings.
To Rome's thrice-hammered hardihood —
In arduous things.
Strong heart with triple armour bound.
Beat strongly, for thy life-blood runs.
Age after Age, the Empire round —
In us thy Sons
Who, distant from the Seven Hills,
Loving and serving much, require
Thee — thee to guard 'gainst home-bom ills.
The Imperial I^lrel
A PICT SONG
D OME never looks where she treads.
Always her heavy hooves fall,
On our stomachs, our hearts or our heads;
And Rome never heeds when we bawl.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 188S-1918 615
Her sentries pass on — that is all,
And we gather behind them in hordes,
And plot to reconquer the Wall,
With only our tongues for our swords.
We are the Little Folk — we!
Too little to love or to hate.
Leave us alone and you'll see
How we can drag down the State!
We are the worm in the wood!
We are the rot at the root!
We are the taint in the blood!
We are the thorn in the foot!
Mistletoe killing an oak —
Rats gnawing cables in two —
Moths making holes in a cloak —
How they must love what they do!
Yes — and we Little Folk too.
We are busy as they —
Working our works out of view —
Watch, and you'll see it some day!
No indeed! We are not strong,
But we know Peoples that are.
Yes, and we'll guide them along,
To smash and destroy you in War!
We shall be slaves just the same?
Yes, we have always been slaves.
But you — you will die of the shame,
And then we shall dance on your graves!
We arc the Little Folk^ we^ etc.
RUDYARD KIPLING'S
THE STRANGER
nrflE Stranger witiuii m^ gate.
He may be tme or kind.
Bat he doea not talk mjr talt—
I cannot led his mind.
I see the face and the eyea and die inuuA-B-v
But not the aoul bdiiiid.
The men of my own ttotk.
They may do ill or well.
But ttiey tdl die lies I am wonted tis
lliey are used to die lies I ^L
And we do not need interpreten
When we go to buy and sdl.
The Stranger within my gates.
He may be evil or good,
But I cannot tell what powers control —
What reasons sway his mood;
Nor when the Gods of his far-off land
Shall repossess his blood.
The men of my own stock.
Bitter bad they may be.
But, at least, they hear the things I hear,
And see the things I see;
And whatever I think of tJiem and that likes
They tJiink of the likes of me.
This was my father's belief
And this is also mine:
Let the corn be all one sheaf —
And the grapes be all one vine,
Ere our children's teeth are set on edge
By bitter bread and wine.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 617
"RIMINI"
(Marching Song of a Roman Legion of the Later Empire)
\X/'HEN I left Rome for Lalage's sake
By the Legions' Road to Rimini,
She vowed her heart was mine to take
With me and my shield to Rimini —
(Till the Eagles flew from Rimini — )
And I've tramped Britain, and I've tramped Gaul,
And the Pontic shore where the snow-flakes fall
As white as the neck of Lalage —
(As cold as the heart of Lalage!)
And I've lost Britain, and I've lost Gaul,
And I've lost Rome and, worst of all,
I've lost Lalage!
When you go by the Via Aurelia,
As thousands have travelled before.
Remember the Luck of the Soldier
Who never saw Rome any more!
Oh dear was the sweetheart that kissed him
And dear was the mother that bore.
But his shield was picked up in the heathen
And he never saw Rome any more!
And he left Rome, etc.
When you go by the Via Aurelia
That runs from the City to Gaul,
Remember the Luck of the Soldier
Who rose to be master of all !
He carried the sword ahd the buckler.
He mounted his guard on the Wall,
Till the Legions elected him Caesar,
And he rose to be master of all!
And he left Rome, etc.
.RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
It's twenty-five marches to Narbo,
It's forty-five more up the Rhone,
And the end may be death in the heathei
Or life on an Emperor's throne.
But whether the Eagles obey us,
Or we go to the Ravens — alone,
I'd sooner be Laiage's lover
Than sit on an Emperor's throne!
We've all left Rome for Laiage's sake, etc.
"POOR HONEST MEN"
(a. d. 1800}
VOUR jar of Vi^;innjr
Will cost you a guinea
Which you reckon too much by five si
But light your churchwarden
And juc^ it according.
When I've told you the troubles of poor honest maL
From the Capes of the Delaware,
As you are well aware.
We sul with tobacco for England — but then.
Our own British cruisers,
They watch us come through, sirs.
And they press half a score of us poor honest meal
Or if by quick sailing
(Thick weather prevailing)
We leave them behind (as we do now and dien)
We are sure of a gun from
Each frigate we run from.
Which is often destruction to poor honest men!
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 188&-1918 619
Broadsides the Adantic
Wc tumble ahort-handed,
With shot-hdbs to phig and new canvas to bend.
And off the Axores,
Dutch, Dons and Monsieurs
Are waiting to terrify poor honest rmru
Napoleon's embargo
Is laid on all cargo
Which comfort or aid to King George may intend;
And since roll, twist and leaf.
Of all comforts is chief.
They try for to steal it from poor honest men!
With no heart for fight.
We take refuge in flight
But fire as we run, our retreat to defend;
Until our stern-chasers
Cut up her fore-braces,
And she flies off the wind from us poor honest men!
Twixt the Forties and Fifties,
South-eastward the drift is,
And so, when we think we are making Land's End,
Alas, it is Ushant
With half the King's Navy,
Blockading French ports against poor honest men!
But they may not quit station
(Which is our salvation)
So swiftly we stand to the Nor'ard again;
And finding the tail of
A homeward-bound convoy.
We slip past the Scillies like poor honest men
lo RUDYARD KIFUNG*5
Twix' die lizud and DovcTi
We hand our stuff over, .
Though I may not infbnn how we do i^ nor vlwo.
But a light (HI each qturter
Low down (w the water
Is well understuded hf poor hoaeM men.
Even dien we have dai^en,
From meddlesome strangets,
Who spy on our buuness and arc not oontent
To take a smooth answer.
Except with a handsjnke . . .
And they say they are murdered by pocx* honest mea!
To be drowned or be shot
Is our natural lot,
Why should we, moreover, be hanged in the end-
After alt our great pains
For to dangle in chains
As though we were smugglers, not [<oor honest men!
"WHEN THE GREAT ARK"
\X/^EN the Great Ark, in Vigo Bay,
Rode stately through the half-manned flce^
From every ship about her way
She heard the mariners entreat —
" Before we take the seas again
Let down your boats and send us men!
"We have no lack of victual here
With work — God knows 1 — enough for all}
To hand and reef and watch and steer.
Because our present strength is small
While your three decks arc crowded so
Your crews can scarcely stand or go.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 621
"In war, your numbers do but raise
Confusion and divided will;
In storm, the mindless deep obeys
Not multitudes but single skill.
In calm, your numbers, closely pressed,
Must breed a mutiny or pest.
"We, even on unchallenged seas.
Dare not adventure where we would.
But forfeit brave advantages
For lack of men to make 'em good;
Whereby, to England's double cost.
Honour and profit both are lostl"
PROPHETS AT HOME
pROPHETS have honour all over the Earth,
Except in the village where they were born.
Where such as knew them boys from birth.
Nature-ally hold 'em in scorn.
When Prophets are naughty and young and vain.
They make a won'erfiil grievance of it;
(You can see by their writings how they complain).
But O, 'tis won'erful good for the Prophet!
There's nothing Nineveh Town can give
(Nor being swallowed by whales between),
Makes up for the place where a man's folk live,
Which don't care nothing what he has been.
He might ha' been that, or he might ha' been this.
But they love and they hate him for what he is.
RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
JUB,\L AND TUBAL CAIN
TUBAL sang of the Wrath of God
And the curse of thistle and thom —
But Tubal got him a pointed rod,
And scrabbled the earth for com.
Old — old as that early mould.
Young as the sprouting grain —
Yearly green is the strife between
Jubal and Tubal Cain!
Jubal sang of the new-found sea.
And the love that its waves divide —
But Tubal hollowed a fallen tree
And passed to the further side.
Blftck — black aa the hurricane-mmdc.
Salt as the under-main —
Bitter and cold is the hate they hold —
Jubal and Tubal Cain!
Jubal sang of the golden years
When wars and wounds shall cease —
But Tubal fashioned the hand-flung spean
And showM his neighbours peace.
New — new as the Nine punt Two,
Older than Lamech's slain —
Roaring and loud is the feud avowed
Twix' Jubal and Tubal Cain!
Jubal sang of the cliff's that bar
And the peaks that none may crown —
But Tubal clambered by jut and scar
And there he builded a town.
High — high as the snowsheds lie,
Low as the culverts drain —
Wherever they be they can never
Jubal and Tubal C^n!
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 623
THE VOORTREKKER
IE gull shall whistle in his wake, the blind wave break
in fire,
ihall fulfil God's utmost will, unknowing his desire,
he shall see old planets change and alien stars arise,
give the gale his seaworn sail in shadow of new skies,
ng lust of gear shall drive him forth and hunger arm his
hand,
¥in his food from the desert rude, his pittance from the
sand,
neighbours' smoke shall vex his eyes, their voices break
his rest,
shall go forth till south is north sullen and dispossessed.
}hall desire loneliness and his desire shall bring,
d on his heels, a thousand wheels, a People and a King,
ihall come back on his own track, and by his scarce-cooled
camp
re shall he meet the roaring street, the derrick and the
stamp:
re he shall blaze a nation's ways with hatchet and with
brand,
on his last-won wilderness an Empire's outposts stand!
A SCHOOL SONG
J ET us now praise famous men
Men of little showing —
For their work continuethy
And their work continuethy
Broad and deep continuethy
Greater than their knowing !
>>
RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Western wind siid open watge
Took US train our iuouien>
Fhing us on s naked shore
(Twelve bleak houses by the sfaofcl
Seven summers by the shoiel)
'Mid two hundred brothers.
There we met with famous men
Set in office o'er us;
And they beat on us with roda —
Faith/ully with many rods —
Daily beat us on wiui radSt
For the love diey bore nsl
Out of Egypt unto Troy —
Over Hun alaya —
Far and sure our bands have gone—
Hy-Brazil or Babylon,
Islands of the Southern Run,
And Cities of Cathaia!
jIhJ wc ail pnuse famous men —
Ancients of the College;
For they taught us common sense —
Tried to teach us common sense —
Truth and God's Own Common Sens;
Which is more than knowledge!
Each degree of Latitude
Strung about Creation
Seeth one or more of us
(Of one muster each of us).
Diligent in that he does,
Keen in his vocation.
This we learned from famous men.
Knowing not its uses,
When they showed, in daily work.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 625
Man must finish off his work —
Right or wrong, his daily work —
And without excuses.
Servants of the StafF and chain.
Mine and fuse and grapnel —
Some, before the face of Kings,
Stand before the face of Kings;
Bearing gifts to divers Kings —
Gifts of case and shrapnel.
This we learned from famous men
Teaching in our borders.
Who declar&d it was best.
Safest, easiest, and best —
Expeditious, wise, and best —
To obey your orders.
Some beneath the further stars
Bear the greater burden :
Set to serve the lands they rule,
(Save he serve no man may rule).
Serve and love the lands they rule;
Seeking praise nor guerdon.
This we learned from famous men.
Knowing not we learned it.
Only, as the years went by —
Lonely, as the years went by —
Far from help as years went by.
Plainer we discerned it.
Wherefore praise we famous men
From whose bays we borrow —
They that put aside To-day —
All the joys of their To-day —
And with toil of their To-day
Bought for us To-morrow!
THE LAV
^Oir this is the Law 0
^nJ the ff^olf that shall .
ihall break it must
As the creeper that girdh
VHtrd and back—
For the strength of the Pa
ff^olf is the Pack.
Wash daily from nose-tij
too deep;
And remember the night
is for sleep.
The Jackal may follow th
ers are grown,
Remember the Wolf is a
thine own.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 627
;n Pack meets with Pack in the Jungle, and neither will
go from the trail,
down till the leaders have spoken — it may be fair words
shall prevail.
tn ye fight with a Wolf of the Pack, ye must fight him
alone and afar,
: others take part in the quarrel, and the Pack be dimin-
ished by war.
Lair of the Wolf is his refuge, and where he has made him
his home,
even the Head Wolf may enter, not even the Council
may come.
Lair of the Wolf is his refuge, but where he has digged it
too plain.
Council shall send him a message, and so he shall change
it again.
I kill before midnight, be silent, and wake not the woods
with your bay,
ye frighten the deer from the crops, and the brothers go
empty away.
nay kill for yourselves, and your mates, and your cubs
as they need, and ye can;
kill not for pleasure of killing, and seven times never kill
Man I
I plunder his Kill from a weaker, devour not all in thy
pride;
c-Right is the right of the meanest; so leave him the head
and the hide.
Kill of the Pack is the meat of the Pack. Ye must eat
where it lies;
no one may carry away of that meat to his lair, or he dies.
6a8 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
The Kill of the Wolf is the meat of the Wolf. He
what he will.
But, till he has given permission, the Pack may not eat d^
Kill.
Cub-Right is the right of the Yearling. From all of his Fi^
he may claim
Full-gcM^ when the killer hu eaten; and none nuf rdM
him the same.
Lair-Right is the right of the Mother. From all of her wjr'
•he may claim
One huinch of each kill for her litter; and none may dentin
die same.
Cave-Right is the right of the Father — to hunt bv him»
for his own:
He is freed of all calls to the Pack ; he is judged by the Caai
alone.
Because of his age and his cunning, because of his gripe uJ
his paw,
In all that the Law leaveth open, the word of the Hcid Wd(
is Law.
Now thete are the Laws of the Jungle, and many andmightji"
they;
But the head and the hoof of the Late and the haunch «id^
hump is — Oiey !
"A SERVANT WHEN HE REIGNETH"
(For three things the earth is disquieted, and for four which it t»niio< h
For a tervant when he reignech and a fool when he is filled with mcUi^
odkwa woman when she is married, and an handmaid that bbeirtDki*
tKM.— PhlV. m. 3I-11-1J.)
'TpHREE things make earth unquiet
And four she cannot brook
The godly Agur counted them
And put them in a book —
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 629
Those Four Tremendous Curses
With which mankind is cursed
But a Servant when he Reigneth
Old Agur entered first.
An Handmaid that is Mistress
We need not call upon,
A Fool when he is full of Meat
Will fall asleep anon.
An Odious Woman Married
May bear a babe and mend,
But a Servant when He Reigneth
Is Confusion to the end.
His feet are swift to tumult,
His hands are slow to toil,
His ears are deaf to reason,
His lips are loud in broil.
He knows no use for power
Except to show his might.
He gives no heed to judgment
Unless it prove him right.
Because he served a master
Before his Kingship came.
And hid in all disaster
Behind his master's name.
So, when his Folly opens
The unnecessary hells,
A Servant when He Reigneth
Throws the blame on some one else.
His vows are lightly spoken,
His faith is hard to bind,
His trust is easy broken.
He fears his fellow-kind.
RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
The nearest mob will move him
To break the pledge he gave —
Oh a Servant when He Reigneth
Is more than ever slave!
MACDONOUGH'S SONG
VVTTIETHER the State can loose and bini
In Heaven as well as on Earth:
If it be wiser to kill mankind
Before or after the birth —
These are matters of high concern
Where State-kept schoolmen are;
But Holy State (we have lived to learn)
Endeth in Holy War.
Whether The People be led by the Lord,
Or lured by the loudest throat:
If it be quicker to die by the sword
. Or cheaper to die by vote —
These are things we have dealt with once,
(And they will not rise from their grave)
For Holy People, however it runs,
Endeth in wholly Slave.
Whatsoever, for any cause,
Sceketh to take or give,
Power above or beyond the Laws,
Suffer it not to livel
Holy State or Holy King —
Or Holy People's Will-
Have no truck with the senseless thing.
Order the guns and kill!
Saying — after — me: —
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 631
Once there was The People — Terror gave it birth;
Once there was The People and it made a Hell of Earth.
Etaih arose and crushed it. Listen, 0 ye slainl
Once there was The People — // shall never be again I
"OUR FATHERS OF OLD"
FXCELLENT herbs had our fathers of old-
Excellent herbs to ease their pain —
Alexanders and Marigold,
Eyebright, Orris, and Elecampane.
Basil, Rocket, Valerian, Rue,
(Almost singing themselves they run)
Vervain, Dittany, Call-me-to-you —
Cowslip, Melilot, Rose of the Sun.
Anything green that grew out of the mould
Was an excellent herb to our fathers of old.
Wonderful tales had our fathers of old
Wonderful tales of the herbs and the stars —
The Sun was Lord of the Marigold,
Basil and Rocket belonged to Mars.
Pat as a sum in division it goes —
(Every herb had a planet bespoke) —
Who but Venus should govern the Rose?
Who but Jupiter own the Oak?
Simply and gravely the facts are told
In the wonderful books of our fathers of old.
Wonderful little, when all is said,
Wonderfijl little our fathers knew.
Half their remedies cured you dead —
Most of their teaching was quite untrue —
<gz RUDYARD KIPLING S VERSE
"Look at the stars when a patient is iU,
(Dirt has nothing to do with disease,)
Bleed and blister as much as you will,
Blister and bleed him as oft as you please."
Whence enormous and manifold
Errors were made by our fathers of old.
Tet when the mckneas was ame in the land.
And ndther planets nor herbs aewi^ged.
They t(x^ thor Hves in tbdrluicetJurad
And> di, what a wondoiut war they wagedl
Tea, wlwn Ae crosaes vetc cJialked <M the doer—
(Tea, iriien the terriUe dead-cart rofiedj
Enxllent ccnu^e our fathers bone —
Excellent heart had our fiithers (rf <dd.
None too learned, but nobly bold
Into the fight went our fadiers of old.
If it be certun, as Galen says —
And sage Hippocrates holds as much —
"That those afflicted by doubts and dismays
Are mighdly helped by a dead man's touch,"
Then, be good to us, stars above!
Then, be good to us, herbs below!
We are afflicted by what we can prove,
We are distracted by what we know —
So — ah, sol
Down from your heaven or up from your moiM)
Send us the hearts of our fathers of old I
THE HERITAGE
jUR Fathers in a wondrous age.
Ere yet the Earth was small.
Ensured to us an herit^e.
And doubted not at all
O
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 633
That we, the children of their heart,
Which then did beat so high.
In later time should play like part
For our posterity.
A thousand years they steadfast built,
To 'vantage us and ours.
The Walls that were a world's despair.
The sea-constraining Towers:
Yet in their midmost pride they knew.
And unto Kings made known,
Not all from these their strength they drew.
Their faith from brass or stone.
Youth's passion, manhood's fierce intent.
With age's judgment wise.
They spent, and counted not they spent,
At daily sacrifice.
Not lambs alone nor purchased doves
Or tithe of trader's gold —
Their lives most dear, their dearer loves.
They offered up of old.
Refraining e'en from lawful things.
They bowed the neck to bear
The unadornid yoke that brings
Stark toil and sternest care.
Wherefore through them is Freedom sure;
Wherefore through them we stand,
From all but sloth and pride secure,
In a delightsome land.
Then, fretful, murmur not they gave
So great a charge to keep.
Nor dream that awestruck Time shall save
Their labour while we sleep.
634 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Dear-bought and dear, a tfaouaand year.
Our fathers' title runt.
Make we likewise their saciificey
Defrauding not our sons.
CHAPTER HEADINGS
BEAST AND MAN IN INDIA
"T^HEY kiUed a duld to please the Gods
In earth's young penitence.
And I have bled in that Babe's stead
Because of innocence.
I bear the sins of sinful men
That have no sin of my own,
They drive me forth to Heaven's wrath
Unpastured and alone.
I am the meat of sacrifice.
The ransom of man's guilt.
For they give my life to the altar-knife
Wherever shrine is built.
The Goat.
Between the waving tufts of jungle-grass.
Up from the river as the twilight falls.
Across the dust-beclouded plain they pass
On to the village walls.
Great is the sword and mighty is the pen.
But over all the labouring ploughman's blade—
For on its oxen and its husbandmen
An Empire's strength is laid.
The Oxen,
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 635
The torn boughs trailing o'er the tusks aslant,
The saplings reeling in the path he trod,
Declare his might — our lord the Elephant,
Chief of the ways of God.
The black bulk heaving where the oxen pant,
The bowed head toiling where the guns careen.
Declare our might — our slave the Elephant
And servant of the Queen.
The Elephant.
Dark children of the mere and marsh.
Wallow and waste and lea,
Outcaste they wait at the village gate
With folk of low degree.
Their pasture is in no man's land.
Their food the cattle's scorn,
Their rest is mire and their desire
The thicket and the thorn.
But woe to those that break their sleep.
And woe to those that dare
To rouse the herd-bull from his keep,
The wild boar from his lair!
Pigs and Buffaloes,
The beasts are very wise,
Their mouths are clean of lies.
They talk one to the other,
Bullock to bullock's brother
Resting after their labours.
Each in stall with his neighbours.
But man with goad and whip.
Breaks up their fellowship.
636 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Shouts in their silky ears
Filling their soul with fears.
When he has ploughed the land,
He says: "They understand."
But the beasts in stall together,
Freed from the yoke and tether,
Say as the torn flanks smoke:
"Nay, 'twas the whip that spdce."
LIFE'S HANDICAP
"TpHE doors were wide, the story suth.
Out of the night came the patient wnuth.
He might not speak, and he could not stir
A hair of the Baron's minniver.
Speechless and strcngthless, a shadow thin.
He roved the castle to find his kin.
And oh! 'twas a piteous sight to see
The dumb ghost follow his enemy!
The Return ^ Itrnvj,
Before my Sprii^ I garnered Autumn's gain,
Out of her time my neld was white with grain,
The year gave up her secrets, to my woe.
Forced and deflowered each sick season lay
In mystery of increase and decay;
I saw the sunset ere men see the day,
Who am too wise in all I should not know.
iVMiout Benefit of CitTj
INCLUSIVE EDITION. 1885-1918 637
KIM
TNTO whose use the pregnant suns are poised,
With idiot moons and stars retracting stars?
•ecp thou between — thy coming's all unnoised.
^aven hath her high, as Earth her baser, wars,
^ir to these tumults, this affright, that fray
y Adam's, fathers', own, sin bound alway);
«r up, draw out thy horoscope and say
hich planet mends thy threadbare fate, or mars.
MANY INVENTIONS
'T^HERE'S a convict more in the Central Jail,
Behind the old mud wall;
There's a lifter less on the Border trail.
And the Queen's Peace over all,
Dear boys,
The Queen's Peace over all!
For we must bear our leader's blame,
On us the shame will fall.
If we lift our hand from a fettered land
And the Queen's Peace over all.
Dear boys,
The Queen's Peace over all!
The Lost Legion.
638 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
*Lcss you want your toes trod ofF you'd better get back at
once,
For the bullocks are walking two by two.
The byles are walking two by two,
And the elephants bring the guns.
Ho! Yuss!
Great — big — long — black — forty-pounder guns.
Jiggery-jolty to and fro,
Each as big as a launch in tow —
Blind — dumb — broad-breeched — beggars o* battering-guns.
My Lord the Elephant.
All the world over, nursing their scars.
Sit the old fighting-men broke in the wars-
Sit the old fighting men, surly and grim
Mocking the lilt of the conquerors* hymn.
Dust of the battle o'erwhelmed them and hid,
Fame never found them for aught that they did.
Wounded and spent to the lazar they drew.
Lining the road where the Legions roll through.
Sons of the Laurel who press to your meed,
(Worthy God's pity most — ye who succeed!)
Ere you go triumphing, crowned, to the stars.
Pity poor fighting men, broke in the wars!
Collected.
pUT forth to watch, unschooled, alone,
'Twixt hostile earth and sky;
The mottled lizard 'neath the stone
Is wiser here than L
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 639
What stir across the haze of heat?
What omen down the wind?
The buck that break before my feet —
They know, but I am blind!
Collected,
I 9 I 4 - I 8
AREWELL and adieu to you, Harwich Ladies,
Farewell and adieu to you, ladies ashore!
r we've received orders to work to the eastward
tiere we hope in a short time to strafe 'em some more.
e*ll duck and we'll dive like little tin turtles,
e*ll duck and we'll dive underneath the North Seas,
itil we strike something that doesn't expect us,
om here to Cuxhaven it's go as you please!
ie first thing we did was to dock in a minefield,
hich isn't a place where repairs should be done;
id there we lay doggo in twelve-fathom water
^th tri-nitro-toluol hogging our run.
he next thing we did, we rose under a Zeppelin,
Ith his shiny big belly half blocking the sky.
It what in the — Heavens can you do with six-pounders?
we fired what we had and we bade him good-bye.
Farewell and adieu, &c.
Fringes of the Fleet.
64a RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
SONG OF THE FIFTH RIVER
\y HEN first by Eden Tree,
* ' The Four Great Rivers ran,
To each was appointed a Man
Her Prince and Ruler to be.
But after this was ordained,
{The ancient legends tell).
There came dark Israel,
For whom no River remained.
Then He Whom the Rivers obey
Said to him: "Fling on the ground
A handful of yellow clay.
And a Fifth Great River shall run.
Mightier than these Four,
In secret the Earth around;
And Her secret evermore,
Shall be shows to thee and thy Race."
So it was said and done.
And, deep in the veins of Earth,
And, fed by a thousand springs
That comfort the market-place.
Or sap the power of Kings,
The Fifth Great River had birth,
Even as it was foretold — _
The Secret River of Gold!
And Israel laid down
His sceptre and his crown,
To brood on that River bank,
Where the waters flashed and sank.
I
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 641
And burrowed in earth and fell.
And bided a season below.
For reason that none might know.
Save only Israel. .
He is Lord of the Last —
The Fifth, most wonderful. Flood,
He hears Her thunder past
And Her Song is in his blood.
He can foresay: "She will fall,"
For he knows which fountain dries
Behind which desert-belt
A thousand leagues to the South.
He can foresay: "She will rise."
He knows what far snows melt:
Along what mountain-wall
A thousand leagues to the North.
He snuffs the coming drouth
As he snuffs the coming rain.
He knows what each will bring forth.
And turns it to his gain.
A Ruler without a Throne,
A Prince without a Sword,
Israel follows his quest.
In every land a guest,
Of many lands a lord.
In no land King is he.
But the Fifth Great River keeps
The secret of Her deeps
For Israel alone.
As it was ordered to be.
RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
THE CHILDREN'S SONG
T AND of our Birth, wc pledge to thee
Our love and toil in the years to be;
When we are grown and take our place,
rts [ with our race.
r' 'ho lovest all.
;n when they call;
d from age to age,
Teach us tc e yoke in youth.
With steadtusii.w, and careful truth;
That, in our time, Thy Grace may give
The Truth whereby the Nations live.
Teach us to rule ourselves alway.
Controlled and cleanly night and day;
That we may bring, if need arise.
No maimed or worthless sacrifice.
Teach us to look in all our ends.
On Thee for judge, and not our friends;
That we, with Thee, may walk uncowed
By fear or favour of the crowd.
Teach us the Strength that cannot seek,
By deed or thought, to hurt the weak;
That, under Thee, wc may possess
Man's strength to comfort man's distress.
Teach us Delight in simple things,
And Mirth that has no bitter springs;
Forgiveness free of evil done.
And Ix>ve to alt men 'neath the sun!
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 643
Land of our Birthy ourfaith^ our pride^
For whose dear sake our fathers died;
Oh Motherland y we pledge to thee^
Heady hearty arid hand through the years to be!
PARADE-SONG OF THE CAMP-ANIMALS
Elephants of the Gun-Teams
^E LENT to Alexander the strength of Hercules,
The wisdom of our foreheads, the cunning of our knees,
bowed our necks to service — they ne'er were loosed
again,—
.Ice way there, way for the ten-foot teams
Of the Forty-Pounder train !
GuN-BuLLOCKS
c^ee heroes in their harnesses avoid a cannon-ball,
d. what they know of powder upsets them one and all;
^n we come into action and tug the guns again, —
tke way there, way for the twenty yoke
Of the Forty-Pounder train!
Cavalry Horses
By the brand on my withers, the finest of tunes
Is played by the Lancers, Hussars, and Dragoons,
And it's sweeter than "Stables" or "Water" to mc,
The Cavalry Canter of" Bonnie Dundee!"
Then feed us and break us and handle and groom.
And give us good riders and plenty of room,
And launch us in column of squadron and see
The Way of the War-horse to "Bonnie Dundee!"
644 tUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Screw-Gun Mules
As ny companions were scrambling up a hill,
Th IS lost in rolling stones, but we went forward still;
For wc can wriggle and climb, my lads, and turn up cvery-
whe? ;.
And it's ou in height, with a leg or m
to
Good luck 1 , that lets us pick our road!
Bad luck t< at cannot pack a load!
For wc can y lads, and turn up every-
where.
And it's our d >. In height, with a leg or two
to spare '.
Commissariat Camels
We haven't a camel ty tune of our own
To help us trollop along.
But every neck is a hair-trombone
[Rtt-la-ta-la ! is a hair-trombone !)
And this is our marching-song;
Can't! Don't! Shan't! Won't'
Pass it along the line!
Somebody's pack has slid from his back,
'Wish it were only mine!
Somebody's load has tipped off in the road-
Cheer for a halt and a rowl
Unr ! Yarrh ! Grr ! Arrh !
Somebody's catching it nowl
All the Beasts Together
Children of the Camp are we.
Serving each in his degree;
Children of the yoke and goad.
Pack and harness, pad and load.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 645
See our line across the plain.
Like a heel-rope bent again,
Reaching, writhing, rolling far.
Sweeping all away to war !
While the men that walk beside.
Dusty, silent, heavy-eyed,
. Cannot tell why we or they
March and suffer day by day.
Children of the Camp are we^
Serving each in his degree;
Children of the yoke and goad^
Pack and harness^ pad and load.
IF
TF YOU can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you.
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you.
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting.
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies.
Or being hated don't give way to hating.
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream — and not make dreams your master;
If you can think — and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools.
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken.
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:
646 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
If you can make one heap of all your mmings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and*toas.
And lose, and start again at your b^nnings
And never breathe a word about your kiss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and mnew
To serve your turn long after they are gone.
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: *'Hokl on!"
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with IGngs — ^nor lose the common toudi.
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you.
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds* worth of distance run.
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it.
And — which is more — you'll be a Man, my son!
THE PRODIGAL SON
(Western Version)
T-IERE come I to my own again.
Fed, forgiven and known ag^n.
Claimed by bone of my bone again
And cheered by flesh of my flesh.
The fatted calf is dressed for me.
But the husks have greater zest for me
I think my pigs will be best for me,
So I'm off to the Yards afresh.
I never was very refined, you see,
(And it weighs on my brother's mind, you see)
But there's no reproach among swine, d'you see,
For being a bit of a swine.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 647
So I'm off with wallet and stafF to eat
The bread that is three parts chafF to wheat.
But glory be! — there's a laugh to it,
Which isn't the case when we dine.
My father glooms and advises me,
My brother sulks and despises me.
And Mother catechises me
Till I want to go out and swear.
And, in spite of the butler's gravity,
I know that the servants have it I
Am a monster of moral depravity.
And I'm damned if I think it's fair!
I wasted my substance, I know I did.
On riotous living, so I did.
But there's nothing on record to show I did
More than my betters have done.
They talk of the money I spent out there —
They hint at the pace that I went out there —
But they all forget I was sent out there
Alone as a rich man's son.
So I was a mark for plunder at once.
And lost my cash (can you wonder?) at once.
But I didn't give up and knock under at once,
I worked in the Yards, for a spell.
Where I spent my nights and my days with hogs.
And shared their milk and maize with hogs.
Till, I guess, I have learned what pays with hogs
And — I have that knowledge to sell!
So back I go to my job again.
Not so easy to rob again.
Or quite so ready to sob again
On any neck that's around.
ft »
RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
I leaving, Pater. GcMxl-bye to you!
d bless you, Mater! I'll write to you. .
'ouldn't be impolite to you,
t. Brother, you are a hound!
SSITARIAN
hose hands are laid
1 earth
mbuscade
Mirth;
Who b.i -nly Lark arise
And cneer our solemn round—
The Jest beheld with streaming eyes
And grovellings on the ground;
Who joins the flats of Time and Chance
Behind the prey preferred.
And thrones on Shncking Circumstance
The Sacredly Absurd,
Till Laughter, voiceless through excess,
Waves mute appeal and sore,
Above the midriff's deep distress,
For breath to laugh once more.
No creed hath dared to hail Him Lord,
No raptured choirs proclaim,
And Nature's strenuous Overword
Hath nowhere breathed His Name.
Yet, it must be, on wayside jape.
The selfsame Power bestows
The selfsame power as went to shape
His Planet or His Rose.
INCLUSIVE EDITION. 1885-1918 649
REBIRTH
I
1 9 I 4-18
F ANY God should say
** I will restore
The world her yesterday
Whole as before
My Judgment blasted it" — who would not lift
Heart, eye, and hand in passion o'er the gift?
If any God should will
To wipe from mind
The memory of this ill
Which is mankind
In soul and substance now — who would not bless
Even to tears His loving-tenderness?
If any God should give
Us leave to fly
These present deaths we live.
And safely die
In those lost lives we lived ere we were born —
What man but would not laugh the excuse to scorn?
For we are what we are —
So broke to blood
And the strict works of war —
So long subdued
To sacrifice, that threadbare Death commands
Hardly observance at our busier hands.
fi50 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Yet we were what we were.
And, fashioned so.
It pltrases us to stare
At the far show
or iinbdic%'able years and shapes tJiat flit.
In our own likeness, on the ei%e of it.
THE JESTER
'TTHERE are three degrees of blis!
At the toot of Allah's Throne
And the highest place is his
Who saves a brother's soul
At peril of his own.
There is the Power made known!
There are three degrees of bliss
In the Gardens of Paradise,
And the second place is his
Who saves his brother's soul
By excellent advice.
For there the Glory lies!
There are three d^rees of bliss
And three abodes of the Blest,
And the lowest place is his
Who has saved a soul by a jest
And a brother's soul in sport .
But there do the Angels resort!
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 651
A SONG OF TRAVEL
TX/'HERE'S the lamp that Hero lit
Once to call Leander home ?
Equal Time hath shovelled it
'Neath the wrack of Greece and Rome.
Neither wait we any more
That worn sail which Argo bore.
Dust and dust of ashes close
All the Vestal Virgins' care;
And the oldest altar shows
But an older darkness there.
Age-encamped Oblivion
Tenteth every light that shone.
Yet shall we, for Suns that die,
Wall our wanderings from desire?
Or, because the Moon is high
Scorn to use a nearer fire?
Lest some envious Pharaoh stir.
Make our lives our sepulchre?
Nay ! Though Time with petty Fate
Prison us and Emperors,
By our Arts do we create
That which Time himself devours —
Such machines as well may run
'Gainst the Horses of the Sun.
When we would a new abode.
Space, our tyrant King no more.
Lays the long lance of the road
At our feet and flees before.
Breathless, ere we overwhelm.
To submit a further realm!
6SS RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE»j
THE TWO-SIDED MAN
^lUCH ! owe to the Lands that grew —
More to the Lives that fed—
But most to Allah Who gave me two
Separate sides to my head.
Much I reflect on the Good and the True
In the Faiths beneath the aun.
But most upon AUafa Who gave ttw t^ro
^es to my head, not one.
Wesley's following, Calvin's flodcj'
White or yellow or bronze,
Shaman, Ju-ju or Angekdc,
Minister, Mukamuk, Bonze —
Here is a health, my brothers, to you.
However your prayets arc said,
And praised be Allah Who gave me two
Separate sides to my head!
/ would go without shirt or shoe.
Friend, tobacco or bread.
Sooner than lose for a minute the two
Separate sides of my head!
A TRANSLATION
(Horace, Bk. V. OJe 3)
TpHERE are whose study is of smells,
And to attentive schools rehearse
How something mixed with something else
Makes something worse.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 653
Some cultivate In broths impure
The clients of our body — these.
Increasing without Venus, cure.
Or cause, disease.
Others the heated wheel extol,
And all its offspring, whose concern
Is how to make it farthest roll
And fastest turn.
Me, much incurious if the hour
Present, or to be paid for, brings
Me to Brundusium by the power
Of wheels or wings;
Me, in whose breast no flame hath burned
Life-long, save that by Pindar lit,
Such lore leaves cold. I am not turned
Aside to it
More than when, sunk in thought profound
Of what the unaltering Gods require.
My steward (friend but slave) brings round
Logs for my fire.
"LUKANNON"
[>NG OF THE Seal-rookeries. Aleutian Islands)
IT my mates in the morning (and oh, but I am old!)
ere roaring on the ledges the summer ground-swell
rolled.
•d them lift the chorus that drowned the breakers'
song —
leaches of Lukannon — two million voices strong!
6S4 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE ]
The song oj pleasant stations beside the salt lagoons.
The song of blowing squadrons that shuffed down the Jmtt,
The song of midnight dances that churned the sea to fiamt —
The Beaches oj Lukannon — before the sealers came f
1 met my mates in the morning (I'll never meet them more!);
They came and went in legions that darkened all the shore.
And through the foam-flecked offing as far as voice could
reach
We hailed the landing-parties and we sang them up the bcidu'
The Beaches of Lukannon — the winter-wheat so tall —
The dripping, crinkled lichens, and the sea-fog drenching all!
The platforms of our playground, all shining smooth and worn!
The Beaches of Lukannon — the home where we were bom !
I meet my mates in the morning, a broken, scattered bani
Men shoot us in the water and club us on the land;
Men drive us to the Salt House like dlly sheep and tame,
And still we sing Lukannon — before the sealers came.
Wheel down, wheel down to southward / OA, Goooervaska p !
And tell the Deep-Sea Viceroys the story of our woe;
Ercy empty as the shark's egg the tempest fiings ashore.
The Beaches of Lukannon shall know their sons no more ! i
AN ASTROLOGER'S SONG
TpO THE Heavens above us
■■■ O look and behold
The Planets that love us
All harnessed in gold!
fVhal chariots, what horses
Against us shall bide
While the Stars in their courses
Do fight OH our side?
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 655
All thought, all desires,
That are under the sun.
Are one with their fires.
As we also are one.
All matter, all spirit.
All fashion, all frame.
Receive and inherit
Their strength from the same.
Oh, man that deniest
All power save thine own
Their power in the highest
Is mightily shown.
Not less in the lowest
That power is made clear.
(Oh, man, if thou knowest.
What treasure is here!)
Earth quakes in her throes
And we wonder for why.
But the blind planet knows
When her ruler is nigh;
And, attuned since Creation
To perfect accord,
She thrills in her station
And yearns to her Lord.
The waters have risen.
The springs are unbound —
The floods break their prison.
And ravin around.
No rampart withstands *em.
Their fury will last.
Till the Sign that commands 'em
Sinks low or swings past.
6s6 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Through abysses unproven.
O'er gulfs beyond thought.
Our portion is woven,
Our burden is brought.
Yet They that prepare it.
Whose Nature we share,
Make us who must bear it
Well able to bear.
Though terrors o'crtake us
We'll not be afrwd.
\o Power can unmake us
Save that which has made:
Nor yet beyond reason
Or hope shall we fall —
All things have their season.
And Mercy crowns all!
Then, doubt not, ye fearful—
The Eternal is King-
Up, heart, and be cheerful,
And lustily ang: —
ff^hai chariots, ahat horses^
Jgainsl us shall bide
While the Stars in their courses
Do fight on our side ?
"THE POWER OF THE DOC*
npHERE is sorrow enough in the natural ««?
*■ From men and women to fill our day;
And when we are certain of sorrow in store,
Why do we always arrange for more?
Brothers and Sisters, I bid you beware
ty giving your heart to a dog to tear.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 657
Buy a pup and your money will buy
Love unflinching that cannot lie —
Perfect passion and worship fed
By a kick in the ribs or a pat on the head.
Nevertheless it is hardly fair
To risk your heart for a dog to tear.
When the fourteen years which Nature permits
Are closing in asthma, or tumour, or fits.
And the vet's unspoken p**escription runs
To lethal chambers or loaded guns.
Then you will find — //* j your own affair —
Bu/ • . . you*ve given your heart to a dog to tear.
When the body that lived at your single will,
With its whimper of welcome, is stilled (how still!).
When the spirit that answered your every mood
Is gone — wherever it goes — for good,
You will discover how much you care^
^nd will give your heart to a dog to tear.
We've sorrow enough in the natural way,
When it comes to burying Christian clay.
Our loves are not given, but only lent.
At compound interest of cent per cent.
Though it is not always the case, I believe,
That the longer we've kept 'em, the more do we grieve:
For, when debts are payable, right or wrong,
A short-time loan is as bad as a long —
So why in — Heaven {before we are there)
Should we give our hearts to a dog to tear 1
658 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSB
THE RABBFS SONG
(I I Samuel xiv» 14.)
|F THOUGHT can reach t» Heaven,
On Heaven let it dwell.
For fear thy Thought be given
Like power to reach to Hell.
For fear the desolation
And darkness of thy mind
Perplex an habitation
Which thou hast left behind*
Let nothing linger after —
No whimpering ghost remun.
In wall, or beam, or rafter.
Of any hate or pdn.
Cleanse and call home thy spirit.
Deny her leave to cast,
On aught thy heirs inherit.
The shadow of her past.
For think, in all thy sadness,
What road our griefs may take;
Whose brain reflect our madness.
Or whom our terrors shake:
For think, lest any languish
By cause of thy distress —
The arrows of our anguish
Fly farther than we guess.
Our lives, our tears, as water.
Are spilled upon the ground;
God giveth no man quarter.
Yet God a means hath found.
Though faith and hope have vanished.
And even love grows dim —
A means whereby His banished
Be not expelled from Him !
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 659
THE BEE BOY'S SONG
^EES! Bees! Hark to your bees !
*' Hide from your neighbours as much as you please^
But all that has happened^ to us you must tell.
Or else we will give you no honey to sell I**
A maiden in her glory^
Upon her wedding-day,
Must tell her Bees the story.
Or else they'll fly away.
Fly away — die away —
Dwindle down and leave you!
But if you don't deceive your Bees,
Your Bees will not deceive you.
Marriage, birth or buryin'.
News across the seas,
All you're sad or merry in,
You must tell the Bees.
Tell 'em coming in an' out.
Where the Fanners fan,
'Cause the Bees are just about
As curious as a man!
Don't you wait where trees are.
When the lightnings play.
Nor don't you hate where Bees are.
Or else they'll pine away.
Pine away — dwine away —
Anything to leave you !
But if you never grieve your Bees,
Your Bees '11 never grieve you.
66o
RUDYARD KIPLING^ VEVSB
THE SONG OF SEVEN CITIES
Y WAS Lord of Gties verj tomptuoiitly faoiUed.
Seven roftring Qties pud me tribate fnm afiv.
Ivoiy their outposts were — the gntrdrooois of than pkkd.
And garrisoned with Amaaons ioTuicihle in war.
All the worid went sofdy when it walkiBd before my Cttr-
Neither King nor Army vexed my pwylcs at their toil
Never horse nor chariot irked or overbore mv Qtiei^
Never Mob nor Ruler questioned whence tney drew tkir
spoiL
Banded, mailed and arrogant from sunrise onto sunset,
Singing while they sacked it, they possessed the land atliip'
Yet when men would rob them, they resisted, they ouuk
onset
And pierced the smoke of batde with a thousand^dKtd
charge.
So they warred and trafficked only yesterday, my Cities.
To-day there is no mark or mound of where my Cities stooi
For the River rose at midnight and it washed away my Citiei
They are evened with Adantis and the towns before
Flood.
Run on rain-gorged channels raised the water-levels rouod
them.
Freshet backed on freshet swelled and swept their worU
from sight,
mi the emboldened floods linked arms and, flashing fbrwaidi
drowned them —
Drowned my Seven Cities and their peoples in one night!
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 66i
nr among the alders lie their derelict foundations,
le beams wherein they trusted and the plinths whereon they
built—
y rulers and their treasure and their unborn populations,
sad, destroyed, aborted, and defiled with mud and silt!
le Daughters of the Palace whom they cherished in my
Cities,
y silver-tongued Princesses, and the promise of their May —
leir bridegrooms of the June-tide — sdl have perished in my
Cities,
1th the harsh envenomed virgins that can neither love nor
play.
was Lord of Cities — I will build anew my Cities,
rven, set on rocks, above the wrath of any flood.
or will I rest from search till I have filled anew my Cities
^th peoples undefeated of the dark, enduring blood.
'o the sound of trumpets shall their seed restore my Cities
i^ealthy and well-weaponed, that once more may I behold
11 the world go softly when it walks before my Cities,
^ the horses and the chariots fleeing from them as of oldl
THE RETURN OF THE CHILDREN
^EITHER the harps nor the crowns amused, nor the
cherubs* dove-winged races —
folding hands forlornly the Children wandered beneath the
Dome,
lucking the splendid robes of the passers by, and with pitiful
faces
^egging what Princes and Powers refused: — "Ah, please
will you let us go home?"
66s RUDYARD
Orcr die jeadkd ioor, u^ ipceping, ru ID them Blwy ^
KncHfd and caxcmed and made ptomiae with ktttei, and
drew thcni akMiK to the galcwav
Yea, the aU-iraii nabmeafak Door whkh Frter must guaid
and none other.
Stnq^twaT She took the Keys from hb keeping, and opened
and freed them stra^glitway.
Then, to Her Scm» Who had aeen and amiled, !9ie said: "Oh
the mght that I bore Thee>
What didst Thoo care fer a love beyond nune or a hetvcs
that was not my aim?
Didst Thoa push frcxn the nipple»0 Child, to hear the angds
adore Thee?
Wlicn we two lay in the breath of the kine i " And He said r-
*'Thou hast done no hann/'
So through the Void the Children ran homeward merrily
hand in hand.
Looking neither to left nor right where the breathless Heav-
ens stood still.
And the Guards of the Void resheathed their swords, for they
heard the Command:
"Shall I that have suffered the Children to come to Me
them against their will?"
MERROW DOWN
I
'TPHERE runs a road by Merrow Down-
A grassy track to-day it is —
An hour out of Guildford town.
Above the river Wey it is.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 663
Here, when they heard the horse-bells ring^
The ancient Britons dressed and rode
To watch the dark Phoenicians bring
Their goods along the Western Road.
Yes, here, or hereabouts, they met
To hold their racial talks and such —
To barter beads for Whitby jet.
And tin for gay shell torques and such.
But long and long before that time
(When bison used to roam on it)
Did Taffy and her Daddy climb
That Down, and had their home on it.
Then beavers built in Broadstonebrook
And made a swamp where Bramley stands;
And bears from Shere would come and look
For Taffimai where Shamley stands.
The Wey, that Taffy called Wagai,
Was more than six times bigger then;
And all the Tribe of Tegumai
They cut a noble figure then!
II
Of all the Tribe of Tegumai
Who cut that figure, none remain, —
On Merrow Down the cuckoos cry —
The silence and the sun remain.
But as the faithful years return
And hearts unwounded sing again,
Comes Taffy dancing through the fern
To lead the Surrey spring again.
RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Her brows are bound with bracken- froods,
And golden elf-locks fly above;
Her eyes are bnghr as diamonds
And bluer than the sky above.
In OKicassiDS and deer-skin cloak,
sir she flits.
And iigiii.3 ■ np-wood smoke
To show where she flits.
For far — oh, vcr chind,
So fu- she cani I to him.
Conies Tegamai an <o find
The daughter that was all to him!
OLD MOTHER LAIDINWOOL
fyj) Mother Laidinwool had nigh twelve months btci
^ dead.
She hcanl the hops was doing well, an' so poppeil up ^
head,"
For said she: "The lads I've picked with when 1 was f^
and fair.
Tl»cy're bound to be «t hopping and I'm bound to meet c"
there!"
Lttwu ap snJgo
Back u the mart I imv, LardI
Bmck /v /Ar work I tttoa, Im^.'
far it's dark wArrr I iirdoven. My Lord I
Jim' it' J dtrk ukert I iit down !
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 665
1 Mother Laidinwool, she give her bones a shake,
i' trotted down the churchyard-path as fast as she could
make.
e met the Parson walking, but she says to him, says she: —
)h don't let no one trouble for a poor old ghost like me!"
Kras all a warm September an' the hops had flourished
grand,
t saw the folks get into 'em with stockin's en their hands;
' none of 'em was foreigners but all which she had known,,
d old Mother Laidinwool she blessed 'em every one.
t saw her daughters picking an' their childern them-beside,
she moved among the babies an' she stilled 'em when
they cried.
t saw their clothes was bought, not begged, an' they was
clean an' fat,
' CNd Mother Laidinwool she thanked the Lord for that.
I Mother Laidinwool she waited on all day
til it come too dark to see an' people went away —
til it come too dark to see an' lights began to show,
' old Mother Laidinwool she hadn't where to go.
1 Mother Laidinwool she give her bones a shake,
trotted back to churchyard-mould as fast as she could
make.
5 went where she was bidden to an' there laid down her
ghost, . . .
' the Lord have mercy on you in the Day you need it most!
Let me in agairty
Otit of the wet an" rain^ Lord !
Out of the wet an* rainy Lord !
For it's best as You shall sayy My Lord !
An* it*s best as You shall say I
i
RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
THE LAND
\yHEN Julius Fabricius, Sul>-P«fect of the Weald,
In the days of DiocleOan owned our Lower Rivcr.fieU,
He called to him Hobdenius — a Briton of the Clay,
Saying: "What about that River-piece for layin' in to haW"
And the aged Hobden answered: "I remember as a lad
My father told your father that she wanted drcenin' bad.
An' the more that you neeglect
clean.
Have it jesttfj you've a mind to, 1
lat she wanted drcenm bad. \
lect her the less you'll get her |
to, but, if I was you, I'ddrccn." 1
So they drained it long and crossways in the lavish Roman
style —
Still we find among the river-drift their flakes of ancient dk,
And in drouthy middle August, when the bones of meadows
show.
We can trace the lines they followed nxteen hundred yein
ago.
Then Julius Fabricius died as even Prefects do.
And after certain centuries, Imperial Rome di«d too.
Then did robbers enter Britain from across the Northeni
main
And our Lower River-field was won by Ogier the Dane.
Well could Ogier work his war-boat — well could O^er wield
his brand —
Much he knew of foaming waters — not so much of fanning
land.
So he called to him a Hobden of the old unaltered blood,
Saying: "What about that River-piece, she doesn't look no
good?"
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 667
And that aged Hobden answered: " Tain't for me to interfere,
But I've known that bit o' meadow now for five and fifty year.
Have It jest as you've a mind to, but I've proved it time on
time.
If you want to change her nature you have gpi to give her
lime!"
Ogier sent his wains to Lewes, twenty hours' solemn walk.
And drew back great abundance of the cool, grey, healing
chalk.
And old Hobden spread it broadcast, never heeding what was
in't.
Which is why in cleaning ditches, now and then we find a flint.
Ogier died. His sons grew English — Anglo-Saxon was their
name —
Till out of blossomed Normandy another pirate came;
For Duke William conquered England and divided with his
men,
And our Lower River-field he gave to William of Warenne.
But the Brook (you know her habit) rose one rainy autumn
night
And tore down sodden flitches of the bank to left and right.
So, said William to his BailiflF as they rode their dripping
rounds:
"Hob, what about that River-bit — the Brook's got up no
bounds?"
And that aged Hobden answered: **'Tain't my business to
advise.
But ye might ha' known 'twould happen from the way the
valley lies.
Where ye can't hold back the water you must try and save the
sile.
Hev it jest as you've a mind to, but, if I was you, I'd spile!"
668 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
They spiled along the water-course with trunks of n
And planks of elms behind 'em and immortal oaken kiwet
And when the spates of Autumn whirl the gravel-beds i*i|i
You can sec their faithful fragments iron-hard in iron cUt
Georgii ^uirHi Anno Sexlo, I, who own the Rivcr-fietd,
Am fortified with title-deeds, attested, signed and sealed. I
Guaranteeing me, my assigns, my executors and heirs
All sorts of powers and profits which — are neither mine nut j
theirs. J
I have rights of chase and warren, as my dignity require! ■
I can fish — but Hobden tickles. I can shoot— but Hobdtf \
wires,
I repair, but he reopens, certain gaps which, men allege,
Have been used by every Hobden since a Hobden swappeJ «
hedge.
Shall I dog his morning progress o'er the track-betraj-ing
dew?
Demand his dinner-basket into which my pheasant flew?
Confiscate his evening faggot under which the conies ran,
And summons htm to judgment? I would sooner summons
Pan.
His dead are in the churchyard — thirty generations laid.
Their names were old in history when Domesday Book wii
made.
And the passion and the piety and prowess of his line
Have seeded, rooted, fruited in some land the Law calls mine.
Not for any beast that burrows, not for any bird that flie),
Would I lose his large sound council, miss his keen amending
eyes.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 669
is bailiff, woodman, wheelwright, field-surveyor, engineer,
d if flagrantly a poacher — 'tain't for me to interfere.
[oby what about that River-bit?" I turn to him again,
th Fabricius and Ogier and William of Warenne
[ev it jest as you've a mind to, but'^ — and here he takes
command.
r whoever pays the taxes old Mus' Hobden owns the land.
CHAPTER HEADINGS
JUST-SO STORIES
17HEN the cabin port-holes are dark and green
Because of the seas outside;
len the ship goes wop (with a wiggle between)
d the steward falls into the soup-tureen,
\nd the trunks begin to slide;
len Nursey lies on the floor in a heap,
d Mummy tells you to let her sleep,
d you are n't waked or washed or dressed,
ly, then you will know (if you have n't guessed)
u 're "Fifty North and Forty West!"
How the Whale Got His Throat.
The Camel's hump is an ugly lump
Which well you may see at the 2^;
But uglier yet is the hump we get
From having too little to do.
Kiddies and grown-ups too-00-00.
If we have n't enough to do-00-00.
We get the hump —
Cameelious hump —
The hump that is black and blue!
670 RUDYARD KIPLING'S
We dimb out of bed witb a froaJLy liead
And a tnarly-yaiiv vcnce.
We shiver and scowl and we grunt and we groirf
At our bath and our boots and our toys;
And there ought to be a comer for me
(And I know there is one for you)
When we get the hump —
Cameelious hump —
The hump that is black and blue!
The cure for this ill is not to At still.
Or frowst with a bode by the fire;
But to take a large hoe and a shovel also.
And dig till you gently perspire;
And then you will find that the sun and the wind,
And the Djinn of the Garden too.
Have lifted the hump —
The horrible hump —
The hump that is black and blue!
I get it as well as you-oo-oo —
If I haven't enough to do-oo-oo!
We all get hump —
Cameelious hump —
Kiddies and grown-ups too!
How the Camel Got His Hump.
I am the Most Wise Baviaan, saying in most wise tones,
**Let us melt into the landscape — just us two by our lones.'*
People have come — in a carriage — calling. But Mummy is
there. . . .
Yes, I can go if you take me — Nurse says she don't care.
Let's go up to the pig-styes and sit on the farmyard rails!
INCLUSIVE EDITION. 188&-1918 671
Let 6 say things to the bunnies, and watch 'em skitter their
tails!
Let's — oh, anything^ daddy, so long as it's you and me.
And going truly exploring, and not being in till tea!
Here's your boots (I've brought 'em), and here's your cap and
stick.
And here's your pipe and tobacco. Oh, come along out of it
— quick!
How the Leopard Got His Spots.
I k«ep six honest serving-men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who.
I send them over land and sea,
I send them east and west;
But after they have worked for me,
/ give them all a rest.
/ let them rest from nine till five.
For I am busy then.
As well as breakfast, lunch, and tea.
For they are hungry men.
But different folk have different views;
I know a person small —
She keeps ten million serving-men,
Who get no rest at all !
She sends 'em abroad on her own affairs,
From the second she opens her eyes —
One million Hows, two million Wheres,
And seven million Whys!
The Elephant's Child.
trjz
RUDYARD KIPLING'S
TUt b die moatlKfilliiig song of die noe that WIS nt ^^
Run in a single bant— onlf event of its kind —
Started by B% God Nqong from WarrigabonigsfQoma»
Old Man Ka^aroo firs^ YcOow-Dog Dingo behincL
Kangaitx> boonded away, his bacU^ woridnff Gke pittost-
Bounded from morning till dark, twenty-five feet at a booad
YeOow-Dqg Dingo lay like a yellow doud in the distance-
Much too busy to baric My I but they covered the gromnO
Nobody knows where diey went^ or followed the tnxk tkit
they flew in.
For that Continent had n*t been given a name.
They ran thirty degrees, from Torres Straits to the Lceuvii
(Look at the Atlas, please), then they ran back as they came.
S'posing you could trot from Adelaide to the Pacific,
For an afternoon's run — half what these gentlemen did—
You would feel rather hot, but your legs would develop
terrific —
Yes, my importunate son, you'd be a Marvellous Kid!
The Sing-Song of Old Man Kangaroo.
I've never sailed the Amazon,
I've never reached Brazil;
But the Don and Magdalena^
They can go there when they will!
Yes, weekly from Southampton,
Great steamers, white and gold.
Go rolling down to Rio
(Roll down — ^roll down to Rio!)-
And I'd like to roll to Rio
Some day before I'm old!
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 673
e never seen a Jaguar
^or yet an Armadill —
iilloing in his armour,
Ind I s'pose I never will.
Unless I go to Rio
These wonders to behold —
Roll down — roll down to Rio —
Roll really down to Rio!
Oh, Fd love to roll to Rio
Some day before I'm old!
The Beginning of the Armadilloes.
China-going P. and 0/s
Pass Pau Amma's playground close.
And his Pusat Tasek lies
Near the track of most B. I.'s
N.Y.K. and N.D.L.
Know Pau Amma's home as well
As the Fisher of the Sea knows
** Bens," M.M.'s, and Rubattinos.
But (and this is rather queer)
A.T.L.'s can not come here;
O. and O. and D.O.A.
Must go round another way.
Orient, Anchor, Bibby, Hall,
Never go that way at all.
U.C.S. would have a fit
If it found itself on it.
And if "Beavers" took their cargoes
To Penang instead of Lagos,
Or a fat Shaw-Savill bore
Passengers to Singapore,
Or a White Star were to try a
Little trip to Sourabaya,
674 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Or a BSJi. went on
Past Natal to Chcnbcn,
Then gtrat Mr, LJoyds irould come
With a wire and drag them bofnc!
You'll know wbat my riddle means
When you've eaten mangosteens.
The Crak Thai Piayed vifh ihe Sta.
Pussy can sit by the lire and sing,
Puss)' can climb a tree.
Or play with a »lly old CMit and string
To 'muse herself, not me,
But / like Binkie my dog, because
He knows how to behave;
So, Binkie's the same as the First Friend was.
And I am the Man in the Cave!
Pussy will play man-Friday rill
It's rime to wet her paw
And make her walk on the window-nil
{For the footprint Crusoe saw);
Then she fluffles her tail and mews,
And scratches and won't attend.
But Bmkie will play whatever I choose.
And he is my true First Friend 1
Pussy will nib my knees with her head
Pretending she loves me hard;
But the very minute I go to my bed
Pussy runs out in the yard,
And there she stays rill the momii^-light;
So I know it is only pretend;
But Binkie, he snores at my feet all night.
And he is my Firetest Friend!
The Cat That Walked by Himief.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885^1918 673
There was never a Queen like Balkis,
From here to the wide world's end;
But Balkis talked to a butterfly
As you would talk to a friend.
There was never a King like Solomon,
Not since the world began;
But Solomon talked to a butterfly
As a man would talk to a man.
She was Queen of Sabsea —
And he was Asia's Lord —
But they both of 'em talked to butterflies
When they took their walks abroad!
The Butterfly That Stamped.
THE LOOKING-GLASS
{A Country Dance)
EN Bess was Harry s daughter. Stand forward
artncrs all I
and stomacher and gown
need King Philip down-a, down^
7 her shoe to show *twas true —
very tune Fm playing you)
gem at Brickwall !^
leen was in her chamber, and she was middling old,
tticoat was satin, and her stomacher was gold,
ard and forward and sideways did she pass,
I up her mind to face the cruel looking-glass,
iiel looking-glass that will never show a lass
lely or as kindly or as young as what she was!
3ess was Harry* s daughter. Now hand your partners all!
of Queen Elizabeth's shoes are still at Brickwall House, North-
iam, Sussex.
t
676 RUDYARD KIPLING'S
The Queen was in her chamber, apcombing of her lunr.
There came Queen Mary's npint and It stood behind her
chur.
Singing '* Backward and forward and sidewAvs mayyoapasi
But I will stand behind you till you face die locddqg-^aM.
The cruel looking-glass that will never show a lass
As lovely or unlucky or as lonely as I was!"
^fieen Bess was Harry* s daughier. Nam ium jmar fartam
all!
The Queen was in her chamber, a-weeping very aofc^
There came Lord Leicester's spirit and It scratdied upon die
door,
Sinpng ** Backward and forward and adeways may you pass.
But I will walk beside you till ]rou face the looldng-^ass.
The cruel looking-glass that will never show a lass.
As hard and unforgiving or as wicked as you was!"
^uctn Bess was Harry s daughter. Now kiss your partners
all!
The Queen was in her chamber, her sins were on her head.
She looked the spirits up and down and statelily she said: —
'"Backward and forward and sideways though IVe been.
Yet I am Harry's daughter and I am England's Queen!"
And she faced the looking-glass (and whatever else there was)
And she saw her day was over and she saw her beauty pass
In the cruel looldng-glass, that can always hurt a lass
More hard than any ghost there is or any man there was!
THE QUEEN'S MEN
TTALOUR and Innocence
Have latterly gone hence
To certain death by certain shame attended.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 677
Envy — ah! even to tears! —
The fortune of their years
Which, though so few, yet so divinely ended.
Scarce had they lifted up
Life's full and fiery cup.
Than they had set it down untouched before them.
Before their day arose
They beckoned it to close —
Close in confusion and destruction o'er them.
They did not stay to ask
What prize should crown their task —
Well sure that prize was such as no man strives for;
But passed into eclipse.
Her kiss upon their lips —
Even Belphcebe's, whom they gave their lives for!
THE CITY OF SLEEP
o
VER the edge of the purple down.
Where the single lamplight gleams.
Know ye the road to the Merciful Town
That is hard by the Sea of Dreams —
Where the poor may lay their wrongs away.
And the sick may forget to weep ?
But we — pity us! Oh, pity us!
We wakeful; ah, pity us! —
We must go back with Policeman Day —
Back from the City of Sleep!
Weary they turn from the scroll and crown.
Fetter and prayer and plough —
They that go up to the Merciful Town,
For her gates are closing now.
6/8 RUDYARD KIPLING'S X'ERSE
It is their right in the BatJis of Night
Body and soul to steep.
Bat wc— pity us! ah, pity us! ^^m
We wakeful- oh, pity us! — ^H
We must go back with Policeman Daj^^K
Back from the Citj' of Sleep!
CHtr the edge of the purple down.
Ere the tender dreams b^n.
Look — we may look — at the Merciful Town,
But we may not enter in!
Outcasts all, from her guarded wall
Back to our watch we creep:
We— pit>- us! ah, piry us!
We wakeful; oh, pity us!—
We that go back with Policeman Day —
Back inuB the City of Sleep!
"HELEN ALL ALONE"
'T'HERE was darkness under Heaven
For an hour's space —
Darkness that we knew was given
Us for special grace.
Sun and moon and stars were hid,
God had left His Throne,
When Helen came to me, she did,
Helen all alone!
Side by side (because our fate
Damned us ere our birth)
We stole out of Umbo Gate
Looking for the Earth.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 679
Hand in pulling hand amid
Fear no dreams have known,
Helen ran with me, she did,
Helen all alone!
When the Horror passing speech
Hunted us along.
Each laid hold on each, and each
Found the other strong.
In the teeth of Things forbid
And Reason overthrown,
Helen stood by me, she did,
Helen all alone!
When, at last, we heard those Fires
Dull and die away.
When, at last, our linked desires
Dragged us up to day;
When, at last, our souls were rid
Of what that Night had shown,
Helen passed from me, she did,
Helen all alone!
Let her go and find a mate.
As I will find a bride.
Knowing naught of Limbo Gate
Or Who are penned inside.
There is knowledge God forbid
More than one should own.
So Helen went from me, she did.
Oh my soul, be glad she did!
Helen all alone!
RUDYARD KIPLING S VERSE
THE WIDOWER
POR a season there must be pain—
For a little, little space
I shall lose the sight of her face,
Take back the old life again
While She is at rest in her place.
For a season this pain must endure.
For a little, little while
I shall sigh more often than smile
Till Time shall work me a cure.
And the pitiful days beguile.
For that season we must be apart.
For a little length of years,
Till my life's last hour nears.
And, above the beat of my heart,
I hear Her voice in my ears.
But I shall not understand —
Being set on some later love.
Shall not know her for whom I strove,
Till she reach me forth her hand.
Saying, "Who but I have the right?"
And out of a troubled night
Shall draw me safe to the land.
THE PRAYER OF MIRIAM COHEN
'pROM the wheel and the drift of Things
Deliver us. Good Lord,
And we will face the wrath of Kings
The faggot and the sword!
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 68i
Lay not Thy Works before our eyes
Nor vex us with Thy Wars
Lest we should feel the straining skies
O'ertrod by trampling stars.
Hold us secure behind the gates
Of saving flesh and bone.
Lest we should dream what Dream awaits
The soul escaped alone.
Thy Path, Thy Purposes conceal
From our beleaguered realm,
Lest any shattering whisper steal
Upon us and overwhelm.
A veil 'twixt us and Thee, Good Lord,
A veil 'twixt us and Thee,
Lest we should hear too clear, too clear.
And unto madness see !
THE COMFORTERS
TJNTIL thy feet have trod the Road
Advise not wayside folk,
Nor till thy back has borne the Load
Break in upon the broke.
Chase not with undesired largesse
Of sympathy the heart
Which, knowing her own bitterness,
Presumes to dwell apart.
^■RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Employ not that glad hand to raise
The God-forgotten head
•To Heaven, and all the neighbours' gaie—
I Cover thy mouth instead.
The quivering chin, the bitten lip,
The cold and sweating brow, ^
Later may yearn for fellowship —
Not now, you ass, not now! ]
L . . J .
T"ime, not thy ne'er so timely speedb
I Life, not thy views thereon, ^
IShall furnish or deny to each i
His consolation.
Or, if impelled to interfere.
Exhort, uplift, advise.
Lend not a base, betraying ear
To all the victim's cries.
Only the Lord can understand
When those first pangs b^n.
How much is reflex action and
How much is really sin.
E'en from good words thyself refndti,
And tremblingly admit
There is no anodyne for pain
Except the shock of it.
So, when thine own dark hour dtaO fall,
Unchallenged canst thou say:
"I never worried jiow at all,
For God's sake go away!"
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885^1918 683
THE SONG OF THE LITTLE HUNTER
E Mor the Peacock flutterSi ere the Monkey People
cry,
t Chil the Kite swoops down a furlong sheer.
High the Jungle very softly flits a shadow and a sigh —
e is Fear, O Little Hunter, he is Fear!
r softly down the glade runs a waiting, watching shade,
id the whisper spreads and widens far and near.
the sweat is on thy brow, for he passes even now —
e is Fear, O Little Hunter, he is Fear!
the moon has climbed the mountain, ere the rocks are
ribbed with light,
hen the downward-dipping trails are dank and drear,
es a breathing hard behind thee — snuffle-snuffle through
the night —
is Fear, O Little Hunter, it is Fear!
hy knees and draw the tx)w; bid the shrilling arrow go;
the empty, mocking thicket plunge the spear!
thy hands are loosed and weak, and the blood has left
thy cheek —
is Fear, O Little Hunter, it is Fear!
n the heat-cloud sucks the tempest, when the slivered
pine-trees fall,
hen the blinding, blaring rain-squalls lash and veer,
>ugh the war-gongs of the thunder rings a voice more loud
than all —
is Fear, O Little Hunter, it is Fear!
^ the spates are banked and deep; now the footless bouU
ders leap —
ow the lightning shows each littlest leaf-rib clear —
thy throat is shut and dried, and thy heart against thy
side
ammers: Fear, O Little Hunter — this is Fear!
684 RDDYARD KIPLING'S
GOVirS WATX3I'
Act n. ScBWE 2.
Tkep^m&mimtkeGmiims. Enter FBrnonr a«d m/ 4b Km
FBiDDTAirD. Tour tierod'a too long at hack, Sr. HA
Bat a paangeJunHt that feoted ere ive caoght him,
Dangmmtly free o* die air. 'Faith vere he aune
(As mine's the ^bve he hinds to far his tiringi)
I*d II7 him with a make-hawk. He's in yarak
Phimed to die very point. So manned so — wtathciedl
Give him the firmament God made him far
And what shall take the ur of him?
The King. A young wing yet
Bold — overbold on the perch but, think you, Ferdinand,
He can endure the raw skies yonder? Cozen
Advantage out of the teeth of the hurricane?
Choose lus own mate against the lammer-geier?
Ride out a night-^long tempest, hold his pitch
Between the lightning and the cloud it leaps from,
too preyed to kill?
Ferdinaxd. rU answer for him.
Bating all parable, I know the
There*s a bleak devil in the young, my Lord;
God put it there to save 'em from their elders
And break their father's heart, but bear them scatheless
Through mire and thorns and blood if need be. Think
What our prime saw! Such ^ory, such achievements
As now our children, wondering at, examine
Themselves to see if they shall haixlly equal.
But what cared we while we wrought the wonders? Nothing*
The rampant deed contented.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 188S-1918 685
The King. Little enough. God knows! But afterwards. —
after—
Then comes the reckoning. I would save him that.
Ferdinand. Save him dry scars that ache of winter-
nights,
Worn out self-pity and as much of knowledge
Us makes old men fear judgment? Then loose him — ^loose
him
fk* God's name loose him to adventure early!
fijad trust some random pike, or half-backed horse.
Besides what's caught in Italy, to save him.
The King. I know. I know. And yet. . • • What
stirs in the garden?
Enter Gow anJa Gardener bearing the Princess body
Ferdinand. (Gods give me patience!) Gow and a gar-
dener
Bearing some load along in the dusk to the dunghill.
Nfay — a dead branch — But as I said, the Prince
The King. They've laid it down. Strange they should
work so late.
Gow {setting down the body). Heark, you unsanctified fool
^hile I set out our story. We found it, this side the North
^ark wall which it had climbed to pluck nectarines from the
Uley. Heark again ! There was a nectarine in its hand when
^e found it, and the naughty brick that slipped from the cop-
tig beneath its foot and so caused its death, lies now under
^ wall for the King to see.
The King {above). The King to see! Why should he?
i^o's the man?
Perdjn-a.vd,
Ircathe-J
Gardener, 1
'ng nectarines, i
"hy our Lady th,
Gow (il^s ii„
nim y'are the Bn
Mlund the la„rela
The King. WI
"'■ I'll go look.
Ferdinand (a^
Gow. God save
The Kino, The
ncm Ihijac,.)
My Hesh and blood!
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 687
te KiHG. "Loosed to adventure early!" TcU the tale.
iow. Saddest truth alack! I came upon him not a half
r since, fallen from the North Park wall over against the
q>ark side — dead — dead! — a nectarine in his hand that
dear lad must have climbed for, and plucked the very
mnt, look you, that a brick slipped on the coping. 'Tis
!t now. So I lifted him> but his neck was as you see — and
ady cold.
HE King. Oh, very cold. But why should he have
ibled to climb? He was free of all the fruit in my garden
I knows! . . . What, Gow?
low. Surely, God knows!
'he King. A lad's trick. But I love him the better
it. . . . True, he's past loving. . ... And now
nust tell our Queen. What a coil at the day's end ! She'll
ve for him. Not as I shall, Ferdinand, but as youth for
th. They were much of the same age. Playmate for
miate. See, he wears her colours. That is the knot she
e him last — last. ... Oh God! When was yester-
?
ERDiNAND. Come in! Come in, my Lord. There's a
' falling.
HE King. He'll take no harm of it. I'll follow prcs-
jT. . • •
s all his mother's now and none of mine —
very face on the bride-pillow. Yet I tricked her.
that was later — and she never guessed.
> not think he sinned much — he's too young —
ch the same age as my Queen. God must not judge him
» hardly for such slips as youth may fall in.
; I'll entreat that Throne.
{Prays by the body.)
r
RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Gow. The Heave/13 hold up still. Earth opens noi ud ',
this dew's mere water. What shallaman think of ttall? (Tb
Gardener.) Not dead yet, sirrah? I bade you follow tk ]
Prince. Despatch!
Gardener. Some kind soul pluck out the dagger. Why
did you slay me ? I'd done no wrong, I'd ha' kept it secret
till my dying day. But not now — not now! I'm dying.
The Prince fell from the Queen's chamber window. 1 saw it
in the nut-alley. He was— -
Ferdikakd. But what made you in the nut-ailcy at that
hour?
Gardener. No wrong. No more than another mait'i
wife. Jocastaof the still-room. She'd kissed mc good-night
too; but that's over with the rest. . . . I've stumbled ou
the Prince's beastly loves, and I pay for all. Let me pass!
Gow. Count it your fortune, honest man. You would
have revealed it to your woman at the next meeting. You
flcshmongers are all one feather. [Plucks out the ^gger.)
Go in peace and lay your death to Fortune's door. He's
sped — thank Fortune!
Ferdihand. Who knows not Fortune, glutted on easy
thrones.
Stealing from feasts as rare to coney-catch
Privily in the hedgerows for a clown.
With that same cmel-lustfid hand and eye.
Those nails and wedges, that one hammer and lead.
And the very gerb of long-stored lightning loosed.
Yesterday 'gainst some King.
The Kino. I have pursued widi prayers where my hewt
warns me
My soul shall overtake —
Enter the Quebm
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 188&-1918 689
King. Look not! Wait till I tell you, dearest. . . .
• •
i to adventure early"
I go late. {Dies.)
So! God hath cut off the Prince in his pleasures.
) save the King, hath silenced one poor fool who knew
befell, and, now the King's dead,' needs only that the
thould kill Gow and all's safe for her this side o' the
nt. . . . Senor Ferdinand, the wind's easterly,
the road.
INAND. My horse is at the gate. God speed you.
r?
To the Duke, if the Queen does not lay hands on
)re. However it goes, I charge you bear witness,
erdinand, I served the old King faithfully. To the
Jenor Ferdinand — to the death!
THE WISHING-CAPS
T IFE'S all getting and giving,
I've only myself to give.
What shall I do for a living?
I've only one life to live.
End it? I'll not find another.
Spend it? But how shall I best?
Sure the wise plan is to live like a man
And Luck may look after the rest!
Largesse! Largesse, Fortune!
Give or hold at your will.
If I've no care for Fortune
Fortune must follow me still.
690 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE"^
Bad Luck, she is never a lady
But the commonest wench on the sfrwt,
ShulBing, shabby and shadV) ^H
Shameless to pass or meet. ^^H
Walk with her once — ^it's a weakness! ^^|
Talk to her twice— it's a crime!
Thrust her away when she gives you "gooddi
And the besom won't board you m
Largesse! Largesse, Fortune!
What is Your Ladyship's mood?
If I've no care for Fortune,
My Fortune is bound to be good!
!
Good Luck she is never a lady
But the cursedest quean alive!
Tricksey, wincing and jady.
Kittle to lead or drive.
Greet her — she's hailing a stranger!
Meet her — she's busldng to leave.
Let her alone for a shrew to the bone,
And the hussy comes plucking your sleeve!
Largesse! Largesse, Fortune!
I'll neither follow nor flee.
If I don't run after Fortune
Fortune must run after mc!
"BY THE HOOF OF THE WILD GOAT"
D Y THE Hoof of the Wild Goat uptosjol
From the cliff where she lay in Uie Sun
Fell the Stone
To the Tarn where the daylight is lost,
So she fell from the light of die Sua
And alone!
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 691
Now the fall was ordained from the first
With the Goat and the CHfF and the Tarn,
But the Stone
Knows only her life is accursed
As she sinks from the light of the Sun
And alone !
Oh Thou Who has builded the World,
Oh Thou Who has lighted the Sun,
Oh Thou Who has darkened the Tarn,
Judge Thou
The sin of the Stone that was hurled
By the goat from the light of the Sun,
As she sinks in the mire of the Tarn,
Even now — even now — even now!
SONG OF THE RED WAR-BOAT
(a. d. 683)
CHOVE off from the wharf-edge ! Steady !
Watch for a smooth! Give way!
If she feels the lop already
She'll stand on her head in the bay.
It's ebb — it's dusk — it's blowing
The shoals are a mile of white,
But (snatch her along!) we're going
To find our master to-night.
For we hold that in all disaster
Of shipwreck^ stormy or swordy
A Man must stand by his Master
When once he has pledged his word.
I
L
691 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Raging seas have we rowed in
But we seldom saw them thus.
Our master is angry with Odin —
Odin is angry with us!
Heavy odds have we taken,
But never before such odds.
The Gods know they are forsaken.
We must risk the wrath of the Gods!
Over the crest she flies from.
Into its hollow she drops.
Cringes and clears her eyes from
The wind-torn breaker-tops.
Ere out on the shrieking shoulder
Of a hill-high surge she drives.
Meet her! Meet her and hold her!
Pull for your scoundrel lives!
The thunders bellow and clamour
The harm that they mean to do!
Tliere goes Thor's own Hammer
Cracking the dark in two!
Close! But the blow has missed her,
Here comes the wind of the blow!
Row or the squall 'II twist her
Broad^de on to it! — Row!
Heark 'ee, Thor of the Thunder!
We are not here for a jest —
For wager, warfare, or plunder.
Or to put your power to test.
This work is none of our mshing —
We would house at home if we m^ht—
But our master is wrecked out fishing.
We go to find him to-night.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 693
For we hold that in all disaster —
As the Gods Themselves have said —
A Man must stand by his Master
Till one of the two is dead.
That is our way of thinking.
Now you can do as you will.
While we try to save her from sinking,
And hold her head to it still.
Bale her and keep her moving.
Or she'll break her back in the trough. . • .
Who said the weather's improving.
Or the swells are taking off?
Sodden, and chafed and aching,
Gone in the loins and knees —
No matter — the day is breaking,
And there's far less weight to the seas!
Up ma6t, and finish baling —
In oars, and out with the mead —
The rest will be two-reef sailing. . . .
That was a night indeed!
But we hold that in all disaster
(Andfaithy we have found it true /)
If only you stand by your Master ^
The Gods will stand by you !
MINE SWEEPERS
I 9 I 4-1 8
VN off the Foreland — the young flood making
fumbled and short and steep —
in the hollows and bright where it's breaking —
RS«
694 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VEl
Awkward water to sweep.
" Mines reported in the fairway,
"Warn all traffic and detain.
■■"Seat up Unity, ClariM, Assyrian, Sturmtotk, and W
Gain"
Noon off the Forelsmd — the first ebb mildi^
Lumpy aiKl strong in the bight.
Boom alter boom, and the goIf>hut shaking
And the jackdaws wild with fright!
"Mines ucatcd in the fairway,
" Boats now woHui^ up tl^ chain,
"Sweepers — Unity, Ciaiiei, jfssyrian, Siormfock, and Co
Dusk off the Foreland — the last light going
And the traffic crowding through,
.\nd five damned trawlers with their syreens blowing
Heading the whole review!
"Sweep completed in the fairway.
"No more mines remain.
■"Sent back Unity, ChrHei, Assyrwt, Stormcock, taiGo
Gain."
MORNING SONG IN THE JUNGLE
/~\NE OKKiient past our bodies cast
No shadow on the plain;
Now dear and black they stride our track,
AikI we run home again.
In morning hush, each rock and bush
Stands hard, and high, and raw:
llien give the Call: "Good rest to all
TTtst keep the Junffe Lam !"
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 695
Now horn and pelt our peoples melt
In covert to abide;
Now, crouched and still, to cave and hill
Our Jungle Barons glide..
Now, stark and plain, Man's oxen strain,
That draw the new-yoked plough;
Now, stripped and dread, the dawn is r»d
Above the lit talao^
Ho! Get to lair! The sun's aflare
Behind the breathing grass:
And creaking through the young bamboo
The warning whispers pass.
By day made strange, the woods we range
With blinking eyes we scan;
While down the skies the wild duck cries:
" The Day— the Day to Man r
The dew is dried that drenched our hide.
Or washed about our way;
And where we drank, the puddled bank
Is crisping into clay.
The traitor Dark gives up each mark
Of stretched or hooded claw;
Then hear the Call: **Good rest to all
That keep the Jungle Law /"
BLUE ROSES
IJ OSES red and roses white
Plucked I for my love's delight.
She wovld none of all my posies —
Bade me gather her blue roses.
^ Pond or lake.
69&' RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Half the world 1 wandered through.
Seeking where such flowers grew
Half the world unto my quest
Answered me with laugh and jest.
Home I came at wintcrtide
But my silly love had died
Seeking with her latest breath
Roses from the arms of Death.
It nwy be bcyoDd t))e gnve
^ audi find what she .irould luve.
uunc was but an uUe ^uest-~
Roses white and red are best)
A RIPPLE SONG
/^NC^ a ripple came to land
In the golden sunset bumii^—
Lapped against a maiden's hand.
By the ford returning.
Dainty foot and gentle breast —
Here, across, be glad and rest.
"Maiden, wait," the ripple saith;
"fyait awhile,for I am Death I"
"Where my lover calls I go —
Shame it were to treat him coldly —
Twas a fish that circled so.
Turning over boldly."
Dainty foot and tender Heart,
Wait the loaded ferry-cart.
" Wait, ah, wail ! " the ripple saith;
"Maiden, wait, jor I am Death !"
INCXUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 697
" When my lover calls I hast
Dame Disdain was never wedded!
Ripple-ripple round her*waist.
Clear the current eddied
Foolish heart and faithful handy
Little feet that touched no land.
Far away the ripple spedy
Ripple — ripple running red I
>»
BUTTERFLIES
p^YES aloft, over dangerous placesj
The children follow the butterflies,
And, in the sweat of their upturned faces.
Slash with a net at the empty sides.
So it goes they fall amid brambles.
And sting their toes on the nettle-tops.
Till, after a thousand scratches and scrambles,
They wipe their brows and the hunting stops.
Then to quiet them comes their father
And stills the riot of ps^in and grief.
Saying, * Little ones, go and gather
Out of my garden a cabbage-leaf.
''You will find on it whorls and clots of
Dull grey ^gs that, properly fed,
Turn, by way of the worm, to lots of
Glorious butterflies raised from the dead." . • •
''Heaven b beautiful. Earth is ugly"
The three-dimensioned preacher saith.
So we must not look where the snail and the slug lie
For Psyche's birth. • . • And that is our death!
698 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSB
MY LADY'S LAW
"TpHE Law whereby my lady moves
Was never Law to me.
But 'tis enough that she approves
Whatever Law it be.
For in that Law, and by that Law,
My constant course I'll steer;
Not that I heed or deem it dread.
But that she holds it dear.
Tho' AaU sent (or my oontent
Her richest ugones.
Those would I spurn, and t»d return,
If that should give her ease.
With equal heart I'd watch depart
Each spicid sail from ught,
Sans bitterness, desiring laa
Great gear than her dcUght.
Though Kings made swift with many a gift
My proven sword to hire —
I would not go nor serve 'em so —
Except at her desire.
With even mind, I'd put b^tind
Adventure and acclaim.
And clean give o'er, esteeming more
Her favour than my fame.
Yei such am I, yea such am I —
Sore bond and freest free.
The Law that sways my lady's ways
Is mystery to me !
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 699
THE NURSING SISTER
{Maternity Hospital)
/^UR sister sayeth such and such,
And we must bow to her behests;
Our sister toileth overmuch,
Our little maid that hath no breasts.
A field untitled, a web unwove,
A flower withheld from sun or bee,
An alien in the courts of Love,
And — teacher unto such as we!
We love her, but we laugh the while.
We laugh, but sobs are mixed with laughter;
Our sister hath no time to smile,
She knows not what must follow after.
Wind of the South, arise and blow.
From beds of spice thy locks shake free;
Breathe on her heart that she may know.
Breathe on her eyes that she may see.
Alas! wc vex her with our mirth.
And maze her with most tender scorn.
Who stands beside the gates of Birth,
Herself a child — a child unborn !
Our sister sayeth such and suchy
And we must bow to her behests ;
Our sister toileth overmuch^
Our little maid that hath no breasts.
THE U0P^\SOSa<m'Wa^^TSYAL
A LONE up(m t)k6llbtuietMiH»4e Nortfa
*^ I tam ud watch die lighpang m Ae Af—
The gJuncMir of thy feolstap* in tbt KaH&
Come iaek $o me, BelomJ, «r / ^.
Below my feet the atiU bk
Far, far below the weary camels lie —
The camels and the capdves of thy raid. .
Come hack to me, SeloeiJ, or I Jit I
My father's irife is old and harsh *nth years
And drudge of all my fadier's house am I —
My bread is sorrow and my drink is tears.
Ceme back to me, Behved, or I die!
A DEDICATION
{To Soldiers Three)
AND they were stronger hands than mine
That digged the Ruby from the earth —
More cunning brains that made it worth
The large desire of a lung,
And stouter hearts that through the brine
Went down the perfect Pearl to bring.
Lo, I have wrought in common ciay
Rude figures of a rough-hewn race.
Since pearls strew not the market-place
In this my town of banishment.
Where with the shifting dust I play.
And eat the bread of discontent.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 701
Yet is there life in that I make.
O thou who knowest, turn and see —
As thou hast power over me
So have I power over these>
Because I wrought them for thy sake,
And breathed in them mine agonies.
Small mirth was in the making — now
I lift the cloth that cloaks the clay.
And, wearied, at thy feet I lay
My wares, ere I go forth to sell.
The long bazar will praise, but thou —
Heart of my heart — have I done well?
MOTHER O' MINE
F I were hanged on the highest hill,
Mother 0* mincy 0 mother 0* mine !
I know whose love would follow me still.
Mother 0* miney 0 mother 0' mine !
I
If I were drowned in the deepest sea.
Mother 0' minCy 0 mother 0' mine !
I know whose tears would come down to me.
Mother 0 miney 0 mother 6" mine I
If I were damned of body and soul,
I know whose prayers would make me whole,
Mother 0' mine<^ 0 mother 0* mine !
702 RUDYARD KIPLING'S
THE ONLY SON
CHE dropped the bar, she shot the bdt, she fed the Cic
anew.
For she heard a whimper under the rill and a great grey pt*
came through.
The fresh flame comforted the hut and shone on the roof-
beam.
And the Only Son lay down again and dreamed that he
dreamed a dream.
The last ash fell from the withered log with the click of a fall-
ing spark.
And the Only Son woke up again, and called across the
dark: —
"Now was I bom of womanldnd and laid in a mother's
breast?
For I have dreamed of a shaggy hide whereon I went to rest
And was I born of womankind and laid on a father's arm?
For I have dreamed of clashing teeth that guarded me from
harm.
And was I born an Only Son and did I play alone?
For I have dreamed of comrades twain that bit me to the
bone.
And did I break the barley-cake and steep it in the tyre?
For I have dreamed of a youngling kid new-riven from the
byre.
For I have dreamed of a midnight sky and a midnight call tc
blood
And red-mouthed shadows racing by, that thrust me from my
food.
'Tis an hour yet and an hour yet to the rising of the moon,
But I can see the black roof-tree as plain as it were noon.
Tis a league and a league to the Lena Falls where the troop-
ing blackbuck go;
But I can hear the little fawn that bleats behind the doe.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 703
is a league and a league to the Lena Falls where the crop
and the upland meet,
It I can smell the wet dawn-wind that wakes the sprouting
wheat.
ibar the door, I may not bide, but I must out and see
those are wolves that wait outside or my own kin to me!"
le loosed the bar, she slid the bolt, she opened the door anon,
id a grey bitch-wolf came out of the dark and fawned on
the Only Son !
MOWGLI'S SONG AGAINST PEOPLE
WILL let loose against you the fleet-footed vines —
I will call in the Jungle to stamp out your lines!
The roofs shall fade before it,
The house-beams shall fall,
And the Kareldy^ the bitter Karelay
Shall cover it all!
the gates of these your councils my people shall sine,
the doors of these your garners the Bat-folk shall clmg;
And the snake shall be your watchman.
By a hearthstone unswept;
For the Karehy the bitter Karela,
Shall fruit where ye slept!
: shall not see my strikers; ye shall hear them and guess;
' night, before the moon-rise, I will send for my cess.
And the wolf shall be your herdsman
By a landmark removed.
For the Kareldy jthe bitter Karela,
Shall seed where ye loved!
*A wild melon.
704 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
I will reap ycxir fields before you at die hands of a host;
Ye shall glean behind my reapers for die bread diat is Vf^
And die deer shall be your oxen
On a headland undUed,
For die Kmrtlm^ die bitter KmreUy
Shall leaf where ye build!
I have unded against you the club-footed
I have sent in die Jungle to swamp out your lines!
The trees — the trees are on you!
The house-beams shall fall.
And the Karela^ the bitter Karela,
Shall cover you all!
ROMULUS AND REMUS
QH, LITTLE did die Wolf-Child
When first he planned his home.
What city should arise and bear
The weight and state of Rome.
A shiftless, westward-wandering tramp.
Checked by the Tiber flood.
He reared a wall around his camp
Of uninspired mud.
But when his brother leaped the Wall
And mocked its height and make.
He guessed the future of it all
And slew him for its sake.
Swift was the blow — swift as the thought
Which showed him in that hour
How unbelief may bring to naught
The early steps of Power.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 705
Forseeing Time's imperilled hopes
Of Glory, Grace, and Love —
All singers, Caesars, artists. Popes —
Would fail if Remus throve.
He sent his brother to the Gods,
And, when the fit was o'er.
Went on collecting turves and clods
To build the Wall once more!
CHAPTER HEADINGS
THE JUNGLE BOOKS
"^OW Chil the Kite brings home the night
That Mang the Bat sets free —
The herds are shut in byre and hut
For loosed till dawn are we.
This is the hour of pride and power.
Talon and tush and claw.
Oh hear the call! — Good hunting all
That keep the Jungle Law!
Mowglfs Brothers.
spots are the joy of the Leopard: his horns are the Buf-
falo's pride.
Jean, for the strength of the hunter is known by the gloss
of his hide.
B find that the bullock can toss you, or the heavy-browed
Sambhur can gore;
iced not stop work to inform us. We knew it ten seasons
before.
•ftss not the cubs of the stranger, but hail them as Sister
and Brother,
though they are little and fubsy, it may be the Bear is
dieir mother.
7o6 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
"There b none like to me!^ says the Cab in the pride cf Idi
earliest kill;
But the Jungle is large and the Cub he is smalL LetUm
think and be still.
The stream is shrunk — the pool is diy.
And we be comrades, thou and I;
With fevered jowl and dusty flank
Each jostling each along the bank;
And, oy one drouthy fear made still.
Foregoing thought of quest or kill.
Now 'neath his dam the fawn may see»
The lean Pack-wolf as cowed as he.
And the tall buck, unflinching, note
The fangs that tore his fathePs throat.
The pooh are shrunk — the streams are dry^
And we be playmates y thou and /,
Till yonder cloud — Good Hunting! — loose
The rain that breaks our Water Truce.
How Fear Ca0^'
What of the hunting, hunter bold?
Brother^ the watch was long and cold.
What of the quarry ye went to kill?
Brother y he crops in the jungle stilL
Where is the power that made your pride?
Brother y it ebbs from my flank and side.
Where is the haste that ye hurry by?
Brothery I go to my lair to die!
''Tiger^Tigerr
Veil them, cover them, wall them round —
Blossom, and creeper, and weed —
Let us forget the sight and the sound.
The smell and the touch of the breed!
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 707
Fat black ash by the altar-stone,
Here is the white-foot rain,
And the does bring forth in the fields unsown,
And none shall affright them again;
And the blind walls crumble, unknown, o'erthrown.
And none shall inhabit again!
Letting in the Jungle.
These are the Four that are never content, that have never
been filled since the Dews began —
acala's mouth, and the glut of the Kite, and the hands of
the Ape, and the Eyes of Man.
The Kings Ankus.
^QV our white and our excellent nights — for the nights of
swift running.
Fair ranging, far-seeing, good hunting, sure cunning!
**or the smells of the dawning, untainted, ere dew has de-
parted!
^'or the rush through the mist, and the quarry J)lind-started!
**or the cry of our mates when the sambhur has wheeled and
is standing at bay!
For the risk and the riot of night!
For the sleep at the lair-mouth by day!
It is met, and we go to the fight.
Bay! O bay!
Red Dog.
Wlan goes to Man! Cry the challenge through the Jungle!
He that was our Brother goes away,
iear, now, and judge, O ye People of the Jungle, —
Answer, who can turn him — who shall stay?
7o8 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Man goes to Man! He is weqnng in die Jungle:
He that was our Brother sorrows sore 1
Man goes to Man! (Qh» we loved him in the JungkO
To the Man-Trail where we may not follow more.
The Spring RumiMi
At the hole where he went in
Red-Eye called to Wrinkle-Skin.
Hear what little Red-Eye saith:
"Nag, come up and dance with death!**
Eye to eye and head to head»
{Keep ihe measure^ ^^g»)
This shall end when one is dead;
{/ii thy pleasure^ ^^g')
Turn for turn and twist for twist—
{Run and hide thee^ Nag.)
Hah! The hooded Death has missed!
{Woe betide thee. Nag /)
'* Rikki-Tikki-Tavir
Oh I hush thee, my baby, the night is behind us.
And black are the waters that sparkled so green.
The moon, o'er the combers, looks downward to find us
At rest in the hollows that rustle between.
Where billow meets billow, then soft be thy pillow;
Ah, weary wee flipperling, curl at thy ease!
The storm shall not wake thee, nor shark overtake thee.
Asleep in the arms of the slow-swinging seas.
The fVhite Seal
You mustn't swim till you're six weeks old.
Or your head will be sunk by your heels;
And summer gales and Killer Whales
Are bad for baby seals.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885^1918 709
Arc bad for baby seals, dear rat.
As bad as bad can be;
But splash and grow strong.
And you can't be wrong,
Child of the Open Sea!
The White Seal
vill remember what I was, I am sick of rope and chain —
I will remember my old strength and all my forest-affairs,
v'ill not sell my back to man for a bundle of sugar-cane.
I will go out to my own kind, and the wood-folk in their
lairs.
inll go out until the day, until the morning break,
Out to the winds' untainted kiss, the waters* clean caress,
i^ill forget my ankle-ring and snap my picket-stake.
E will revisit my lost loves, and playmates masterless!
Toomai of the Elephants.
ic People of the Eastern Ice, they are melting like the
snow —
ley beg for coffee and sugar; they go where the white men
go.
le People of the Western Ice, they learn to steal and fight;
ley sell their furs to the trading-post; they sell their souls
to the white.
"ic People of the Southern Ice, they trade with the whaler's
crew;
"icir women have many ribbons, but their tents are torn
and few.
nt the People of the Elder Ice, beyond the white man's
ken —
heir spears are made of the narwhal-horn, and they are the
last of the Men !
^iquem.
7IO RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
When ye say to Tabttqui, "My Brother!" when ye caU die
Hyena to meaty
Ye may crv the Full Truce mth Jacala — the Belly that nut
on four feet.
The UndirUkm.
The night we felt the earth would move
We stole and plucked him by the hand.
Because we loved him with the love
That knows but cannot understand.
And when the roaring hillside broke.
And all our world fell down in rain.
We saved him, we the Little Folk;
But lo! he does not come again!
Mourn now, we saved him for the sake
Of such poor love as wild ones may.
Mourn ye ! Our brother will not wake.
And his own kind drive us away!
The Miracle of Purun Bhagai,
THE EGG-SHELL
nPHE wind took off with the sunset —
The fog came up with the tide.
When the Witch of the North took an Egg-shell
With a little Blue Devil inside.
**Sink," she said, "or swim," she said,
"It's all you will get from me.
And that is the finish of him!" she said.
And the Egg-shell went to sea.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885^1918 711
The wind fell dead with the midnight —
The fog shut down like a sheet,
When the Witch of the North heard the Egg-shell
Feeling by hand for a fleet.
"Get!" she said, "or you're gone," she said.
But the little Blue Devil said "No!"
"The sights are just coming on," he said.
And he let the Whitehead go.
The wind got up with the morning —
The fog blew off with the rain,
When the Witch of the North saw the Egg-shell
And the little Blue Devil again.
" Did you swim ? " she said. " Did you sink ? " she said.
And the little Blue Devil replied:
"For myself I swam, but I think," he said,
"There's somebody sinking outside."
"THE TRADE"
I 9 I 4- I 9 I 8
TpHEY bear, in place of classic names,
Letters and numbers on their skin.
They play their grisly blindfold games
In little boxes made of tin.
Sometimes they stalk the Zeppelin,
Sometimes they learn where mines are laid
Or where the Baltic ice is thin.
That is the custom of "The Trade."
Few prize-courts sit upon their claims.
They seldom tow their targets in.
They follow certain secret aims
Down under, far from strife or din.
712 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSS^H
I
4
When they are ready to begin
No flag is flown, no fuss is made
More than the shearing of a pin.
That is the custom of "The Trade."
The Scout's quadruple funnel flames
A mark from Swi-^den to the Swin,
The Cruiser': rous screw proclaims
Her con ind goings in:
But on f paraffin
Or cream^ t fizz and fade
Show whei^ •— ■ ne-eyed Death has been.
That is the cu af "The Trade,"
Their feats, their fortunes and their fames
Are hiciden from their nearest kin;
No eager public backs or blames.
No journal prints the yams they spin
(The Censor would not let it in!)
When they return from run or raid.
Unheard they work, unseen they win.
That is the custom of "The Trade."
THE KING'S TASK
190a
A FTER the sack of the City when Rome was sunk to'
name
In the years that the lights were darkened, or ever St. Wilfn
came
Low on the borders of Britain (the ancient poets sing)
Between the Cliff and the Forest there ruled a Saxon Ki
Stubborn all were his people from cottar tx> overlord —
Not to be cowed by the cudgel, scarce to be schooled by
sword;
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 713
lick to turn at their pleasure, cruel to cross in their mood,
id set on paths of their choosing as the hogs of Andred's
Wood.
.'ws they made in the Witan — the laws of flaying and fine —
»inmon, loppage and pannage, the theft and the track of
kine —
itutes of tun and of market for the fish and the malt and
the meal — •
e tax on the Bramber packhorse and the tax on the Hast-
ings keel.
cr the graves of the Druids and under the wreck of Rome
idely but surely they bedded the plinth of the days to come.
hind the feet of the Legions and before the Norseman's ire
idely but greatly begat they the framing of State and Shire.
idely but deeply they laboured, and their labour stands till
now,
we trace on our ancient headlands the twist of their eight-
ox plough. . . .
here came a king from Hamtun, by Bosenham he came,
e filled Use with slaughter, and Lewes he gave to flame.
e smote while they sat in the Witan — sudden, he smote and
sore,
bat his fleet was gathered at Selsea ere they mustered at
Cymen's Ore.
Lidie went the Saxons to battle, by down and wood and
mere,
at thrice the acorns ripened ere the western mark was clear.
ririce was the beechmast gathered, and the Beltane fires
burned
hrice,and the beeves were salted thrice ere the host returned
hey drove that king from Hamtun, by Bosenham o'er-
thrown,
tit of Rugnor to Wilton they made his land their own.
amps they builded at Gilling, at Basing and Alresford,
jt wrath abode in the Saxons from cottar to overlord.
rath at the weary war-game, at the foe that snapped and
ran
714 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Wdf-wise feigning and flying, and wdf-wiae samtclung Ui
man*
Wrath for their spears unready, thdr levies new tQ the
blades-
Shame for the helpless aeges and the scornful ambuscades.
At hearth and tavern and market, wherever the tale was
told.
Shame and wrath had the Saxonsbecauseef their boastsof old
And some would drink and deny it, and some would pray and
atone;
But the most part, after their anger, avouched that the lin
was their own.
Wherefore, girding together, up to the Witan diey came.
And as they had shouldered their bucklers so did they shoul-
der their blame. «
For that was the wont of the Saxons (the ancient poets sing).
And first they spoke in the Witan and then they spoke to the
King:
' Edward King of the Saxons, thou knowest from sire to son,
*One is the King and his People — in gain and ungain one.
' Count we the gain together. With doubtings and spread
dismays
'We have broken a foolish people — but after many dajrs.
* Count we the loss together. Warlocks hampered our arms
* We were tricked as by magic, we were turned as by charms.
'We went down to the battle and the road was plain to keep
'But our angry eyes were holden, and we struck as they
strike in sleep —
' Men new shaken from slumber, swearing, with eyes a-stare
'Little blows and uncertain dealt on the useless air.
'Also a vision betrayed us and a lying tale made bold
'That we looked to hold what we had not and to have what
we did not hold:
'That a shield should give us shelter — that a sword should
give us power —
'A shield snatched up at a venture and a hilt scarce handled
an hour:
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 715
That being rich in the open, we should be strong in the
And the Gods would sell us a cunning for the day that we
met our foes.
This was the work of wizards, but not with our foe they
bide,
In our own camp we took them, and their names are Sloth
and Pride.
Our pride was before the battle: our sloth ere we lifted
spear,
But hid in the heart of the people as the fever hides in the
mere.
Wiring only the war-game, the heat of the strife to rise
As the ague fumes round Oxeney when the rotting reed-bed
dries.
But now we are purged of that fever — cleansed by the
letting of blood,
Something leaner of body — something keener of mood.
And the men new-freed from the levies return to the fields
again.
Matching a hundred battles, cottar and lord and thane.
And they talk loud in the temples where the ancient war-
gods are.
They thumb and mock and belittle the holy harness of
war.
They jest at the sacred chariots, the robes and the gilded
staff.
These things fill them with laughter, they lean on their
spears and laugh.
'The men grown old in the war-game, hither and thither they
range—
'And scorn and laughter together are sire and dam of
change;
'And change may be good or evil — but we know not what it
will bring
'Therefore our King must teach us. *That is thy task, O
King!"
7i6 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
POSEIDON'S LAW
\X^HEN the robust and Brms»-bound Man comnuaMoned
first for sea
His fragile raft, Poseidon laughed, and "Marine,** said itt,
"Behold, a Law immutable I lay on thee and thine,
That never shall ye act or tell « falsehood at my shrine.
" Let Zeus adjudge your landward kin whose votive meal and
salt
At easy-cheated altars win oblivion for the fault.
But you the unhoodwinked wave shall test — the immedittE
gulf condemn —
Except ye owe the Fates a jest, be slow to jest with them.
"Ye shall not clear by Greekly speech, nor cozen from your
path
The twinkling shoal, the leeward beach, or Eladria's whitc-
lipped wrath;
Nor tempt with painted cloth for wood my fraud-avenging
hosts;
Nor make at all, or all make good, your bulwaiks and your
boasts.
"Now and henceforward serve unshod, through wet and
wakeful shifts,
A present and oppressive God, but take, to aid, my gift»—
The wide and windward-opening eye, the large and lavish.
hand,
The soul that cannot tell a lie — except upon the land!"
In dromond and in catafract — wet, wakeful, windwani- -
eyed —
He kept Poseidon's Law intact (his ship and freight beMde"^
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 717
It, once discharged the dromond's hold, the bireme beached
once more,
lendaciously mendacious rolled the Brass-bound Man
ashore.
le thranite now and thalamite are pressures low and high,
id where three hundred blades bit white the twin-propellers
ply.
le God that hailed, the keel that sailed, are changed beyond
recall.
It the robust and Brass-bound Man he is not changed at all!
om Punt returned, from Phormio's Fleet, from Javan and
Gadire,
; strongly occupies the seat about the tavern fire,
id, moist with much Falernian*or smoked Massilian juice,
ivenges there the Brass-bound Man his long-enforced truce!
THE LOWESTOFT BOAT
{Easf Coast Patrols)
I 9 I 4- I 8
JN LOWESTOFT a boat was laid,
Mark well what I do say!
And she was built for the herring trade.
But she has gone a-rovin', a-rovin', a-rovin'.
The Lord knows where!
They gave her Government coal to burn.
And a Q. F. gun at bow and stern,
And sent her out a-rovin', etc.
Her skipper was mate of a bucko ship
Which always killed one man per trip.
So he is used to rovin', etc.
RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Her mate was skipper of a chapel in Wales, •!
And so he fights in topper and tails —
Religi-ous tho' rovin', etc.
Her engineer is fifty-eight,
So he'i prepared to meet his fate.
Which ain't unlikely rovin', etc.
Her leading-stoker's seventeen.
So he don't know what the Judgments mean,
Unless he cops 'cm rovin', etc.
Her cook was chef in the Lost Dogs' Home, J
Mark well what I do say! *fl
And I'm sorry for Fritz when they all come 41
A-rovin', a-rovin', a-roarin' and a-rovin', ^
Round the North Sea rovrn", *
The Lord knows where t
A TRUTHFUL SONG
■pHE Bwcklaver:
J tell this tale, vihick U strictly truty
Just by way of comincingyou
How oery Utile, since things were made.
Things have altered in the building trade.
A year ago, come the middle of March,
We was building flats near the Marble Arch,
When a thin young man with coal-black hiir
Came up to watch us working there.
Now there wasn't a trick in brick or stone
Which this young man hadn't seen or known;
Nor there wasn't a tool from trowel to maul
But this young man could use 'em all!
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 719
Then up and spoke the plumbyers bold.
Which was laying the pipes for the hot and cold;
"Since you with us have made so free,
Will you kindly say what your name might be?"
The young man kindly answered them;
"It might be Lot or Methusalem,
Or it might be Moses (a man I hate)
Whereas it is Pharaoh surnamed the Great.
"Your glazing is new and your plumbing's strange,
But otherwise I perceive no change;
And in less than a month if you do as I bid
I'd learn you to build me a Pyramid!"
The Sailor:
/ tell this talcy which is stricter true.
Just by way of convincing you
How very littky since things was made^
Things have altered in the shipwright's trade.
In Blackwall Basin yesterday
A China barque re-fitting lay;
When a fat old man with snow-white hair
Came up to watch us working there.
Now there wasn't a knot which the riggers knew
But the old man made it — and better too;
Nor there wasn't a sheet, or a lift, or a brace.
But the old man knew its lead and place.
Then up and spoke the caulkyers bold,
Which was packing the pump in the afterhold:
"Since you with us have made so free.
Will you kindly tell what your name might be?**
720 RUDYARD KIPLING'S
Tlie old man kindly answered tbem:
**It might be Japheth, it might be Shem»
Or it imght be Ham (though hit akin was dark),
Whereas it is Noah» commanding the Ark.
''Your wheel is new .and your pumps are strange,
But otherwise I perceive no change;
And in less than a week, if she did not ground,
Fd sail this hooker the wide world round I **
Both:
fp^e iell these tales ^ which are strictest tme.
Just hy way of convincing you
How very little^ since things was made.
Anything alters in any one^s trade!
A SMUGGLER'S SONG
TF YOU wake at midnight, and hear a horse's feet,
Don't go drawing back the blind, or looking in the strc^ i
Them that ask no questions isn't told a lie.
Watch the wall, my darling, while the Gentlemen go by!
Five and twenty ponies.
Trotting through the dark —
Brandy for the Parson,
'Baccy for the Clerk;
Laces for a lady, letters for a spy,
And watch the wall, my darling, while the Gentlemen go by?
Running round the woodlump if you chance to find
Little barrels, roped and tarred, all full of brandy--wine,
Don't you shout to come and look, nor use 'em for your play.
Put the brishwood back again — and they'll be gone next day!
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 721
you see the stable-door setting open wide;
you see a tired horse lying down inside;
your mother mends a coat cut about and tore;
the lining's wet and warm — don't you ask no more!
you meet King George's men, dressed in blue and red,
u be careful what you say, and mindful what is said,
they call you "pretty maid," and chuck you 'neath the
chin,
«i*t you tell where no one is, nor yet where no one's been !
K)cks and footsteps round the house — whistles after dark —
ii Ve no call for running out till the house-dogs bark.
ustfs here, and Pincher^s here, and see how dumb they
lie—
€y don't fret to follow when the Gentlemen go by!
you do as you've been told, 'likely there's a chance,
11*11 be give a dainty doll, all the way from France,
th a cap of Valenciennes, and a velvet hood —
present from the Gentlemen, along o' being good!
Five and twenty ponies.
Trotting through the dark —
Brandy for the Parson,
'Baccy for the Clerk.
em that asks no questions isn't told a lie —
Itch the wall, my darling, while the Gentlemen go by!
ING HENRY VII AND THE SHIPWRIGHTS
(a. d. 1487)
[ARRY, our King in England, from London town is
gone,
d comen to Hamuli on the Hoke in the Countie of Suth*
ampton.
722 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VSRSK
there lav the Mmry ^the Tower^ hbslri^of wwat»SMI|
he would discover, cert^ynely, if his shipwrights did hi
He told not none of his setting forth, nor yet where he would
go,
(But only my Lord of Arundel) and meanly did he show,.
In an (dd jerldn and patched hose that no man might Um
mark.
With his frieze hood and cloak above, he kwked like any deiL
He was at Hamuli on the Hoke about the hour of die tide,
And saw the Mary haled into dock, the irinter to abide.
With all her tackle and habilaments which are the King hii^
own;
But then ran on his false shipwrights and stripped her to
bone.
They heaved the mun-mast overboard, that ww of a
And they wrote down it was spent and lost by force of weathe^^
at sea.
But they sawen it into planks and strakes as far as it m^t j^
To maken beds for their own wives and little children also.
There was a knave called Slingawai, he crope beneath
deck,
Crying: "Good felawes, come and see! The ship is nigh *
wreck!
For the storm that took our tall main-mast, it blew so fierce" *
and fell,
Alack! it hath taken the kettles and pans, and this brass po^^^
as well!"
W\t\i that he set the pott on his head and hied him up ti»^
hatch,
While all the shipwrights ran below to find what diey might
snatch;
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 72J
I esccept Bob Brygandyne and he was a yeoman good,
! caught Slingawai round the waist and threw him on to the
mud.
have taken plank and rope and nail, without the King his
leave,
ter the custom of Portesmouth, but I will not suffer a thief.
ly, never lift up thy hand at me — there's no clean hands
in the trade,
lal in measure,'' quo' Brygandyne. "There's measure in
all things made!"
^ramercy, yeoman!" said our King. "Thy council liketh
me.
d he pulled a whistle out of his neck and whistled whistles
three,
en came my Lord of Arundel pricking across the down,
d behind him the Mayor and Burgesses of merry Suthamp-
ton town.
ey drew the naughty shipwrights up, with the kettles in
their hands,
d bound them round the forecastle to wait the King's
commands,
t "Sith ye have made your beds," said the King, "ye
needs must lie thereon.
■ the sake of your wives and little ones — felawes, get you
gone!"
en they had beaten Slingawai, out of his own lips
r King appointed Brygandyne to be Clerk of all his ships.
ay, never lift up thy hands to me — there's no clean hands
in the trade.
t steal in measure," said Harry our King. "There's
measure in all things made!"
714 RUDYARD KIPLING'S
God speed the Mary of the Tower, the Sovereign, and (in
Dieu,
The Sweepstakes and the Mary Fortune, and the Ha
of Bristol loo !
.ill tall ships that sail on the sea, or in otir harbours sUni,
Thai they may keep measure with Harry our King and peut
Engeland !
THE WET LITANY
^^HEN the water's countenance
Diurrs 'twixt glance and second glance;
Then our tattered smokes forerun
Ashen 'neath a silvered sun;
When the curtain of the haze
Shuts upon our helpless ways —
Hear the Channel Fleet at sea:
Libera nos Domine !
When the enpnes' bated pulse
Scarcely thriUs the nosing hulls;
When die wash along the ude
Sounds, a-sudden, magnified;
When the intolerable blast
Maries each blindfold minute passed;
When the fog-buoy's squattering fli^t
Guides us through the hazard night;
When the warning bugle blows;
When the lettered doorways close;
When our brittle townships press,
Impotent, on emptiness;
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 725
When the unseen leadsmen lean
Questioning a deep unseen;
When their lessened count they tell
To a bridge invisible;
When the hid and perilous
Cliffs return our cry to us;
When the treble thickness spread
Swallows up our next-ahead;
When her siren's frightened whine
Shows her sheering out of line;
When — her passage undiscemed —
We must turn where she has turned,
Hear the Channel Fleet at sea:
Libera nos Dotnine !
THE BALLAD OF MINEPIT SHAW
A BOUT the time that taverns shut
And men can buy no beer,
Two lads went up to the keepers' hut
To steal Lord Pelham's deer.
Night and the liquor was in their heads —
They laughed and talked no bounds.
Till they waked the keepers on their beds
And the keepers loosed the hounds.
They had killed a hart, they had killed a hind.
Ready to carry away.
When they heard a whimper down the wind
And they heard a bloodhound bay.
7>6
They took and ran across the fern.
Their crossbows in their hand.
Till they met a man with a green lantern
That called and bade 'cm stand.
"What are ye doing, O Flesh and Btcxxi,
And what's your foolish mil,
Tliat you Most facsfc into ftfiaepit Wood
And wake Ae Foik«f <fae Httr
"Oh, we've broke tnto Lord Pdham's puk.
And ktBed Lord ^sSutm's deer.
And if ever yoa heard « Bttle dog baiic
You'll know why we come here.
" We ask you let us go our way,
As fast as we can flee,
For if ever you heard a bloodhound bay
You'll know how pressed we be."
"Oh, lay your crossbows on the bank
And drop the knife from your hand.
And though the hounds arc at your flank
I'll save you where you stand!"
They laid their crossbows on the bank,
They threw their knives in the wood,
And the ground before them opened and sank
And saved 'em where chey stood.
"Oh, what's the roaring in our ears
That strikes us well-nigh dumb?"
"Oh, that is just how things appears
According as they come."
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 7*7
"What are the stars before our eyes
That strike us well-nigh blind?"
**Oh, that is just how things arise
According as you find."
"And why's our bed so hard to the bones
Excepting where it's cold?"
"Oh, that's because it is precious stones
Excepting where 'tis gold.
"Think it over as you stand,
For I tell you without fail.
If you haven't got into Fairyland
You're not in Lewes Gaol."
All night long they thought of it,
And, come the dawn, they saw
They'd tumbled into a great old pit.
At the bottom of Minepit Shaw.
And the keeper's hound had followed 'em close.
And broke her neck in the fall;
So they picked up their knives and their crossbows
And buried the dog. That's all.
But whether the man was a poacher too
Or a Pharisee^ so bold —
I reckon there's more things told than are true,
And more things true than are told!
HERIOrS FORD
'Yy HAT'S that that hirples at my side ?
The foe that you mustfight^ my lord.
"That rides as fast as I can ride?"
The shadow of your mighty my lord.
*A fairy.
>»
RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
"Then wheel my horse against the foe!"
He's down and overpast, my lord.
You war against the sunsel-g/oie.
The judgment follows Jasl, my lord .'
"Oh who will stay the sun's descent?"
King Joshua he is dead, my lord.
"I need an hour to repent!"
'Tis what our sister said, my lord.
"Oh tio not slay me in my sins!"
You're safe awhile with uj, my lord.
"Nay, kill me ere my fear begins!"
IP'e would not serve you thus, my lord.
"Where is the doom that I must face?"
Tlvee littU leagues aaay, my lord.
"Then mend the horees' laggard pace!"
We need than fur next day, my lord.
"Next day — next day! Unloose my cords!"
Out sister needed none, my lord.
You had no mind to fate our swords.
And — where can coaards run, my lord ?
"You would not kill the soul alive?"
'Twas thus our sister cried, my lord.
"\ dare not die with none to shrive,"
But so our sister died, my lord.
"Then wipe the sweat from brow and cheek."
// runnels forth afresh, my lord.
"Uphold me — for the flesh is weak."
You 've finished with the Flesh, my lord!
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 729
FRANKIE'S TRADE
/^LD Horn to All Atlantic said:
^^ {A-hayOl To me 01)
"Now where did Frankie learn his trade?
For he ran me down with a three-reef mains'le."
{All round the Horn /)
Atlantic answered: — "Not from me!
You'd better ask the cold North Sea,
For he ran me down under all plain canvas."
{All round the Horn !)
The North Sea answered. — "He's my man,
For he came to me when he began —
Frankie Drake in an open coaster.
{All round the Sands !)
"I caught him young and I used him sore,
So you never shall startle Frankie more.
Without capsizing Earth and her waters.
{All round the Sands I)
"I did not favour him at all.
I made him pull and I made him haul —
And stand his trick with the common sailors.
{All round the Sands !)
" I froze him stiff and I fogged him blind.
And kicked him home with his road to find
By what he could see in a three-day snow-storm.
{All round the Sands !)
" I learned Kim hii tnde o* winter a
Twixt Maidyk Fort^offE
On a five-knot tide irith tbe facts ■
" Befere his Jboard began to ihoot,
I showed him the leqgtb of die ^taniard'a foot —
And I reckon he dapped the boot on it later.
(Aff round the Smdi !)
"If there's a nak which ytm can «dK,
That's wo-ae dian fae waa naed to take
Nig^ every week in the wajF of hb boaiMss;
{AUnmndtit Smdsf)
"If there's a trick that you can try,
Which he hasn't met in time gone by.
Not once or twice, but ten times over;
{All round the Sands f)
" If you can teach him aught that's new,
iA-hay 0 ! To me 0 .')
I'll give you Bruges and Nicwport too.
And the ten tall churches that stand between 'em!*
Storm along my gallant Captains !
{All round the Horn !)
THE JUGGLER'S SONG
■\\7^HEN the drums begin to beat
Down the street,
When the poles are fetched and guyed.
When the tight-rope's stretched and tied,
When the dance-girls make salaam.
When the snake-bag wakes alarm,
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 731
When the pipes set up their drone,
When the sharp-edged knives are thrown,
When the red-hot coals are shown.
To be swallowed by-and-by —
Arri^ Brethren, here come I !
Stripped to loin-cloth in the sun,
Search me well and watch me close!
Tell me how my tricks are done —
Tell me how the mango grows?
Give a man who is not made
To his trade
Swords to fling and catch again.
Coins to ring and snatch again.
Men to harm and cure again.
Snakes to charm and lure again —
He'll be hurt by his own blade.
By his serpents disobeyed,
By his clumsiness bewrayed.
By the people laughed to scorn —
So 'tis not with juggler born!
Pinch of dust or withered flower.
Chance-flung nut or borrowed staflF,
Serve his need and shore his power.
Bind the spell or loose the laugh!
THE NORTH SEA PATROL
I 9 I 4- I 8
RE the East wind is brewed fresh and fresh every
lorning,
le balmy night-breezes blow straight from the Pole,
I Destroyer sing: "What an enjoyable life does one
ad on the North Sea Patrol!
732 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
"To blow things to bits is our business (and Fritz's),
Which means there are mine-fields wherever you itrol
Unless you've particular wish to die quick, you'll a-
void steering close to the North Sea Patrol.
"We warn from disaster the mercantile master
Who takes in high Dudgeon our life-saving role.
For every one's grousing at Docking and Dowsing'
The marks and the lights on the North Sea Patrol."
[Twehf serses omitted.\
So swept but surviving, half drowned but still driving,
I watched her head out through the swell off the shoal,-
And I heard her propellers roar; "Write to poor fellers
Who run such a Hell as the North Sea Patrol !"
THORKILD'S SONG
TTHERE'S no wind along these seas.
Qui oarsjor Slavanger !
Foraard alljor Stavatiger !
So we must wake the white-ash breeze.
Let f alljor Slavanger !
A long pull for Siaifanger .'
Oh, hear the benches creak and strain!
(A long pull /or Slavanger !)
She thinks she smells the Northland rain!
{A long pull for Slavanger I)
She thinks she smells the Northland snow,
And she's as glad as we to go.
' Shoals and lie:hts on the Ewt Coott.
X
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 733
She thinks she smells the Northland rime.
And the dear dark nights of winter-time.
She wants to be at her own home pier.
To shift her sails and standing gear.
She wants to be in her winter-shed,
To strip herself and go to bed.
Her very bolts are sick for shore,
And we — we want it ten times more!
So all you Gods that love brave men,
Send us a three-reef gale again !
Send us a gale, and watch us come,
With close-cropped canvas slashing home!
But — there's no wind on all these seas,
A long pull for Stavanger !
So we must wake the white-ash breeze,
A long pull for Stavanger !
"ANGUTIVAUN TAINA"
Song of the Returning Hunter {Esquimaux),
/^UR gloves are stiff with the frozen blood.
Our furs with the drifted snow.
As we come in with the seal — the seal !
In from the edge of the floe.
RIIDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
1
Au jana ! ^ua ! Oka ! Haq !
And the yelping dog-teams go.
And the long whips crack, and the men come back,
Back from the edge of the floe!
■ We tracked our seal to his secret place.
We heard him scratch beknri
We made oar msrk, and we watched beside,
Out on the c^ of the floe.
We raised our'lance when he rase to bre*^,
We drove it downward— 4o{
And we played lum thus, and we tolled him thus,
(Xit on the edge of the 'fioe.
Our gloves are glued with the frozen blood,
Our eyes with the drifting snow;
But wc come back to our wives again,
Back from the edge of the floe!
Au jana ! Aua ! Oka ! Haq!
And Ihe loaded dog-teams go.
And the wives can hear their men come back,
Backjrom the edge of Ihefioe !
HUNTING-SONG OF THE SEEONEE PACK
AS THE dawn was breaking the Sambhur belled —
Once, twice and again!
And a doe leaped up, and a doe leaped up
From the pond in the wood where the wild deer sup.
This I, scouting alone, beheld.
Once, twice and again!
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 735
\s the d::wn ^7as breaking the Sambhur belled —
Qnce> twice and again!
\iid a wolf stole back, and a wolf stole back
To carry the word to the waiting pack,
\nd we sought and we found and we bayed on his track
Once> twice and again!
\s the dawn was breaking the Wolf Pack yelled
Once, twice and again!
Feet in the jungle that leave no mark!
Eyes that can see in the dark — the dark!
Tongue — give tongue to it! Hark! O Hark!
Once> twice and again !
SONG OF THE MEN'S SIDE
(Neomic)
iNCE wc feared The Beast — when he followed us we ran,
Ran very fast though we knew
was not right that The Beast should master Man;
But what could we Flint-workers do?
e Beast only grinned at our spears round his ears —
Grinned at the hammers that we made;
It now we will hunt him for the life with the Knife —
\nd this is the Buyer of the Blade!
Room for his shadow on the grass — let it pass !
To left and right — stand clear !
This is the Buyer of the Blade— be i^aid I
This is the great god Tyr I
736 RUDYAJtD KirLDIG*& VSEftSB
Tjrr tJKwght hud till be hunniatd sot a pUn,
For he knew it was not riajit '
(And it M not r^t) that IV Beait ahmiU-master M
So he went to the Outdres of the N%bt^
He h^ged a Magic Knife of thcff make for oar aake.
When he b^ged for the Knife they said:
"The price of me Kntle jrou wduU buy is an eye!"
And that was the price he pud.
TtB it IQ ^ Bimom 1^ the Daid—run mht»d !
Skoia itso^ Womet^s Side can hear !
TTas is the Buyer of the Blade— ^ afraid!
Tlds is the great god Tyr !
Our women and our little ones may walk on the Chalk,
As far as we can see them and beyond.
We shall not be anxious for our sheep when we keep
Tally at the shearing-pond.
We can cat with both our elbows on our knees, if we please,
We can sleep after meals in the sun.
For Shepherd of the Twilight is dismayed at the Blade,
Feet-in-the-Night have run!
D(^-without-a-Mastcr goes away (Hai, Tyr, we!)i
Dcvil-in-the-Dusk has run !
Then:
Room for his shadtm on the grass — let it past I
To left and right — stand clear !
This is the Buyer of the Bladc—be afraid!
This is the great god Tyr !
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 737
DARZEE'S CHAUNT
(Sung in honour of Rikki-tikki-tavi)
gINGER and tailor am I—
Doubled the joys that I know —
Proud of my lilt to the sky,
Proud of the house that I sew —
and under, so weave I my music — so weave I the house
that I sew.
Sing to your fledglings again,
Mother, O lift up your head!
Evil that plagued us is slain,
Death in the garden lies dead,
or that hid in the roses is impotent — flung on the dung«
hill and dead!
Who hath delivered us, who?
Tell me his nest and his name.
Rikki, the valiant, the true,
Tikki, with eyeballs of flame,
tikki-tikki, the ivory-fangid, the Hunter with eyeballs of
flame.
Give him the Thanks of the Birds,
Bowing with tail-feathers spread!
Praise him in nightingale-words —
Nay, I will praise him instead,
r! I will sing you the praise of the bottle-tailed Rikki,
with eyeballs of red I
e Rikki-tikki interrupted y and the rest of the song is lost.)
L
RSE ^1
7j8 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
THE POUR ANGELS
AS ADAM lay a-dreaming beneath the Apple Tree
The Angel of the Earth came down, and offered Earth in
fee.
But Adam did not need it.
Nor the plough he would not speed it.
Singing?— "Earth and Water, Air and Fire,
"What more can mortal man desire?"
(The Apple Tree's in bud.)
Aa A<Uffl lay irdreanmqg ttenetA- the Api^ Tree
The Angel of the Waters offered aB the Sou in fiee.
But Adam would not take 'em,
Nor the ships he wouldn't make *em,
Singing: — "Water, Earth and Air and Fire,
What more can mortal man desire?"
(The Apple Tree's in leaf.)
As Adam lay a-dreaming beneath the Apple Tree
The Angel of the Air he offered all the Air in fee.
But Adam did not crave it,
Nor the flight he wouldn't brare it,
Singing: — "Air and Water, Earth and Fire,
What more can mortal man dewre?"
(The Apple Tree's in bloom.)
As Adam lay a-dreaming beneath the Apple Tree,
The Angel of the Fire rose up and not a word said he.
But he wished a flame and made it,
And in Adam's heart he laid it,
Singing: — "Fire, Fire, burning tire!
Stand up and reach your heart's desire!"
(The Apple Blossom's set.)
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 739
am was a-working outside of Eden-Wall,
^ the Earthy he used the Seas, he used the Air and all;
Till out of black disaster
He arose to be the master
Of Earth and Water, Air and Fire,
But never reached his heart's desire!
(The Apple Tree's cut down!)
THE BEGINNINGS
I 9 I 4- I 8
TT WAS not part of their blood,
It came to them very late
With long arrears to make good.
When the English began to hate.
They were not easily moved,
They were icy-willing to wait
Till every count should be proved.
Ere the English began to hate.
Their voices were even and low.
Their eyes were level and straight.
There was neither sign nor show.
When the English began to hate.
It was not preached to the crowd,
It was not taught by the State.
No man spoke it aloud.
When the English began to hate.
RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
It was not suddenly bred.
It will not swiftly abate.
Through the chill years ahead,
When Time shall count from the date
That the English began to hate.
THE PRAYER
\^Y BROTHER kneels, so saith Kabir,
To stone and brass in hcathcn-wise.
But in my brother's voice I hear
My own unanswered agonies.
His God is as his fates assign, .
His prayer is alt the world's — and mine.
SONGS FROM ENGLISH HISTORY
THE RIVER'S TALE
(Prehistoric)
'jrWENTY bridges from Tower to Kew
fVanted to know what the River kneWy
For they were young and the Thames was old^
And this is the tale that the River told: —
[ walk my beat before London Town,
ive hours up and seven down.
p Igo till I end my run
t Tide-end-town, which is Teddington.
own I come with the mud in my hands
nd plaster it over the Maplin Sands.
ut I'd have you know that these waters of mine
^ere once a branch of the River Rhine,
^hen hundreds of miles to the East I went
nd England was joined to the Continent.
remember the bat-winged lizard-birds,
he Age of Ice and the mammoth herds,
nd the giant tigers that stalked them down
hrough Regent's Park into Camden Town.
nd I remember like yesterday
he earliest Cockney who came my way,
/hen he pushed through the forest that lined the Strand,
/ith paint on his face and a club in his hand.
[e was death to feather and fin and fur,
[e trapped my beavers at Westminster.
[e netted my salmon, he hunted my deer,
[e killed my herons off Lambeth Pier.
[e fought his neighbour with axes and swords,
lint or bronze, at my upper fords,
/hile down at Greenwich, for slaves and tin,
he tall Phoenician ships stole in,
743
RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
And North So war-boats, ^tinted and gay.
Flashed like dragoD-fliei Enth way;
And Norseman and Negro and Gaul aiKl Greek
Drank with the Britons in Barking Creek,
And life was gay, and the world wis new,
And I was a mile across at Kew!
But the Roman came with a heavy hand.
And bridged and roaded and ruled the land.
And the Roman left and the Danes blew in —
And that's where your history-books b^in!"
THE ROMAN CENTURION'S SONG
(Roman Occupation op Butain, a. d. 300}
I EGATE, I had the news last night — my cohort ordwed
home
By ship to Portus Idus and thence by road to Rome.
I've marched the companies aboard, the arms are stowed
below:
Now let another take my sword. Command me not to go!
I've served in Britain forty years, from Vccris to the Wall
I have none other home than this, nor any life at all.
Last night I did not understand, but, now the hour draws
That calls me to my native land, I feel that land is here.
Here where men say my name was made, here where mj
work was done.
Here where, my dearest dead are laid — my wife — my wife
and son;
Here where time, custom, grief and toil, age, memorv, ser-
vice, love,
Have rooted me in British soil. Ah, how can I remove?
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 745
For me this land, that sea, these airs, those folk and fields
suffice.
What purple Southern pomp can match our changeful
Northern skies,
Black with December snows unshed or pearled with August
haze —
The clanging arch of steel-grey March, or June's long-lighted
days?
You'll follow widening Rhodanus till vine and olive lean
Aslant before the sunny breeze that sweeps Nemausus clean
To Arelate's triple gate; but let me linger on,
Here where our stiff-necked British oaks confront Euro-
clydon !
You'll take the old Aurelian Road through shore-descending
pines
Where, blue as any peacock's neck, the Tyrrhene Ocean
shines.
You'll go where laurel crowns are won, but — will you e'er
forget
The scent of hawthorn in the sun, or bracken in the wet?
Let me work here for Britain's sake — at any task you will —
A marsh to drain, a road to make or native troops to drill.
Some Western camp (I know the Pict) or granite Border
keep.
Mid seas of heather derelict, where our old messmates sleep.
Legate, I come to you in tears — My cohort ordered home!
I've served in Britain forty years. What should I do in
Rome?
Here is my heart, my soul, my mind — the only life I know.
I cannot leave it all behind. Command me not to go!
746 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
•rtlE PIRATES IN ENGLAND
^XON Invasion) a. d. 400-6CX),
TX^HEN Rome was rotten-ripe to her fall.
And the sceptre passed from her hand,
The pestilent Hcta leaped over the wall
To harry the English land.
The little dark men of the mountain and waste.
So quick to lau^ter and tears.
They came panting widi hate and haste
For the loot of five hundred years.
They killed the trader, they sacked the shops,
They ruined temple and town —
TTiey swept like wolves through the standing crops
Crying that Rome was down.
They wiped out all that they could find
Of beauty and strength and worth,
But they could not wipe out the Viking's Wind,
That brings the ships from the North.
They could not wipe out the North-East gales.
Nor what those gales set free —
The pirate ships with their dose-reefed sails.
Leaping from sea to sea.
They had forgotten the shield-hung hull
Seen nearer and more plain,
Dipping into the troughs like a gull.
And gull-like rising again —
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 747
The painted eyes that glare and frown.
In the high snake-headed stem,
Searching the beach while her sail comes down.
They had forgotten them!
There was no Count of the Saxon Shore
To meet her hand to hand.
As she took the beach with a grind and a roar.
And the pirates rushed inland.
DANEGELD
(a. d. 980-1016)
JT IS always a temptation to an armed and agile nation.
To call upon a neighbour and to say: —
"We invaded you last night — we are quite prepared to fight.
Unless you pay us cash to go away.'*
And that is called asking for Dane-geld,
And the people who ask it explain
That you've only to pay 'em the Dane-geld
And then you'll get rid of the Dane!
It is always a temptation to a rich and lazy nation,
To pufF and look important and to say: —
"Though we know we should defeat you, we have not the
time to meet you.
We will therefore pay you cash to go away."
And that is called paying the Dane-geld;
But we've proved it again and again,
That if once you have paid him the Dane-geld
You never get rid of the Dane.
^4^ RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
It is wrong to put temptation in the path of any nwion,
For fear they should succumb and go astray.
So when you are requested to pay up or be molestcJ,
You will find it better policy to say: —
"We never pay any one Dane-^Id,
No matter ; the cost.
For the end . : is oppression and shan
And the natit lays it is lost.'"
lost: I
THE ANVIL
^OltHAN CoNqUEST, I066)
ENGLAND'S wi the anvil — hear the hammers ring-
Clanging from the Severn to the Tyne!
Never was a blacksmith like our Norman King —
England's being hammered, hammered, hanunered in"
Une!
Ei^land's on the anvil! Heavy are the blows!
(But the woric will be a marvel when it's done)
Little bits of Kingdoms cannot stand agunst their foes.
England's bong hammered, hammered, hammeitd im
There shall be one people — ^it shall serve one Lord—
(Neither Priest nor Baron shall escape!)
1 r shall have one speech and law, soul and strength and twoi
England's being hammered, hammered, hammered in
shape!
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 749
NORMAN AND SAXON
(a. d. 1 100)
f Y SON," said the Norman Baron, "I am dying, and you
will be heir
all the broad acres in England that William gave me for
my share
len we conquered the Saxon at Hastings, and a nice little
handful it is.
t before you go over to rule it I wrnt you to understand
this: —
'he Saxon is not like us Normans. His manners are not
so polite.
t he never means anything serious till he talks about
justice and right.
len he stands like an ox in the furrow with his sullen set
eyes on your own,
d grumbles, "This isn't fair dealings," my son, leave the
Saxon alone.
"ou can horsewhip your Gascony archers, or torture your
Picardy spears,
t don't try that game on the Saxon; you'll have the whole
brood round your ears.
3m the richest old Thane in the county to the poorest
chained serf in the field,
ley'U be at you and on you like hornets, and, if you are
wise, you will yield.
lut first you must master their language, their dialect,
proverbs and songs,
m't trust any clerk to interpret when they come with the
tale of their wrongs.
I
7^1 I2UD^:AKI> KIPLING'S -VFRSF-
Let dwm know thit you know what Atfn MyiBJjiletdk^^
fed dut yotrlnaw vtMmtifM >'•'■'-'
Yes, even when you wsnt to go hoJiting, bear 'em out if >
takes you aU day. '
"ThorH dripk wy hour qC tbc dajdigj^ and poach liii^mj
Ikmt of the dark}
It's the spott not die xabbiadicy *ie aftar (we 've plea^ -ci
game in the parit).
DDa'C-haas them or cat off th^E ingirsK Ihat'a wast^Fvf
as well as unkiDd,
Foe a-hanUlHtten, SouthKouatry poacher mak^ the be^
man<«t-anns you can find.
"Appear with your wife and the childim at thdr weddings
and (unerus and feasts.
Be polite but not friendly to Bishops; be good to all poor
parish priests.
Say 'we/ 'us' and 'ours' when you're talking instead of
'you fellows' and 'I.'
Don't ride over seeds; keep your temper; and neoeryou ielf
'em a lie!"
THE REEDS OF RUNNYMEDE
'Magna Chakta, June 15, 1215)
AT RUNNYMEDE, at Runnymedt,
What say the reeds at Runnymede?
The lissom reeds that give and take.
That bend so far, but never break.
They keep the sleepy Thames awake
With tales of John at Runnymede.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 751
At Runnymede, at Runnymede,
Oh hear the reeds at Runnymede: —
"You must n't sell, delay, deny,
A freeman's right or liberty.
It wakes the stubborn Englishry,
We saw 'em roused at Runnymede!
"When through our ranks the Barons came.
With little thought of praise or blame.
But resolute to play the game.
They lumbered up to Runnymede;
And there they launched in solid line,
The first attack on Right Divine —
The curt, uncompromising *Sign!'
That settled John at Runnymede.
«(
At Runnymede, at Runnymede,
Your rights were won at Runnymede!
No freeman shall be fined or bound.
Or dispossessed of freehold ground.
Except by lawful judgment found
And passed upon him by his peers!
Forget not, after all these years.
The Charter signed at Runnymede."
And still when Mob or Monarch lays
Too rude a hand on English ways,
The whisper wakes, the shudder plays,
Across the reeds at Runnymede.
And Thames, that knows the moods of kings.
And crowds and priests and suchlike things.
Rolls deep and dreadful as he brings
Their warning down from Runnymede!
;i RUDYARD KIPLING'S VEI
MY FATHER'S CHAIR
(Parliaments of Henry III, 1265)
'TpHERE are four good legs to my Father's Chair-
Priest and People and Lords and Crown.
I sits on all of 'em fair and square,
And that is the reason it don't break down.
I won't trust one leg, nor two, nor three,
To carry my weight when I sets me down,
1 wants all four of 'em under me —
Priest and People and Lords and Crown.
I ^ts on all four and I favours none —
Priest, nor People, nor Lords, nor Crown
And I never tilts in my chair, my son,
And that is the reason it don't break down!
When your time comes to sit in my Chair,
Remember your Father's habits and rules.
Sit on all four legs, fair and square.
And never be tempted by cni:4e^ed stools!
I
. THE DAWN WIND
(The Fifteenth Century)
A T TWO o'clock in the morning, if you open your wimii
and listen,
You will hear the feet of the Wind that is going to ciU '
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 7S3
id the trees in the shadow nistle and the trees in the moon-
light glisten,
And though it is deep, dark, night, you feel that the night
is done.
do the cows in the field. They graze for an hour and lie
down.
Dozing and chewing the cud; or a bird in the ivy wakes,
irrups one note and is still, and the restless Wind strays on.
Fidgeting far down the road, till, softly, the darkness
breaks.
ck comes the Wind full strength with a blow like an angel's
^ wing,.
3entle but waking the world, as. he shouts: "The Sun!
The Sun!"
d the light floods over the fields and the birds begin to sing,
^nd the Wind dies down in the grass. It is day and his
work is done.
when the world is asleep, and there seems no hope of her
waking
I>it of some long, bad dream that makes her mutter and
moan,
ddenly, all men arise to the noise of fetters breaking,
\nd every one smiles at his neighbour and tells him his soul
is his own!
THE KING'S JOB
(The Tudor Monarchy)
kNCE on a time was a King anxious to understand
What was the wisest thing a man could do for his land,
ost of his population hurried to answer the question,
ach with a long oration, each with a new suggestion.
754 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
TbiBjf interrupted Kis meals — he wasn't safe in his bed fvm
'em—
They hung round his neck and heels, and ac last Hit
Majesty fled from 'em.
He put on a leper's cloak (people leave lepers alone).
Olt of the window he broke, and abdicated his throne-
All that rapturous day, while his Court and his Ministrr?
mourned him.
He danced on his own highway ti It his own Policemen wamr<J
him.
G«y and cheerful he ran (lepers don't cheer as a rule)
"Irn he found a philosopher-man teaching an infant-sirhool.
Tte windows were open wide, the King sat down on the giMi.
And heard the children inside reciting "Our King is an as.'
The King popped in his head, "Some people would call this
treason.
But I think you are right," he said; " Wiii you kindiy gin
mc your reason ? "
Lepers in school are as rare as kings with a leper's dress on.
But the class didn't stop or stare; it calmly went on with tk
lesson:
" The wisest /hiag, we suppose, thai a man can do Jar his land,
Is the work thai lies under his nose, with the tools that lie tai"
his hand."
The King whipped off his cloak, and stfx>d in his crown betin
'em.
He said: "My dear little folk, Ex ore parvulomm —
(Which is Latin for "Children know more than grown-u{K
would credit")
You have shown me the rCKui to go, aod 1 propose to tread it'
Back to his Kingdom he ran, and issued a PtxxJamation,
" Let every living man return to his occupation i "
Then he explained to the mob that cheered in his palace and
round it,
"I've been to look for a job, and Heaven be pnuscd Tn
found it!"
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 188&-1918 755
WITH DRAKE IN THE TROHCS
(A. D. 1580)
COUTH and far south below the Line,
Our Admiral leads us on.
Above, undreamed-of planets shine —
The stars we knew arc gone.
Around, our clustered seamen mark
The silent deep ablaze
With fires, through which the far-down shark
Shoots glimmering on his ways.
•
The sultry tropic breezes fail
That plagued us all day through;
Like molten silver hangs our sail.
Our decks are dark with dew.
Now the rank moon commands the sky.
Ho! Bid the watch beware
And rouse all sleeping men that lie
Unsheltered in her glare.
How long the time 'twixt bell and bell!
How still our Ian thorns burn !
How strange our whispered words that tell
Of England and return !
Old towns, old streets, old friends, cfld loves,
We name them each to each,
While the lit face of Heaven removes
Them farther from our reach.
Now is the utmost ebb of night
When mind and body sink,
And loneliness and gathering fright
Overwhelm us, if we think —
7S6 RUDYARD KIPUNCS VERSE
Te^ look, where in hit room ftput,
Ail windows opened widci
Our Admiral thnuta away the chart
And comes to walk outnde.
Kindly, from man tt> man he goes,
With comft»t, praise, or jest.
Quick to suspect our childish woes.
Our terror and unrest.
It is as though the sun should shine —
Our midn^t fears arc gone!
Soudi and hi south below die line.
Our Admiral leads us onl
"TOGETHER"
(England at Wax)
"Vl/HEN Horse and Rider each can trust the odwreffeT-
** where,
It takes a fence and more than a fence to pound that iitppf
pair;
For the one will do what the other demands, although he is
beaten and blown.
And when it is done, they can live through a run that neither
could face alone.
When Crew and Captain understand each other to the core,
It takes a gale and more than a gale to put their ship ashore;
For the one will do what the other commands, although they
are chilled to the bone.
And both together can live through weather that neither
could face alone.
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 757
en King and People understand each other past a doubt,
akes a foe and more than a foe to knock that country
out;
tKe one will do what the other requires as soon as the
need is shown,
i hand in hand they can make a stand which neither could
make alone!
s wisdom had Elizabeth and all her subjects too,
she was theirs and they were hers, as well the Spaniard
knew;
when his grim Armada came to conquer the Nation and
Throne,
y, back to back they met an attack that neither could face
alone!
s not wealth nor talk nor trade nor schools nor even the
Vote,
11 save your land when the enemy's hand is tightening
round your throat,
t a King and a People who thoroughly trust each other in
all that is done
a sleep on their bed without any dread — for the world will
leave 'em alone!
JAMES I
(i 603-1 62 5)
npHE child of Mary Queen of Scots,
A shifty mother's shiftless son.
Bred up among intrigues and plots,
LearnM in all things, wise in none.
Ungainly, babbling, wasteful, weak.
Shrewd, clever, cowardly, pedantic.
The sight of steel would blanch his cheek.
The smell of baccy drive him frantic.
758 RUDYARD KlPIiDIG^ ^^Eteb
He W9B thcaothor^iNiiHiiir—
-He wrote that witchcsidmild befamt;
He wrote that monarchs were divine.
And left a son "Who-^fmyvttl they weren't!
EDGEHILL FIGHT
(Civil Wars, 1642)
^AKED and grey the Cotswdds stand
Beneath the automn siin.
And the stubble-fields on either hand
Where Stour and Avon run.
There is no change in the patient land
That has bred us every one.
She should have passed in cloud and fire
And saved us from this sin
Of war — ^rcd war — 'twixt child and sire.
Household and Idth and kin.
In the heart of a sleepy Midland shire.
With the harvest scarcely in.
But there is no change as we meet at last
On the brow-head or the plain.
And the raw astonished ranks stand fast
To slay or to be slain
By the men they knew in the kindly past
That shall never come again —
By the men they met at dance or chase.
In the tavern or the hall.
At the justice-bench and the market-plac
At the cudgel-play or brawl —
Of their own blood and speech and race.
Comrades or neighbours all!
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 759
More bitter than death this day must prove
Whichever way it go,
For the brothers of the maids we love
Make ready to lay low
Their sisters' sweethearts, as we move
Against our dearest foe.
Thank Heaven ! At last the trumpets peal
Before our strength gives way.
For King or for the Commonweal
No matter which they say.
The first dry rattle of new-drawn steel
Changes the world to-day!
THE DUTCH IN THE MEDWAY
«
(1664-1672)
TF WARS were won by feasting.
Or victory by song,
Or safety found in sleeping sound.
How England would be strong!
But honour and dominion
Are not maintained so,
They're only got by sword and shot,
And this the Dutchmen know !
The moneys that should feed us.
You spend on your delight.
How can you then have sailor-meii
To aid you in your fight?
Our fish and cheese are rotten.
Which makes the scurvy grow—
We cannot serve you if we stannei
And this the Dutchmen know !
RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
Our ships in every harbour
Be neither whole nor sound.
And, when we seek to mend a leak.
No oakum can be found,
Or, if it is, the caulkers,
And cupcnten alio,
For lack of pay-have gone nnj,
Atidtkii the Dutehmen hum !
J
Mere powdo-, guaS} and ballets.
We scarce can gee at all,
Thar price was ^^t in metTimetit
And revel at Whitehall,
While we in tattered doublets
From ship to ship must row.
Beseeching friends for odds and ends-
Aad this the Dutchmen know !
No King will heed our warnings.
No Court will pay our claims —
Our King and Court for their disport
Do sell the very Thames!
For, now De Ruyter's topsails,
Off naked Chatham show.
We dare not meet him with our fleet —
And this the Dutchmen know I
"BROWN BESS"
(The Army Musket — 1700-1815)
TN THE days of lace-ruflles, perukes and brocade
Brown Bess was a partner whom none could despise —
An out-spoken, flinty-lipped, brazen-faced jade,
With a habit of looking men straight in the eyes —
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-I9I8 761
ilenheim and Ramillies fops would confess
f were pierced to the heart by the charms of Brown Bess.
jgh her sight was not long and her weight was not small
it her actions were winning, her language was clear;
everyone bowed as she opened the ball
1 the arm of some high-gaitered, grim grenadier.
Europe admitted the striking success
lie dances and routs that were given by Brown Bess.
n ruffles were turned into stiff leather stocks
id people wore pigtails instead of perukes
m Bess never altered her iron-grey locks,
le knew she was valued for more than her looks.
y powder and patches was always my dress,
I think I am killing enough," said Brown Bess.
lie followed her red-coats, whatever they did,
•om the heights of Quebec to the plains of Assaye,
n Gibraltar to Acre, Cape Town and Madrid,
nd nothing about her was changed on the way;
t most of the Empire which now we possess
won through those years by rid-fashioned Brown Bess.)
tubbom retreat or in stately advance,
rom the Portugal coast to the cork-woods of Spain
had puzzled some excellent Marshals of France
ill none of them wanted to meet her again:
later, near Brussels, Napoleon — no less —
mged for a Waterloo ball with Brown Bess.
had danced till the dawn of that terrible day —
lie danced on till dusk of more terrible night,
1 before her linked squares his battalions gave way
nd her long fierce quadrilles put his lancers to flight:
1 when his gilt carriage drove off in the press,
liave danced my last dance for the world!" said Brown
Bess.
76? RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE ^
If you go to Museums — there's one in Whitehall—
Where old weapons are shown with their names «
Death,
You will find her, upstanding, her back to the wall,
As stiff as a ramrod, the flint in her teeth.
And if ever we English had reason to bless
Any arm save our mothers', that arm is Brown Bess!
I
Before
"TWAS not while England's sword unsheathed
Hit-half a world to fl^t.
Nor while their new-built cities breathed
Secure behind her might;
Not while she poured from Pole to Line
Treasure and ships and men —
These wotshippets at Freedom's shrine
They did not quit her thenl
Not till thdr foes were driven forth
By England o'er rfic main —
Not till Ac Frenchman from the Nortfi
Had gone with shattered Spain;
Not till die dean-swept oceans ^owed
No hostile flag unrolled.
Did they remember what they owed
To Freedom — and were bold!
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 763
AFTER
T^HE snow lies thick on Valley Forge,
The ice on the Delaware,
But the poor dead soldiers of King George
They neither know nor care —
Not though the earliest primrose break
On the sunny side of the lane,
And scuffling rookeries awake
Their England's spring again.
They will not stir when the drifts are gone
Or the ice melts out of the bay:
And the men that served with Washington
Lie all as still as thev.
They will not stir though the mayflower blows
In the moist dark woods of pine,
And every rock-strewn pasture shows
Mullein and columbine.
Each for his land, in a fair fight.
Encountered, strove, and died.
And the kindly earth that knows no spite
Covers them side by side.
She is too busy to think of war;
She has all the world to make gay;
And, behold, the yearly flowers are,
Where they were in our fathers* day!
Golden-rod by the pasture-wall
When the columbine is dead.
And sumach leaves that turn, in fall.
Bright as the blood they shed.
764. RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
. THE FREIKS WARS
"TflE boat! of NewlMTeB and Fdkestone and Dover
To Dieppe and Boologne and t» Calais croas over ;
And in each of dioK runs there is not a square yard
Where the En|^ and French haven't raiq^t and fdn^t
hsrdi
If the ships dut were sunk could be floated once more,
They'd stretch tike a raft from dw shore ra the shore.
And we'd see, as we crossed, every pattern and {dan
Of ship that was built unce sea^-fighting began.
There'd be bircmes and brigandnes, cutters and sloops,
C<^s, carracks and galleons with gay gjlded poops —
Hoys, caravels, ketches, corvettes and the rest.
As thick as r^attas, from Ram^ate to Brest.
But the galleys of Csesar, the squadrons of Sluys,
And Nelson's crack frigates are hid from our eyes,
Where the high Seventy-fours of Napoleon's days
Lie down wi£ Deal luggers and French chasse-mariet.
They'll answer no signal — they rest on the ooze.
With their honey-combed guns and their skeleton crews — .
And racing above them, through sunshine or gale.
The Cross-Channel packets come in with the Mul.
Then the poor sea-sick passengers, English and French,
Must open their trunks on the Custom-house bench.
While the officers rummage for smuggled cigars
And nobody thinks of our blood-thirsty wars!
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 765
BIG STEAMERS
I 9 I 4- I 8
"^H, WHERE are you going to, all you Big Steamers,
With England's own coal, up and down the salt seas?"
We are going to fetch you your bread and your butter,
Your beef, pork, and mutton, eggs, apples, and cheese.'*
And where will you fetch it from, all you Big Steamers,
And where shall I write you when you are away?"
' We fetch it from Melbourne, Quebec, and Vancouver —
Address us at Hobart, Hong-Kong, and Bombay."
'But if anything happened to all you Big Steamers,
And suppose you were wrecked up and down the salt sea?"
'Then you'd have no coffee or bacon for breakfast,
And you'd have no muffins or toast for your tea."
'Then I'll pray for fine weather for all you Big Steamers,
For little blue billows and breezes so soft."
*Oh, billows and breezes don't bother Big Steamers,
For we're iron below and steel-rigging aloft."
"Then I'll build a new lighthouse for all you Big Steamers,
With plenty wise pilots to pilot you through."
"Oh, the Channel's as bright as a ball-room already.
And pilots are thicker than pilchards at Looc."
"Then what can I do for you, all you Big Steamers,
Oh, what can I do for your comfort and good?"
"Send out your big warships to watch your big waters.
That no one may stop us from bringing you food.
9^ RUDVARD iUBUMa'fi^'VSItSQ
" For the inad that you eatandtheiiscmtsyami^HItt
7%r sweett that you ttilk'^MAe,iia^ Out you stm^
They sn hrought to you d»ify iyuUut Big Steumen-~
And ^ any oat hindert our tomif^ ytm ff Jtm-wt l"
THE SECRET OF Tfffi MAOUNES
fM0D|HliM*<mMBW)
AVE WERE taken fioin the ore4itri«nd «ke mine.
We were melttd in tbe^iraice wid dK:{MC —
We were cast and wrought and hammered to design,
We were cut and filed and tooled and gauged to fit.
Some water, coal, and oil is all we ask,
And a thousandth of an inch to give us play:
And now if you will set us to our task.
We will serve you four and twenty hours a day!
We can pull and haul and push and lift and drive.
We can print and plough and weave and heat and ^ht,
We can run and jump and swim and fly and dive.
We can see and hear and count and read and write!
Would you call a friend from half across the world?
If you'll let us have his name and town and State,
You shall see and hear your crackling quesrion hurled
Across the arch of heaven while you wait.
Has he answered? Does he need you at his side?
You can start this very evening if you choose.
And take the Western Ocean in the stride
Of seventy thousand horses and some screwsl
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 767
The boat-express is waiting your command!
You will find the Mauretania at the quay,
Till her captain turns the lever 'neath his hand,
And the monstrous nine-decked city goes to sea.
o you wish to make the mountains bare their head
And lay their new-cut forests at your feet?
^ you want to turn a river in its bed,
Or plant a barren wilderness with wheat?
lall we pipe aloft and bring you water down
From the never-failing cisterns of the snows,
D work the mills and tramways in your town.
And irrigate your orchards as it flows?
It is easy! Give us dynamite and drills!
Watch the iron-shouldered rocks lie down and quake
As the thirsty desert-level floods and fills,
And the vallev we have dammed becomes a lake.
It remember, please, the Law by which we live,
We are not built to comprehend a lie,
e can neither love nor pity nor forgive.
If you make a slip in handling us you die!
e are greater than the Peoples or the Kings —
Be humble, as you crawl beneath our rods! —
ir touch can alter all created things.
We are everything on earth — except The Gods!
Though our smoke may hide the Heavens from your eyes,
It will vanish and the stars will shine again^
Because y for all our power and weight and size.
We are nothing more than children of your brain /
TtiS RUDYARD KI|>KJIfG:1» VEBSB'
THE BELLS AND QUEEN YiCltiOA .
I 9 1 1
f2AY go uf mtidgay go down
To rmr Mf Bells ^ London Town."
fyjun Lonam Town's asleep in bed
You'll hear the Bells ring overhead.
In exeelsis gloria !
Singing/or Victoria,
Rinptig for their mi^itf mistress — ten years dead I
The Belu:
Here is more gain dun Glortsna guessed —
That Gloriana guessed or Indies bring —
Than golden Indies bring. A Queen confessed —
A ^ecn confessed that crowned her people King.
Her people King, and crowned all Kings above.
Above all Kings have crowned their Queen their lovc-^
Have crowned their love their Queen, their Queen their lov*
Denying her, we do ourselves deny,
Disowning her are we ourselves disowned.
Mirror was she of our fidelity.
And handmaid of our dcsriny enthroned;
The very marrow of Youth's dream, and sdll
Yoke-mate of wisest Age that worked her willl
Our fathers had declared to us her praise —
Her praise the years had proven past all speech.
And past all speech our loyal hearts always.
Always our hearts lay open, each to each —
Therefore men gave their treasure and their blood
To this one woman — for she understood!
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 769
}ur 6" the clock ! Now all the world is still.
i, London Bells y to all the world declare
he Secret of the Empire — read who will !
he Glory of the People — touch who dare !
€E Bells:
Power that has reached itself all kingly powers,
St, Margaret^ s: By love o'erpowered —
St. Martinis: By love o'erpowered —
St. Clement Danes: By love o'erpowered.
The greater power confers!
iE Bells:
For we were hers, as she*, as she was ours,
Bow Bells: And she was ours —
St. Paul's: And she was ours —
fVestminster: And she was ours.
As we, even we were hers!
iE Bells:
As we were hers!
THE GLORY OF THE GARDEN
\UR England is a garden that is full of stately views.
Of borders, beds and shrubberies and lawns and avenues,
ith statues on the terraces and peacocks strutting by;
It the Glory of the Garden lies in more than meets the eye.
>r where the old thick laurels grow, along the thin red wall,
3u'll find the tool- and potting-sheds which are the heart of
aU,
le cold-frames and the hot-houses, the dungpits and the
tanks,
le rollers, carts and drain-pipes, with the barrows and the
planks.
770 RUDYARD KIPLING 2> .
And there you'll see the gardeners, the men and 'prenc^^
boys
Told ofF to do as they are bid and do it without noise;
For, except when seeds are planted and we shout to scare
birds,
The Glory of the Garden it abideth not in words.
And some can pot begonias and some can bud a rose.
And some are hardly fit to trust with anything that grows;
But they can roll and trim the lawns and sift the sand am
loam.
For the Glory of the Garden occupieth all who come.
Our England is a garden, and such gardens are not made
By singing: — "Oh, how beautiful!" and sitting in the shade
While better men than we go out and start their working liv
At grubbing weeds from gravel-paths with broken dinnei
knives.
There's not a pair of legs so thin, there's not a head so thic
There's not a hand so weak and white, nor yet a heart so sic
But it can find some needful job that's crying to be done,
For the Glory of the Garden glorifieth every one.
Then seek your job with thankfulness and work till further
orders.
If it*s only netting strawberries or killing slugs on borders;
And when your back stops aching and your hands begin to
harden,
You will find yourself a partner in the Glory of the Garden.
Oh, Adam was a gardener, and God who made him sees
That half a proper gardener's work is done upon his knees,
So when your work is finished, you can wash your hands and
pray
hoT the Glory of the Garden that it may not pass away!
And the Glory of the Garden it shall yicver pass away !
\
INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 771
GREAT-HEART
(Theodore Roosevelt in 19 19)
The Interpreter then called /or a man-servant of his, one Great-Heart,**
— Bunyan*s ** Pilgrim's Progress,**
(CONCERNING brave Captains
Our age hath made known
For all men to honour,
One standeth alone,
Of whom, o'er both oceans
Both Peoples may say:
"Our realm is diminished
With Great-Heart away."
In purpose unsparing,
In action no less.
The labours he praised
He would seek and profess
Through travail and battle.
At hazard and pain. . . .
And our world is none the braver
Since Great-Heart was ta'en!
Plain speech with plain folk.
And plain words for false things.
Plain faith in plain dealing
'Twixt neighbours or kings
He used and he followed.
However it sped. . . .
Oh, our world is none more honest
Now Great-Heart is dead!
Hie heat of lus tfint
Struck vsnb Amm^ jiU bmdt;
For he iond M^ « flhoiKd
'Emtdvetf tm cf tluaHMHfti
In love, M in htte,
Piyiiig home to the bwt . . .
But our world is none die kinder
Now GreetHeart hath panedl
Raidrschoded by long power.
Tet mott homUe of nund
Whoe aog^t that he was
hfi^t advantage mankind.
Leal servant, loved master,
Rare comrade, sure guide .
Oh, our world is none the safer
Now Great-Heart hath died!
Let those who would handle
Make sure they can wield
His far-reaching sword
And his close-guarding shield;
For those who must journey
Henceforward alone
Have need of stout convoy
Now Great<Heart is gone.
INDEX TO FIRST LINES
rAOB
f the Augustan Age ,. 609
e was and he made his prayer 251
d glorious thing it is • 50
poke to a Nation, 208
tatters on the garden path, 425
Krow out on either hand 575
tofBedfordy ^2
hman, the Durani Chiefs of him is the story toU, .... 279
time that taverns shut 725
)rld where all men grieve 446
urial-parties leave 365
ick of the City when Rome was sunk to a name .712
: avails the classic bent 391
Jenkins of the "Operatic Own," 5
g to the judgment-seat 608
Id over, nursing their scars, 638
the housetops to the North 700
are sulky, while some will plunge 574
^ere stronger hands than mine 700
ly a-dreaming beneath the Apple Tree 738
>dy seen Bill 'Awkins?" 504
e Halls at Lumley, rose the vision of a comely .... 59
littin* into the Ditch aboard the Crocodile^ 492
her the Frigate, bepainted and fine, 161
n was breaking the Sambhur belled — 734
lede, at Runnymede, 750
! of a winter day, 381
where he went in . . , . . . 708
len under cover I *ave said, 537
xk in the morning, if you open your window and listen, . 752
lard o* the Widow at Windsor 470
* lands of the Japanee 129
I *neath the Simla pine — 49
jred that on our side 169
our last fight were we? 604
ought it far from men, 604
s! Hark to your bees I 659
dnight breaks in storm, 337
Spring I garnered Autumn's gain, 636
773
774 INDEX TO FIRST LINES I
Beneath the deep verandah's shade, ■ 7* I
Between the waving tufts of jungle-grass, ^ I
Beyond the path of the outmost sun throogh utter darkness hurfed— % I
"Blessed be the English and all their wafs and mmkut fH M
Boanerges Blitzen, servant of the Queen, if I
Boh Da Thone was a warrior bold: 4 I
Brethren, how shall it fare with me 9^ I
Broke to eoery known mischance^ lifted ooer ail ^ m
Buy my English posies /. ^1
By the Hoof of the WM Goat uptoased ifD I
By the Laws of the Family Grcle 'tis written in letters of brm . • 'S I
By the old Moulmdn Pagoda, lookin' eastward to die sea,. . . • 4)^ I
By the well, where the bullocks go B I
China-going P. and O.'s 43 I
Cities and Thrones and Powers ^ S* I
Gmceming brave Captains ^ I
Cry "Murder" in the market-place, and each ffl I
Dark children of the mere and marsh, V I
Dawn off the Foreland — the young flood making ^ 1
Delilah Abcryswith was a lady — not too young —
Dim dawn behind the tamarisks — the sky is saffron-yellow — . . . ^'
Duly with knees that feign to quake — Vi^
*E was warned agin *er — 5*
Eddi. priest of Sr. Wilfrid («'
England's on the anvil — hear the hammers ring — 7^
ErMeb beyond the Hills of Ao-St^ai 3^
Ere Mor the Peacock flutters, ere the Monkey People cry, . . . . W;
Ere the steamer bore him Eastward, Slear>' was engaged to marr>* i-
Excellent herbs had our fathers of old — 631
Eyes aloft, over dangerous places, ^.
Eyes of grey — a sodden quay, . '. . . . Ji
Fair is our lot — 0 goodly is our heritage ! 19*
Farewell and adieu to you, Harwich Ladies, 63<*
Farewell, Romance! the Cave-men said; ^"if^
Files— 40*
For a season there must be pain — 680
For all we have an^i are, 37*
For our white and our excellent nights — for the nights of swift running, T^"
For the s;ike of him who showed 591
For things we never mention, n"
Fn^m the wheel and the drift of Things 6fc
l-'ull thirty Uxn she towered from waterline to rail JT9
ii^y go uT" *:*:J ^*i\ go Jo'^n 7^
iiO, stalk the red deer o'er the heather, 57J
Cuxl gave all men all earth to love, .... J44
INDEX TO FIRST LINES 775
PAOI
fathers, known of old, 37*7
ou, peaceful gentlemen, let nothing you dismay,. . 319
the mistress — silver for the maid — 577
King in England, from London town is gone, ... .721
I news of my boy Jack?** 247
;trong waters and his speech was coarse; 576
in the very battle-smoke 233
he Song of the Dead — in the North by the torn berg-edges — . 196
Ik her round. Heave, ah, heave her short again! . 127
patriot distressed, a spx>tless spirit hurt, 259
vas still on her sword-hilt, the spur was still on her heel, . 214
I to my own again, 646
Trse to tame 408
>thing new nor aught unproven^' say the Trumpets^ . 341
in a flung festoon, 610
e my fresh-turned furrows run, 242
re the joy of the Leopard: his horns are the Bufl^alo's pride. 705
s St. Helena from a little child at play?*' 596
the know the worship we would do her? 52
:t is the shepherd's sweet life! 39
mder Mookerjee, pride of Bow Bazaar, 17
nd of their fathers 554
lost Wise Baviaan, saying in most wise tones, .... 670
1 of a whale that died 395
i drew for my love's sake 562
ik for holy saints to guide me on my way, ^23
'e my Empire's foes, 546
ny Duke ere I was a lover, 564
:ert, party, ball — 25
as dawn was breaking 31
given my charge to keep — 587
your bread and salt 3
for you a songy 448
onest serving-men 671
in whose hands are laid 648
lates in the morning (and oh, but I am old!) .... 653
iss shake in the sun for leagues on either hand, . 570
jsage to my dear — loi
^ey which is strictly true y 718
>se against you the fleet-footed vines — 703
nber what I was, I am sick of rope and chain — 709
lother could see me now, with a fence-post under my arm, 527
of Cities very sumptuously builded 660
luncfust of our fleet . 170
veil pleased with what I knowcd, 559
776 INDEX TO FIRST LINES
I weBtintoaniblk-'oatetOBetapiiito'bccr, m
I'm '(» in a tickr nkter an' « bnfccn hillTCdck 'at, ifj
I'm jtMt in lore wiA thcic tluce, ol
I've a head Eke a cooccrtina, I've a tnogiM 1^ a butwuicfc, . . ^
I've never Miled the Anumm, (
I've paid far joat nckett Ikaciei; I've hnmoored 700 cracfcedM
whim— 147 I
I've taken taj fun where I've found it;... !"''
iranrGodihoiiklwr Nl
Ifdoimherel chance to die, ......35
If extended irfjiMvatkMi of the waya and waritM nf aaa, • . ■ • JJi
"If I have taken theounmondajr ..........fct
Ifl were hanged on die MghcKhil^ ^u
Ifit bcr^fwnt tobokoH,etalledindtepacfad<(wJ, tt
If the Led Striker call it a atrike, Uo
If dmi^t can reach to Heaven, tjl
If wan wnewon bf featting, .••■■75)
Ifjon can keep ytxir head when all aboat yon ....... iff
If yoD atop to find out what your wages wUl be 4I*
If you wake at midnight, and hear « horac'a feet "po
If you've ever stole > phea«ant-<|g be'ind the keeper't back, . , . 4^
. /M^'mii he was " broke." There a ftET left ........ S^
In a land that iht sand mtriajt — tht aajt to hrr j/Uti mt unlnd— . • 7^'
in Lowestoft a boat was laid, T7
In the day* of lace-niffles, perukes and brocade ....... T^
In the dayrime, when she moved about me, . . . . . . ■ !iS
In the name of the Empress of India, make way, 37
In the Neolithic Age savage warfare did I wage 39i
It got beyond all orders an' it got beyond all 'ope; ...... 4$7
It is always a temptation to an armed and agile nation, .... 74?
It was an artless Battdm- and he danced upon a fnne, . . , . > 3'
It was an August evening and, in snowy garments dad, . . . > ^'
It was not in the open fight 57!
It was not pan of their Wood 739
It was our war-ship ClampherJovn . . ■ '!!
It's forty in the sluule tcvday the pouting eaves declare; . . . ■ 'P!
Jack Barrett went to Quetta "
Jane Austen Beecher Stowe de Rouse .........•**
Jenny and Me were engaged, you see, ^
Jubal sang of the Wrath of God *"*
Kabul town's by Kabul rivei— «H
King Solomon drew merchantmen '7*
LandofourBirth, we pledge to thee ^
Legate, I had the news last night — my cohort ordered home . . . 7*J
'Los you want your toes trod off you'd better get back at once, . . i]'
INDEX TO FIRST LINES 777
PAOB
iM US admit it fairly ^ as a business people should^ 344
^ IM us now praise famous men** 623
lifSe's all getting and giving, 689
Lived a woman wonderful, 237
Look, you have cast out Love! What Gods are these 573
Lord, Thou hast made this world below the shadow of a dream, . . 137
Love and Death once ceased their strife 423
Man goes to Man! Cry the challenge through the Jungle! . . . 707
March! The mud is cakin' good about our trousies, 490
Me that *ave been what I've been — 524
Men make them fires on the hearth 93
Mine was the woman to me, darkling I found her: 183
Mithras, God of the Morning, our trumpets waken the Wall! . . . 589
Much I owe to the Lands that grew — 652
My brother kneels, so saith Kabir, 740
My father's father saw it not, 614
My garden blazes brightly with the rose-bush and the peach, ... 89
My name is O* Kelly, I've heard the Revelly 486
My new-cut ashlar takes the light 580
"My son," said the Norman Baron, "I am dying and you will be heir 749
Naked and grey the Cotswolds stand 758
Neither the harps nor the crowns amused, nor the cherubs' dove-winged
races — 66i*
No doubt but ye are the People — your throne is above the Kings. . 347
No hope, no change! The clouds have shut us in, 92
**None whole or clean," we cry, "or free from stain 23
Not in the camp his victory lies 366
Not in the thick of the fight, 163
Not though you die to-night O Sweet, and wail, 574
Not with an outcry to Allah nor any complaining 598
Now Chil the Kite brings home the night 705
Now it is not good for the Christian's health to hustle the Aryan brown, 603
Now Jones had left his new-wed bride to keep his house in order, . . 13
Now the Four-way Lodge is opened, now the Hunting Winds are
loose — 311
Now the New Year, reviving last Year's Debt, 28
Now the new year reviving old desires, 187
Now, this is the cup the White Men drink 324
Now this is the Law of the Jungle — as old and as true as the sky; 626
Now this is the tale of the Council the German Kaiser decreed, . . 327
Now Tomlinson gave up the ghost in his house in Berkeley Square, • 41 1
Now we are come to our Kingdom, 562
O woe is me for the merry life 309
O ye who tread the Narrow Way 105
Of all the trees that grow so fair, 565
778 INDEX TO FIRST LINES
Oh, East il East, and IftJl il tfetl, and nntr At tanin skaU mttt, . . M
Oh galiant was our galley from her carven steoing-wheel . . . . tt
Oh glorious are the guarded hdghts ... - 35!
Oh Hubshee, carry your shoes in your hand and bow yowr hod ot
your breast! . 13'
Oh! hush thee, my baby, the night is behind ua, 70I
Oh, light was the world that he weighed in his hands! t/S
Oh, little did rhe Wolf^hild catr— 70*
"Oh, where are you going to, ail you Big Steamers, . . ■ 7*5
Cft ye who hold the written clue *4'*
ad Horn to Ail Atlantic said: 7*9
"Old Mother Laidinwool had nigh twelve months been dead. . . . ^
Once a ripple came to land *9^
Once, after long-drawn revel at The Mermaid ¥»
Once, on a glittering ice-field, ages and ages ago, 397
Once on a time was a King anxious to understand 753
Once we feared The Beast — when he followed us we ran, . . - *3?
Ore from the ends of the earth — gifts at an open door — .... 2*
One man in a thousand, Solomon says. 594
One moment bid the horses wait, 5*
One moment past our bodies cast *94
Only two African Kopjes, S,'5
Open the old cigar-box, get me a Cuba stout, J."
Our brows are bound with spindrift and the weed is on our knees; . '95
Our England is a g.irden that is full of stately views, ..... "*9
Our Fathers in a wondrous age, .... oj-
Our gloves are stiff with the frozen blood, 733
Our Lord Who did the Ox command 579
Our sister saveth such and such, ^
Out o' the wilderness, dusty an' dr>- 530
Over the edge of the purple dtmn . *".■
Pagctt,M.P., was a li-ir, and a fluent li.ir therewith.— . -»
Peace is declared, an' 1 return . . •?'
Pit where the buffato cooled his hide, ^7*
Potiphar Gubbins, C.F...
Prophets have honour all over the Earth, *>-'
Pussy can sit by the fire and sing, "74
Put forth to watch, unschooled, alone, . ^1°
^uren Bess was Harry's daughter. Sland forward parl'ifrs ,:ll ! . bTi
Read here: This is the story of Euarru—man— 388
Red Karl, and will ye take for guide 16,'
RidcwithaniJIe whip, ri.ie with an unused heel l"-
Rome never looks where she treads 6u
R..«.s red and roses white 69:
Koyal and Dower-royal, I the Queen 500
INDEX TO FIRST LINES 779
FAOI
I 3cg. of Kolazai— slightly backward Native State — ... 9
iglancl UQto Ph^aoh, " I must make a man of you, 226
the ferny rjde jthat steals ^^^
tn from all the xporld back to Docks agaiity' 156
Vatchmen sitting in a tofwer, 448
Junior Orderly Sei^geant 516
pped the bar, she shot the bolt, she fed the fire anew, . 702
ho poured the harvest and made the winds to Uow, 585
(ff from the wharf-edge! Steady! 691
md taulor am I — 737
uv surer than sounds or sights 541
' my pipe 00 the mountings, sniffin' the momin' cool, . 458
*s your Empire. No more wine, then? Good 78
as 'neath the Kalka hills 66
e^tled it all when the storm was done 606
, soldier come from the wars, 457
ind fv south below the Line, 755
I* in general, I *ave tried *em all — 100
ed in the straight when the race was his own! 574
TS drawn from the ends of the earth, jewelled and plumed
re we; 560
the desert changes, 234
to the locked-up trees, 568
f English earth as much 569
p the White Man's burden — 371
he was laid in the Manger 248
chelor *e fights for one 539
nked oars fell an hundred strong, 325
ists are very wise, 635
Its of Newhaven and Folkestone and Dover 764
mel's hump is an ugly lump 669
It in all his variants from Builth to Bally-hoo, 599
ild of Mary Queen of Scots, 757
ses^are full of pride, 205
rk eleventh hour 266
id child lay in the shroud, 426
orkeepers of Zion, 104 \
jrs were wide, the story saith, 636 :
th is full of anger, 373 j
then in 'is blindness bows down to wood an' scone; - - ' S^3 \
est son bestrides him, 77
s and the beltings they roar round me 357
r was on the cattle, for the gale was on the sea, 145
t time that Peter denied his Lord 374
iir Archangels, so the legends tell, 582
f
78o INDEX TO FIRST LINES
The freed dove flew to the Rajah's tower— « . l|i
The Garden called Gethsemane m
The General 'eard the firin' on the flank, jq
TheGodof FairBcginninp 175
The gull ihall whbde in hu wake, the bfind wave hieak in lire. ... 6)9
The Injian Ocean aeta an' amilet 530
The Kuig has called for priest and cop, 43D
The lark will make her hymn to God, 607
The Law wheicby my lady moves (jl
The Liner she's a lady, an' she never looks nor 'eeds — iti
The men diat fought at Minden^ they was rcxikies in their time — . 4|l
The night we fdt the earth would move 710
The m^Mif^ml smord retwms ^ ustr 113
The Ptople of the Eastern Ice, they are mdring like the anow — . , f^
The rain it nuns without a stay 5(7
The road to En-dor b easy to tread 417
The smoke upon 3rour Altar dies, 53
The Soldier may forget his Sword, 600
The Sons of Mary seldom bother, for they ha\'e inherited that good
part; 06
The Stranger within my gate, 616
The stream is shrunk — the pool is dry, . . 706
The strength of twice three thousand horse 164
The torn boughs trailing o*er the tusks aslant, 63$
The IVeald is fpod^ the Dovns are best — 558
The white moth to the closing bine, jor
The wind took off with the sunset — 710
The wolf-cub at even lay hid in the corn, 607
ITie Word came down to Dives in Torment where he lay: . . . . J»
The World hath set its heavy yoke 574
The wreath of banquet overnight lay withered on the neck, . . . i8^
The wrecks dissolve above us; their dust drops down from afar — . . 199
There are four good legs to my Father's Chair — 75:
There are no leaders to lead us to honour, and yet without leaders we
sally, "T
There arc three degrees of bliss 6fc
There arc whose study is of smells, 65:
There dwells a wife by the Northern Gate, ic*
There is a word you often see, pronounce it as you may — ... 5®
There is a world outside the one you know, 548
There is pleasure in the wet, wet clay, 605
There is sorrow enough in the natural way 656
There runs a road by Merrow Down — 66:
There was a row in Silver Street that's near to Dublin Quay, ... 47^
There was a strife 'twixt man and maid — 603'
INDEX TO FIRST LINES 781
PAOB
was darkness under Heaven 678
was never a Queen like Balkis, 675
was no one like 'im, 'Orse or Foot, 507
was Rundle, Station Master, 505
were thirty million English who talked of England's might, . 228
were three friends that buried the fourth, 607
's a convict more in the Central Jail, 637
's a Legion that never was 'listed, 222
's a litde red-faced man, 449
's a whisper down the field where the year has shot her yield, . 189
J a widen in sleepy Chester 63
re's no sense in going further — it's the edge of cultivation," . . 119
*s no wind along these seas, 732
are o«r regulations — 314
are the Four that are never content, that have never been filled
incc the Dews began — 707
were my companions going forth by night — 597
yt were never your true love's eyes 181
were our children who died for our lands: they were dear in our
ght. 587
bear, in place of classic names, 711
burnt a corpse upon the sand — 575
christened my brother of old — 339
killed a child to please the Gods 634
shall not return to us, the resolute, the young 346
shut the road through the woods 557
appened in a batde to a batt'ry of the corps 469
ell when dinner-time was done — 73
saw when the rites were done, 603
% our lot if we live so long and labour unto the end — .... 368
s the mouth-filling song of the race that was run by a Boomer. . 672
i the sorrowful story 404
s the State above the Law 329
things make earth unquiet 628
es, Powers, Dominions, Peoples, Kings, 612
gh learned and laborious years 370
gh the Plagues of Egyp' we was chasin' Arabi, 511
said the Lord in the Vault above the Cherubim, 184
\ce is far from this our wary 97
; Heavens above us 654
Judge of Bight and Wrong 212
; legion of the lost ones, to the cohort of the damned, . . . 483
^ across our fathers* graves, 351
;ht, God knows what thing shall tide, 576
my" you was when it began, 522
783 INDEX TO FIRST LINES
"naoput'i iraopin', troopin' to the sea: . . . .
IWiy y oone of The Blood; sbwer to Uav than tc
TirMhawiK, no man breaks whoUfloiMe . . .
Thwi Fnhal Fisher's boarding-house, . . . .
Tm KN white England's sword unshc«ched . ,
{jrJrtfctj/roniYDBn-M Kea ,
IWtt mj hbusc and thy house the pathway is bioail, ... .lot
UW Chsnd lay sick Co death T?
UmK Aj feet have trod the Road . . 6ll
Una wIhm Bse the pregDSDt suns arapdscd. ....... ij7
Vilour uid Innocence 6:*
Vd tkuOfeara them, wail them roiuid — 7^
W* m Tai7 slightly changed «
WftbetheGbdsof thcEast— 6e{
Wa hWB M> beart for the fishing, we have no hand for (he oar — . . jp
Vfeknawthtcorold, W)
WekttttaAlExander the strength oTHeteulca. ^! '
We meet in an evil land _ . . . . iq I
We thoi^t we ranked above the ehanee of ill 367
We were all one heart and one race 354
We were taken (nun the ore-bed and the OMnCk 7H
We're foot — ilng — skg — ilog — slogan' ovtv Aftkal 53'
We're not bo old in tl^ Array Lilt, II4
We're morchin' on relief over Injia'inuuirpltina, 4it
We've drunk to the QuceD—GodblM her)— Ill
We've fought with many men acrost tkeMa*> 455
We've got the cholerer in camp — k'a wat*c than tony fighta; . . . jn
We've rode and fought and ate and drunk at raboM ronwtohaDd, . 533
We've aent our little Cupids all aahore — 17)
"What are the bugles blowin' lor?" Bud Fiks-on-Parade. . . . . ^i
^isttoottitanlitGodiiac^r 4II
" What have IM ever done to bear thia grudge ? " 57
What is a woman that you fbtsake her, 59J
What ta the moral! Who ridea may read 595
What of the hunting, hunter bold? 7*
"What's that that hhplet at my tide?" 7*7
When a lover hies abroad, 6oi
When all the world wo>dd kcap a matter hid, ■ ii)
When by the labour of my 'aiids 544
When Earth's laat picture ia painted and the tubes are twtttsd and
dried, 15!
When first by Eden Tree, 640
When, foot to wheel and back to wind, 193
When I left Rome for Lalage'j sake 617
When I was King and a Mason — a Master proven and skilled — . . 43I
INDEX TO FIRST LINES 783
PAGI
Julius Fabricius, Sub-Prefect of the Weald, 666
Horse and Rider each can trust the other everywhere, . 756
Rome was rotten-ripe to her fall, 746
spring-time flushes the desert grass, 283
that great Kings return to clay, 239
the *arf-made recruity goes out to the East 474
the cabin port-holes are dark and green 669
the darkened Fifties dip to the North, 103
the drums begin to beat 730
the earth was sick and the skies were grey, 573
the flush of a new-born sun fell first on Eden's green and gold,. 386
the Great Ark, in Vigo Bay, 620
the Himalayan peasant meets the he-bear in his pride, . . 418
the robust and Bra^bound Man commissioned flrst for sea 716
the water's countenance 724
the Waters were dried an* the Earth did appear, 494
ye say to Tabaqui, "My Brother!" when ye call the Hyena
) meat, 710
youVe shouted "Rule Britannia," when you've sung "God save
le Queen," 522
» comest thou, Gehazi, 277
re have you been this while away, 481
run your coUs at pasture f 166
t the East wind is brewed fresh and fresh every morning, . .731
\ the sober-coloured cultivator smiles 86
t's the lamp that Hero lit 651
ler the State can loose and bind 630
;ives him the Bath? 590
lath desired the Sea? — the sight of salt water unbounded — 125
Lnows the heart of the Christian? How does he reason? 601
1 the Realm to-day lays down dear life for the sake of a land more dear? 256
ecalls the twilight and the ranged tents in order 249
ou conquer my heart with your beauty, my soul going out from
'ar? X . . . 26
of the World, give answer! They are whimpering to and fro — 252
:hose that bred, with those that loosed the strife, 277
nakes the soldier's 'eart to penk, wot makes 'im to perspire? 464
', with tent and rifle, our careless white men go 316 |
the last, ere our spearmen had found him, 607 ij
dl yourself a man, 518
^uldn't pack a Broadwood half a mile — 113
lay talk o' gin and beer 462
lustn't swim till you're six weeks old, 708
lar of Virginny 618
tiercel's too long at hack, Sir. He's no eyass 684
I
I