Troopin’ by Rudyard Kipling
Troopin’, troopin’, troopin’ to the sea: ‘Ere’s September come again — the six-year men are free. O leave the dead be’ind us, for they cannot come away To where the ship’s a-coalin’ up that takes us ‘ome to-day. We’re goin’ ‘ome, we’re goin’ ‘ome, Our ship is at the shore, An’ you must pack your […]
Tommy by Rudyard Kipling
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 girls 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 Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ “Tommy, go […]
Tin Fish by Rudyard Kipling
The ships destroy us above And ensnare us beneath. We arise, we lie down, and we In the belly of Death. The ships have a thousand eyes To mark where we come . . . But the mirth of a seaport dies When our blow gets home. ————— The End And that’s the End of […]
The Young British Soldier by Rudyard Kipling
When the ‘arf-made recruity goes out to the East ‘E acts like a babe an’ ‘e drinks like a beast, An’ ‘e wonders because ‘e is frequent deceased Ere ‘e’s fit for to serve as a soldier. Serve, serve, serve as a soldier, Serve, serve, serve as a soldier, Serve, serve, serve as a soldier, […]
The Wishing-Caps by Rudyard Kipling
Life’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, […]
The Winners by Rudyard Kipling
What the moral? Who rides may read. When the night is thick and the tracks are blind A friend at a pinch is a friend, indeed, But a fool to wait for the laggard behind. Down to Gehenna or up to the Throne, He travels the fastest who travels alone. White hands cling to the […]
The Widow at Windsor by Rudyard Kipling
‘Ave you ‘eard 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. (Ow, poor beggars in red!) There’s ‘er nick on the cavalry ‘orses, There’s ‘er mark on the medical stores […]
The Truce of the Bear by Rudyard Kipling
Yearly, with 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 […]
The Thousandth Man by Rudyard Kipling
One man in a thousand, Solomon says, Will stick more close than a brother. And it’s worth while seeking him half your days If you find him before the other. Nine nundred and ninety-nine depend On what the world sees in you, But the Thousandth man will stand your friend With the whole round world […]
The Story of Uriah by Rudyard Kipling
Jack Barrett went to Quetta 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 […]
The Story of Ung by Rudyard Kipling
Once, on a glittering ice-field, ages and ages ago, Ung, 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! Pleased was his tribe with that image — came in their hundreds […]
The Sons of Martha by Rudyard Kipling
The Sons of Mary seldom bother, for they have inherited that good part; But the Sons of Martha favour their Mother of the careful soul and the troubled heart. And because she lost her temper once, and because she was rude to the Lord her Guest, Her Sons must wait upon Mary’s Sons, world without […]
The Songs of the Lathes by Rudyard Kipling
1918Being the Words of the Tune Hummed at Her Lathe by Mrs. L. Embsay, Widow The fans and the beltings they roar round me. The power is shaking the floor round me Till the lathes pick up their duty and the midnight-shift takes over. It is good for me to be here! Guns in Flanders–Flanders […]
The Song of the Women by Rudyard Kipling
How shall she know the worship we would do her? The walls are high, and she is very far. How shall the woman’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 […]
The Song of the Sons by Rudyard Kipling
One from the ends of the earth — gifts at an open door — Treason has much, but we, Mother, thy sons have more! From the whine of a dying man, from the snarl of a wolf-pack freed, Turn, and the world is thine. Mother, be proud of thy seed! Count, are we feeble or […]
The Song of the Old Guard by Rudyard Kipling
Army Reform-.After Boer war “The Army of a Dream”-Traffics and Discoveries. Know this, my brethren, Heaven is clear And all the clouds are gone– The Proper Sort shall flourish now, Good times are coming on”– The evil that was threatened late To all of our degree Hath passed in discord and debate, And,Hey then up […]
The Song of the Little Hunter by Rudyard Kipling
Ere Mor the Peacock flutters, ere the Monkey People cry, Ere Chil the Kite swoops down a furlong sheer, Through the Jungle very softly flits a shadow and a sigh– He is Fear, O Little Hunter, he is Fear! Very softly down the glade runs a waiting, watching shade, And the whisper spreads and widens […]
The Song of the Dead by Rudyard Kipling
Hear 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-stripped sledges. Song of the Dead in the South — in the sun by their skeleton horses, Where the warrigal whimpers and bays through the dust of the sere […]
The Song of the Cities by Rudyard Kipling
BOMBAY Royal 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 […]
The Song of Seven Cities by Rudyard Kipling
I was Lord of Cities very sumptuously builded. Seven roaring Cities paid me tribute from far. Ivory their outposts were–the guardrooms of them gilded, And garrisoned with Amazons invincible in war. All the world went softly when it walked before my Cities– Neither King nor Army vexed my peoples at their toil. Never horse nor […]
The Settler by Rudyard Kipling
1903 (South African War ended, May, 1902) Here, 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 Servant When He Reigneth by Rudyard Kipling
Three things make earth unquiet And four she cannot brook The godly Agur counted them And put them in a book — 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 […]
The Sergeant’s Weddin’ by Rudyard Kipling
‘E 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 weddin’ — Give ’em one cheer more! Grey gun-‘orses in […]
The Secret of the Machines by Rudyard Kipling
We were taken from the ore-bed and the mine, We were melted in the furnace and the pit– 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 […]
The Second Voyage by Rudyard Kipling
We’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 […]
The Sea-Wife by Rudyard Kipling
There 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. For since that […]
The Sea And the Hills by Rudyard Kipling
1902 Who hath desired the Sea? — the sight of salt wind-hounded — The heave and the halt and the hurl and the crash of the comber win hounded? The sleek-barrelled swell before storm, grey, foamless, enormous, and growing — Stark calm on the lap of the Line or the crazy-eyed hurricane blowing — His […]
The Sacrifice of Er-Heb by Rudyard Kipling
Er-Heb beyond the Hills of Ao-Safai Bears witness to the truth, and Ao-Safai Hath told the men of Gorukh. Thence the tale Comes westward o’er the peaks to India. The story of Bisesa, Armod’s child, — A maiden plighted to the Chief in War, The Man of Sixty Spears, who held the Pass That leads […]
The Rupaiyat of Omar Kal’vin by Rudyard Kipling
Now the New Year, reviving last Year’s Debt, The Thoughtful Fisher casteth wide his Net; So I with begging Dish and ready Tongue Assail all Men for all that I can get. Imports indeed are gone with all their Dues — Lo! Salt a Lever that I dare not use, Nor may I ask the […]
The Rowers by Rudyard Kipling
The 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. […]
The Rhyme of the Three Sealers by Rudyard Kipling
Away 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 buoys, In Cisco’s Dewdrop Dining-Rooms They tell the […]
The Rhyme of the Three Captains by Rudyard Kipling
This ballad appears to refer to one of the exploits of the notorious Paul Jones, the American 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 […]
The Return by Rudyard Kipling
Peace is declared, and I return To ‘Ackneystadt, but not the same; Things ‘ave transpired which made me learn The size and meanin’ of the game. I did no more than others did, I don’t know where the change began; I started as a average kid, I finished as a thinkin’ man. If England was […]
The Reformers by Rudyard Kipling
1901 Not in the camp his victory lies Or triumph in the market-place, Who is his Nation’s sacrifice To turn the judgement from his race. Happy is he who, bred and taught By sleek, sufficing Circumstance — Whose Gospel was the apparelled thought, Whose Gods were Luxury and Chance — Seese, on the threshold of […]
The Recall by Rudyard Kipling
I am the land of their fathers, In me the virtue stays. I will bring back my children, After certain days. 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 […]
The Rabbi’s Song by Rudyard Kipling
“The House Surgeon”–Actions and Reactions 2 Samuel XIV. 14. If Thought can reach to Heaven, On Heaven let it dwell, For fear the 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 […]
The Quesion by Rudyard Kipling
Brethren, how shall it fare with me When the war is laid aside, If it be proven that I am he For whom a world has died? If it be proven that all my good, And the greater good I will make, Were purchased me by a multitude Who suffered for my sake? That I […]
The Queen’s Men by Rudyard Kipling
Valour and Innocence Have latterly gone hence To certain death by certain shame attended. 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 […]
The Puzzler by Rudyard Kipling
The Celt in all his variants from Builth to Ballyhoo, His mental processes are plain–one knows what he will do, And can logically predicate his finish by his start; But the English–ah, the English!–they are quite a race apart. Their psychology is bovine, their outlook crude and raw. They abandon vital matters to be tickled […]
The Prodigal Son by Rudyard Kipling
Here come I to my own again, Fed, forgiven and known again, 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 […]