BARRACK-ROOM BALLADS
1889-1891
TO WOLCOTT BALESTIER
Beyond the path of the outmost sun through utter darkness hurled —
BARRACK-ROOM BALLADS
To T. A.
I have made for you a song,
DANNY DEEVER
“What are the bugles blowin' for?” said Files-on-Parade.
TOMMY
I went into a public-'ouse to get a pint o' beer,
“FUZZY-WUZZY”
We've fought with many men acrost the seas,
SOLDIER, SOLDIER
“Soldier, soldier come from the wars,
SCREW-GUNS
Smokin' my pipe on the mountings, sniffin' the mornin' cool,
CELLS
I've a head like a concertina: I've a tongue like a button-stick:
GUNGA DIN
You may talk o' gin and beer
OONTS
Wot makes the soldier's 'eart to penk, wot makes 'im to perspire?
LOOT
If you've ever stole a pheasant-egg be'ind the keeper's back,
“SNARLEYOW”
This 'appened in a battle to a batt'ry of the corps,
THE WIDOW AT WINDSOR
'Ave you 'eard o' the Widow at Windsor?
BELTS
There was a row in Silver Street that's near to Dublin Quay,
THE YOUNG BRITISH SOLDIER
When the 'arf-made recruity goes out to the East,
MANDALAY
By the old Moulmein Pagoda, lookin' eastward to the sea,
TROOPIN'
Troopin', troopin', troopin' to the sea,
THE WIDOW'S PARTY
“Where have you been this while away?”
FORD O' KABUL RIVER
Kabul town's by Kabul river,
GENTLEMEN-RANKERS
To the legion of the lost ones, to the cohort of the damned,
ROUTE MARCHIN'
We're marchin' on relief over Injia's sunny plains,
SHILLIN' A DAY
My name is O'Kelly, I've heard the Revelly,
OTHER VERSES
THE BALLAD OF EAST AND WEST
Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet,
THE LAST SUTTEE
Udai Chand lay sick to death,
THE BALLAD OF THE KING'S MERCY
Abdhur Rahman, the Durani Chief, of him is the story told,
THE BALLAD OF THE KING'S JEST
When spring-time flushes the desert grass,
WITH SCINDIA TO DELHI
The wreath of banquet overnight lay withered on the neck,
THE BALLAD OF BOH DA THONE
This is the ballad of Boh Da Thone,
THE LAMENT OF THE BORDER CATTLE THIEF
O woe is me for the merry life,
THE RHYME OF THE THREE CAPTAINS
. . . At the close of a winter day,
THE BALLAD OF THE “CLAMPHERDOWN”
It was our war-ship Clampherdown,
THE BALLAD OF THE “BOLIVAR”
Seven men from all the world back to Docks again,
THE SACRIFICE OF ER-HEB
Er-Heb beyond the Hills of Ao-Safai,
THE EXPLANATION
Love and Death once ceased their strife,
THE GIFT OF THE SEA
The dead child lay in the shroud,
EVARRA AND HIS GODS
Read here: This is the story of Evarra — man —,
THE CONUNDRUM OF THE WORKSHOPS
When the flush of a new-born sun fell first on Eden's green and gold,
THE LEGEND OF EVIL
This is the sorrowful story,
THE ENGLISH FLAG
Winds of the World, give answer! They are whimpering to and fro,
“CLEARED”
Help for a patriot distressed, a spotless spirit hurt,
AN IMPERIAL RESCRIPT
Now this is the tale of the Council the German Kaiser decreed,
TOMLINSON
Now Tomlinson gave up the ghost in his house in Berkeley Square,
L'ENVOI TO “LIFE'S HANDICAP”
My new-cut ashlar takes the light,
L'ENVOI
There's a whisper down the field where the year has shot her yield,
[In India, the swastika is an ancient symbol of good fortune. Kipling frequently used the swastika in this context.]
THE SEVEN SEAS
1891-1896
DEDICATION
The Cities are full of pride,
THE SEVEN SEAS
A SONG OF THE ENGLISH
Fair is our lot — O goodly is our heritage!
The Coastwise Lights
Our brows are bound with spindrift and the weed is on our knees,
The Song of the Dead
Hear now the Song of the Dead — in the North by the torn berg-edges,
The Deep-Sea Cables
The wrecks dissolve above us; their dust drops down from afar —,
The Song of the Sons
One from the ends of the earth — gifts at an open door —,
The Song of the Cities
Royal and Dower-royal, I the Queen,
England's Answer
Truly ye come of The Blood; slower to bless than to ban,
THE FIRST CHANTEY
Mine was the woman to me, darkling I found her,
THE LAST CHANTEY
Thus said The Lord in the Vault above the Cherubim,
THE MERCHANTMEN
King Solomon drew merchantmen,
M'ANDREW'S HYMN
Lord, Thou hast made this world below the shadow of a dream,
THE MIRACLES
I sent a message to my dear,
THE NATIVE-BORN
We've drunk to the Queen — God bless her!
THE KING
“Farewell, Romance!” the Cave-men said,
THE RHYME OF THE THREE SEALERS
Away by the lands of the Japanee,
THE DERELICT
I was the staunchest of our fleet,
THE ANSWER
A Rose, in tatters, on the garden path,
THE SONG OF THE BANJO
You couldn't pack a Broadwood half a mile,
THE LINER SHE'S A LADY
The Liner she's a lady, an' she never looks nor 'eeds,
MULHOLLAND'S CONTRACT
The fear was on the cattle, for the gale was on the sea,
ANCHOR SONG
Heh! Walk her round. Heave, ah heave her short again!
FROM “MANY INVENTIONS”.
THE LOST LEGION
There's a Legion that never was 'listed,
THE SEA-WIFE
There dwells a wife by the Northern Gate,
HYMN BEFORE ACTION
The earth is full of anger,
TO THE TRUE ROMANCE
Thy face is far from this our war,
FROM “MANY INVENTIONS”.
THE FLOWERS
Buy my English posies!
THE LAST RHYME OF TRUE THOMAS
The king has called for priest and cup,
IN THE NEOLITHIC AGE
In the Neolithic Age savage warfare did I wage,
THE STORY OF UNG
Once, on a glittering ice-field, ages and ages ago,
THE THREE-DECKER
Full thirty foot she towered from waterline to rail,
AN AMERICAN
If the Led Striker call it a strike,
THE “MARY GLOSTER”
I've paid for your sickest fancies; I've humoured your crackedest whim,
SESTINA OF THE TRAMP-ROYAL
Speakin' in general, I 'ave tried 'em all,
BARRACK-ROOM BALLADS
“BACK TO THE ARMY AGAIN”
I'm 'ere in a ticky ulster an' a broken billycock 'at,
“BIRDS OF PREY” MARCH
March! The mud is cakin' good about our trousies,
“SOLDIER AN' SAILOR TOO”
As I was spitting into the Ditch aboard o' the Crocodile,
SAPPERS
When the Waters were dried an' the Earth did appear,
THAT DAY
It got beyond all orders an' it got beyond all 'ope,
“THE MEN THAT FOUGHT AT MINDEN”
The men that fought at Minden, they was rookies in their time,
CHOLERA CAMP
We've got the cholerer in camp — it's worse than forty fights,
THE LADIES
I've taken my fun where I've found it,
BILL 'AWKINS
“'As anybody seen Bill 'Awkins?”
THE MOTHER-LODGE
There was Rundle, Station Master,
“FOLLOW ME 'OME”
There was no one like 'im, 'Orse or Foot,
THE SERGEANT'S WEDDIN'
'E was warned agin 'er,
THE JACKET
Through the Plagues of Egyp' we was chasin' Arabi,
THE 'EATHEN
The 'eathen in 'is blindness bows down to wood an' stone,
THE SHUT-EYE SENTRY
Sez the Junior Orderly Sergeant,
“MARY, PITY WOMEN!”
You call yourself a man,
FOR TO ADMIRE
The Injian Ocean sets an' smiles,
L'ENVOI
When Earth's last picture is painted and the tubes are twisted and dried,
