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Rudyard Kipling

An Old Song

So long as 'neath the Kalka hills
 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 drivese us down,
   If you love me as I love you
   What pair so happy as we two?
 
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,
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?
 
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 Whatshername 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 of Death undo?
 
So long as Death 'twixt dance and dance
 Chills best and bravest blood,
And drops the reckless rider down
 The rotten, rain-soaked khud,
So long as rumours from the North
 Make loving wives afraid,
So long as Burma takes the boy
 Or typhoid kills the maid,
   If you love me as I love you
   What knife can cut our love in two?
 
By all that lights our daily life
 Or works our lifelong woe,
From Boileaugunge to Simla Downs
 And those grim glades below,
Where, heedless of the flying hoof
 And clamour overhead,
Sleep, with the grey langur for guard
 Our very scornful Dead,
   If you love me as I love you
   All Earth is servant to us two!
 
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 fizzes in
 The everlasting Hills,
   If you love me as I love you
   What pair so happy as we two?

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The Beginner

Lo! What is this that I make—sudd… This that my clutch in the crowd p… Forward and onward I sprang when… And a cab like martagon opes and… And someone is taking my name, and…
Gunga Din

You may talk o’ gin and beer When you’re quartered safe out ’er… An’ you’re sent to penny-fights an… But when it comes to slaughter You will do your work on water,
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Kitchener's School

q|Being a translation of the song… by a Mohammedan schoolmaster of B… (some time on service at Suakim) w… that Kitchener was taking money fr… to build a Madrissa for Hubshees…
The King's Pilgrimage

OUR King went forth on pilgrimag… His prayers and vows to pay To them that saved our heritage And cast their own away. And there was little show of pride…
The Bees and the Flies

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A Truthful Song

I tell this tale, which is strictl… Just by way of convincing you How very little, since things were… Things have altered in building tr… A year ago, come the middle of Ma…
Troopin'

Troopin’, troopin’, troopin’ to th… 'Ere’s September come again —the… O leave the dead be’ind us, for th… To where the ship’s a-coalin’ up t… We’re goin’ 'ome, we’re goin’ 'ome…
The Verdicts

NOT 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.
The Tour

He wandered down the mountain grad… Beyond the speed assigned— A youth whom Justice often stayed And generally fined. He went alone, that none might kno…
Two Months

No hope, no change! The clouds ha… And through the cloud the sullen… Full on the bosom of the tortured… Till Night falls heavy as remembe… That will not suffer sleep or thou…
Frankie's Trade

OLD Horn to All Atlantic said: (A—hay O! To me O!) Now where did Frankie learn his t… For he ran me down with a three—re… (All round the Horn!)
The Vampire

A FOOL there was and he made his… A Fool as you and I!) To a rag and a bone and a hank of… (We called her the woman who did n… But the fool he called her his lad…
The Outlaws

Through learned and laborious year… They set themselves to find Fresh terrors and undreamed-of fea… To heap upon mankind. ALl that they drew from Heaven ab…
Dedication

BEYOND the path of the outmost… Further than ever comet flared or… Live such as fought and sailed and… They are purged of pride because t… They sit at wine with the Maidens…
The Mother's Son

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