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The Story of Uriah

“Now there were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor.”

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 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 I 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,  
And Quetta graveyards give again  
 Their victims to the air,      
I shouldn’t like to be the man  
 Who sent Jack Barrett there.
Other works by Rudyard Kipling...



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