from the poetry of
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Rudyard Kipling | This page: | Category: | index pages:
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Copyright © 1891, 1892, 1893, 1894, 1895, 1896, 1897, 1899, 1900, 1901, 1902, 1903, 1904, 1905, 1906, 1907, 1909, 1910, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1914, 1915, 1916, 1917, 1918, 1919, 1920, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1926, 1927, 1928, 1929, 1930, 1932, 1933, 1934
by Rudyard Kipling
The Man Who Could Write | |
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Shunshun the Bowl! That fatal, facile drink Has ruined many geese who dipped their quills int; Bribe, murder, marry, but steer clear of Ink Save when you write receipts for paid-up bills int. There may be silver in the blue-blackall I know of is the iron and the gall. | Topic: |
text checked (see note) Feb 2005 |
LEnvoi
(complete) to Departmental Ditties | |
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The 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 are on the altar laid The Altar-Stone 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. | Topic: |
text checked (see note) Feb 2005 |
A General Summary | |
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Who shall doubt the secret hid Under Cheops pyramid Was that the contractor did Cheops out of several millions? Or that Josephs sudden rise To Comptroller of Supplies Was a fraud of monstrous size On King Pharaohs swart Civilians? Thus, 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! | |
text checked (see note) Feb 2005 |
Army Headquarters | |
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Cornelia used to sing with him, and Jenkins used to play; He praised unblushingly her notes, for he was false as they; [...] | Topic: |
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Pagett, M.P. | |
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The toad beneath the harrow knows Exactly where each tooth-point goes; The butterfly upon the road Preaches contentment to that toad. | Topic: |
text checked (see note) Feb 2005 |
Certain Maxims of Hafiz | |
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I If it be pleasant to look on, stalled in the packed serai, Does not the Young Man try Its temper and pace ere he buy? If She be pleasant to look on, what does the Young Man say? Lo! She is pleasant to look on. Give Her to me to-day! | |
IX If He play, being young and unskilful, for shekels of silver and gold, Take His money, my son, praising Allah. The kid was ordained to be sold. | |
XIV In public Her face turneth to thee, and pleasant Her smile when ye meet. It is ill. 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 is well. Was there ever a loser content with the loss of the game? | Topic: |
XV 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 return it! If there be trouble to Herward, and a lie of the blackest can clear, Lie, while thy lips can move or a man is alive to hear. | |
XVII If we fall in the race, though we win, the hoof-slide is scarred on the course. Though Allah and Earth pardon Sin, remaineth for ever Remorse. | Topic: |
XIX My son, if I, Hafiz, thy father, take hold of thy knees in my pain, Demanding thy name on stamped paper, one day or one hourrefrain. Are the links of thy fetters so light that thou carvest another mans chain? | Compare to: |
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The Lovers Litany | |
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Maidens, of your charity, Pity my most luckless state. Four times Cupids 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! | |
text checked (see note) Feb 2005 |
When Omer Smote Is Bloomin Lyre
(complete) Introduction to the Barrack-Room Ballads in The Seven Seas | ||
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When Omer smote is bloomin lyre, Hed eard men sing by land an sea; An what he thought e might require, E went an tookthe same as me! The market-girls an fishermen, The shepherds an the sailors, too, They eard old songs turn up again, But kep it quietsame as you! They knew e stole; e knew they knowed. They didnt tell, nor make a fuss, But winked at Omer down the road, An e winked backthe same as us! | Topic: | |
text checked (see note) Jun 2005 |
Cleared
1890 | Background | |
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Cleared, honourable gentlemen! Be thankful its no more: The widows curse is on your house, the dead are at your door. On you the shame of open shame; on you from North to South The hand of every honest man flat-heeled across your mouth. Less black than we were painted?Faith, no word of black was said; The lightest touch was human blood, and that, you know, runs red. Its sticking to your fist to-day for all your sneer and scoff, And by the Judges well-weighed word you cannot wipe it off. | ||
The charge is old?as old as Cainas fresh as yesterday; Old as the Ten Commandmentshave ye talked those laws away? If words are words, or death is death, or powder sends the ball, You spoke the words that sped the shotthe curse be on you all! Our friends believe? Of course they doas sheltered women may; But have they seen the shrieking soul ripped from the quivering clay? They!If their own front door is shut, theyll swear the whole worlds warm; What do they know of dread of death or hanging fear of harm? | ||
If black is black or white is white, in black and white its down, Youre only traitors to the Queen and rebels to the Crown. If print is print or words are words, the learned Court perpends: We are not ruled by murderers, but onlyby their friends. | ||
text checked (see note) Jun 2005 |
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