Complete Works of Rudyard Kipling (Illustrated) (1081 page)

A Truthful Song

“The Wrong Thing” — Rewards and Fairies

THE BRICKLAYER:
  I tell this tale, which is strictly  true,
  Just by way of convincing you
  How very little, since things were made,
  Things have altered in building trade.

  A year ago, come the middle of March,
  We was building flats near the Marble Arch,
  When a thin young man with coal-black hair
  Came up to watch us working there.

  Now there wasn’t a trick in brick or stone
  Which this young man hadn’t seen or known;
  Nor there wasn’t a tool from trowel to maul
  But this young man could use ‘em all!

  Then up and spoke the plumbyers bold,
  Which was laying the pipes for the hot and cold:
  “Since you with us have made so free,
  Will you kindly say what your name might be? “

  The young man kindly answered them:
  “It might be Lot or Methusalem,
  Or it might be Moses (a man I hate),
  Whereas it is Pharaoh surnamed the Great.

  “Your glazing is new and your plumbing’s strange,
  But otherwise I perceive no change;
  And in less than a month if you do as I bid
  I’d learn you to build me a Pyramid!”

THE SAILOR:
  I tell this tale, which is stricter true,
  Just by way of convincing you
  How very little, since things was made,
  Things have altered in the shipwright’s trade.

  In Blackwall Basin yesterday
  A China barque re-fitting lay,
  When a fat old man with snow-white hair
  Came up to watch us working there.

  Now there wasn’t a knot which the riggers knew
  But the old man made it — and better too;
  Nor there wasn’t a sheet, or a lift, or a brace,
  But the old man knew its lead and place.

  Then up and spoke the caulkyers bold,
  Which was packing the pump in the afterhold:
  “Since you with us have made so free,
  Will you kindly tell what your name might be? “

  The old man kindly answered them:
  “It might be Japheth, it might be Shem,
  Or it might be Ham (though his skin was dark),
  Whereas it is Noah, commanding the Ark.

  “Your wheel is new and your pumps are strange,
  But otherwise I perceive no change;
  And in less than a week, if she did not ground,
  I’d sail this hooker the wide world round! “

BOTH:
  We tell these tales, which are strictest true,
  Just by way of convincing you
  How very  little, since things was made,
  Any thing alters in any one’s trade!

Two Kopjes

      
(Made Yeomanry towards End of Boer War)

Only two African kopjes,
      Only the cart-tracks that wind
Empty and open between ‘em,
  Only the Transvaal behind;
Only an Aldershot column
  Marching to conquer the land   .   .   .
Only a sudden and solemn
  Visit, unarmed, to the Rand.

    Then scorn not the African kopje,
       The kopje that smiles in the heat,
    The wholly unoccupied kopje,
      The home of Cornelius and Piet.
   You can never be sure of your kopje,
      But of this be you blooming well sure,
    A kopje is always a kopje,
      And a Boojer is always a Boer!

Only two African kopjes,
  Only the vultures above,
Only baboons — at the bottom,
  Only some buck on the move;
Only a Kensington draper
  Only pretending to scout   .   .   .
.Only bad news for the paper,
  Only another knock-out.

    Then mock not the African kopje,
      And rub not your flank on its side,
    The silent and simmering kopje,
      The kopje beloved by the guide.
   
You can never be,
etc.

Only two African kopjes,
  Only the dust of their wheels,
Only a bolted commando,
  Only our guns at their heels   .   .   .
Only a little barb-wire,
  Only a natural fort,
Only “by sections retire,”
  Only “regret to report! “

    Then mock not the .African kopje,
       Especially when it is twins,
    One sharp and one table-topped kopje
       For that’s where the trouble begins.
    
You never can be, etc.

Only two African kopjes
  Baited the same as before —
Only  we’ve had it so often,
  Only we’re taking no more   .   .   .
Only a wave to our troopers,
  Only our flanks swinging past,
Only a dozen voorloopers,.
   Only
we
’ve learned it at last!

    Then mock not the African kopje,
       But take off your hat to the same,
    The patient, impartial old kopje,
       The kopje that taught us the game!
    For all that we knew in the Columns,
       And all they’ve forgot on the Staff,
    We learned at the Fight o’ Two Kopjes,
       Which lasted two years an’ a half.

0 mock not the African kopje,
 
Not even when peace has been signed —
The kopje that isn’t a kopje —
  The kopje that copies its kind.
You can never be sure of your kopje,
  But of this be you blooming well sure,
That a kopje is always a kopje,
  And a Boojer is always a Boer!

Two Months

June

No hope, no change! The clouds have shut us in,
  And through the cloud the sullen Sun strikes down
  Full on the bosom of the tortured Town,
Till Night falls heavy as remembered sin
That will not suffer sleep or thought of ease,
  And, hour on hour, the dry-eyed Moon in spite
  Glares through the haze and mocks with watery light
The torment of the uncomplaining trees.
Far off, the Thunder bellows her despair
To echoing Earth, thrice parched. The lightnings fly
In vain. No help the heaped-up clouds afford,
But wearier weight of burdened, burning air.
What truce with Dawn? Look, from the aching sky,
Day stalks, a tyrant with a flaming sword!

September

At dawn there was a murmur in the trees,
  A ripple on the tank, and in the air
  Presage of coming coolness — everywhere
A voice of prophecy upon the breeze.
Up leapt the Sun and smote the dust to gold,
  And strove to parch anew the heedless land,
All impotently, as a King grown old
  Wars for the Empire crumbling ‘neath his hand.
  One after one the lotos-petals fell,
  Beneath the onslaught of the rebel year,
  In mutiny against a furious sky;
  And far-off Winter whispered: — “It is well!
  “Hot Summer dies. Behold your help is near,
  “For when men’s need is sorest, then come I.”

Two Races

I SEEK not what his soul desires.
  He dreads not what my spirit fears.
Our Heavens have shown us separate fires.
  Our dooms have dealt us differing years.

Our daysprings and our timeless dead
  Ordained for us and still control
Lives sundered at the fountain-head,
  And distant, now, as Pole from Pole.

Yet, dwelling thus, these worlds apart,
  When we encounter each is free
To bare that larger, liberal heart
  Our kin and neighbours seldom see.

(Custom and code compared in jest-
  Weakness delivered without shame-
And certain common sins confessed
  Which all men know, and none dare blame.)

E’en so it is, and well content
  It should be so a moment’s space,
Each finds the other excellent,
  And-runs to follow his own race!

Ubique

Royal Artillery
There is a word you often see, pronounce it as you may –
“You bike,” “you bykwee,” “ubbikwee” – alludin’ to R. A.
It serves ‘Orse, Field, an’ Garrison as motto for a crest;
An’ when you’ve found out all it means I’ll tell you ‘alf the rest.

Ubique means the long-range Krupp be’ind the long-range ‘ill –
Ubique means you’ll pick it up an’, while you do, stand still.
Ubique means you’ve caught the flash an’ timed it by the sound.
Ubique means five gunners’ ‘ash before you’ve loosed a round.

Ubique means Blue Fuse, an’ make the ‘ole to sink the trail.
Ubique means stand up an’ take the Mauser’s ‘alf-mile ‘ail.
Ubique means the crazy team not God nor man can ‘old.
Ubique means that ‘orse’s scream which turns your innards cold!

Ubique means “Bank, ‘Olborn, Bank – a penny all the way” –
The soothin’, jingle-bump-an’-clank from day to peaceful day.
Ubique means “They’ve caught De Wet, an’ now we shan’t be long.”
Ubique means “I much regret, the beggar’s goin’ strong!”

Ubique means the tearin’ drift where, breach-block jammed with mud,
The khaki muzzles duck an’ lift across the khaki flood.
Ubique means the dancing plain that changes rocks to Boers.
Ubique means mirage again an’ shellin’ all outdoors.

Ubique means “Entrain at once for Grootdefeatfontein.”
Ubique means “Of-load your guns” – at midnight in the rain!
Ubique means “More mounted men. Return all guns to store.”
Ubique means the R.A.M.R. Infantillery Corps.

Ubique means that warnin’ grunt the perished linesman knows,
When o’er ‘is strung an’ sufferin’ front the shrapnel sprays ‘is foes;
An’ as their firin’ dies away the ‘usky whisper runs
From lips that ‘aven’t drunk all day: “The Guns! Thank Gawd, the Guns!”

Extreme, depressed, point-blank or short, end-first or any’ow,
From Colesberg Kop to Quagga’s Poort – from Ninety-Nine till now –
By what I’ve ‘eard the others tell an’ I in spots ‘ave seen,
There’s nothin’ this side ‘Eaven or ‘Ell Ubique doesn’t mean!

Ulster

1912

(“Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they
cover themselves with their works: their works are works
of inquity and the act of violence is in their hands.” —
Isaiah lix. 6.)
The dark eleventh hour
Draws on and sees us sold
To every evil power
We fought against of old.
Rebellion, rapine hate
Oppression, wrong and greed
Are loosed to rule our fate,
By England’s act and deed.

The Faith in which we stand,
The laws we made and guard,
Our honour, lives, and land
Are given for reward
To Murder done by night,
To Treason taught by day,
To folly, sloth, and spite,
And we are thrust away.

The blood our fathers spilt,
Our love, our toils, our pains,
Are counted us for guilt,
And only bind our chains.
Before an Empire’s eyes
The traitor claims his price.
What need of further lies?
We are the sacrifice.

We asked no more than leave
To reap where we had sown,
Through good and ill to cleave
To our own flag and throne.
Now England’s shot and steel
Beneath that flag must show
How loyal hearts should kneel
To England’s oldest foe.

We know the war prepared
On every peaceful home,
We know the hells declared
For such as serve not Rome —
The terror, threats, and dread
In market, hearth, and field —
We know, when all is said,
We perish if we yield.

Believe, we dare not boast,
Believe, we do not fear —
We stand to pay the cost
In all that men hold dear.
What answer from the North?
One Law, one Land, one Throne.
If England drive us forth
We shall not fall alone!

The Undertaker’s Horse

  “To-tschin-shu is condemned to death.
  How can he drink tea with the Executioner?”
     
Japanese Proverb.

The eldest son bestrides him,
And the pretty daughter rides him,
And I meet him oft o’ mornings on the Course;
And there kindles in my bosom
An emotion chill and gruesome
As I canter past the Undertaker’s Horse.

Neither shies he nor is restive,
But a hideously suggestive
Trot, professional and placid, he affects;
And the cadence of his hoof-beats
To my mind this grim reproof beats: —
“Mend your pace, my friend, I’m coming. Who’s the next?”

Ah! stud-bred of ill-omen,
I have watched the strongest go — men
Of pith and might and muscle — at your heels,
Down the plantain-bordered highway,
(Heaven send it ne’er be my way!)
In a lacquered box and jetty upon wheels.

Answer, sombre beast and dreary,
Where is Brown, the young, the cheery,
Smith, the pride of all his friends and half the Force?
You were at that last dread
dak
We must cover at a walk,
Bring them back to me, O Undertaker’s Horse!