Rudyard Kipling – A Ballade of Jakko Hill

One moment bid the horses wait, Since tiffin is not laid till three, Below the upward path and straight You climbed a year ago with me. Love came upon us suddenly And loosed -- an idle hour to kill -- A headless, armless armory That smote us both on Jakko Hill. Ah...

Rudyard Kipling – Justice

Across a world where all men grieve    And grieving strive the more, The great days range like tides and leave     Our dead on every shore. Heavy the load we undergo,     And our own hands prepare, If we have parley with the foe,  ...

Rudyard Kipling – The Bell Buoy

They christened my brother of old—    And a saintly name he bears— They gave him his place to hold    At the head of the belfry-stairs,    Where the minster-towers stand And the breeding kestrels cry.    Would I change with my...

Rudyard Kipling – Harp Song of the Dane Women

“The Knights of the Joyous Venture” — Puck of Pook’s Hill What is a woman that you forsake her, And the hearth-fire and the home-acre, To go with the old grey Widow-maker? She has no house to lay a guest in — But one chill bed for all to rest in, That the pale suns...

Rudyard Kipling – The Children

("The Honours of War"—A Diversity of Creatures) 1914-18 These were our children who died for our lands: they were dear in our sight.     We have only the memory left of their home-treasured sayings and laughter.     The price of our loss shall be...

Rudyard Kipling – The Long Trail

There’s a whisper down the field where the year has shot her yield,      And the ricks stand grey to the sun,Singing: ‘Over then, come over, for the bee has quit the clover,   ‘And your English summer's done.’        ...

Rudyard Kipling – If The City of Sleep

Over the edge of the purple down,    Where the single lamplight gleams, Know ye the road to the Merciful Town    That is hard by the Sea of Dreams – Where the poor may lay their wrongs away,    And the sick may forget to weep? But we –...

Rudyard Kipling – If

(‘Brother Square-Toes’—Rewards and Fairies) If you can keep your head when all about you        Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,    If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,     But make allowance for their doubting...

Rudyard Kipling – "Tin Fish"

1914-18 (Sea Warfare) The ships destroy us above     And ensnare us beneath. We arise, we lie down, and we move     In the belly of Death. The ships have a thousand eyes     To mark where we come . . . But the mirth...

Rudyard Kipling – Danny Deever

‘What are the bugles blowin’ for?' said Files-on-Parade.   ‘To turn you out, to turn you out,’ the Colour-Sergeant said. ‘What makes you look so white, so white?’ said Files-on-Parade. ‘I’m dreadin’ what I’ve got to watch,’ the Colour-Sergeant said.      ...

Rudyard Kipling – The Conundrum of the Workshops

When the flush of a newborn sun fell first on Eden's green and gold,  Our father Adam sat under the Tree and scratched with a stick in the mold;  And the first rude sketch that the world had seen was joy to his mighty heart,  Till the Devil...