Verses 1889-1896 - Rudyard Kipling

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When shakin’ their bustles like ladies so fine,

        The guns o’ the enemy wheel into line,

        Shoot low at the limbers an’ don’t mind the shine,

           For noise never startles the soldier.

              Start-, start-, startles the soldier.

        If your officer’s dead and the sergeants look white,

        Remember it’s ruin to run from a fight:

        So take open order, lie down, and sit tight,

           And wait for supports like a soldier.

              Wait, wait, wait like a soldier.

        When you’re wounded and left on Afghanistan’s plains,

        And the women come out to cut up what remains,

        Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains

           An’ go to your Gawd like a soldier.

              Go, go, go like a soldier,

              Go, go, go like a soldier,

              Go, go, go like a soldier,

                 So-oldier of the Queen!

      MANDALAY

        By the old Moulmein Pagoda, lookin’ eastward to the sea,

        There’s a Burma girl a-settin’, and I know she thinks o’ me;

        For the wind is in the palm-trees, and the temple-bells they say:

        “Come you back, you British soldier; come you back to Mandalay!”

             Come you back to Mandalay,

            Where the old Flotilla lay:

            Can’t you ‘ear their paddles chunkin’ from Rangoon to Mandalay?

            On the road to Mandalay,

            Where the flyin’-fishes play,

            An’ the dawn comes up like thunder outer China ‘crost the Bay!

        ‘Er petticoat was yaller an’ ‘er little cap was green,

        An’ ‘er name was Supi-yaw-lat – jes’ the same as Theebaw’s Queen,

        An’ I seed her first a-smokin’ of a whackin’ white cheroot,

        An’ a-wastin’ Christian kisses on an ‘eathen idol’s foot:

            Bloomin’ idol made o’mud —

            Wot they called the Great Gawd Budd —

            Plucky lot she cared for idols when I kissed ‘er where she stud!

            On the road to Mandalay.

        When the mist was on the rice-fields an’ the sun was droppin’ slow,

        She’d git ‘er little banjo an’ she’d sing “Kulla-lo-lo!”

         With ‘er arm upon my shoulder an’ ‘er cheek agin’ my cheek

        We useter watch the steamers an’ the hathis pilin’ teak.

            Elephints a-pilin’ teak

            In the sludgy, squdgy creek,

            Where the silence ‘ung that ‘eavy you was ‘arf afraid to speak!

            On the road to Mandalay.

        But that’s all shove be’ind me – long ago an’ fur away,

        An’ there ain’t no ‘busses runnin’ from the Bank to Mandalay;

        An’ I’m learnin’ ‘ere in London what the ten-year soldier tells:

        “If you’ve ‘eard the East a-callin’, you won’t never ‘eed naught else.”

             No! you won’t ‘eed nothin’ else

            But them spicy garlic smells,

            An’ the sunshine an’ the palm-trees an’ the tinkly temple-bells;

            On the road to Mandalay.

        I am sick o’ wastin’ leather on these gritty pavin’-stones,

        An’ the blasted Henglish drizzle wakes the fever in my bones;

        Tho’ I walks with fifty ‘ousemaids outer Chelsea to the Strand,

        An’ they talks a lot o’ lovin’, but wot do they understand?

            Beefy face an’ grubby ‘and —

            Law! wot do they understand?

            I’ve a neater, sweeter maiden in a cleaner, greener land!

            On the road to Mandalay.

        Ship me somewheres east of Suez, where the best is like the worst,

        Where there aren’t no Ten Commandments an’ a man can raise a thirst;

        For the temple-bells are callin’, an’ it’s there that I would be —

        By the old Moulmein Pagoda, looking lazy at the sea;

            On the road to Mandalay,

            Where the old Flotilla lay,

            With our sick beneath the awnings when we went to Mandalay!

            On the road to Mandalay,

            Where the flyin’-fishes play,

            An’ the dawn comes up like thunder outer China ‘crost the Bay!

      TROOPIN’

      (Our Army in the East)

        Troopin’, troopin’, troopin’ to the sea:

        ‘Ere’s September come again – the six-year men are free.

        O leave the dead be’ind us, for they cannot come away

        To where the ship’s a-coalin’ up that takes us ‘ome to-day.

           We’re goin’ ‘ome, we’re goin’ ‘ome,

            Our ship is at the shore,

           An’ you must pack your ‘aversack,

            For we won’t come back no more.

           Ho, don’t you grieve for me,

            My lovely Mary-Ann,

           For I’ll marry you yit on a fourp’ny bit

            As a time-expired man.

        The Malabar’s in ‘arbour with the Jumner at ‘er tail,

        An’ the time-expired’s waitin’ of ‘is orders for to sail.

        Ho! the weary waitin’ when on Khyber ‘ills we lay,

        But the time-expired’s waitin’ of ‘is orders ‘ome to-day.

        They’ll turn us out at Portsmouth wharf in cold an’ wet an’ rain,

        All wearin’ Injian cotton kit, but we will not complain;

        They’ll kill us of pneumonia – for that’s their little way —

        But damn the chills and fever, men, we’re goin’ ‘ome to-day!

       

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