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Rudyard Kipling

Rudyard Kipling

An Old Song

So long as 'neath the Kalka hills
 The tonga-horn shall ring,
So long as down the Solon dip
 The hard-held ponies swing,
So long as Tara Devi sees
 The lights of Simla town,
So long as Pleasure calls us up,
 Or Duty drivese us down,
   If you love me as I love you
   What pair so happy as we two?
 
So long as Aces take the King,
 Or backers take the bet,
So long as debt leads men to wed,
 Or marriage leads to debt,
So long as little luncheons, Love,
 And scandal hold their vogue,
While there is sport at Annandale
 Or whisky at Jutogh,
   If you love me as I love you
   What knife can cut our love in two?
 
So long as down the rocking floor
 The raving polka spins,
So long as Kitchen Lancers spur
 The maddened violins,
So long as through the whirling smoke
 We hear the oft-told tale —
“Twelve hundred in the Lotteries,”
 And Whatshername for sale?
   If you love me as I love you
   We’ll play the game and win it too.
 
So long as Lust or Lucre tempt
 Straight riders from the course,
So long as with each drink we pour
 Black brewage of Remorse,
So long as those unloaded guns
 We keep beside the bed,
Blow off, by obvious accident,
 The lucky owner’s head,
   If you love me as I love you
   What can Life kill of Death undo?
 
So long as Death 'twixt dance and dance
 Chills best and bravest blood,
And drops the reckless rider down
 The rotten, rain-soaked khud,
So long as rumours from the North
 Make loving wives afraid,
So long as Burma takes the boy
 Or typhoid kills the maid,
   If you love me as I love you
   What knife can cut our love in two?
 
By all that lights our daily life
 Or works our lifelong woe,
From Boileaugunge to Simla Downs
 And those grim glades below,
Where, heedless of the flying hoof
 And clamour overhead,
Sleep, with the grey langur for guard
 Our very scornful Dead,
   If you love me as I love you
   All Earth is servant to us two!
 
By Docket, Billetdoux, and File,
 By Mountain, Cliff, and Fir,
By Fan and Sword and Office-box,
 By Corset, Plume, and Spur
By Riot, Revel, Waltz, and War,
 By Women, Work, and Bills,
By all the life that fizzes in
 The everlasting Hills,
   If you love me as I love you
   What pair so happy as we two?

#EnglishWriters

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The Vineyard

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The King's Pilgrimage

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Jubal and Tubal Cain

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