Page:Departmental Ditties and Ballads and Barrack-Room Ballads, Kipling, 1899.djvu/75

This page has been validated.

THE LOVERS' LITANY

Eyes of gray—the sodden quay,
Driving rain and falling tears,
As the steamer heads to sea
In a parting storm of cheers.
Sing, for Faith and Hope are high.
None so true as you and I—
Sing the Lovers' Litany:—
"Love like ours can never die!"


Eyes of black—the throbbing keel
Milky foam to left and right;
Little whispers near the wheel
In the brilliant tropic night.
Cross that rules the Southern Sky,
Stars that sweep, and wheel, and fly,
Hear the Lovers' Litany:—
"Love like ours can never die!"


Eyes of brown—the dusty plain

Split and parched with heat of June.

61