Page:Rudyard Kipling's verse - Inclusive Edition 1885-1918.djvu/84

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RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE

Then a silence came to the river,
A hush fell over the shore,
And the Bohs that were brave departed,
And Sniders squibbed no more;
For the Burmans said
That a white man's head
Must be paid for with heads five-score.


There's a widow in sleepy Chester
Who weeps for her only son;
There's a grave on the Pabeng River,
A grave that the Burmans shun,
And there's Subadar Prag Tewarri
Who tells how the work was done.



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 drives 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,