Poems

Poems List

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Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

With Scindia To Delhi

With Scindia To Delhi
More than a hundred years ago, in a great battle fought near Delhi,
an Indian Prince rode fifty miles after the day was lost
with a…

593
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Wilful Missing

Wilful Missing
(Deserters)
There is a world outside the one you know,
To which for curiousness 'Ell can't compare--
It is the place where "wilful…

440
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

What Happened

What Happened
Hurree Chunder Mookerjee, pride of Bow Bazaar,
Owner of a native press, "Barrishter-at-Lar,"
Waited on the Government with a claim to wear …

488
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

When Earth's Last Picture Is Painted

When Earth's Last Picture Is Painted
When Earth's last picture is painted
And the tubes are twisted and dried
When the oldest colors have faded
A…

413
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Untimely

Untimely
Nothing in life has been made by man for man's using
But it was shown long since to man in ages
Lost as the name of the maker of it,
Who…

461
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Ulster

Ulster
("Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they
cover themselves with their works: their works are works
of inquity and the act of viol…

519
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Toomai of the Elephants

Toomai of the Elephants
I will remember what I was. I am sick of rope and chain--
I will remember my old strength and all my forest-affairs.
I will not s…

549
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Two Kopjes

Two Kopjes
(Made Yeomanry towards End of Boer War)
Only two African kopjes,
Only the cart-tracks that wind
Empty and open between 'em,
On…

439
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Tomlinson

Tomlinson
Now Tomlinson gave up the ghost in his house in Berkeley Square,
And a Spirit came to his bedside and gripped him by the hair --
A Spirit gripp…

582
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

To Wolcott Balestier

To Wolcott Balestier
Beyond the path of the outmost sun through utter darkness hurled --
Further than ever comet flared or vagrant star-dust swirled --
L…

447
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

To the Unknown Goddess

To the Unknown Goddess
Will you conquer my heart with your beauty; my sould going out from afar?
Shall I fall to your hand as a victim of crafty and cautions shi…

479
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

To the Companions

To the Companions
How comes it that, at even-tide,
When level beams should show most truth,
Man, failing, takes unfailing pride
In memories of hi…

468
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

To T. A.

To T. A.
I have made for you a song,
And it may be right or wrong,
But only you can tell me if it's true;
I have tried for to explain
Bot…

403
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

To James Whitcomb Riley

To James Whitcomb Riley
Your trail runs to the westward,
And mine to my own place;
There is water between our lodges,
And I have not seen your fa…

523
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Tiger--Tiger!

Tiger--Tiger!
What of the hunting, hunter bold?
Brother, the watch was long and cold.
What of the quarry ye went to kill?
Brother, he crops in…

416
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Three Friends

Three Friends
There were three friends that buried the fourth,
The mould in his mouth and the dust in his eyes,
And they went south and east and north— <…

478
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

The Winners

The Winners
("The Story of the Gadsbys")
What the moral? Who rides may read.
When the night is thick and the tracks are blind
A friend at a pinch…

845
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

The Young British Soldier

The Young British Soldier
When the 'arf-made recruity goes out to the East
'E acts like a babe an' 'e drinks like a beast,
An' 'e wonders because 'e is f…

536
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

The White Seal

The White Seal
Oh! hush thee, my baby, the night is behind us,
And black are the waters that sparkled so green.
The moon, o'er the combers, looks downwar…

718
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

The Widower

The Widower
For a season there must be pain--
For a little, little space
I shall lose the sight of her face,
Take back the old life again

444
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

The Wet Litany

The Wet Litany
When the waters' countenance
Blurs 'twixt glance and second glance;
When our tattered smokes forerun
Ashen 'neath a silvered sun; …

409
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

The Watcher

The Watcher
Put forth to watch, unschooled, alone,
'Twixt hostile earth and sky;
The mottled lizard 'neath the stone
Is wiser here than I.

464
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

The Virginity

The Virginity
Try as he will, no man breaks wholly loose
From his first love, no matter who she be.
Oh, was there ever sailor free to choose,
Tha…

456
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

The Veterans

The Veterans
To-day, across our fathers' graves,
The astonished years reveal
The remnant of that desperate host
Which cleansed our East with stee…

378