Poems

Poems List

Explore poems from our collection

Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

The Rout of the White Hussars

The Rout of the White Hussars
It was not in the open fight
We threw away the sword,
But in the lonely watching
In the darkness by the ford.
The wat…

446
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

The Run of the Downs

The Run of the Downs
The Weald is good, the Downs are best---
I'll give you the run of 'em, East to West.
Beachy Head and Winddoor Hill,
They were once…

391
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

The Rhyme Of The Three Captains

The Rhyme Of The Three Captains
. . . At the close of a winter day,
Their anchors down, by London town, the Three Great Captains lay;
And one was Admiral of th…

432
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

The River's Tale

The River's Tale
Prehistoric
Twenty bridges from Tower to Kew--
(Twenty bridges or twenty-two)--
Wanted to know what the River knew,
For they we…

521
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

The Reeds of Runnymede

The Reeds of Runnymede
Magna Charta, June ,
At Runnymede, At Runnymede,
What say the reeds at Runnymede?
The lissom reeds that give and take,
Th…

529
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

The Return

The Return
Peace is declared, and I return
To 'Ackneystadt, but not the same;
Things 'ave transpired which made me learn
The size and meanin' of the game…

461
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

The Rabbi's Song

The Rabbi's Song
Samuel XIV. .
If Thought can reach to Heaven,
On Heaven let it dwell,
For fear the Thought be given
Like power to reach to Hell…

416
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

The Queen's Men

The Queen's Men
Valour and Innocence
Have latterly gone hence
To certain death by certain shame attended.
Envy--ah! even to tears! --
The fortune o…

499
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

The Puzzler

The Puzzler
The Celt in all his variants from Builth to Ballyhoo,
His mental processes are plain--one knows what he will do,
And can logically predicate his fi…

442
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

The Prodigal Son

The Prodigal Son
Here come I to my own again,
Fed, forgiven and known again,
Claimed by bone of my bone again
And cheered by flesh of my flesh.
The…

509
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

The Press

The Press
The Soldier may forget his Sword,
The Sailorman the Sea,
The Mason may forget the Word
And the Priest his Litany:
The Maid may forget bot…

469
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

The Prayer

The Prayer
My brother kneels, so saith Kabir,
To stone and brass in heathen wise,
But in my brother's voice I hear
My own unanswered agonies.
His G…

475
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

The Portent

The Portent
Horace, BK. V. Ode .
Oh, late withdrawn from human-kind
And following dreams we never knew!
Varus, what dream has Fate assigned
To tr…

464
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

The Power of the Dog

The Power of the Dog
There is sorrow enough in the natural way
From men and women to fill our day;
And when we are certain of sorrow in store,
Why do we …

743
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

The Playmate

The Playmate
She is not Folly -- that I know.
Her steadfast eyelids tell me so
When, at the hour the lights divide,
She steals as summonsed to my side. <…

450
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

The Penalty

The Penalty
Once in life I watched a Star;
But I whistled, "Let her go!
There are others, fairer far,
Which my favouring skies shall show
Here I li…

458
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

The Outlaws

The Outlaws

Through learned and laborious years
They set themselves to find
Fresh terrors and undreamed-of fears
To heap upon mankind.
ALl…

425
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

The Palace

The Palace

When I was a King and a Mason -- a Master proven and skilled --
I cleared me ground for a Palace such as a King should build.
I decreed and…

609
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

The Only Son

The Only Son
She dropped the bar, she shot the bolt, she fed the fire anew
For she heard a whimper under the sill and a great grey paw came through.
The fresh …

459
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

The Old Issue

The Old Issue
October , -- Outbreak of Boer War
Here is nothing new nor aught unproven," say the Trumpets,
"Many feet have worn it and the road is old indee…

488
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

The Necessitarian

The Necessitarian
I know not in Whose hands are laid
To empty upon earth
From unsuspected ambuscade
The very Urns of Mirth;
Who bids the Heavenly L…

479
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

The North Sea Patrol

The North Sea Patrol
- -- Sea Warfare
Where the East wind is brewed fresh and fresh every morning,
And the balmy night-breezes blow straight from the Pole, <…

547
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

The Native-Born

The Native-Born
We've drunk to the Queen -- God bless her! --
We've drunk to our mothers' land;
We've drunk to our English brother
(But he does not under…

513
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

The Mother's Son

The Mother's Son
I have a dream -- a dreadful dream --
A dream that is never done.
I watch a man go out of his mind,
And he is My Mother's Son.
The…

487