Poems

Poems List

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Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

The Jacket

The Jacket
Through the Plagues of Egyp' we was chasin' Arabi,
Gettin' down an' shovin' in the sun;
An' you might 'ave called us dirty, an' you might ha' called…

500
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

The Inventor

The Inventor
R. W. Emerson
Time and Space decreed his lot,
But little Man was quick to note:
When Time and Space said Man might not,
Bravely he a…

450
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

The Idiot Boy

The Idiot Boy
Wordsworth
He wandered down the moutain grade
Beyond the speed assigned--
A youth whom Justice often stayed
And generally fined.

389
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

The Hyaenas

The Hyaenas
After the burial-parties leave
And the baffled kites have fled;
The wise hyaenas come out at eve
To take account of our dead.
How he di…

379
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

The Heritage

The Heritage
Our Fathers in a wondrous age,
Ere yet the Earth was small,
Ensured to us a heritage,
And doubted not at all
That we the children of t…

435
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

The Hour of the Angel

The Hour of the Angel
Sooner or late--in earnest or in jest--
(But the stakes are no jest) Ithuriel's Hour
Will spring on us, for the first time, the test

431
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

The Gods Of The Copybook Headings

The Gods Of The Copybook Headings
As I pass through my incarnations in every age and race,
I make my proper protestations to the Gods of the Market-Place.
Peer…

541
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

The Greek National Anthem

The Greek National Anthem
We knew thee of old,
Oh divinely restored,
By the light of thine eyes
And the light of thy Sword.
From the graves of our …

437
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

The French Wars

The French Wars
Napoleonic
The boats of Newhaven and Folkestone and Dover
To Dieppe and Boulogne and to Calais cross over;
And in each of those runs th…

497
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

The Gift Of The Sea

The Gift Of The Sea
The dead child lay in the shroud,
And the widow watched beside;
And her mother slept, and the Channel swept
The gale in the teeth of …

428
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

The Floods

The Floods
The rain it rains without a stay
In the hills above us, in the hills;
And presently the floods break way
Whose strength is in the hills.

646
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

The Four Angels

The Four Angels
As Adam lay a-dreaming beneath the Apple Tree
The Angel of the Earth came down, and offered Earth in fee;
But Adam did not need it,
Nor t…

495
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

The First Chantey

The First Chantey
Mine was the woman to me, darkling I found her;
Haling her dumb from the camp, took her and bound her.
Hot rose her tribe on our track ere I …

425
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

The Female of the Species

The Female of the Species
When the Himalayan peasant meets the he-bear in his pride,
He shouts to scare the monster who will often turn aside.
But the she-bear…

644
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

The Fall of Jock Gillespie

The Fall of Jock Gillespie
This fell when dinner-time was done --
'Twixt the first an' the second rub --
That oor mon Jock cam' hame again
To his rooms a…

488
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

The Fabulists

The Fabulists
-
When all the world would keep a matter hid,
Since Truth is seldom Friend to any crowd,
Men write in Fable, as old AEsop did,
Jest…

538
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

The Explanation

The Explanation
Love and Death once ceased their strife
At the Tavern of Man's Life.
Called for wine, and threw -- alas! --
Each his quiver on the grass.…

404
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

The English Flag

The English Flag
Above the portico a flag-staff, bearing the Union Jack,
remained fluttering in the flames for some time, but ultimately
when it fell the crowd…

680
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

The 'Eathen

The 'Eathen
The 'eathen in 'is blindness bows down to wood an' stone;
'E don't obey no orders unless they is 'is own;
'E keeps 'is side-arms awful: 'e leaves '…

604
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

The Dutch in the Medway

The Dutch in the Medway
If wars were won by feasting,
Or victory by song,
Or safety found in sleeping sound,
How England would be strong!
But honou…

480
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

The Disciple

The Disciple
He that hath a Gospel
To loose upon Mankind,
Though he serve it utterly--
Body, soul and mind--
Though he go to Calvary
Daily fo…

491
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

The Derelict

The Derelict
~And reports the derelict ~Mary Pollock~ still at sea.~
SHIPPING NEWS.
I was the staunchest of our fleet
Till the sea rose beneath our feet …

517
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

The Dead King

The Dead King
EDWARD VII.
Who in the Realm to-day lays down dear life for the sake of a land more dear?
And, unconcerned for his own estate, toils till th…

487
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

The Decline of the West

The Decline of the West
Now it is not good for the Christian's health to hustle the Aryan
brown,
For the Christian riles, and the Aryan smiles, and he weareth …

661