Poems

Poems List

Explore poems from our collection

Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Song of the Fifth River

Song of the Fifth River
Where first by Eden Tree
The Four Great Rivers ran,
To each was appointed a Man
Her Prince and Ruler to be.
But a…

559
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Tarrant Moss

Tarrant Moss
I closed and drew for my love's sake
That now is false to me,
And I slew the Reiver of Tarrant Moss
And set Dumeny free.
The…

480
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Snarleyow

Snarleyow
This 'appened in a battle to a batt'ry of the corps
Which is first among the women an' amazin' first in war;
An' what the bloomin' battle was I…

466
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Soldier, Soldier

Soldier, Soldier
"Soldier, soldier come from the wars,
Why don't you march with my true love?"
"We're fresh from off the ship an' 'e's maybe give the sli…

463
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Sestina Of The Tramp-Royal

Sestina Of The Tramp-Royal
Speakin' in general, I 'ave tried 'em all,
The 'appy roads that take you o'er the world.
Speakin' in general, I 'ave found the…

567
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Shillin' A Day

Shillin' A Day
My name is O'Kelly, I've heard the Revelly
From Birr to Bareilly, from Leeds to Lahore,
Hong-Kong and Peshawur,
Lucknow and Etawah…

475
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Screw-Guns

Screw-Guns
Smokin' my pipe on the mountings, sniffin' the mornin' cool,
I walks in my old brown gaiters along o' my old brown mule,
With seventy gunners …

635
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Sea-Wife

Sea-Wife
There dwells a wife by the Northern Gate,
And a wealthy wife is she;
She breeds a breed o' rovin' men
And casts them over sea.
A…

477
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Russia to the Pacifists

Russia to the Pacifists

God rest you, peaceful gentlemen, let nothing you dismay,
But--leave your sports a little while--the dead are borne
th…

460
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Romulus and Remus

Romulus and Remus
Canadian
Oh, little did the Wolf-Child care--
When first he planned his home,
What City should arise and bear
The wei…

465
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Rimmon

Rimmon
-- After Boer War
Duly with knees that feign to quake--
Bent head and shaded brow,--
Yet once again, for my father's sake,
In R…

476
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Rikki-Tikki-Tavi

Rikki-Tikki-Tavi
At the hole where he went in
Red-Eye called to Wrinkle-Skin.
Hear what little Red-Eye saith:
"Nag, come up and dance with death!…

384
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Red Dog

Red Dog
For our white and our excellent nights--for the nights of swift
running,
Fair ranging, far seeing, good hunting, sure cunning!
For the sm…

403
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Recessional

Recessional
June ,
God of our fathers, known of old—
Lord of our far-flung battle-line—
Beneath whose awful Hand we hold
Dominion ove…

598
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Public Waste

Public Waste
Walpole talks of "a man and his price."
List to a ditty queer --
The sale of a Deputy-Acting-Vice-
Resident-Engineer,
Bough…

430
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Quiquern

Quiquern
The People of the Eastern Ice, they are melting like the snow--
They beg for coffee and sugar; they go where the white men go.
The People of the…

617
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Prelude

Prelude
I have eaten your bread and salt.
I have drunk your water and wine.
In deaths ye died I have watched beside,
And the lives ye led were mi…

510
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Poseidon's Law

Poseidon's Law
When the robust and Brass-bound Man commissioned first for sea
His fragile raft, Poseidon laughed, and "Mariner," said he,
"Behold, a Law …

464
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Philadelphia

Philadelphia
If you're off to Philadelphia in the morning,
You mustn't take my stories for a guide.
There's little left, indeed, of the city you will rea…

498
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Pink Dominoes

Pink Dominoes
"They are fools who kiss and tell" --
Wisely has the poet sung.
Man may hold all sorts of posts
If he'll only hold his tongue.

495
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Outsong in the Jungle

Outsong in the Jungle
Baloo
For the sake of him who showed
One wise Frog the Jungle-Road,
Keep the Law the Man-Pack make
For thy blind …

433
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Parade-Song of the Camp-Animals

Parade-Song of the Camp-Animals
Elephants of the Gun-Teams
We lent to Alexander the strength of Hercules,
The wisdom of our foreheads, the cunning of o…

438
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Our Fathers Also

Our Fathers Also
Thrones, Powers, Dominions, Peoples, Kings,
Are changing 'neath our hand.
Our fathers also see these things
But they do not unde…

469
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

One Viceroy Resigns

One Viceroy Resigns
(Lord Dufferin to Lord Lansdowne)
So here's your Empire. No more wine, then?
Good.
We'll clear the Aides and khitmatgars aw…

537