Poems

Poems List

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Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

In Springtime

In Springtime
My garden blazes brightly with the rose-bush and the peach,
And the koil sings above it, in the siris by the well,
From the creeper-covered tre…

469
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

In the Matter of One Compass

In the Matter of One Compass
When, foot to wheel and back to wind,
The helmsman dare not look behind,
But hears beyond his compass-light,
The blind bow t…

451
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

If

If
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allow…

680
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

If -

If -
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make all…

536
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Hymn to Physical Pain

Hymn to Physical Pain
Dread Mother of Forgetfulness
Who, when Thy reign begins,
Wipest away the Soul's distress,
And memory of her sins.
The trusty…

453
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Hunting Song of the Seeonee Pack

Hunting Song of the Seeonee Pack
As the dawn was breaking the Sambhur belled
Once, twice, and again!
And a doe leaped up -- and a doe leaped up
From the …

509
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

How the Camel Got His Hump

How the Camel Got His Hump
The Camel's hump is an ugly lump
Which well you may see at the Zoo;
But uglier yet is the hump we get
From having too little t…

498
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

How the Rhinoceros got His Skin

How the Rhinoceros got His Skin
This Uninhabited Island
Is near Cape Gardafui;
But it's hot--too hot--of Suez
For the likes of you and me
Ever to g…

525
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

How Fear Came

How Fear Came
The stream is shrunk--the pool is dry,
And we be comrades, thou and I;
With fevered jowl and dusty flank
Each jostling each along the bank;…

466
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Heriot's Ford

Heriot's Ford
"What's that that hirples at my side?"
The foe that you must fight, my lord.
"That rides as fast as I can ride?"
The shadow of your migh…

460
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Hadramauti

Hadramauti
Who knows the heart of the Christian? How does he reason?
What are his measures and balances? Which is his season
For laughter, forbearance or blood…

451
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Harp Song of the Dane Women

Harp Song of the Dane Women
What is a woman that you forsake her,
And the hearth-fire and the home-acre.
To go with the old grey Widow-maker?
She has no …

479
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Gods of the East

Gods of the East
Because I sought it far from men,
In deserts and alone,
I found it burning overhead,
The jewel of a Throne.
Because I sought--I so…

469
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Gunga Din

Gunga Din
You may talk o' gin and beer
When you're quartered safe out 'ere,
An' you're sent to penny-fights an' Aldershot it;
But when it comes to slaugh…

737
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Gertrude's Prayer

Gertrude's Prayer
That which is marred at birth Time shall not mend,
Nor water out of bitter well make clean;
All evil thing returneth at the end,
Or els…

443
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Giffen's Debt

Giffen's Debt
Imprimis he was "broke." Thereafter left
His Regiment and, later, took to drink;
Then, having lost the balance of his friends,
"Went Fantee…

509
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Gentleman-rankers

Gentleman-rankers
To the legion of the lost ones, to the cohort of the damned,
To my brethren in their sorrow overseas,
Sings a gentleman of England cleanly br…

471
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Gehazi

Gehazi

Whence comest thou, Gehazi,
So reverend to behold,
In scarlet and in ermines
And chain of England's gold?"
"From following after Na…

475
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Four-Feet

Four-Feet
I have done mostly what most men do,
And pushed it out of my mind;
But I can't forget, if I wanted to,
Four-Feet trotting behind.
Day aft…

491
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Fuzzy-Wuzzy

Fuzzy-Wuzzy
(Soudan Expeditionary Force)
We've fought with many men acrost the seas,
An' some of 'em was brave an' some was not:
The Paythan an' the Zu…

527
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

For To Admire

For To Admire
The Injian Ocean sets an' smiles
So sof', so bright, so bloomin' blue;
There aren't a wave for miles an' miles
Excep' the jiggle from the s…

414
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Follow Me 'Ome

Follow Me 'Ome
There was no one like 'im, 'Orse or Foot,
Nor any o' the Guns I knew;
An' because it was so, why, o' course 'e went an' died,
Which is jus…

400
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

False Dawn

False Dawn
To-night, God knows what thing shall tide,
The Earth is racked and fain--
Expectant, sleepless, open-eyed;
And we, who from the Earth were mad…

417
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Farewell and adieu....

Farewell and adieu....
Farewell and adieu to you, Harwich Ladies,
Farewell and adieu to you, ladies ashore!
For we've received orders to work to the eastward <…

488