Poems

Poems List

Explore poems from our collection

Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Divided Destinies

Divided Destinies
It was an artless Bandar, and he danced upon a pine,
And much I wondered how he lived, and where the beast might dine,
And many, many…

383
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Eddi's Service

Eddi's Service
(A.D. )
Eddi, priest of St. Wilfrid
In his chapel at Manhood End,
Ordered a midnight service
For such as cared to attend…

479
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Delilah

Delilah
We have another viceroy now, -- those days are dead and done
Of Delilah Aberyswith and depraved Ulysses Gunne.
Delilah Aberyswith was a lady …

480
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Death of a Believer

Death of a Believer
Yet at the last, ere our spearmen had found him,
Yet at the last, ere a sword-thrust could save,
Yet at the last, with his masters ar…

442
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Darzee's Chaunt

Darzee's Chaunt
Singer and tailor am I--
Doubled the joys that I know--
Proud of my lilt to the sky,
Proud of the house that I sew--
Over…

499
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Dane-Geld

Dane-Geld
A.D. -
It is always a temptation to an armed and agile nation
To call upon a neighbour and to say:--
"We invaded you last night--we a…

494
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Cuckoo Song

Cuckoo Song
(Spring begins in southern England on the th April, on which date the Old
Woman lets the Cuckoo out of her basket at Heathfield Fair -- locally know…

488
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Covenant

Covenant

We thought we ranked above the chance of ill.
Others might fall, not we, for we were wise--
Merchants in freedom. So, of our free-wil…

409
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Christmas in India

Christmas in India
Dim dawn behind the tamerisks -- the sky is saffron-yellow --
As the women in the village grind the corn,
And the parrots seek the riv…

503
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Cleared

Cleared
(In Memory of a Commission)
Help for a patriot distressed, a spotless spirit hurt,
Help for an honourable clan sore trampled in the dirt!

483
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Chant-Pagan

Chant-Pagan
ENGLISH IRREGULAR, DISCHARGED
Me that 'ave been what I've been --
Me that 'ave gone where I've gone --
Me that 'ave seen what I've …

511
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Cells

Cells
I've a head like a concertina: I've a tongue like a button-stick:
I've a mouth like an old potato, and I'm more than a little sick,
But I've had my…

483
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

By the Hoof of the Wild Goat

By the Hoof of the Wild Goat
By the Hoof of the Wild Goat uptossed
From the cliff where she lay in the Sun
Fell the Stone
To the Tarn where the d…

504
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Cain and Abel

Cain and Abel
Western Version
Cain and Abel were brothers born.
(Koop-la! Come along, cows!)
One raised cattle and one raised corn.

566
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Buddha at Kamakura

Buddha at Kamakura
Oye who treated the Narrow Way
By Tophet-flare to Judgment Day,
Be gentle when "the heathen" pray
To Buddha at Kamakura!

492
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Brookland Road

Brookland Road
I was very well pleased with what I knowed,
I reckoned myself no fool --
Till I met with a maid on the Brookland Road,
That turned…

471
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Boots

Boots
INFANTRY COLUMNS
We're foot--slog--slog--slog--sloggin' over Africa --
Foot--foot--foot--foot--sloggin' over Africa --
(Boots--boots--boots…

1,146
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Blue Roses

Blue Roses
Roses red and roses white
Plucked I for my love's delight.
She would none of all my posies--
Bade me gather her blue roses.
Ha…

462
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Belts

Belts
There was a row in Silver Street that's near to Dublin Quay,
Between an Irish regiment an' English cavalree;
It started at Revelly an' it lasted on…

426
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Bill 'Awkins

Bill 'Awkins
"'As anybody seen Bill 'Awkins?"
"Now 'ow in the devil would I know?"
"'E's taken my girl out walkin',
An' I've got to tell 'im so -…

413
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Banquet Night

Banquet Night
"ONCE in so often," King Solomon said,
Watching his quarrymen drill the stone,
"We will curb our garlic and wine and bread
And banq…

551
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Beast and Man in India

Beast and Man in India
They killed a Child to please the Gods
In Earth's young penitence,
And I have bled in that Babe's stead
Because of innocen…

562
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Back to the Army Again

Back to the Army Again
I'm 'ere in a ticky ulster an' a broken billycock 'at,
A-layin' on the sergeant I don't know a gun from a bat;
My shirt's doin' du…

450
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

At His Execution

At His Execution
I am made all things to all men--
Hebrew, Roman, and Greek--
In each one's tongue I speak,
Suiting to each my word,
That…

476