Works

My father's father saw it not,
And I, belike, shall never come
To look on that so-holy spot,
That very Rome,

Crowned by all Time, all Art, all Might,
The equal work of Gods and Man,...

Now this is the tale of the Council the German Kaiser decreed,
To ease the strong of their burden, to help the weak in their need,
He sent a word to the peoples, who struggle, and pant, and sweat,...

What boots it on the Gods to call?
Since, answered or unheard,
We perish with the Gods and all
Things made except the Word.

Ere certain Fate had touched a heart
By fifty years made cold,...

The, Gods that are wiser than Learning
But kinder than Life have made sure
No mortal may boast in the morning
That even will find him secure.
With naught for fresh faith or new trial,...

Once red ripple came to land
In the golden sunset burning,
Lapped against a maiden's hand,
By the ford returning.

Dainty foot and gentle breast,
Here, across, be glad and rest....

Three things make earth unquiet
And four she cannot brook
The godly Agur counted them
And put them in a book,
Those Four Tremendous Curses
With which mankind is cursed;...

Now praise the Gods of Time and Chance
That bring a heart's desire,
And lay the joyous roads of France
Once more beneath the tyre,
So numbered by Napoleon,
The veriest ass can spy...

When 'Omer smote 'is bloomin' lyre,
He'd 'eard men sing by land an' sea;
An' what he thought 'e might require,
'E went an' took, the same as me!

The market-girls an' fishermen,...

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.

Half the world I wandered through,
Seeking where such flowers grew....

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 me back to school.

Low down-low down!...

Beyond the path of the outmost sun through utter darkness hurled,
Farther than ever comet flared or vagrant star-dust swirled,
Live such as fought and- sailed and ruled and loved and made our world.
...

Kabul town's by Kabul river,
Blow the trumpet, draw the sword,
There I lef' my mate for ever,
Wet an' drippin' by the ford.
Ford, ford, ford o' Kabul river,
Ford o' Kabul river in the dark!...

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 bred, machinely crammed,
And a trooper of the Empress, if you please....

Aa'or - Cahors?
Aggy Chell - get ahead
abby-nay - Not now
arder - And a half
aasvogel - Vulture
babul - Acacia
bairagi - Wandering holy man
band karo - locked up
Bandar - Monkey...

This Uninhabited Island
Is near Cape Gardafui;
But it's hot, too hot, of Suez
For the likes of you and me
Ever to go in a P. & O.
To call on the Cake Parsee.

He passed in the very battle-smoke
Of the war that he had descried.
Three hundred mile of cannon spoke
When the Master-Gunner died.

He passed to the very sound of the guns;...

I go to concert, party, ball,
What profit is in these?
I sit alone against the wall
And strive to look at ease.
The incense that is mine by right
They burn before her shrine;...

So long as memory, valour, and faith endure,
Let these stones witness, through the years to come,
How once there was a people fenced secure
Behind great waters girdling a far home.
...

So here's your Empire. No more wine, then?
Good.
We'll clear the Aides and khitmatgars away.
(You'll know that fat old fellow with the knife
He keeps the Name Book, talks in English too,...

Rahere, King Henry's jester, feared by all the Norman Lords
For his eye that pierced their bosoms, for his tongue that shamed their swords;
Feed and flattered by the Churchmen, well they knew how deep he stood...