Stayed amid lonely islets, mazed amid outer keys, I waked the palms to laughter-I tossed the scud in the breeze

Never was isle so little, never was sea so lone,

But over the scud and the palm-trees an English flag was flown.

"I have wrenched it free from the halliard to hang for a wisp on the Horn;

I have chased it north to the Lizard-ribboned and rolled and torn ;

I have spread its fold o'er the dying, adrift in a hopeless sea;

I have hurled it swift on the slaver, and seen the slave set free,

"My basking sunfish know it, and wheeling albatross, Where the lone wave fills with fire beneath the

Southern Cross.

What is the Flag of England? Ye have but my reefs to dare,

Ye have but my seas to furrow. Go forth, for it is there!"

The East Wind roared : "From the Kuriles, the

Bitter Seas, I come,

And me men call the Home-Wind, for I bring the English home.

Look-look well to your shipping! By the breath of my mad typhoon

I swept your close-packed Praya and beached your best at Kowloon !

The English Flag

"The reeling junks behind me and the racing seas

I set my hand on the Hoogli; as a hooded snake she rose, And I flung your stoutest steamers to roost with the startled crows.

"Never the Lotos closes, never the wild fowl wake, But a soul goes out on the East Wind that died for England's sake

Man or woman or suckling, mother or bride or maid Because on the bones of the English the English Flag is stayed.

"The desert-dust hath dimmed it, the flying wild-ass knows

The scared white leopard winds it across the taintless

snows.

What is the Flag of England? Ye have but my sun

to dare,

Ye have but my sands to travel. Go forth, for it is there!"

The West Wind called: "In squadrons the thoughtless galleons fly

That bear the wheat and cattle lest street-bred people

die.

They make my might their porter, they make my house their path,

Till I loose my neck from their rudder and whelm them all in my wrath.

"I draw the gliding fog-bank as a snake is drawn from the hole;

They bellow one to the other, the frighted shipbells

toll,

For day is a drifting terror till I raise the shroud with my breath,

And they see strange bows above them and the two go locked to death.

"But whether in calm or wrack-wreath, whether by dark or day,

I heave them whole to the conger or rip their plates

away,

First of the scattered legions, under a shrieking sky, Dipping between the rollers, the English Flag goes by.

'The dead dumb fog hath wrapped it—the frozen dews have kissed

The naked stars have seen it, a fellow-star in the mist. What is the Flag of England? Ye have but my breath to dare,

Ye have but my waves to conquer. Go forth, for it is

there!"

QUEBEC

From my gray scarp I view with scornful eyes
Ignoble broil of freedom most unfree,

Fear nothing, Mother; where the carrion lies
That Unclean Bird must be.

This stanza is omitted from the American editions of Mr. Kipling's verses, in "The Song of the Cities," and Quebec and Montreal given the latter's lines.

193

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 just what the best men do.

So it's knock out your pipes an' follow me!
An' it's finish up your swipes an' follow me !
Oh, 'ark to the big drum callin',
Follow me -follow me 'ome!

'Is mare she neighs the 'ole day long,
She paws the 'ole night through,

An' she won't take 'er feed 'cause 'o waitin' for 'is step,
Which is just what a beast would do.

'Is girl she goes with a bombardier

Before 'er month is through;

An' the banns are up in church, for she's got the beggar hooked,

Which is just what a girl would do.

We fought about a dog — last week it were
No more than a round or two;

But I strook 'im cruel 'ard an' I wish I 'ad n't now.
Which is just what a man can't do.