Page:Departmental Ditties and Ballads and Barrack-Room Ballads, Kipling, 1899.djvu/131

Rh So long as down the rocking floor

The raving polka spins,

So long as Kitchen Lancers spur

The maddened violins;

So long as through the whirling smoke

We hear the oft-told tale:—

"Twelve hundred in the Lotteries,"

And Whatshername for sale?

If you love me as I love you

We'll play the game and win it too.

So long as Lust or Lucre tempt

Straight riders from the course,

So long as with each drink we pour

Black brewage of Remorse;

So long as those unloaded guns

We keep beside the bed,

Blow off, by obvious accident,

The lucky owner's head,

If you love me as I love you

What can Life kill or Death undo?

So long as Death 'twixt dance and dance

Chills best and bravest blood