Page:Departmental Ditties and Ballads and Barrack-Room Ballads, Kipling, 1899.djvu/298

114 "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 reeling junks behind me and the racing seas before,

"I raped your richest roadstead—I plundered Singapore!

"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.