Page:Departmental Ditties and Ballads and Barrack-Room Ballads, Kipling, 1899.djvu/64

 THE RUPAIYAT OF OMAR KAL'VIN

[Allowing for the difference 'twixt prose and rhymed exaggeration, this ought to reproduce the sense of what Sir A —— told the nation some time ago, when the Government struck from our incomes two per cent.]

the New Year, reviving last Year's Debt,

The thoughtful Fisher casteth wide his Net;

So I with begging Dish and ready Tongue

Assail all Men for all that I can get.

Imports indeed are gone with all their Dues—

Lo! Salt a Lever that I dare not use,

Nor may I ask the Tillers in Bengal—

Surely my Kith and Kin will not refuse

Pay—and I promise by the Dust of Spring,

Retrenchment. If my promises can bring

Comfort, Ye have them now a thousand-fold—

By Allah! I will promise Anything!

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