Page:Departmental Ditties and Ballads and Barrack-Room Ballads, Kipling, 1899.djvu/75

 THE LOVERS' LITANY

of gray—the sodden quay,

Driving rain and falling tears,

As the steamer heads to sea

In a parting storm of cheers.

Sing, for Faith and Hope are high.

None so true as you and I—

Sing the Lovers' Litany:—

"Love like ours can never die!"

Eyes of black—the throbbing keel

Milky foam to left and right;

Little whispers near the wheel

In the brilliant tropic night.

Cross that rules the Southern Sky,

Stars that sweep, and wheel, and fly,

Hear the Lovers' Litany:—

"Love like ours can never die!"

Eyes of brown—the dusty plain

Split and parched with heat of June. 61