Page:Departmental Ditties and Ballads and Barrack-Room Ballads, Kipling, 1899.djvu/76

62 Flying hoof and tightened rein,

Hearts that beat the old, old tune.

Side by side the horses fly,

Frame we now the old reply

Of the Lovers' Litany:—

"Love like ours can never die!"

Eyes of blue—the Simla Hills

Silvered with the moonlight hoar;

Pleading of the waltz that thrills,

Dies and echoes round Benmore.

"Mabel," "Officers," "Good-bye,"

Glamour, wine, and witchery—

On my soul's sincerity,

"Love like ours can never die!"

Maidens, of your charity,

Pity my most luckless state.

Four times Cupid's debtor I—

Bankrupt in quadruplicate.

Yet, despite this evil case,

And a maiden showed me grace,

Four-and-forty times would I

Sing the Lovers' Litany:—

"Love like ours can never die!"