Page:Rudyard Kipling's verse - Inclusive Edition 1885-1918.djvu/135

Rh THE SPIES' MARCH

1913

HERE are no leaders to lead us to honour, and yet without leaders we sally,

Each man reporting for duty alone, out of sight, out of reach, of his fellow.

There are no bugles to call the battalions, and yet without bugle we rally

From the ends of the earth to the ends of the earth, to follow the Standard of Yellow!

''Fall in! O fall in! O fall in!''

Not where the squadrons mass,

Not where the bayonets shine,

Not where the big shell shout as they pass

Over the firing-line;

Not where the wounded are,

Not where the nations die,

Killed in the cleanly game of war—

That is no place for a spy!

O Princes, Thrones and Powers, your work is less than ours—

Here is no place for a spy!

Trained to another use,

We march with colours furled,

Only concerned when Death breaks loose

On a front of half a world.