Page:Rudyard Kipling's verse - Inclusive Edition 1885-1918.djvu/136

118 Only for General Death

The Yellow Flag may fly,

While we take post beneath—

That is the place for a spy.

Where Plague has spread his pinions over Nations and Dominions—

Then will be work for a spy!

The dropping shots begin,

The single funerals pass,

Our skirmishers run in,

The corpses dot the grass!

The howling towns stampede,

The tainted hamlets die.

Now it is war indeed—

Now there is room for a spy!

O Peoples, Kings and Lands, we are waiting your commands—

What is the work for a spy?

(Drums)—Fear is upon us, spy!

"Go where his pickets hide—

Unmask the shape they take,

Whether a gnat from the waterside,

Or a stinging fly in the brake,

Or filth of the crowded street,

Or a sick rat limping by,

Or a smear of spittle dried in the heat—

That is the work of a spy!

(Drums)—Death is upon us, spy!

"What does he next prepare?

Whence will he move to attack?—

By water, earth or air?—

How can we head him back?