Page:Rudyard Kipling's verse - Inclusive Edition 1885-1918.djvu/141

Rh Have I named one single river? Have I claimed one single acre?

Have I kept one single nugget—(barring samples)? No, not I!

Because my price was paid me ten times over by my Maker.

But you wouldn't understand it. You go up and occupy.

Ores you'll find there; wood and cattle; water-transit sure and steady

(That should keep the railway rates down), coal and iron at your doors.

God took care to hide that country till He judged His people ready,

Then He chose me for His Whisper, and I've found it, and it's yours!

Yes, your "Never-never country"—yes, your "edge of cultivation"

And "no sense in going further"—till I crossed the range to see.

God forgive me! No, I didn't. It's God's present to our nation.

Anybody might have found it, but—His Whisper came to Me!

THE PRO-CONSULS