Page:Rudyard Kipling's verse - Inclusive Edition 1885-1918.djvu/37

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THE MAN WHO COULD WRITE

OANERGES BLITZEN, servant of the Queen,

Is a dismal failure—is a Might-have-been.

In a luckless moment he discovered men

Rise to high position through a ready pen.

Boanerges Blitzen argued therefore—"I,

With the selfsame weapon, can attain as high."

Only he did not possess when he made the trial,

Wicked wit of C-lv-n, irony of L—l.

[Men who spar with Government need, to back their blows,

Something more than ordinary journalistic prose.]

Never young Civilian's prospects were so bright,

Till an Indian paper found that he could write:

Never young Civilian's prospects were so dark,

When the wretched Blitzen wrote to make his mark.

Certainly he scored it, bold, and black, and firm,

In that Indian paper—made his seniors squirm,

Quoted office scandals, wrote the tactless truth—

Was there ever known a more misguided youth?

When the Rag he wrote for praised his plucky game,

Boanerges Blitzen felt that this was Fame;

When the men he wrote of shook their heads and swore,

Boanerges Blitzen only wrote the more: