Page:Rudyard Kipling's verse - Inclusive Edition 1885-1918.djvu/413



ATE my fill of a whale that died And stranded after a month at sea. There is a pain in my inside. Why have the Gods afflicted me? Ow! I am purged till I am a wraith! Wow! I am sick till I cannot see! What is the sense of Religion and Faith? Look how the Gods have afflicted me!

How can the skin of rat or mouse hold Anything more than a harmless flea? . . The burning plague has taken my household. Why have my Gods afflicted me? All my kith and kin are deceased, Though they were as good as good could be, I will out and batter the family priest, Because my Gods have afflicted me!

My privy and well drain into each other After the custom of Christendie. . . . Fevers and fluxes are wasting my mother. Why has the Lord afflicted me? The Saints are helpless for all I offer So are the clergy I used to fee. Henceforward I keep my cash in my coffer, Because the Lord has afflicted me.