Page:Rudyard Kipling's verse - Inclusive Edition 1885-1918.djvu/429

 Now we must come away.

What are you out of pocket?

'Sorry to spoil your play

But somebody says we must pay

And the candle's down to the socket—

Its horrible tallowy socket.



1891

Tomlinson gave up the ghost in his house in Berkeley Square,

And a Spirit came to his bedside and gripped him by the hair—

A Spirit gripped him by the hair and carried him far away,

Till he heard as the roar of a rain-fed ford the roar of the Milky Way:

Till he heard the roar of the Milky Way die down and drone and cease,

And they came to the Gate within the Wall where Peter holds the keys.

"Stand up, stand up now, Tomlinson, and answer loud and high

"The good that ye did for the sake of men or ever ye came to die—

"The good that ye did for the sake of men in little earth so lone!"

And the naked soul of Tomlinson grew white as a rain-washed bone.

"O I have a friend on earth," he said, "that was my priest and guide,

"And well would he answer all for me if he were at my side." 