Page:Rudyard Kipling's verse - Inclusive Edition 1885-1918.djvu/538

 520 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE

Whafs the good o' pleading when the mother that bore you (Mary y pity women /) knew it all before you ? Sleep on 'is promises an' wake to your sorrow (Mary, pity women !},for we sail to-morrow !

"FOR TO ADMIRE"

TPHE Injian Ocean sets an' smiles

So sof', so bright, so bloomin' blue; There aren't a wave for miles an' miles

Excep' the jiggle from the screw. The ship is swep', the day is done,

The bugle's gone for smoke and play; An' black ag'in the settin' sun

The Lascar sings, "Hum deckty hai 7" 1

For to admire an 1 for to see,

For to be' old this world so wide

// never done no good to me, But I cant drop it if I tried !

I see the sergeants pitchin' quoits,

I 'ear the women laugh an' talk, I spy upon the quarter-deck

The orficers an' lydies walk. I thinks about the things that was,

An' leans an' looks acrost the sea, Till, spite of all the crowded ship,

There's no one lef alive but me.

The things that was which I 'ave seen, In barrick, camp, an' action too,

I tells them over by myself,

An' sometimes wonders if they're true;

'I'm looking out.