Page:Rudyard Kipling's verse - Inclusive Edition 1885-1918.djvu/622

 604 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE

Beat off in our last fight were we?

The greater need to seek the sea.

For Fortune changeth as the moon

To caravel and picaroon.

Then Eastward Ho! or Westward Ho!

Whichever wind may meetest blow.

Our quarry sails on either sea,

Fat prey for such bold lads as we,

And every sun-dried buccaneer

Must hand and reef and watch and steer,

And bear great wrath of sea and sky

Before the plate-ships wallow by.

Now, as our tall bows take the foam,

Let no man turn his heart to home,

Save to desire treasure more,

And larger warehouse for his store,

When treasure won from Santos Bay

Shall make our sea-washed village gay.

Because I sought it far from men, In deserts and alone, I found it burning overhead, The jewel of a Throne.

Because I sought I sought it so And spent my days to find It blazed one moment ere it left The blacker night behind.

When a lover hies abroad,

Looking for his love,

Azrael smiling sheathes his sword,

Heaven smiles above.

Earth and sea

His servants be,

And to lesser compass round,

That his love be sooner found !