Page:Rudyard Kipling's verse - Inclusive Edition 1885-1918.djvu/68

50 Unseen, who women held so dear,

The strong man's yearning to his kind

Shall shake at most the window-blind,

Or dull awhile the card-room's cheer.

In his own place of power unknown,

His Light o' Love another's flame,

His dearest pony galloped lame,

And he an alien and alone!

Yet may he meet with many a friend—

Shrewd shadows, lingering long unseen

Among us when "God save the Queen"

Shows even "extras" have an end.

And, when we leave the heated room,

And, when at four the lights expire,

The crew shall gather round the fire

And mock our laughter in the gloom;

Talk as we talked, and they ere death—

Flirt wanly, dance in ghostly-wise,

With ghosts of tunes for melodies,

And vanish at the morning's breath.



ARITHMETIC ON THE FRONTIER

GREAT and glorious thing it is

To learn, for seven years or so,

The Lord knows what of that and this,

Ere reckoned fit to face the foe—

The flying bullet down the Pass,

That whistles clear: "All flesh is grass."

