Page:Rudyard Kipling's verse - Inclusive Edition 1885-1918.djvu/684

 666 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE

THE LAND

yHEN Julius Fabricius, Sub-Prefect of the Weald,

In the days of Diocletian owned our Lower River-field, He called to him Hobdenius a Briton of the Clay, Saying: "What about that River-piece for layin' in to hay?"

And the aged Hobden answered: "I remember as a lad My father told your father that she wanted dreenin' bad. An' the more that you neeglect her the less you'll get her

clean. Have it jest as you've a mind to, but, if I was you, I'd dreen."

So they drained it long and crossways in the lavish Roman

style

Still we find among the river-drift their flakes of ancient tile, And in drouthy middle August, when the bones of meadows

show, We can trace the lines they followed sixteen hundred years

ago.

Then Julius Fabricius died as even Prefects do, And after certain centuries, Imperial Rome died too. Then did robbers enter Britain from across the Northern

main And our Lower River-field was won by Ogier the Dane.

Well could Ogier work his war-boat well could Ogier wield

his brand Much he knew of foaming waters not so much of farming

land.

So he called to him a Hobden of the old unaltered blood, Saying: "W r hat about that River-piece, she doesn't look no

good?"