Page:Rudyard Kipling's verse - Inclusive Edition 1885-1918.djvu/721

 INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885^1918 703

Tis a league and a league to the Lena Falls where the crop

and the upland meet, But I can smell the wet dawn-wind that wakes the sprouting

wheat.

Unbar the door, I may not bide, but I must out and see If those are wolves that wait outside or my own kin to me!"

She loosed the bar, she slid the bolt, she opened the door anon, And a grey bitch-wolf came out of the dark and fawned on the Only Son!

MOWGLI'S SONG AGAINST PEOPLE

T WILL let loose against you the fleet-footed vines I will call in the Jungle to stamp out your lines! The roofs shall fade before it, The house-beams shall fall. And the Karela^ the bitter Kare/a, Shall cover it all!

In the gates of these your councils my people shall sing, In the doors of these your garners the Bat-folk shall cling; And the snake shall be your watchman,

By a hearthstone unswept; For the Karela, the bitter Kare/a, Shall fruit where ye slept!

Ye shall not see my strikers; ye shall hear them and guess; By night, before the moon-rise, I will send for my cess, And the wolf shall be your herdsman

By a landmark removed, For the Karela, the bitter Karela, Shall seed where ye loved !

'A wild melon.