Page:Rudyard Kipling's verse - Inclusive Edition 1885-1918.djvu/749

 INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 73

When the pipes set up their drone, When the sharp-edged knives are thrown, When the red-hot coals are shown, To be swallowed by-and-by Arr'e, Brethren, here come I!

Stripped to loin-cloth in the sun, Search me well and watch me close! Tell me how my tricks are done Tell me how the mango grows?

Give a man who is not made

To his trade

Swords to fling and catch again,

Coins to ring and snatch again,

Men to harm and cure again,

Snakes to charm and lure again

He'll be hurt by his own blade,

By his serpents disobeyed,

By his clumsiness bewrayed,

By the people laughed to scorn

So 'tis not with juggler born!

Pinch of dust or withered flower, Chance-flung nut or borrowed staff, Serve his need and shore his power, Bind the spell or loose the laugh!

THE NORTH SEA PATROL

1914-18

"HERE the East wind is brewed fresh and fresh every

morning,

And the balmy night-breezes blow straight from the Pole, I heard a Destroyer sing: "What an enjoyable life does one lead on the North Sea Patrol!