Page:Rudyard Kipling's verse - Inclusive Edition 1885-1918.djvu/75

Rh I cut the date upon a tree—

Here stand the clumsy figures still:—

"10-7-85, A.D."

Damp in the mists on Jakko Hill.

What came of high resolve and great,

And until Death fidelity?

Whose horse is waiting at your gate?

Whose &apos;rickshaw-wheels ride over me?

No Saint's, I swear; and—let me see

To-night what names your programme fill—

We drift asunder merrily,

As drifts the mist on Jakko Hill!

Princess, behold our ancient state

Has clean departed; and we see

'Twas Idleness we took for Fate

That bound light bonds on you and me.

Amen! Here ends the comedy

Where it began in all good will,

Since Love and Leave together flee

As driven mist on Jakko Hill!



THE PLEA OF THE SIMLA DANCERS

HAT have we ever done to bear this grudge?"

Was there no room save only in Benmore

For docket, duftar, and for office-drudge,

That you usurp our smoothest dancing floor? 