Page:Rudyard Kipling's verse - Inclusive Edition 1885-1918.djvu/773

 INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 755

WITH DRAKE IN THE TROPICS

(A. D.

COUTH and far south below the Line,

Our Admiral leads us on, Above, undreamed-of planets shine

The stars we knew are gone. Around, our clustered seamen mark

The silent deep ablaze With fires, through which the far-down shark

Shoots glimmering on his ways.

The sultry tropic breezes fail

That plagued us all day through; Like molten silver hangs our sail,

Our decks are dark with dew. Now the rank moon commands the sky,

Ho! Bid the watch beware And rouse all sleeping men that lie

Unsheltered in her glare.

How long the time 'twixt bell and bell!

How still our Ian thorns burn! How strange our whispered words that tell

Of England and return! Old towns, old streets, old friends, old loves,

We name them each to each, While the lit face of Heaven removes

Them farther from our reach.

Now is the utmost ebb of night

When mind and body sink, And loneliness and gathering fright

O'erwhelm us, if we think