Page:Rudyard Kipling's verse - Inclusive Edition 1885-1918.djvu/87

Rh If She be pleasant to look on, what does the Young Man say?

"Lo! She is pleasant to look on. Give Her to me to-day!"

II

Yea, though a Kafir die, to him is remitted Jehannum

If he borrowed in life from a native at sixty per cent. per anuum.

III

Blister we not for bursati ? So when the heart is vext,

The pain of one maiden's refusal is drowned in the pain of the next.

IV

The temper of chums, the love of your wife, and a new piano's tune—

Which of the three will you trust at the end of an Indian June?

V

Who are the rulers of Ind— to whom shall we bow the knee?

Make your peace with the women, and men will make you L. G.

VI

Does the woodpecker flit round the young ferash? Does the grass clothe a new-built wall?

Is she under thirty, the woman who holds a boy in her thrall?

VII

If She grow suddenly gracious—reflect. Is it all for thee?

The blackbuck is stalked through the bullock, and Man through jealousy.