Page:Rudyard Kipling's verse - Inclusive Edition 1885-1918.djvu/95

Rh The Undertaker's Horse

"To-tschin-shu is condemned to death. How can he drink tea with the Executioner?"—Japanese Proverb.

HE eldest son bestrides him,

And the pretty daughter rides him,

And I meet him oft o' mornings on the Course;

And there kindles in my bosom

An emotion chill and gruesome

As I canter past the Undertaker's Horse.

Neither shies he nor is restive,

But a hideously suggestive

Trot, professional and placid, he affects;

And the cadence of his hoof-beats

To my mind this grim reproof beats:—

"Mend your pace, my friend, I'm coming. Who's the next?"

Ah! stud-bred of ill-omen,

I have watched the strongest go—men

Of pith and might and muscle—at your heels,

Down the plantain-bordered highway,

(Heaven send it ne'er be my way!)

In a lacquered box and jetty upon wheels.

Answer, sombre beast and dreary,

Where is Brown, the young, the cheery,

Smith, the pride of all his friends and half the Force?

You were at the last dread dak

We must cover at a walk,

Bring them back to me, O Undertaker's Horse!

