Page:The Seven Seas (Kipling, 1896).djvu/78

56 Honour is lost, and none may tell

Who paid good blows. Romance, farewell!'

'Farewell, Romance!' the Traders cried;

'Our keels ha' lain with every sea;

The dull-returning wind and tide

Heave up the wharf where we would be;

The known and noted breezes swell

Our trudging sail. Romance, farewell!'

'Good-bye, Romance!' the Skipper said;

'He vanished with the coal we burn;

Our dial marks full steam ahead,

Our speed is timed to half a turn.

Sure as the ferried barge we ply

'Twixt port and port. Romance, good-bye!'

'Romance!' the season-tickets mourn,

' He never ran to catch his train,

But passed with coach and guard and horn—

And left the local—late again!'

Confound Romance! . . . And all unseen

Romance brought up the nine-fifteen.