Prelude To Departmental Ditties And Other Verses

by Rudyard Kipling

    I have eaten your bread and salt,
    I have drunk your water and wine,
    The deaths ye died I have watched be-side,
    And the lives that ye led were mine.

    Was there aught that I did not share
    In vigil or toil or ease,
    One joy or woe that I did not know,
    Dear hearts across the seas?

    I have written the tale of our life
    For a sheltered people’s mirth,
    In jesting guise, but ye are wise,
    And ye know what the jest is worth.