Since ye distemper and defile Sweet Here by the measured mile, Nor aught on jocund highways heed Except the evidence of speed; And bear about your dreadful task Faces beshrouded 'neath a mask; Great goblin eyes and glue hands And souls enslaved to gears and bands; Here shall no graver curse be said Than, though y'are quick, that ye are dead!
Return to the Rudyard Kipling library , or . . . Read the next poem; Toomai Of The Elephants