A contemporary New York Times review of this 1896 collection of poetry praised Kipling's "immense rhythmic power. . . . His preliminaries are always brief, but in the attack he carries all before him." The book includes the poems, "The First Chantey," "To the True Romance," and "Sestina of the Tramp-Royal," as well as a few of Kipling's famous "Barrack-Room Ballads."
Chapter 1 No.1
We were dreamers, dreaming greatly, in the man-stifled town;
We yearned beyond the skyline where the strange roads go down.
Came the Whisper, came the Vision, came the Power with the Need.
Till the Soul that is not man's soul was lent us to lead.
As the deer breaks-as the steer breaks-from the herd where they graze,
In the faith of little children we went on our ways.
Then the wood failed-then the food failed-then the last water dried-
In the faith of little children we lay down and died.
On the sand-drift-on the veldt-side-in the fern-scrub we lay,
That our sons might follow after by the bones on the way.
Follow after-follow after! We have watered the root,
And the bud has come to blossom that ripens for fruit!
Follow after-we are waiting by the trails that we lost
For the sound of many footsteps, for the tread of a host.
Follow after-follow after-for the harvest is sown:
By the bones about the wayside ye shall come to your own!
When Drake went down to the Horn
And England was crowned thereby,
'Twixt seas unsailed and shores unhailed
Our Lodge-our Lodge was born
(And England was crowned thereby).
Which never shall close again
By day nor yet by night,
While man shall take his life to stake
At risk of shoal or main
(By day nor yet by night),
But standeth even so
As now we witness here,
While men depart, of joyful heart,
Adventure for to know.
(As now bear witness here).
Other books by Rudyard Kipling
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