ESSAYS IN OLD FRENCH FORMS

(To the address of Master Rudyard Kipling, Poetaster)

For long, unjoyed, we've heard you sing

Of politics and army bills,

Of money-lust and cricketing,

Of clothes and fear and other things;

Meanwhile the palm-trees and the hills

Have lacked a bard to voice their lay;

Poet, ere time your lyre string stills,

Sing us again of Mandalay!

Unsung the East lies glimmering,

Unsung the palm trees toss their frills,

Unsung the seas their splendors fling,

The while you prate of laws and tills.

Each man his destiny fulfills;

Can it be yours to loose and stray;

In sophist garb to waste your quills?—

Sing us again of Mandalay!

Sing us again in rhymes that ring,

In Master-Voice that lives and thrills.

Sing us again of wind and wing,

Of temple bells and jungle thrills;

And if your Pegasus e'er wills

To lead you down some other way,

Go bind him in his olden thills—

Sing us again of Mandalay!

Master, regard the plaint we bring,

And hearken to the prayer we pray.

Lay down your law and sermoning—

Sing us again of Mandalay!