RUDYARD KIPLING'S LYRIC TO LIES.
Heading of Chapter VII of "The Naulahka," by Rudyard Kipling and Walcott Balestier.
Copyright, 1892, Macmillan & Co.
There is pleasure in the wet, wet clay,
When the artist's hand is potting it,
There is pleasure in the wet, wet lay,
When the poet's hand is blotting it,
There is pleasure in the shine of your picture on the line
At the Royal Arcade—my;
But the pleasure felt in these is as chalk to Cheddar cheese
When it comes to a well made Lie,
To a quite unwreckable Lie,
To a most impeccable Lie!
To a water-tight, fire-proof, angle-iron, sunk-hinge, time-lock, steel-faced Lie!
Not a private hansom Lie,
But a fair and brougham Lie,
Not a little place in Tooting, but a country house with shooting and a ring-fence, deer-park Lie.