The Complete Poetical Works of Rudyard Kipling (570+ Poems in One Edition). Редьярд Джозеф Киплинг

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СКАЧАТЬ I answered: "Gentle Bandar, an inscrutable Decree

       Makes thee a gleesome fleasome Thou, and me a wretched Me.

       Go! Depart in peace, my brother, to thy home amid the pine;

       Yet forget not once a mortal wished to change his lot for thine."

The Masque of Plenty

       Table of Contents

      Argument.—The Indian Government being minded to discover the economic

       condition of their lands, sent a Committee to inquire into it; and saw that it

       was good.

      Scene.—The wooded heights of Simla. The Incarnation of

       the Government of India in the raiment of the Angel of Plenty

       sings, to pianoforte accompaniment:—

      "How sweet is the shepherd's sweet life!

       From the dawn to the even he strays—

       And his tongue shall be filled with praise.

      (adagio dim.) Filled with praise!"

      (largendo con sp.) Now this is the position,

       Go make an inquisition

       Into their real condition

       As swiftly as ye may.

      (p) Ay, paint our swarthy billions

       The richest of vermillions

       Ere two well-led cotillions

       Have danced themselves away.

      Turkish Patrol, as able and intelligent Investigators wind

       down the Himalayas:—

      What is the state of the Nation? What is its occupation?

       Hi! get along, get along, get along—lend us the information!

       (dim.) Census the byle and the yabu—capture a first-class Babu,

       Set him to file Gazetteers—Gazetteers...

      (ff) What is the state of the Nation, etc., etc.

      Interlude, from Nowhere in Particular, to stringed and Oriental

       instruments.

      Our cattle reel beneath the yoke they bear—

       The earth is iron and the skies are brass—

       And faint with fervour of the flaming air

       The languid hours pass.

      The well is dry beneath the village tree—

       The young wheat withers ere it reach a span,

       And belts of blinding sand show cruelly

       Where once the river ran.

      Pray, brothers, pray, but to no earthly King—

       Lift up your hands above the blighted grain,

       Look westward—if they please, the Gods shall bring

       Their mercy with the rain.

      Look westward—bears the blue no brown cloud-bank?

       Nay, it is written—wherefore should we fly?

       On our own field and by our cattle's flank

       Lie down, lie down to die!

      Semi-Chorus

      By the plumed heads of Kings

       Waving high,

       Where the tall corn springs

       O'er the dead.

      If they rust or rot we die,

       If they ripen we are fed.

      Very mighty is the power of our Kings!

      Triumphal return to Simla of the Investigators, attired after

       the manner of Dionysus, leading a pet tiger-cub in wreaths

       of rhubarb-leaves, symbolical of India under medical treatment.

      They sing:—

      We have seen, we have written—behold it, the proof of our manifold toil!

       In their hosts they assembled and told it—the tale of the Sons of the Soil.

      We have said of the Sickness—"Where is it?"—and of Death—"It is far from

       our ken,"—

       We have paid a particular visit to the affluent children of men.

      We have trodden the mart and the well-curb—we have stooped to the field and

       the byre;

       And the King may the forces of Hell curb for the People have all they desire!

      Castanets and step-dance:—

      Oh, the dom and the mag and the thakur and the thag,

       And the nat and the brinjaree,

       And the bunnia and the ryot are as happy and as quiet

       And as plump as they can be!

      Yes, the jain and the jat in his stucco-fronted hut,

       And the bounding bazugar,

       By the favour of the King, are as fat as anything,

       They are—they are—they are!

      Recitative, Government of India, with white satin wings and electro-plated

       harp:—

      How beautiful upon the Mountains—in peace reclining,

       Thus to be assured that our people are unanimously dining.

      And though there are places not so blessed as others in natural advantages,

       which, after all, was only to be expected,

       Proud and glad are we to congratulate you upon the work you have thus ably

       effected.

      (Cres.) How be-ewtiful upon the Mountains!

      Hired СКАЧАТЬ