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

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СКАЧАТЬ it's best foot first,...

      Oh, then it's open order, an' we lights our pipes an' sings,

       An' we talks about our rations an' a lot of other things,

       An' we thinks o' friends in England, an' we wonders what they're at,

An' 'ow they would admire for to hear us sling the bat.⁷

      An' it's best foot first,...

      It's none so bad o' Sunday, when you're lyin' at your ease,

       To watch the kites a-wheelin' round them feather-'eaded trees,

       For although there ain't no women, yet there ain't no barrick-yards,

       So the orficers goes shootin' an' the men they plays at cards.

      Till it's best foot first,...

      So 'ark an' 'eed, you rookies, which is always grumblin' sore,

       There's worser things than marchin' from Umballa to Cawnpore;

       An' if your 'eels are blistered an' they feels to 'urt like 'ell,

       You drop some tallow in your socks an' that will make 'em well.

      For it's best foot first,...

      We're marchin' on relief over Injia's coral strand,

       Eight 'undred fightin' Englishmen, the Colonel, and the Band;

       Ho! get away you bullock-man, you've 'eard the bugle blowed,

       There's a regiment a-comin' down the Grand Trunk Road;

       With its best foot first

       And the road a-sliding past,

       An' every bloomin' campin'-ground exactly like the last;

       While the Big Drum says,

       With 'is "rowdy-dowdy-dow!"—

"Kiko kissywarsti don't you hamsher argy jow?"⁸

       Footnotes:

1 Bring water swiftly.

2 Mr Atkins' equivalent for "O Brother."

3 Hit you.

4 Be quick.

5 Water skin.

6 Camel—oo is pronounced like u in "bull," but by Mr. Atkins to rhyme with "front."

7 Thomas's first and firmest conviction is that he is a profound Orientalist and a fluent speaker of Hindustani. As a matter of fact, he depends largely on the sign-language.

8 Why don't you get on

      The Seven Seas

       Table of Contents

       A Song of the English

       The Coastwise Lights

       The Song of the Dead

       The Deep-Sea Cables

       The Song of the Sons

       The Song of the Cities

       England's Answer

       The First Chantey

       The Last Chantey

       The Merchantmen

       McAndrews' Hymn

       The Miracles

       The Native-Born

       The King

       The Rhyme of the Three Sealers

       The Derelict

       The Song of the Banjo

       "The Liner She's a Lady"

       Mulholland's Contract

       Anchor Song

       The Sea-Wife

       Hymn Before Action

       To the True Romance

       The Flowers

       The СКАЧАТЬ