Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936). Verse: 1885–1918. 1922.

A Ballade of Jakko Hill

ONE moment bid the horses wait,

Since tiffin is not laid till three,

Below the upward path and strait

You climbed a year ago with me.

Love came upon us suddenly

And loosed—an idle hour to kill—

A headless, harmless armoury

That smote us both on Jakko Hill.

Ah Heaven! we would wait and wait

Through Time and to Eternity!

Ah Heaven! we would conquer Fate

With more than Godlike constancy!

I cut the date upon a tree—

Here stand the clumsy figures still:—

“10–7–85, A.D.”

Damp in the mists on Jakko Hill.

What came of high resolve and great,

And until Death fidelity?

Whose horse is waiting at your gate?

Whose ’rickshaw-wheels ride over me?

No Saint’s, I swear; and—let me see

To-night what names your programme fill—

We drift asunder merrily,

As drifts the mist on Jakko Hill!

Princess, behold our ancient state

Has clean departed; and we see

’Twas Idleness we took for Fate

That bound light bonds on you and me.

Amen! Here ends the comedy

Where it began in all good will,

Since Love and Leave together flee

As driven mist on Jakko Hill!