542 RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
There was some silly fire on the flank
And the small wet drizzling down There were the sold-out shops and the bank
And the wet, wide-open town; And we were doing escort-duty
To somebody's baggage-train, And I smelt wattle by Lichtenberg
Riding in, in the rain.
It was all Australia to me
All I had found or missed: Every face I was crazy to see,
And every woman I'd kissed: All that I should n't ha' done, God knows!
(As He knows I'll do it again), That smell of the wattle round Litchtenberg,
Riding in, in the rain!
And I saw Sydney the same as ever,
The picnics and brass-bands; And my little homestead on Hunter River
And my new vines joining hands. It all came over me in one act
Quick as a shot through the brain With the smell of the wattle round Lichtenberg,
Riding in, in the rain.
I have forgotten a hundred fights,
But one I shall not forget With the raindrops bunging up my sights
And my eyes bunged up with wet; And through the crack and the stink of the cordite
(Ah Christ! My country again!) The smell of the wattle by Lichtenberg,
Riding in, in the rain!
