Page:Rudyard Kipling's verse - Inclusive Edition 1885-1918.djvu/238

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RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE

To the risk of a death by drowning,
To the risk of a death by drouth—
To the men of a million acres,
To the Sons of the Golden South!


To the Sons of the Golden South (Stand up!),
And the life we live and know,
Let a fellow sing o' the little things he cares about,
If a fellow fights for the little things he cares about
With the weight of a single blow!


To the smoke of a hundred coasters,
To the sheep on a thousand hills,
To the sun that never blisters,
To the rain that never chills—
To the land of the waiting springtime,
To our five-meal, meat-fed men,
To the tall, deep-bosomed women,
And the children nine and ten!


And the children nine and ten (Stand up!),
And the life we live and know.
Let a fellow sing o' the little things he cares about,
If a fellow fights for the little things he cares about,
With the weight of a two-fold blow!


To the far-flung, fenceless prairie
Where the quick cloud-shadows trail,
To our neighbour's barn in the offing
And the line of the new-cut rail;
To the plough in her league-long furrow
With the grey Lake gulls behind
To the weight of a half-year's winter
And the warm wet western wind!