SONG OF THE WISE CHILDREN

We shall go back by boltless doors,

To the life unaltered our childhood knew

To the naked feet on the cool, dark floors,

And the high-ceiled rooms that the Trade blows through:

To the trumpet-flowers and the moon beyond,

And the tree-toads' chorus drowning allAnd the lisp of the split banana-frond

That talked us to sleep when we were small.

The wayside magic, the threshold spells,

Shall soon undo what the North has done— Because of the sights and the sounds and the smells That ran with our youth in the eye of the sun.

And Earth accepting shall ask no vows,

Nor the Sea our love nor our lover the Sky.

When we return to our Father's House
Only the English shall wonder why!

BUDDHA AT KAMAKURA

(1892)

'And there is a Japanese idol at Kamakura'

O

H ye who tread the Narrow Way

By Tophet-flare to Judgment Day,
Be gentle when the 'heathen' pray
To Buddha at Kamakura!

To him the Way, the Law, Apart,
Whom Maya held beneath her heart,
Ananda's Lord the Bodhisat,

The Buddha of Kamakura.

For though he neither burns nor sees,
Nor hears ye thank your Deities,
Ye have not sinned with such as these,
His children at Kamakura;

Yet spare us still the Western joke
When joss-sticks turn to scented smoke
The little sins of little folk

That worship at Kamakura

The gray-robed, gay-sashed butterflies
That flit beneath the Master's eyes—
He is beyond the Mysteries

But loves them at Kamakura.

BUDDHA AT KAMAKURA

And whoso will, from Pride released,
Contemning neither creed nor priest,
May feel the soul of all the East
About him at Kamakura.

Yea, every tale Ananda heard,
Of birth as fish or beast or bird,
While yet in lives the Master stirred,
The warm wind brings Kamakura.

Till drowsy eyelids seem to see
A-flower 'neath her golden htee
The Shwe-Dagon flare easterly
From Burmah to Kamakura;

And down the loaded air there comes
The thunder of Thibetan drums,
And droned-'Om mane padme oms'
A world's width from Kamakura.

Yet Brahmans rule Benares still,
Buddh-Gaya's ruins pit the hill,
And beef-fed zealots threaten ill
To Buddha and Kamakura.

A tourist-show, a legend told,
A rusting bulk of bronze and gold,
So much, and scarce so much, ye hold
The meaning of Kamakura?

But when the morning prayer is prayed,
Think, ere ye pass to strife and trade,
Is God in human image made

No nearer than Kamakura?

THE WHITE MAN'S BURDEN

T

(1899)

AKE up the White Man's burden-
Send forth the best ye breed-
Go bind your sons to exile

To serve your captives' need;

To wait in heavy harness,

On fluttered folk and wild

Your new-caught, sullen peoples,
Half-devil and half-child.

Take up the White Man's burden

In patience to abide,

To veil the threat of terror

And check the show of pride;

By open speech and simple,

An hundred times made plain,

To seek another's profit,

And work another's gain.

Take up the White Man's burden-
The savage wars of peace-
Fill full the mouth of Famine

And bid the sickness cease;

THE WHITE MAN'S BURDEN

And when your goal is nearest
The end for others sought,
Watch Sloth and heathen Folly
Bring all your hope to nought.

Take up the White Man's burden-
No tawdry rule of kings,
But toil of serf and sweeper—
The tale of common things.
The ports ye shall not enter,
The roads ye shall not tread,
Go make them with your living,
And mark them with your dead.

Take up the White Man's burden-
And reap his old reward:

The blame of those ye better,

The hate of those ye guard

The cry of hosts ye humour

(Ah, slowly!) toward the light:"Why brought ye us from bondage, Our loved Egyptian night?'

Take up the White Man's burden-
Ye dare not stoop to less-

Nor call too loud on Freedom
To cloak your weariness;

By all ye cry or whisper,
By all ye leave or do,

The silent, sullen peoples

Shall weigh your Gods and you.