The Works of Rudyard Kipling: One Volume Edition

AN OLD SONG

   So long as 'neath the Kalka hills
     The tonga-horn shall ring,
   So long as down the Solon dip
     The hard-held ponies swing,
   So long as Tara Devi sees
     The lights of Simla town,
   So long as Pleasure calls us up,
     Or Duty drives us down,
       If you love me as I love you
       What pair so happy as we two?

   So long as Aces take the King,
     Or backers take the bet,
   So long as debt leads men to wed,
     Or marriage leads to debt,
   So long as little luncheons, Love,
     And scandal hold their vogue,
   While there is sport at Annandale
     Or whisky at Jutogh,
       If you love me as I love you
       What knife can cut our love in two?

   So long as down the rocking floor
     The raving polka spins,
   So long as Kitchen Lancers spur
     The maddened violins,
   So long as through the whirling smoke
     We hear the oft-told tale—
   “Twelve hundred in the Lotteries,”
      And Whatshername for sale?
       If you love me as I love you
       We'll play the game and win it too.

   So long as Lust or Lucre tempt
     Straight riders from the course,
   So long as with each drink we pour
     Black brewage of Remorse,
   So long as those unloaded guns
     We keep beside the bed,
   Blow off, by obvious accident,
     The lucky owner's head,
       If you love me as I love you
       What can Life kill or Death undo?

   So long as Death 'twixt dance and dance
     Chills best and bravest blood,
   And drops the reckless rider down
     The rotten, rain-soaked khud,
   So long as rumours from the North
     Make loving wives afraid,
   So long as Burma takes the boy
     Or typhoid kills the maid,
       If you love me as I love you
       What knife can cut our love in two?

   By all that lights our daily life
     Or works our lifelong woe,
   From Boileaugunge to Simla Downs
     And those grim glades below,
   Where, heedless of the flying hoof
     And clamour overhead,
   Sleep, with the grey langur for guard
     Our very scornful Dead,
       If you love me as I love you
       All Earth is servant to us two!

   By Docket, Billetdoux, and File,
     By Mountain, Cliff, and Fir,
   By Fan and Sword and Office-box,
     By Corset, Plume, and Spur
   By Riot, Revel, Waltz, and War,
     By Women, Work, and Bills,
   By all the life that fizzes in
     The everlasting Hills,
       If you love me as I love you
       What pair so happy as we two?