Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Have you news of my Boy Jack?



“Have you news of my boy Jack?”
Not this tide.
“When d’you think that he’ll come back?”
Not with this wind blowing, and this tide.

“Has any one else had word of him?”
Not this tide.
For what is sunk will hardly swim,
Not with this wind blowing, and this tide.


“Oh, dear, what comfort can I find?”
None this tide,
Nor any tide,
Except he did not shame his kind —
Not even with that wind blowing, and that tide.

Then hold your head up all the more,
This tide,
And every tide;
Because he was the son you bore,
And gave to that wind blowing and that tide
!
Hat tip: The Gods of the Copybook Headings

2 comments:

  1. This is what you get when a father's grief collides with a complete man of genius. You get unsurpassing narrative gift. How incredibly moving.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes, but don't teach Kipling in the schools! He's racist, imperialist, capitalist so and so. Instead let us bask in the genius of some modern rubbish. He will be remembered when the rest have been forgotten. This wicked age cannot last forever.

    ReplyDelete