If you wake at midnight, and hear a horse's feet,
Don't go drawing back the blind, or looking in the street;
Them that ask no questions isn't told a lie.
Watch the wall, my darling, while the Gentlemen go by!
Five and twenty ponies,
Trotting through the dark —
Brandy for the Parson,
Baccy for the Clerk;
Laces for a lady, letters for a spy,
And watch the wall, my darling,
While the Gentlemen go by!
Running round the woodlump if you chance to find
Little barrels, roped and tarred, all full of brandy-wine,
Don't you shout to come and look, nor use 'em for your play.
Put the brishwood back again — and they'll be gone next day!
If you see the stable-door setting open wide;
If you see a tired horse lying down inside;
If your mother mends a coat cut about and tore;
If the lining's wet and warm — don't you ask no more!
If you meet King George's men, dressed in blue and red,
You be careful what you say, and mindful what is said.
If they call you "pretty maid," and chuck you 'neath the chin,
Don't you tell where no one is, nor yet where no one's been!
Knocks and footsteps round the house — whistles after dark —
You've no call for running out till the house-dogs bark.
Trusty's here, and Pincher's here, and see how dumb they lie —
They don't fret to follow when the Gentlemen go by!
If you do as you've been told, 'likely there's a chance,
You'll be given a dainty doll, all the way from France,
With a cap of Valenciennes, and a velvet hood —
A present from the Gentlemen, along o' being good!
Five and twenty ponies,
Trotting through the dark —
Brandy for the Parson,
'Baccy for the Clerk;
Them that asks no questions isn't told a lie —
Watch the wall, my darling,
While the Gentlemen go by!
Notes
The subtitle of this poem is "Hal o' the Draft" -- Puck of Pook's Hill.
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Comments
1 - 6 of 6
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I adore this poem and it brings pleasure whenever I hear it. Often it is performed as a song with music by the late, great Peter Bellamey who did much to popularise Kipling's work amongst the local (Yorkshire) and national folkies.
However, as with most poems, I prefer to hear it recited in dramatic form. Kipling's words paint such a marvellous picture of a parent whispering to a young child, disturbed in her night's sleep by the sound of horses. -
One of my faves
Wonderfully vivid and expressive, and the better for the absence of the phonetically-rendered accents Kipling was so annoyingly fond of. -
Great Poem!
John Roberts and Tony Barrand do a great job of singing this poem on their CD entitled A PRESENT FROM THE GENTLEMEN, © 1992. The musical setting is by the late Peter Bellamy.
Charley Noble -
I could seriously hear someone singing the song in a rough voice to an out-of tune piano song by a bunch of raucous men swilling beer or something for some reason...
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i would like to know the meaning of the poem
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Hahaha.. lovely, I like it!
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