A great and glorious thing it is
To learn, for seven years or so,
The Lord knows what of that and this,
Ere reckoned fit to face the foe —
The flying bullet down the Pass,
That whistles clear: "All flesh is grass."
Three hundred pounds per annum spent
On making brain and body meeter
For all the murderous intent
Comprised in "villanous saltpetre!"
And after — ask the Yusufzaies
What comes of all our 'ologies.
A scrimmage in a Border Station —
A canter down some dark defile —
Two thousand pounds of education
Drops to a ten-rupee jezail —
The Crammer's boast, the Squadron's pride,
Shot like a rabbit in a ride!
No proposition Euclid wrote,
No formulae the text-books know,
Will turn the bullet from your coat,
Or ward the tulwar's downward blow
Strike hard who cares — shoot straight who can —
The odds are on the cheaper man.
One sword-knot stolen from the camp
Will pay for all the school expenses
Of any Kurrum Valley scamp
Who knows no word of moods and tenses,
But, being blessed with perfect sight,
Picks off our messmates left and right.
With home-bred hordes the hillsides teem,
The troop-ships bring us one by one,
At vast expense of time and steam,
To slay Afridis where they run.
The "captives of our bow and spear"
Are cheap — alas! as we are dear.
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Those were the days
Life was bit stiffer then in many ways...mac -
Certainly rings true for the current campaign in Afghanistan.
Charley Noble -
Brilliant quotable phrasemaking, as always with RK, which is why he'll be remembered as a poet long after his critics - so subservient to political correctness - pass on and are forgotten.
Is the misspelling of "villainous" a typo?
Ian
("villainous" is in the original poem as spelled Old Poetry Staff) -
Good job, Rudyard
Cannot help go back spiritually to my youth sitting in my shorts and shirt and sandaled feet listening to the sister read Gunga Din in Catholic School.
Happens to me every single time.
John -
I have to agree with the comment made back in 2001 and here we are 8 years later and my opinion hasn't changed. Kipling I feel was seeing into the future as well as his present time. As with all wars the bullets and weapons have no knowledge of any level of education - good eyesight it appears is worth more than an education.
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It is amazing what nicities of education and learning are expected from the soldiers of today, as I know from experience. Yet the armies of the most technological advanced nations are being held at bay by far less advanced nations and fighters.
"Strike hard who cares — shoot straight who can —
The odds are on the cheaper man."
Alas it still is true today. -
sounds apt for today !
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