Page:Rudyard Kipling's verse - Inclusive Edition 1885-1918.djvu/661

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INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918
643

INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 643

Land of our Birth, our faith, our pride,

For whose dear sake our fathers died;

Oh Motherland, we pledge to thee,

Head, heart, and hand through the years to be!

PARADE-SONG OF THE CAMP-ANIMALS

ELEPHANTS OF THE GUN-TEAMS

A/I/'E LENT to Alexander the strength of Hercules,

The wisdom of our foreheads, the cunning of our knees. We bowed our necks to service they ne'er were loosed

again,

Make way there, way for the ten-foot teams Of the Forty- Pounder train !

GUN-BULLOCKS

Those heroes in their harnesses avoid a cannon-ball, And what they know of powder upsets them one and all; Then we come into action and tug the guns again, Make way there, way for the twenty yoke Of the Forty-Pounder train !

CAVALRY HORSES

By the brand on my withers, the finest of tunes Is played by the Lancers, Hussars, and Dragoons, And it's sweeter than "Stables" or "Water" to me, The Cavalry Canter of " Bonnie Dundee ! "

Then feed us and break us and handle and groom, And give us good riders and plenty of room, And launch us in column of squadron and see

The Way of the War-horse to "Bonnie Dundee!"