________________________________________________
Title: Heriot's Ford
Author: Rudyard Kipling [
More Titles by Kipling]
'What's that that hirples at my side?'
_The foe that you must fight, my lord._
'That rides as fast as I can ride?'
_The shadow of your might, my lord._
'Then wheel my horse against the foe!'
_He's down and overpast, my lord._
_You war against the sunset glow,_
_The judgment follows fast, my lord._
'Oh who will stay the sun's descent?'
_King Joshua he is dead, my lord._
'I need an hour to repent!'
_'Tis what our sister said, my lord._
'Oh do not slay me in my sins!'
_You're safe awhile with us, my lord._
'Nay, kill me ere my fear begins.'
_We would not serve you thus, my lord._
'Where is the doom that I must face?'
_Three little leagues away, my lord._
'Then mend the horses' laggard pace!'
_We need them for next day, my lord._
'Next day--next day! Unloose my cords!'
_Our sister needed none, my lord.
You had no mind to face our swords,
And--where can cowards run, my lord?_
'You would not kill the soul alive?'
_'Twas thus our sister cried, my lord._
'I dare not die with none to shrive.'
_But so our sister died, my lord._
'Then wipe the sweat from brow and cheek.
_It runnels forth afresh, my lord._
'Uphold me--for the flesh is weak.'
_You've finished with the Flesh, my lord._
[The end]
Rudyard Kipling's poem: Heriot's Ford
________________________________________________
GO TO TOP OF SCREEN
