An Old Song

1 
So long as ’neath the Kalka hills
   The tonga-horn shall ring,
So long as down the Solon dip
   The hard-held ponies swing,
So long as Tara Devi sees
   The lights of Simla town,
So long as Pleasure calls us up,
   Or Duty drives us down,
       If you love me as I love you
      What pair so happy as we two? 
2 
So long as Aces take the King,
   Or backers take the bet,
So long as debt leads men to wed,
    Or marriage leads to debt,
So long as little luncheons, Love,
   And scandal hold their vogue,
While there is sport at Annandale
    Or whisky at Jutogh,
      If you love me as I love you
     What knife can cut our love in two?
3 
So long as down the rocking floor
    The raving polka spins,
So long as Kitchen Lancers spur
   The maddened violins,
So long as through the whirling smoke
    We hear the oft-told tale—
“Twelve hundred in the Lotteries,”
   And Whatshername for sale?
       If you love me as I love you
      We’ll play the game and win it too. 
4 
So long as Lust or Lucre tempt
   Straight riders from the course,
So long as with each drink we pour
   Black brewage of Remorse,
So long as those unloaded guns
   We keep beside the bed,
Blow off, by obvious accident,
   The lucky owner’s head,
       If you love me as I love you
      What can Life kill or Death undo? 
5 
So long as Death ’twixt dance and dance
    Chills best and bravest blood,
And drops the reckless rider down
   The rotten, rain-soaked  khud,
So long as rumours from the North
     Make loving wives afraid,
So long as Burma takes the boy
    Or typhoid kills the maid,
      If you love me as I love you
     What knife can cut our love in two? 
6 
By all that lights our daily life
   Or works our lifelong woe,
From Boileaugunge to Simla Downs
   And those grim glades below,
Where, heedless of the flying hoof
   And clamour overhead,
Sleep, with the grey langur for guard
   Our very scornful Dead,
      If you love me as I love you
     All Earth is servant to us two! 
7 
By Docket, Billetdoux, and File,
   By Mountain, Cliff, and Fir,
By Fan and Sword and Office-box,
   By Corset, Plume, and Spur,
By Riot, Revel, Waltz, and War,
   By Women, Work, and Bills,
By all the life that fizzes in
   The everlasting Hills,
      If you love me as I love you
      What pair so happy as we two?  
Singing Kipling 2025

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