“Departmental Ditties”

Departmental Ditties and Other Verses

The poems are listed by title; click here for a list by first line, here for a list by edition, and here for a list as set out by Kipling for the Edition de Luxe in 1900.

Title First line Notes
Arithmetic on the Frontier A great and glorious thing it is
Army Headquarters Ahasuerus Jenkins of the “Operatic Own”
As the Bell Clinks As I left the Halls at Lumley, rose the vision of a comely
A Ballad of Burial If down here I chance to die
The Ballad of Fisher’s Boarding House Twas Fultah Fisher’s boarding-house
A Ballade of Bad Entertainment A wanderer from East to West
A Ballade of Jakko Hill One moment, bid the horses wait
The Betrothed Open the old cigar-box, get me a Cuba stout
Carmen Simlaense I’ve danced till my shoes are outworn
Certain Maxims of Hafiz If it be pleasant to look on, stalled in the packed serai
Christmas in India Dim dawn behind the tamarisks – the sky is saffron-yellow
A Code of Morals Now Jones had left his new-wed bride to keep his house in order
Delilah Delilah Aberystwith was a lady – not too young-
Divided Destinies It was an artless Bandar and he danced upon a pine
Envoi The smoke upon your Altar dies
The Fall of Jock Gillespie This fell when dinner-time was done-
For the Women We knit a riven land to strength by cannon, code and sword
The Galley Slave Oh gallant was our galley from her carven steering-wheel
General Summary We are very slightly changed
Giffen’s Debt Imprimis he was ‘broke’. Thereafter left
The Grave of the Hundred Head There’s a widow in sleepy Chester
In Springtime My garden blazes brightly with the rose-bush and the peach
La Nuit Blanche I had seen, as dawn was breaking
The Last Department None whole or clean,’ we cry, ‘or free from stain
A Legend of the Foreign Office Rustum Beg of Kolazai – slightly backward Native State
A Levée in the Plains Come here, ye lasses av swate Parnassis!
The Lovers’ Litany Eyes of grey – a sodden quay
Lucifer Think not, O thou from College late deported
The Man and the Shadow If it were mine to choose
The Man who could Write Boanerges Blitzen, servant of the Queen
The Mare’s Nest Jane Austen Beecher Stowe de Rouse
The Masque of Plenty How sweet is the shepherd’s sweet life!
The Moon of Other Days Beneath the deep verandah’s shade
Municipal It was an August evening and , in snowy garments clad
My Rival I go to concert, party, ball
New Lamps for Old’ When the flush of the new-born sun fell first on Eden’s green and gold
O Baal, Hear us ! Moralists we
An Old Song So long as ‘neath the Kalka hills
One Viceroy Resigns So here’s your Empire. No more wine, then? Good
Our Lady of Rest The wind in the pine sings Her praises
The Overland Mail In the name of the Empress of India, make way
Pagett, M.P. ett, M.P., was a liar, and a fluent liar therewith,-
Pink Donimoes Jenny and Me were engaged, you see
The Plaint of the Junior Civilian I have worked for ten seasons or more
The Plea of the Simla Dancers What have we ever done to bear this grudge?’
Possibilities Ay, lay him ‘neath the Simla pine-
The Post that Fitted Ere the steamer bore him Eastward, Sleary was engaged to marry
Prelude I have eaten your bread and salt
Public Waste By the Laws of the Family Circle ’tis written in letters of brass
The Song of the Women How shall she know the worship we would do her?
Study of an Elevation in Indian Ink Potiphar Gubbins, C.E.
A Tale of Two Cities Where the sober-coloured cultivator smiles
The Rupaiyat of Omar Kal’vin Now the New Year, reviving Last Year’s Debt
The Story of Uriah Jack Barrett went to Quetta
To the Unknown Goddess Will you conquer my heart with your beauty, my soul going out from afar?
Two Months No hope, no change! The clouds have shut us in
The Undertaker’s Horse The eldest son bestrides him
What Happened Hurree Chunder Mookerjee, pride of Bow Bazaar
What the People said By the well, where the bullocks go