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We have learned to whittle the Eden Tree to the shape of a
surplice peg,
We have learned to bottle our parent twain in the yelk of an
addled egg.
We know that the tail must wag the dog, for the horse is drawn by
the cart,
But the devil never whoops, as he of old; It's clever, but is it
art?
Topic: Art
Source: The Conundrum of the Workshops
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Now it is not good for the Christian's health
To hustle the Aryan brown,
For the Christian riles and the Aryan smiles,
And it weareth the Christian down.
And the end of the fight is a tombstone white
With the name of the late deceased--
And the epitaph drear: "A fool lies here
Who tried to hustle the East."
Topic: Christianity
Source: Naulahka (heading of ch. V)
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High noon behind the tamarisks, the sun is hot above us--
As at home the Christmas Day is breaking wan,
They will drink our healths at dinner, those who tell us how they
love us,
And forget us till another year be gone!
Topic: Christmas
Source: Christmas in India
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There is sorrow enough in the natural way
From men and women to fill our day;
But when we are certain of sorrow in store
Why do we always arrange for more?
Brothers and sisters I bid you beware
Of giving your heart to a dog to tear.
Topic: Dogs
Source: The Power of the Dog
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Take up the White Man's burden.
Topic: Duty
Source: The White Man's Burden
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All the people like us are we, And everyone else is They.
Topic: Equality
Source: None
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We have forty million reasons for failure, but not a single excuse.
Topic: Excuses
Source: None
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I always prefer to believe the best of everybody--it saves so much trouble.
Topic: Faith
Source: None
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What is the flag of England? Ye have but my breath to dare,
Ye have but my waves to conquer. Go forth, for it is there.
Topic: Flags
Source: The English King
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God of our fathers, known of old,
Lord of our far-flung battle-line,
Beneath whose awful Hand we hold
Dominion over palm and pine--
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget--lest we forget!
Topic: Forgetfulness
Source: Recessional Hymn
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The tumult and the shouting dies,
The captains and the kings depart;
Still stands thine ancient sacrifice,
A humble and a contrite heart.
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet
Lest we forget,--lest we forget.
Topic: Forgetfulness
Source: Recessional Hymn
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When Earth's last picture is painted, and the tubes are twisted
and dried,
When the oldest colours have faded, and the youngest critic has
died,
We shall rest, and faith, we shall need it--lie down for an aeon
or two,
Till the Master of All Good Workmen shall set us to work anew.
Topic: Future
Source: When Earth's Last Picture Is Painted
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The present is big with the future.
[Fr., Le present est gros de l'avenir.]
Topic: Future
Source: When Earth's Last Picture Is Painted
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In sight of peace--from the Narrow Seas
O'er half the world to run--
With a cheated crew, to league anew
With the Goth and the shameless Hun.
Topic: Germany
Source: The Rowers, in "The Times", Dec. 22, 1902
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Everyone is more or less mad on one point.
Topic: Insanity
Source: None
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The Light that Failed.
Topic: Light
Source: Title of Story
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A woman's guess is much more accurate than a man's certainty.
Topic: Men and Women
Source: None
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For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Chuck 'im out, the brute!" But it's "Savior of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot.
Topic: Military
Source: None
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If I were hanged on the highest hill,
Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine!
I know whose love would follow me still,
Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine!
Topic: Motherhood
Source: Mother O' Mine
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When 'Omer smote 'is bloomin' lyre,
He'd 'eard men sing by land an' sea;
An' what he thought 'e might require,
'E went an' took--the same as me.
Topic: Plagiarism
Source: Barrack-Room Ballads--Introduction
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Over all good things certain, this is sure indeed,
Suffer not the old King, for we know the breed.
Topic: Royalty
Source: The Old Issue, in the "Five Nations"
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'Ave you 'eard o' the Widow at Windsor
With a hairy old crown on 'er 'ead?
She 'as ships on the foam--she 'as millions at 'ome,
An' she pays us poor beggars in red.
Topic: Royalty
Source: The Widow at Windsor
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Her plates are scarred by the sun, dear lass,
And her ropes are taut with the dew,
For we're booming down on the old trail, our own trail, the out
trail,
We're sagging south on the Long Trail, the trail that is always
new.
Topic: Ships
Source: L'Envoi--There's a Whisper down the Field
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The Liner she's a lady, an' she never looks nor 'eeds--
The Man-o'-War's 'er 'usband an' 'e gives 'er all she needs;
But, oh, the little cargo-boats, that sail the wet seas roun',
They're just the same as you an' me, a'-plyin' up an' down.
Topic: Ships
Source: The Liner She's a Lady
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Lord, Thou hast made this world below the shadow of a dream,
An', taught by time, I tak' it so--exceptin' always steam,
From coupler-flange to spindle-guide I see thy Hand, O God--
Predestination in the stride o' yon connectin'-rod.
Topic: Ships
Source: McAndrew's Hymn
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But that's another story.
Topic: Story Telling
Source: Mulvaney--Soldiers Three
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And the talk slid north, and the talk slid south
With the sliding puffs from the hookah-mouth;
Four things greater than all things are--
Women and Horses and Power and War.
Topic: Talk
Source: Ballad of the King's Jest
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The female of the species is more deadly than the male.
Topic: The sexes
Source: None
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Follow the Romany Patteran
Sheer to the Austral light,
Where the bosom of God is the wild west wind,
Sweeping the sea floors white.
Topic: Traveling
Source: The Gypsy Trail
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Down to Gehenna or up to the throne,
He travels the fastest who travel alone.
Topic: Traveling
Source: The Winners
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The gull shall whistle in his wake, the blind wave break in fire.
He shall fulfill God's utmost will, unknowing His desire,
And he shall see old planets pass and alien stars arise,
And give the gale his reckless sail in shadow of new skies.
Strong lust of gear shall drive him out and hunger arm his hand,
To wring his food from a desert nude, his foothold from the sand.
Topic: Work
Source: The Foreloper (Interloper), published in "Century Magazine", Apr., 1909, but first published in Lond
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But till we are built like angels, with hammer and chisel and
pen,
We will work for ourself and a woman, for ever and ever, Amen.
Topic: Work
Source: Imperial Rescript
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And only the Master shall praise us, and only the Master shall
blame;
And no one shall work for money, and no one shall work for fame;
But each for the joy of the working, and each, in his separate
star,
Shall draw the Thing as he sees It, for the God of Things as They
Are!
Topic: Work
Source: L'Envoi, in "Seven Seas"
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And the Sons of Mary smile and are blessed--they know the angels
are on their side:
They know in them is the Grace confessed, and for them are the
Mercies multiplied;
They sit at the Feet, they hear the Word, they see how truly the
Promise runs;
They have cast their burden upon the Lord, and--the Lord He lays
it on Martha's sons!
Topic: Work
Source: The Sons of Mary
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