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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
A SMUGGLER'S SONG, by RUDYARD KIPLING Recitation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: If you wake at midnight, and hear a horse's feet Last Line: Gentlemen go by! Subject(s): Smuggling & Smugglers; Villains In Literature | |||
If you wake at midnight, and hear a horse's feet, Don't go drawing back the blind, or looking in the street, Them that asks no questions isn't told a lie. Watch the wall, my darling, while the Gentlemen go by! Five and twenty ponies, Trotting through the dark -- Brandy for the Parson, 'Baccy for the Clerk; Laces for a lady; letters for a spy, And watch the wall, my darling, while the Gentlemen go by! Running round the woodlump if you chance to find Little barrels, roped and tarred, all full of brandy-wine; Don't you shout to come and look, nor take 'em for your play; Put the brushwood back again, -- and they'll be gone next day! If you see the stableyard setting open wide; If you see a tired horse lying down inside; If your mother mends a coat about and tore; If the lining's wet and warm -- don't you ask no more! If you meet King George's men, dressed in blue and red, You be careful what you say, and mindful what is said, If they call you 'pretty maid', and chuck you 'neath the chin, Don't you tell where no one is, nor yet where no one's been! Knocks and footsteps round the house -- whistles after dark -- You've no call for running out till the housedogs bark. Trusty's here and Pincher's here, and see how dumb they lie -- They don't fret to follow when the Gentlemen go by! If you do as you've been told, likely there's a chance, You'll be given a dainty doll, all the way from France, With a cup of Valenciennes, and a velvet hood -- A present from the Gentlemen, along a' being good! Five and twenty ponies, Trotting through the dark -- Brandy for the Parson, 'Baccy for the Clerk; Them that asks no questions isn't told a lie -- Watch the wall, my darling, while the Gentlemen go by! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...VILLON'S STRAIGHT TIP TO ALL CROSS COVES by FRANCOIS VILLON EPITAPH ON A TYRANT by WYSTAN HUGH AUDEN MY LAST DUCHESS; FERRRA by ROBERT BROWNING PORPHYRIA'S LOVER by ROBERT BROWNING SOLILOQUY OF THE SPANISH CLOISTER by ROBERT BROWNING MACAVITY: THE MYSTERY CAT by THOMAS STEARNS ELIOT BASE DETAILS by SIEGFRIED SASSOON SONNET: 94 by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE LORD BARRENSTOCK by FLORENCE MARGARET SMITH FUZZY-WUZZY' (SOUDAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCE) by RUDYARD KIPLING |
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