Kitchener's School Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BBCC DDED DFCC GGCC HIDD JJKK LMNN OOPD QQRR SSDD| Being a translation of the song that was made by a Mohammedan schoolmaster of Bengal Infantry some time on service at Suakim when he heard that Kitchener was taking money from the English to build a Madrissa for Hubshees or a college for the Sudanese | A |
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| Oh Hubshee carry your shoes in your hand and bow your head on your breast | B |
| This is the message of Kitchener who did not break you in jest | B |
| It was permitted to him to fulfil the long appointed years | C |
| Reaching the end ordained of old over your dead Emirs | C |
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| He stamped only before your walls and the Tomb ye knew was dust | D |
| He gathered up under his armpits all the swords of your trust | D |
| He set a guard on your granaries securing the weak from the strong | E |
| He said quot Go work the waterwheels that were abolished so long quot | D |
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| He said quot Go safely being abased I have accomplished my vow quot | D |
| That was the mercy of Kitchener Cometh his madness now | F |
| He does not desire as ye desire nor devise as ye devise | C |
| He is preparing a second host an army to make you wise | C |
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| Not at the mouth of his clean lipped guns shall ye learn his name again | G |
| But letter by letter from Kaf to Kaf at the mouths of his chosen men | G |
| He has gone back to his own city not seeking presents or bribes | C |
| But openly asking the English for money to buy you Hakims and scribes | C |
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| Knowing that ye are forfeit by battle and have no right to live | H |
| He begs for money to bring you learning and all the English give | I |
| It is their treasure it is their pleasure thus are their hearts inclined | D |
| For Allah created the English mad the maddest of all mankind | D |
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| They do not consider the Meaning ofThings they consult not creed nor clan | J |
| Behold they clap the slave on the back and behold he ariseth a man | J |
| They terribly carpet the earth with dead and before their cannon cool | K |
| They walk unarmed by twos and threes to call the living to school | K |
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| How is this reason which is their reason to judge a scholar's worth | L |
| By casting a ball at three straight sticks and defending the same with a fourth | M |
| But this they do which is doubtless a spell and other matters more strange | N |
| Until by the operation of years the hearts of their scholars change | N |
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| Till these make come and go great boats or engines upon the rail | O |
| But always the English watch near by to prop them when they fail | O |
| Till these make laws of their own choice and Judges of their | P |
| And all the mad English obey the Judges and say that that Law is good | D |
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| Certainly they were mad from of old but I think one new thing | Q |
| That the magic whereby they work their magic wherefrom their fortunes spring | Q |
| May be that they show all peoples their magic and ask no price in return | R |
| Wherefore since ye are bond to that magic O Hubshee make haste and learn | R |
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| Certainly also is Kitchener mad But one sure thing I know | S |
| If he who broke you be minded to teach you to his Madrissa go | S |
| Go and carry your shoes in your hand and bow your head on your breast | D |
| For he who did not slay you in sport he will not teach you in jest | D |
Rudyard Kipling
(1)
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