The Ballad Of The King's Jest Poem Rhyme Scheme

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When spring time flushes the desert grass	A
Our kafilas wind through the Khyber Pass	A
Lean are the camels but fat the frails	A
Light are the purses but heavy the bales	A
As the snowbound trade of the North comes down	B
To the market square of Peshawur town	B
	-
In a turquoise twilight crisp and chill	C
A kafila camped at the foot of the hill	C
Then blue smoke haze of the cooking rose	A
And tent peg answered to hammer nose	A
And the picketed ponies shag and wild	D
Strained at their ropes as the feed was piled	D
And the bubbling camels beside the load	E
Sprawled for a furlong adown the road	E
And the Persian pussy cats brought for sale	F
Spat at the dogs from the camel bale	F
And the tribesmen bellowed to hasten the food	G
And the camp fires twinkled by Fort Jumrood	G
And there fled on the wings of the gathering dusk	H
A savour of camels and carpets and musk	H
A murmur of voices a reek of smoke	I
To tell us the trade of the Khyber woke	I
	-
The lid of the flesh pot chattered high	J
The knives were whetted and then came I	J
To Mahbub Ali the muleteer	K
Patching his bridles and counting his gear	K
Crammed with the gossip of half a year	K
But Mahbub Ali the kindly said	G
Better is speech when the belly is fed	G
So we plunged the hand to the mid wrist deep	L
In a cinnamon stew of the fat tailed sheep	L
And he who never hath tasted the food	G
By Allah he knoweth not bad from good	G
	-
We cleansed our beards of the mutton grease	A
We lay on the mats and were filled with peace	A
And the talk slid north and the talk slid south	M
With the sliding puffs from the hookah mouth	M
Four things greater than all things are	K
Women and Horses and Power and War	K
We spake of them all but the last the most	G
For I sought a word of a Russian post	G
Of a shifty promise an unsheathed sword	G
And a grey coat guard on the Helmund ford	G
Then Mahbub Ali lowered his eyes	A
In the fashion of one who is weaving lies	A
Quoth he Of the Russians who can say	A
When the night is gathering all is grey	A
But we look that the gloom of the night shall die	J
In the morning flush of a blood red sky	J
Friend of my heart is it meet or wise	A
To warn a King of his enemies	A
We know what Heaven or Hell may bring	N
But no man knoweth the mind of the King	N
That unsought counsel is cursed of God	G
Attesteth the story of Wali Dad	G
	-
His sire was leaky of tongue and pen	O
His dam was a clucking Khattack hen	O
And the colt bred close to the vice of each	P
For he carried the curse of an unstaunched speech	P
Therewith madness so that he sought	G
The favour of kings at the Kabul court	G
And traveled in hope of honour far	K
To the line where the grey coat squadrons are	K
There have I journeyed too but I	J
Saw naught said naught and did not die	J
He hearked to rumour and snatched at a breath	Q
Of this one knoweth' and 'that one saith'	Q
Legends that ran from mouth to mouth	Q
Of a grey coat coming and sack of the South	Q
These have I also heard they pass	A
With each new spring and the winter grass	A
	-
Hot foot southward forgotten of God	G
Back to the city ran Wali Dad	G
Even to Kabul in full durbar	K
The King held talk with his Chief in War	K
Into the press of the crowd he broke	I
And what he had heard of the coming spoke	I
	-
Then Gholam Hyder the Red Chief smiled	G
As a mother might on a babbling child	G
But those who would laugh restrained their breath	Q
When the face of the King showed dark as death	Q
Evil it is in full durbar	K
To cry to a ruler of gathering war	K
Slowly he led to a peach tree small	R
That grew by a cleft of the city wall	R
And he said to the boy They shall praise thy zeal	S
So long as the red spurt follows the steel	S
And the Russ is upon us even now	T
Great is thy prudence await them thou	T
Watch from the tree Thou art young and strong	U
Surely the vigil is not for long	U
The Russ is upon us thy clamour ran	V
Surely an hour shall bring their van	V
Wait and watch When the host is near	K
Shout aloud that my men may hear '	-
	-
Friend of my heart is it meet or wise	A
To warn a King of his enemies	A
A guard was set that he might not flee	W
A score of bayonets ringed the tree	W
The peach bloom fell in showers of snow	X
When he shook at his death as he looked below	X
By the power of God Who alone is great	G
Till the seventh day he fought with his fate	G
Then madness took him and men declare	K
He mowed in the branches as ape and bear	K
And last as a sloth ere his body failed	G
And he hung like a bat in the forks and wailed	G
And sleep the cord of his hands untied	G
And he fell and was caught on the points and died	G
	-
Heart of my heart is it meet or wise	A
To warn a King of his enemies	A
We know what Heaven or Hell may bring	N
But no man knoweth the mind of the King	N
Of the grey coat coming who can say	A
When the night is gathering all is grey	A
Two things greater than all things are	K
The first is Love and the second War	K
And since we know not how War may prove	Y
Heart of my heart let us talk of Love	Z

Rudyard Kipling

The Ballad Of The King's Jest Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

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