The Seven Seas
and Further Barrack-Room Ballads






[March 11th 2012]


THE SEVEN SEAS

The poems are listed in the order determined by Kipling when the collection was being prepared for publication; click here for a listing by title, and here for a listing by first line.

Title First line Notes
Dedication (to The Seven Seas) The cities are full of pride

A Song of the English
Fair is our lot - O goodly is our heritage!

The Coastwise Lights
Our brows are bound with spindrift and the weed is on our knees;
The Song of the Dead Hear now the Song of the Dead - in the North by the torn berg-edges
The Deep Sea Cables The wrecks dissolve above us; their dust drops down from afar-

The Song of the Sons
One from the ends of the earth - gifts at an open door-

The Song of the Cities: Auckland
Last, loneliest, loveliest, exquisite, apart-

The Song of the Cities: Bombay
Royal and Dower-royal, I the Queen

The Song of the Cities: Brisbane
The northern stock beneath the southern skies-

The Song of the Cities: Calcutta
Me the Sea-captain loved, the River built

The Song of the Cities: Capetown
Hail! Snatched and bartered oft from hand to hand

The Song of the Cities: Halifax
Into the mist my guardian prows put forth

The Song of the Cities: Hobart
Man's love first found me; man's hate made me Hell;

The Song of the Cities: Hong Kong
Hail, Mother! Hold me fast; my Praya sleeps

The Song of the Cities: Madras
Clive kissed me on the mouth and eyes and brow

The Song of the Cities: Melbourne
Greeting! Nor fear nor favour won us place

The Song of the Cities: Quebec and Montreal
Peace is our portion. Yet a whisper rose

The Song of the Cities: Rangoon
Hail, Mother! Do they call me rich in trade?

The Song of the Cities: Singapore
Hail, Mother! East and West must seek my aid

The Song of the Cities: Sydney
Greeting! My birth-stain have I turned to good

The Song of the Cities: Victoria
From East to West the circling word has passed

England's Answer
Truly ye come of The Blood; slower to bless than to ban

The First Chantey
Mine was the woman to me, darkling I found her:
The Last Chantey Thus said the Lord in the Vault above the Cherubim

The Merchantmen
King Solomon drew merchantmen
M'Andrew's Hymn Lord, Thou hast made this world below the shadow of a dream

The Miracles
I sent a message to my dear

The Native Born
We've drunk to the Queen - God bless her!
The King Farewell Romance!' the Cave-men said;
The Rhyme of the Three Sealers Away by the lands of the Japanee
The Derelict I was the staunchest of our fleet

The Answer
A Rose, in tatters on the garden path
The Song of the Banjo You couldn't pack a Broadwood half a mile-
The Liner she's a lady The Liner she's a lady, an' she never looks nor 'eeds-
Mulholland's Contract The fear was on the cattle, for the gale was on the sea,
Anchor Song Heh! Walk her round. Heave, ah, heave her short again!

The Lost Legion
There's a Legion that never was 'listed
The Sea Wife There dwells a wife by the Northern Gate

Hymn before Action
The earth is full of anger

To the True Romance. (Prelude to Many Inventions)
Thy face is far from this our war
The Flowers Buy my English posies!
The Last Rhyme of True Thomas The King has called for priest and cup
In the Neolithic Age In the Neolithic Age savage warfare did I wage
The Story of Ung Once, on a glittering ice-field, ages and ages ago
The Three-Decker Full thirty foot she towered from waterline to rail
An American If the Led Striker call it a strike
The ' Mary Gloster' I've paid for your sickest fancies; I've humoured your crackedest whim
Sestina of the Tramp-Royal Speakin' in general, I 'ave tried 'em all-
Back to the Army again' I'm 'ere in a lousy ulster and a broken billycock 'at
Birds of Prey' March March! The mud is cakin' good about our trousies
Soldier an' Sailor too' As I was spittin' into the Ditch aboard o' the Crocodile
Sappers When the Waters were dried an' the Earth did appear
That Day It got beyond all orders an' it got beyond all 'ope;
'The Men that fought at Minden' The men that fought at Minden, they was rookies in their time
Cholera Camp We've got the cholerer in camp - it's worse than forty fights;
The Ladies I've taken my fun where I've found it

Bill 'Awkins
'As anybody seen Bill 'Awkins?"
The Mother Lodge There was Rundle, Station Master
Follow me 'ome' There was no one like 'im, 'Orse or Foot
The Sergeant's Weddin' E was warned agin 'er-
The Jacket Through the Plagues of Egyp' we was chasin' Arabi
The ' Eathen The 'eathen in 'is blindness bows down to wood an' stone
The Shut-eye Sentry Sez the Junior Orderly Sergeant

Mary, Pity Women!'
You call yourself a man
For to admire The Injian Ocean sets an' smiles
L'Envoi (to The Seven Seas) When earth's last picture is painted