The Ballad of East and West
Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)
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OH, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet, | |
| Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God’s great Judgment Seat; | |
| But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth, | |
| When two strong men stand face to face, tho’ they come from the ends of the earth! | |
Kamal is out with twenty men to raise the Border side, | 5 |
| And he has lifted the Colonel’s mare that is the Colonel’s pride: | |
| He has lifted her out of the stable-door between the dawn and the day, | |
| And turned the calkins upon her feet, and ridden her far away. | |
Then up and spoke the Colonel’s son that led a troop of the Guides: | |
| “Is there never a man of all my men can say where Kamal hides?” | 10 |
| Then up and spoke Mahommed Khan, the son of the Ressaldar, | |
| “If ye know the track of the morning-mist, ye know where his pickets are. | |
| At dusk he harries the Abazai—at dawn he is into Bonair, | |
| But he must go by Fort Bukloh to his own place to fare, | |
So if ye gallop to Fort Bukloh as fast as a bird can fly, | 15 |
| By the favor of God ye may cut him off ere he win to the Tongue of Jagai, | |
| But if he be passed the Tongue of Jagai, right swiftly turn ye then, | |
| For the length and the breadth of that grisly plain is sown with Kamal’s men. | |
| There is rock to the left, and rock to the right, and low lean thorn between, | |
| And ye may hear a breech-bolt snick where never a man is seen.” | 20 |
The Colonel’s son has taken a horse, and a raw rough dun was he, | |
| With the mouth of a bell and the heart of Hell, and the head of the gallows-tree. | |
| The Colonel’s son to the Fort has won, they bid him stay to eat— | |
| Who rides at the tail of a Border thief, he sits not long at his meat. | |
He ’s up and away from Fort Bukloh as fast as he can fly, | 25 |
| Till he was aware of his father’s mare in the gut of the Tongue of Jagai, | |
| Till he was aware of his father’s mare with Kamal upon her back, | |
| And when he could spy the white of her eye, he made the pistol crack. | |
| He has fired once, he has fired twice, but the whistling ball went wide. | |
“Ye shoot like a soldier,” Kamal said. “Show now if ye can ride.” | 30 |
| It ’s up and over the Tongue of Jagai, as blown dust-devils go, | |
| The dun he fled like a stag of ten, but the mare like a barren doe. | |
| The dun he leaned against the bit and slugged his head above, | |
| But the red mare played with the snaffle-bars, as a maiden plays with a glove. | |
There was rock to the left and rock to the right, and low lean thorn between, | 35 |
| And thrice he heard a breech-bolt snick tho’ never a man was seen. | |
| They have ridden the low moon out of the sky, their hoofs drum up the dawn, | |
| The dun he went like a wounded bull, but the mare like a new-roused fawn. | |
| The dun he fell at a water-course—in a woful heap fell he, | |
And Kamal has turned the red mare back, and pulled the rider free. | 40 |
| He has knocked the pistol out of his hand—small room was there to strive, | |
| “’T was only by favor of mine,” quoth he, “ye rode so long alive: | |
| There was not a rock for twenty mile, there was not a clump of tree, | |
| But covered a man of my own men with his rifle cocked on his knee. | |
If I had raised my bridle-hand, as I have held it low, | 45 |
| The little jackals that flee so fast, were feasting all in a row: | |
| If I had bowed my head on my breast, as I have held it high, | |
| The kite that whistles above us now were gorged till she could not fly.” | |
Lightly answered the Colonel’s son:—“Do good to bird and beast, | |
| But count who come for the broken meats before thou makest a feast. | 50 |
| If there should follow a thousand swords to carry my bones away, | |
| Belike the price of a jackal’s meal were more than a thief could pay. | |
They will feed their horse on the standing crop, their men on the garnered grain, | |
| The thatch of the byres will serve their fires when all the cattle are slain. | |
| But if thou thinkest the price be fair,—thy brethren wait to sup, | 55 |
| The hound is kin to the jackal-spawn,—howl, dog, and call them up! | |
| And if thou thinkest the price be high, in steer and gear and stack, | |
| Give me my father’s mare again, and I ’ll fight my own way back!” | |
Kamal has gripped him by the hand and set him upon his feet. | |
| “No talk shall be of dogs,” said he, “when wolf and gray wolf meet. | 60 |
| May I eat dirt if thou hast hurt of me in deed or breath; | |
| What dam of lances brought thee forth to jest at the dawn with Death?” | |
Lightly answered the Colonel’s son: “I hold by the blood of my clan: | |
| Take up the mare for my father’s gift—by God, she has carried a man!” | |
The red mare ran to the Colonel’s son, and nuzzled against his breast, | 65 |
| “We be two strong men,” said Kamal then, “but she loveth the younger best. | |
| So she shall go with a lifter’s dower, my turquoise-studded rein, | |
| My broidered saddle and saddle-cloth, and silver stirrups twain.” | |
The Colonel’s son a pistol drew and held it muzzle-end, | |
| “Ye have taken the one from a foe,” said he; “will ye take the mate from a friend?” | 70 |
| “A gift for a gift,” said Kamal straight; “a limb for the risk of a limb. | |
| Thy father has sent his son to me, I ’ll send my son to him!” | |
With that he whistled his only son, that dropped from a mountain-crest— | |
| He trod the ling like a buck in spring, and he looked like a lance in rest. | |
| “Now here is thy master,” Kamal said, “who leads a troop of the Guides, | 75 |
| And thou must ride at his left side as shield on shoulder rides. | |
Till Death or I cut loose the tie, at camp and board and bed, | |
| Thy life is his—thy fate it is to guard him with thy head. | |
| So thou must eat the White Queen’s meat, and all her foes are thine, | |
| And thou must harry thy father’s hold for the peace of the border-line. | 80 |
| And thou must make a trooper tough and hack thy way to power— | |
| Belike they will raise thee to Ressaldar when I am hanged in Peshawur.” | |
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They have looked each other between the eyes, and there they found no fault, | |
| They have taken the Oath of the Brother-in-Blood on leavened bread and salt: | |
| They have taken the Oath of the Brother-in-Blood on fire and fresh-cut sod, | 85 |
| On the hilt and the haft of the Khyber knife, and the Wondrous Names of God. | |
The Colonel’s son he rides the mare and Kamal’s boy the dun, | |
| And two have come back to Fort Bukloh where there went forth but one. | |
| And when they drew to the Quarter-Guard, full twenty swords flew clear— | |
| There was not a man but carried his feud with the blood of the mountaineer. | 90 |
“Ha’ done! ha’ done!” said the Colonel’s son. “Put up the steel at your sides! | |
| Last night ye had struck at a Border thief—to-night ’t is a man of the Guides!” | |
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| Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the two shall meet, | |
| Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God’s great Judgment Seat; | |
| But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth, | 95 |
| When two strong men stand face to face, tho’ they come from the ends of the earth. | |
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