But we hold that in all disaster
(And faith, we have found it true!)
If only you stand by your master,
The Gods will stand by you!

MORNING SONG IN THE JUNGLE

One moment past our bodies cast
  No shadow on the plain;
Now clear and black they stride our track,
  And we run home again. 
In morning hush, each rock and bush
  Stands hard, and high, and raw: 
Then give the Call:  ’Good rest to all
  That keep the Jungle Law!’

Now horn and pelt our peoples melt
  In covert to abide;
Now, crouched and still, to cave and hill
  Our Jungle Barons glide. 
Now, stark and plain, Man’s oxen strain,
  That draw the new-yoked plough;
Now, stripped and dread, the dawn is red
  Above the lit talao.

Ho!  Get to lair!  The sun’s aflare
  Behind the breathing grass: 
And creaking through the young bamboo
  The warning whispers pass. 
By day made strange, the woods we range
  With blinking eyes we scan;
While down the skies the wild duck cries: 
  ‘The Day—­the Day to Man!’

The dew is dried that drenched our hide,
  Or washed about our way;
And where we drank, the puddled bank
  Is crisping into clay. 
The traitor Dark gives up each mark
  Of stretched or hooded claw;
Then hear the Call:  ’Good rest to all
  That keep the Jungle Law!’

BLUE ROSES

Roses red and roses white
Plucked I for my love’s delight. 
She would none of all my posies—­
Bade me gather her blue roses.

Half the world I wandered through,
Seeking where such flowers grew;
Half the world unto my quest
Answered me with laugh and jest.

Home I came at wintertide,
But my silly love had died,
Seeking with her latest breath
Roses from the arms of Death.

It may be beyond the grave
She shall find what she would have. 
Mine was but an idle quest—­
Roses white and red are best.

A RIPPLE SONG

Once a ripple came to land
  In the golden sunset burning—­
Lapped against a maiden’s hand,
  By the ford returning.

Dainty foot and gentle breast—­
Here, across, be glad and rest. 
‘Maiden, wait,’ the ripple saith;
’Wait awhile, for I am Death!’

’Where my lover calls I go—­
  Shame it were to treat him coldly—­
’Twas a fish that circled so,
  Turning over boldly.’

Dainty foot and tender heart,
Wait the loaded ferry-cart. 
‘Wait, ah, wait!’ the ripple saith;
’Maiden, wait, for I am Death!’

’When my lover calls I haste—­
  Dame Disdain was never wedded!’
Ripple-ripple round her waist,
  Clear the current eddied.