{"id":545,"date":"2010-06-14T04:23:21","date_gmt":"2010-06-14T04:23:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/?p=545"},"modified":"2017-07-12T01:37:34","modified_gmt":"2017-07-12T01:37:34","slug":"gunga-din-by-rudyard-kipling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/gunga-din-by-rudyard-kipling\/","title":{"rendered":"Gunga Din by Rudyard Kipling"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/h2>\n

Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)<\/p>\n

Gunga Din<\/h2>\n

You may talk o’ gin and beer
\nWhen you’re quartered safe out ‘ere,
\nAn’ you’re sent to penny-fights an’ Aldershot it;
\nBut when it comes to slaughter
\nYou will do your work on water,
\nAn’ you’ll lick the bloomin’ boots of ‘im that’s got it.
\nNow in Injia’s sunny clime,
\nWhere I used to spend my time
\nA-servin’ of ‘Er Majesty the Queen,
\nOf all them blackfaced crew
\nThe finest man I knew
\nWas our regimental bhisti, Gunga Din.
\nHe was “Din! Din! Din!
\nYou limpin’ lump o’ brick-dust, Gunga Din!
\nHi! slippery hitherao!
\nWater, get it! Panee lao!
\nYou squidgy-nosed old idol, Gunga Din.”<\/p>\n

The uniform ‘e wore
\nWas nothin’ much before,
\nAn’ rather less than ‘arf o’ that be’ind,
\nFor a piece o’ twisty rag
\nAn’ a goatskin water-bag
\nWas all the field-equipment ‘e could find.
\nWhen the sweatin’ troop-train lay
\nIn a sidin’ through the day,
\nWhere the ‘eat would make your bloomin’ eyebrows crawl,
\nWe shouted “Harry By!”
\nTill our throats were bricky-dry,
\nThen we wopped ‘im ’cause ‘e couldn’t serve us all.
\nIt was “Din! Din! Din!
\nYou ‘eathen, where the mischief ‘ave you been?
\nYou put some juldee in it
\nOr I’ll marrow you this minute
\nIf you don’t fill up my helmet, Gunga Din!”<\/p>\n

‘E would dot an’ carry one
\nTill the longest day was done;
\nAn’ ‘e didn’t seem to know the use o’ fear.
\nIf we charged or broke or cut,
\nYou could bet your bloomin’ nut,
\n‘E’d be waitin’ fifty paces right flank rear.
\nWith ‘is mussick on ‘is back,
\n‘E would skip with our attack,
\nAn’ watch us till the bugles made “Retire”,
\nAn’ for all ‘is dirty ‘ide
\n‘E was white, clear white, inside
\nWhen ‘e went to tend the wounded under fire!
\nIt was “Din! Din! Din!”
\nWith the bullets kickin’ dust-spots on the green.
\nWhen the cartridges ran out,
\nYou could hear the front-files shout,
\n“Hi! ammunition-mules an’ Gunga Din!”<\/p>\n

I shan’t forgit the night
\nWhen I dropped be’ind the fight
\nWith a bullet where my belt-plate should ‘a’ been.
\nI was chokin’ mad with thirst,
\nAn’ the man that spied me first
\nWas our good old grinnin’, gruntin’ Gunga Din.
\n‘E lifted up my ‘ead,
\nAn’ he plugged me where I bled,
\nAn’ ‘e guv me ‘arf-a-pint o’ water-green:
\nIt was crawlin’ and it stunk,
\nBut of all the drinks I’ve drunk,
\nI’m gratefullest to one from Gunga Din.
\nIt was “Din! Din! Din!
\n‘Ere’s a beggar with a bullet through ‘is spleen;
\n‘E’s chawin’ up the ground,
\nAn’ ‘e’s kickin’ all around:
\nFor Gawd’s sake git the water, Gunga Din!”<\/p>\n

‘E carried me away
\nTo where a dooli lay,
\nAn’ a bullet come an’ drilled the beggar clean.
\n‘E put me safe inside,
\nAn’ just before ‘e died,
\n“I ‘ope you liked your drink”, sez Gunga Din.
\nSo I’ll meet ‘im later on
\nAt the place where ‘e is gone?
\nWhere it’s always double drill and no canteen;
\n‘E’ll be squattin’ on the coals
\nGivin’ drink to poor damned souls,
\nAn’ I’ll get a swig in hell from Gunga Din!
\nYes, Din! Din! Din!
\nYou Lazarushian-leather Gunga Din!
\nThough I’ve belted you and flayed you,
\nBy the livin’ Gawd that made you,
\nYou’re a better man than I am, Gunga Din!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) Gunga Din You may talk o’ gin and beer When you’re quartered safe out ‘ere, An’ you’re sent to penny-fights an’ Aldershot it; But when it comes to slaughter You will do your work on water, An’ you’ll lick the bloomin’ boots of ‘im that’s got it. Now in Injia’s sunny clime,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,84,71,427],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1800s","category-1900s","category-kipling","category-poems-for-kids"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=545"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}