| Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936). Verse: 1885–1918. 1922. | | | | My Boy Jack |
| | 1914–18
“HAVE you news of my boy Jack?” | |
| Not this tide. | |
| “When d’you think that he’ll come back?” | |
| Not with this wind blowing, and this tide. | |
| |
| “Has any one else had word of him?” | 5 |
| Not this tide. | |
| For what is sunk will hardly swim, | |
| Not with this wind blowing, and this tide. | |
| |
| “Oh, dear, what comfort can I find?” | |
| None this tide, | 10 |
| Nor any tide. | |
| Except he did not shame his kind— | |
| Not even with that wind blowing, and that tide. | |
| |
| Then hold your head up all the more, | |
| This tide, | 15 |
| And every tide; | |
| Because he was the son you bore, | |
| And gave to that wind blowing and that tide! | | | | |
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