| Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936). Verse: 1885–1918. 1922. | | | | The Explanation |
| | 1890
LOVE and Death once ceased their strife | |
| At the Tavern of Man’s Life. | |
| Called for wine, and threw—alas!— | |
| Each his quiver on the grass. | |
| When the bout was o’er they found | 5 |
| Mingled arrows strewed the ground. | |
| Hastily they gathered then | |
| Each the loves and lives of men. | |
| Ah, the fateful dawn deceived! | |
| Mingled arrows each one sheaved. | 10 |
| Death’s dread armoury was stored | |
| With the shafts he most abhorred; | |
| Love’s light quiver groaned beneath | |
| Venom-headed darts of Death. | |
| Thus it was they wrought our woe | 15 |
| At the Tavern long ago. | |
| Tell me, do our masters know, | |
| Loosing blindly as they fly, | |
| Old men love while young men die? | | | | |
|
|
