| Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936). Verse: 1885–1918. 1922. | | | | The North Sea Patrol |
| | 1914–18
WHERE the East wind is brewed fresh and fresh every morning, | |
| And the balmy night-breezes blow straight from the Pole, | |
| I heard a Destroyer sing: “What an enjoyable life does one lead on the North Sea Patrol! | |
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| “To blow things to bits is our business (and Fritz’s), | |
| Which means there are mine-fields wherever you stroll. | 5 |
| Unless you’ve particular wish to die quick, you’ll a- | |
| void steering close to the North Sea Patrol. | |
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| “We warn from disaster the mercantile master | |
| Who takes in high Dudgeon our life-saving rôle, | |
| For every one’s grousing at Docking and Dowsing 1 | 10 |
| The marks and the lights on the North Sea Patrol.” | |
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[Twelve verses omitted.]
So swept but surviving, half drowned but still driving, | |
| I watched her head out through the swell off the shoal, | |
| And I heard her propellers roar: “Write to poor fellers | |
| Who run such a Hell as the North Sea Patrol!” | 15 |
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