Poem by Rudyard Kipling

Prelude. To «Departmental Ditties»

I HAVE eaten your bread and salt.
I have drunk your water and wine.
The deaths ye died I have watched beside,
And the lives ye led were mine.

Was there aught that I did not share
In vigil or toil or ease -
One joy or woe that I did not know,
Dear hearts across the seas ?

I have written the tale of our life
For a sheltered people's mirth,
In jesting guise - but ye are wise,
And ye know what the jest is worth.

1. Rosicrucian Subtleties
2. The Song of Seven Cities
3. A Ripple Song
4. The Land
5. Reading the Will

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