Poem by Rudyard Kipling

The Landau

There was a landau deep and wide,
Cushioned for Sleep's own self to sit on--
The glory of the country-side
From Tanner's End to Marlow Ditton.
John of the broad and brandied cheek
(Well I recall its eau-de-vie hues!)
Drove staid Sir Ralph five days a week
At speeds which we considered Jehu's...

But now' poor John sleeps very sound,
And neither hears nor smells the fuss
Of the young Squire's nine-hundred-pound--
Er-Mors communis omnibus.
And I who in my daily stroll
Observe the reckless chauffeur crowd her,
Laudator temporis, extol
The times before the Act allowed her. 

1. The First Chantey
2. The Last of the Light Brigade
3. «Limits and Renewals». 1932. 12. The Threshold
4. «Angutivaun Taina»
5. Merrow Down

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