Poem by Rudyard Kipling

«Debits and Credits». (1919-1926). 12. Gipsy Vans

   A Madonna of the Trenches

Unless you come of the gipsy stock
  That steals by night and day,
Lock your heart with a double lock
  And throw the key away.
Bury it under the blackest stone
  Beneath your father's hearth,
And keep your eyes on your lawful own
  And your feet to the proper path.
    Then you can stand at your door and mock
       When the gipsy vans come through...
     For it isn't right that the Gorgio stock
       Should live as the Romany do.

Unless you come of the gipsy blood
  That takes and never spares,
Bide content with your given good
  And follow your own affairs.
Plough and harrow and roll your land,
  And sow what ought to be sowed;
But never let loose your heart from your hand,
  Nor flitter it down the road!
    Then you can thrive on your boughten food
      As the gipsy vans come through...
    For it isn't nature the Gorgio blood
      Should love as the Romany do.

Unless you carry the gipsy eyes
  That see but seldom weep, 
Keep your head from the naked skies
  Or the stars'll trouble your sleep.
Watch your moon through your window-pane
  And take what weather she brews;
But don't run out in the midnight rain
  Nor home in the morning dews.
    Then you can huddle and shut your eyes
      As the gipsy vans come through...
    For it isn't fitting the Gorgio ryes
      Should walk as the Romany do.

Unless you come of the gipsy race
  That counts all time the same,
Be you careful of Time and Place
  And Judgment and Good Name:
Lose your life for to live your life
  The way that you ought to do;
And when you are finished, your God and your wife
  And the Gipsies'll laugh at you!
    Then you can rot in your burying place
      As the gipsy vans come through... 
    For it isn't reason the Gorgio race
      Should die as the Romany do.

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

Print

5057 Views

Last Poems

To Russian version