{"id":7499,"date":"2021-09-17T01:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-09-17T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newspaperhistory.com\/?p=7499"},"modified":"2021-09-17T01:00:00","modified_gmt":"2021-09-17T05:00:00","slug":"gunga-din","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/gunga-din\/","title":{"rendered":"Gunga Din"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

From <\/em>The Birmingham Age Herald, September 17, 1913<\/em><\/a>. By Rudyard Kipling.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You may talk o\u2019 gin an\u2019 beer
When you\u2019re quartered safe out \u2019ere,
An\u2019 you\u2019re sent to penny-fights an\u2019 Aldershot it;
But if it comes to slaughter
You will do your work on water,
An\u2019 you\u2019ll lick the bloomin\u2019 boots of \u2019im that\u2019s got it.
Now in India\u2019s sunny clime,
Where I used to spend my time
A-servin\u2019 of \u2019er majesty the queen,
Of all them black faced crew
The finest man I knew
Was our regimental bhisti, Gunga Din.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was \u201cDin! Din! Din!
You limpin\u2019 lump o\u2019 brick-dust, Gunga Din!
Hi! slippy hitherao
Water, get it! Panee lao,
You squidgy-nosed old idol, Gunga Din!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The uniform \u2019e wore
Was nothin\u2019 much before,
An\u2019 rather less than \u2019arf o\u2019 that be\u2019ind,
For a twisty piece o\u2019 rag
An\u2019 a goatskin water-bag
Was all the field-equipment \u2019e could find.
When the sweatin\u2019 troop train lay
In a sidin\u2019 through the day,
Where the \u2019eat would make yer bloomin\u2019 eyebrows crawl,
We shouted \u2018Harry By!\u2019
Till our throats were bricky dry,
Then we wopped \u2019im \u2019cause \u2019e couldn\u2019t serve us all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was \u201cDin! Din! Din!
You \u2019eathen, where the mischief \u2019ave you been?
You put some juldee in it,
Or I\u2019ll marrow you this minute
If you don\u2019t fill up my helmet, Gunga Din!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2019E would dot an\u2019 carry one
Till the longest day was done;
An\u2019 \u2019e didn\u2019t seem to know the use o\u2019 fear.
If we charged or broke or cut,
You could bet your bloomin\u2019 nut,
\u2019E\u2019d be waitin\u2019 fifty paces right flank rear,
With \u2019is mussick on \u2019is back,
\u2019E would skip with our attack,
An\u2019 watch us till the bugles made \u201cRetire.\u201d
An\u2019 for all \u2019is dirty \u2019ide
\u2019E was white, clear white, inside
When he went to tend the wounded under fire!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was \u201cDin! Din! Din!
With the bullets kickin\u2019 dust-spots on the green.
When the cartridges ran out,
You\u2019d \u2018ear the front files shout:
Hi! ammunition mules an’ Gunga Din!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I shan\u2019t forget the night
When I dropped be\u2019ind the fight
With a bullet where my belt plate should \u2019a\u2019 been.
I was chokin\u2019 mad with thirst,
An\u2019 the man that spied me first
Was our good old grinnin\u2019, gruntin\u2019 Gunga Din.
\u2019E lifted up my \u2019ead,
An\u2019 he plugged me where I bled,
An\u2019 \u2019e guv me \u2019arf a pint o\u2019 water green.
It was crawlin\u2019 an\u2019 it stunk,
But of all the drinks I\u2019ve drunk,
I\u2019m gratefullest to one from Gunga Din.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was \u201cDin! Din! Din!
\u2018Ere\u2019s a beggar with a bullet through \u2019is spleen;
\u2018E’s chawin\u2019 up the ground an\u2019 \u2019e\u2019s kickin\u2019 all around;
For Gawd\u2019s sake, git the water, Gunga Din!\u201d
\u2019E carried me away
To where a dooli lay,
An\u2019 a bullet come an\u2019 drilled the beggar clean.
\u2019E put me safe inside,
An\u2019 just before \u2019e died:
\u201cI \u2019ope you liked your drink,\u201d sez Gunga Din.
So I\u2019ll meet \u2019im later on
In the place where \u2019e is gone,
Where it\u2019s always double drill and no canteen;
\u2019E\u2019ll be squattin\u2019 on the coals
Givin\u2019 drink to poor damned souls,
An\u2019 I\u2019ll get a swig in hell from Gunga Din!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Din! Din! Din!
You Lazarushian-leather Gunga Din!
Though I\u2019ve belted you an\u2019 flayed you,
By the livin\u2019 Gawd that made you,
You\u2019re a better man than I am, Gunga Din!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From The Birmingham Age Herald, September 17, 1913. By Rudyard Kipling. You may talk o\u2019 gin an\u2019 beerWhen you\u2019re quartered safe out \u2019ere,An\u2019 you\u2019re sent to penny-fights an\u2019 Aldershot it;But if it comes to slaughterYou will do your work on water,An\u2019 you\u2019ll lick the bloomin\u2019 boots of \u2019im that\u2019s got it.Now in India\u2019s sunny clime,Where […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,9],"tags":[268],"class_list":["post-7499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newspapers","category-the-birmingham-age-herald","tag-rudyard-kipling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7499"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7499\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}