 | The Five Notions |  |
31
THE WHITE MAN'S BURDEN
Take up the White Man's burden—
Go forth at 4 a.m.
To start the White Man's engines
And run his mills with them,
Attend his shining spindles
His shuttles where they roar,
What time the portly White Man
Takes up his morning snore.
Go forth at 4 a.m.
To start the White Man's engines
And run his mills with them,
Attend his shining spindles
His shuttles where they roar,
What time the portly White Man
Takes up his morning snore.
Take up the White Man's burden,
Descend his reeking shafts,
Gasp in his red-hot workings
And get your air in wafts:
And since there is no telling
How soon you may be dead,
Remember, that fat White Man
Is shooting overhead!
Descend his reeking shafts,
Gasp in his red-hot workings
And get your air in wafts:
And since there is no telling
How soon you may be dead,
Remember, that fat White Man
Is shooting overhead!
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Take up the White Man's burden,
Behold his stalwart sons;
It's you that's got to keep 'em
In rods and dogs and guns,
And four-in-hands and valets,
And wives and starts-in-life:
Don't let the White Man's offspring
Be jostled in the strife!
Behold his stalwart sons;
It's you that's got to keep 'em
In rods and dogs and guns,
And four-in-hands and valets,
And wives and starts-in-life:
Don't let the White Man's offspring
Be jostled in the strife!
Take up the White Man's burden,
Behold his daughter fair,
Her healthy English features,
Her pretty English hair;
Your sons she may not marry,
She is too proud a peck,
But you'll provide her trousseau
And her healthy English cheque.
Behold his daughter fair,
Her healthy English features,
Her pretty English hair;
Your sons she may not marry,
She is too proud a peck,
But you'll provide her trousseau
And her healthy English cheque.
Take up the White Man's burden,
Things are not what they were;
And dwindling British incomes
Are causing us much care.
The taxes and the death dues,
They make the White Man weep,
And when he thinks of wages
The White Man cannot sleep.
Things are not what they were;
And dwindling British incomes
Are causing us much care.
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They make the White Man weep,
And when he thinks of wages
The White Man cannot sleep.
Take up the White Man's burden,
Tho' you be knaves and dull;
You wouldn't let him perish
While you and yours go full.
He only asks for justice,
His trouble will be sped
If you will let him levy
A little tax on bread.
Tho' you be knaves and dull;
You wouldn't let him perish
While you and yours go full.
He only asks for justice,
His trouble will be sped
If you will let him levy
A little tax on bread.
O White Men who are burdened
With White Men who are not,
This is the highest wisdom—
Freeze on to what you've got,
Give ear unto their speeches,
Be patient with their books
But don't you trust a farthing
To Joey and his dukes.
With White Men who are not,
This is the highest wisdom—
Freeze on to what you've got,
Give ear unto their speeches,
Be patient with their books
But don't you trust a farthing
To Joey and his dukes.
| The Five Notions | |