Читать книгу Departmental Ditties and Barrack Room Ballads - Rudyard Kipling - Страница 8

  We have another viceroy now, – those days are dead and done

  Of Delilah Aberyswith and depraved Ulysses Gunne.

  Delilah Aberyswith was a lady – not too young —

  With a perfect taste in dresses and a badly-bitted tongue,

  With a thirst for information, and a greater thirst for praise,

  And a little house in Simla in the Prehistoric Days.

  By reason of her marriage to a gentleman in power,

  Delilah was acquainted with the gossip of the hour;

  And many little secrets, of the half-official kind,

  Were whispered to Delilah, and she bore them all in mind.

  She patronized extensively a man, Ulysses Gunne,

  Whose mode of earning money was a low and shameful one.

  He wrote for certain papers, which, as everybody knows,

  Is worse than serving in a shop or scaring off the crows.

  He praised her “queenly beauty” first; and, later on, he hinted

  At the “vastness of her intellect” with compliment unstinted.

  He went with her a-riding, and his love for her was such

  That he lent her all his horses and – she galled them very much.

  One day, THEY brewed a secret of a fine financial sort;

  It related to Appointments, to a Man and a Report.

  ‘Twas almost worth the keeping, – only seven people knew it —

  And Gunne rose up to seek the truth and patiently pursue it.

  It was a Viceroy’s Secret, but – perhaps the wine was red —

  Perhaps an Aged Councillor had lost his aged head —

  Perhaps Delilah’s eyes were bright – Delilah’s whispers sweet —

  The Aged Member told her what ‘twere treason to repeat.

  Ulysses went a-riding, and they talked of love and flowers;

  Ulysses went a-calling, and he called for several hours;

  Ulysses went a-waltzing, and Delilah helped him dance —

  Ulysses let the waltzes go, and waited for his chance.

  The summer sun was setting, and the summer air was still,

  The couple went a-walking in the shade of Summer Hill.

  The wasteful sunset faded out in Turkish-green and gold,

  Ulysses pleaded softly, and – that bad Delilah told!

  Next morn, a startled Empire learnt the all-important news;

  Next week, the Aged Councillor was shaking in his shoes.

  Next month, I met Delilah and she did not show the least

  Hesitation in affirming that Ulysses was a “beast.”

  We have another Viceroy now, those days are dead and done —

  Of Delilah Aberyswith and most mean Ulysses Gunne!