'E carried me away To where a _dooli_ lay, An' a bullet come an' drilled the beggar clean. 'E put me safe inside, An' just before 'e died: "I 'ope you liked your drink," sez Gunga Din. So I'll meet 'im later on In the place where 'e is gone-- Where it's always double drill and no canteen; 'E'll be squattin' on the coals Givin' drink to pore damned souls, An' I'll get a swig in Hell from Gunga Din! Din! Din! Din! You Lazarushian-leather Gunga Din! Tho' I've belted you an' flayed you, By the livin' Gawd that made you, You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din! THE RETURN[11] Peace is declared, and I return To 'Ackneystadt, but not the same; Things 'ave transpired which made me learn The size and meanin' of the game. I did no more than others did, I don't know where the change began; I started as a average kid, I finished as a thinkin' man. _If England was what England seems An not the England of our dreams, But only putty, brass, an' paint, 'Ow quick we'd drop 'er!_ But she ain't! Before my gappin' mouth could speak I 'eard it in my comrade's tone; I saw it on my neighbour's cheek Before I felt it flush my own. An' last it come to me--not pride, Nor yet conceit, but on the 'ole (If such a term may be applied), The makin's of a bloomin' soul. Rivers at night that cluck an' jeer, Plains which the moonshine turns to sea, Mountains that never let you near, An' stars to all eternity; An' the quick-breathin' dark that fills The 'ollows of the wilderness, When the wind worries through the 'ills-- These may 'ave taught me more or less. Towns without people, ten times took, An' ten times left an' burned at last; An' starvin' dogs that come to look For owners when a column passed; An' quiet, 'omesick talks between Men, met by night, you never knew Until--'is face--by shellfire seen-- Once--an' struck off. They taught me, too. The day's lay-out--the mornin' sun Beneath your 'at-brim as you sight; The dinner-'ush from noon till one, An' the full roar that lasts till night; An' the pore dead that look so old An' was so young an hour ago, An' legs tied down before they're cold-- These are the things which make you know. Also Time runnin' into years-- A thousand Places left be'ind-- An' Men from both two 'emispheres Discussin' things of every kind; So much more near than I 'ad known, So much more great than I 'ad guessed-- An' me, like all the rest, alone-- But reachin' out to all the rest!