I Read Therefore I Am discussion

A Smuggler's Song

IF you wake at midnight, and hear a horse's feet,
Don't go drawing back the blind, or looking in the street,
Them that ask no questions isn't told a lie.
Watch the wall my darling while the Gentlemen go by.

Five and twenty ponies,
Trotting through the dark -
Brandy for the Parson, 'Baccy for the Clerk.
Laces for a lady; letters for a spy,
Watch the wall my darling while the Gentlemen go by!

Running round the woodlump if you chance to find
Little barrels, roped and tarred, all full of brandy-wine,
Don't you shout to come and look, nor use 'em for your play.
Put the brishwood back again - and they'll be gone next day !

If you see the stable-door setting open wide;
If you see a tired horse lying down inside;
If your mother mends a coat cut about and tore;
If the lining's wet and warm - don't you ask no more !

If you meet King George's men, dressed in blue and red,
You be careful what you say, and mindful what is said.
If they call you " pretty maid," and chuck you 'neath the chin,
Don't you tell where no one is, nor yet where no one's been !

Knocks and footsteps round the house - whistles after dark -
You've no call for running out till the house-dogs bark.
Trusty's here, and Pincher's here, and see how dumb they lie
They don't fret to follow when the Gentlemen go by !

'If You do as you've been told, 'likely there's a chance,
You'll be give a dainty doll, all the way from France,
With a cap of Valenciennes, and a velvet hood -
A present from the Gentlemen, along 'o being good !

Five and twenty ponies,
Trotting through the dark -
Brandy for the Parson, 'Baccy for the Clerk.
Them that asks no questions isn't told a lie -
Watch the wall my darling while the Gentlemen go by !

Rudyard Kipling

I love the rhythm of this.

So do I. I learnt this by heart when I was a child - fun to see how much I can still remember.

Have you read Puck of Pooks Hill ? I downloaded it yesterday on a whim and really enjoyed it - it's where I found this poem.

Lee wrote: "Have you read Puck of Pooks Hill ? I downloaded it yesterday on a whim and really enjoyed it - it's where I found this poem."

No I haven't. I'll give it a try.

I really like this, it appeals to the part of me that is still 10 years old and wants to be a pirate when I grow up. (Someone was daft enough to give me a copy of Treasure Island - Long John Silver has been my hero ever since!)

I think I was so lucky in my education. I was at grammar school just post the Plowden report and had a wonderful child- centred time. We read poems like this just for the pleasure they give. I feel sorry for children today who have to analyse everything they read.