MANDALAY
By
Rudyard Kipling

By the old Moulmein Pagoda, lookin' eastward to the sea,

There's a Burma girl a-settin',  an' I know she thinks o' me:

      For the wind is in the palm-trees, an' the temple-bells they say:

             "Come you back, you British soldier, come you back to Mandalay ! "

Come you back to Mandalay,
Where the old Flotilla lay:
Can't you 'ear their paddles chunkin' from Rangoon to
Mandalay?
O the road to Mandalay,
Where the flyin' fishes play,
An' the dawn comes up like thunder outer China 'crost the Bay !
 
 

"Er petticut was yaller an 'er little cap was green,

An 'er name was Supi-yaw-lat --- jes' the same as Theebaw's Queen,

An' I seed her fust a-smokin' of a whackin' white cheroot,

An' a-wastin' Christian kisses on an 'eathen idol's foot:

 Bloomin' idol made o' mud ---
Wot they called the Great Gawd Budd ---
Plucky lot she cared for idols when I kissed 'er where she stud !
On the road to Mandalay ---
 

When the mist was on the rice-fields an' the sun was droppin' slow,

She'd git 'er little banjo an' she'd sing "Kullalo lo ! "

With 'er arm upon my shoulder an' her cheek agin my cheek

We useter watch the steamers an' the hathis pilin' teak.

 Elephints a-pilin' teak
In the sludgy, squdgy creek,
Where the silence 'ung that 'eavy you was 'arf  afraid to speak !
On the road to Mandalay ---
 

But that's all shove be'ind me --- long ago an' fur away,

An' there ain't no 'buses runnin' from the Benk to Mandalay;

An' I'm learnin' 'ere in London what the ten-year sodger tells:

"If you've 'eard the east a-callin', why, you won't 'eed nothin' else."

 No !   You won't 'eed nothin else
But them spicy garlic smells
An' the sunshine an' the palm-tree an' the tinkly temple-bells !
On the road to Mandalay --
 

I am sick o' wastin' leather on these gutty pavin'- stones,

An' the blasted Henglish drizzle wakes the fever in my bones;

Tho' I walks with fifty 'ousemaids outer Chelsea to the Strand,

An' they talks a lot o' lovin',  but wot do they understand?

 Beefy face an' grubby 'and --
Law !    wot do they understand?
I've a neater, sweeter maiden in a cleaner, greener  land !
On the road to Mandalay --
 

Ship me somewheres east of Suez where the best is like the worst,

Where there aren't no Ten Commandments, an' a man can raise a thirst;

For the temple-bells are callin', an' it's there that I would be ---

By the old Moulmein Pagoda, lookin' lazy at the sea ---

 On the road to Mandalay,
Where the old Flotilla lay,
With our sick beneath the awnings when we went to Mandalay !
Oh, the road to Mandalay,
Where the flyin'fishes play,
An' the dawn comes up like thunder outer China 'crost the Bay !