Gunga Din

Gunga Din

Original Text
Rudyard Kipling's Verse: Definitive Edition (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1940): 406-08.
1You may talk o' gin and beer
2When you're quartered safe out 'ere,
3An' you're sent to penny-fights an' Aldershot it;
4But when it comes to slaughter
5You will do your work on water,
6An' you'll lick the bloomin' boots of 'im that's got it.
7Now in Injia's sunny clime,
8Where I used to spend my time
9A-servin' of 'Er Majesty the Queen,
10Of all them blackfaced crew
11The finest man I knew
12Was our regimental bhisti, Gunga Din.
13        He was "Din! Din! Din!
14    "You limpin' lump o' brick-dust, Gunga Din!
15        "Hi! Slippy hitherao!
16        "Water, get it! Panee lao,
17    "You squidgy-nosed old idol, Gunga Din."
18The uniform 'e wore
19Was nothin' much before,
20An' rather less than 'arf o' that be'ind,
21For a piece o' twisty rag
22An' a goatskin water-bag
23Was all the field-equipment 'e could find.
24When the sweatin' troop-train lay
25In a sidin' through the day,
26Where the 'eat would make your bloomin' eyebrows crawl,
27We shouted 'Harry By!'
28Till our throats were bricky-dry,
29Then we wopped 'im 'cause 'e couldn't serve us all.
30        It was 'Din! Din! Din!
31    "You 'eathen, where the mischief 'ave you been?
32        "You put some juldee in it
33        "Or I'll marrow you this minute
34    "If you don't fill up my helmet, Gunga Din!"
35'E would dot an' carry one
36Till the longest day was done;
37An' 'e didn't seem to know the use o' fear.
38If we charged or broke or cut,
39You could bet your bloomin' nut,
40'E'd be waitin' fifty paces right flank rear.
41With 'is mussick on 'is back,
42'E would skip with our attack,
43An' watch us till the bugles made "Retire,"
44An' for all 'is dirty 'ide
45'E was white, clear white, inside
46When 'e went to tend the wounded under fire!
47        It was 'Din! Din! Din!'
48    With the bullets kickin' dust-spots on the green.
49        When the cartridges ran out,
50        You could hear the front-ranks shout,
51    "Hi! ammunition-mules an' Gunga Din!"
52I shan't forgit the night
53When I dropped be'ind the fight
54With a bullet where my belt-plate should 'a' been.
55I was chokin' mad with thirst,
56An' the man that spied me first
57Was our good old grinnin', gruntin' Gunga Din.
58'E lifted up my 'ead,
59An' he plugged me where I bled,
60An' 'e guv me 'arf-a-pint o' water green.
61It was crawlin' and it stunk,
62But of all the drinks I've drunk,
63I'm gratefullest to one from Gunga Din.
64        It was 'Din! Din! Din!
65    "'Ere's a beggar with a bullet through 'is spleen;
66        "'E's chawin' up the ground,
67        "An' 'e's kickin' all around:
68    "For Gawd's sake git the water, Gunga Din!"
69'E carried me away
70To where a dooli lay,
71An' a bullet come an' drilled the beggar clean.
72'E put me safe inside,
73An' just before 'e died,
74"I 'ope you liked your drink," sez Gunga Din.
75So I'll meet 'im later on
76At the place where 'e is gone--
77Where it's always double drill and no canteen.
78'E'll be squattin' on the coals
79Givin' drink to poor damned souls,
80An' I'll get a swig in hell from Gunga Din!
81        Yes, Din! Din! Din!
82    You Lazarushian-leather Gunga Din!
83        Though I've belted you and flayed you,
84        By the livin' Gawd that made you,
85    You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din!

Notes

2] quartered: housed. The cockney speaker regularly elides initial h and final consonants such as d and g. Back to Line
3] Aldershot: a verb evidently meaning to engage in just a training exercise (Aldershot in Hampshire became a permanent British army training camp in 1854). Back to Line
6] bloomin': mild swear word. Back to Line
7] Injia: India. Back to Line
12] bhisti: water-carrier, literally “heavenly one” (Ralph Durand, A Handbook to the Poetry of Rudyard Kipling [London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1914]: 26). Back to Line
15] Slippy: slim. hitherao: an Hindi expression, "come here." Back to Line
16] Panee lao: an Hindi expression, "bring water pronto." Back to Line
17] squidgy-nosed: snubbed and plump. Back to Line
22] “In the Indian army goatskin is the material of which the bag must be made, as Mohammedans could not drink from a bag made of pigskin, and Hindu religious prejudice would be offended by the use of calf-skin” (Durand 27). Back to Line
25] sidin': railway siding. Back to Line
27] "Harry By!": an Hindi expression, "O brother." Back to Line
29] wopped: shouted (Henry W. Wells, "Kipling's Barrack-Room Language," American Speech 18.4 [Dec. 1943]: 276). Back to Line
32] juldee: an Hindi expression, "hurry up." Back to Line
33] marrow: an Hindi expression, "hit." Back to Line
35] dot an' carry one: "A schoolboy's expression in some processes of elementary arithmetic (subtraction, division, and addition). Hence, a name for such process; also for one who does calculations or teaches elementary arithmetic" (OED, "dot," v.1). Back to Line
37] Despite the fact that the bhisti had no gun to defend himself (Durand 27). Back to Line
38] broke: allowed the line to break. cut: ran off. Back to Line
39] nut: head. Back to Line
40] “Behind the right-hand side of the company to which he is attached” (Durand 27). Back to Line
41] mussick: "A leather water-bag, esp. one made from the whole skin of a goat" (OED, "mussuck"). Back to Line
44] 'ide: hide, skin. Back to Line
51] ammunition-mules: porters who brought ammunition up to the line. Back to Line
59] plugged: bandaged. Back to Line
60] guv: gave. 'arf-a-pint: a half-pint. water green: foul water. Back to Line
66] chawin': biting. Back to Line
70] dooli: canvas litter for the wounded. Back to Line
74] sez: says. Back to Line
77] drill: military exercises. Back to Line
80] swig: short drink. Back to Line
82] Lazarushian-leather: C. M. C. Fawcett writes RPO ... "My ancestors the Lazarus family had a furniture company in Calcutta India ... called C Lazurus and Co. They were well respected in the community and produced extremely fine furniture which was used in decorating of many Durber palaces. They were also friends of Kipling's. The leather which they produced was called Lazarushian leather." Back to Line
83] belted: hit. flayed: taken the skin off. Back to Line
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
2007
Rhyme
aabccdeebffddbggd
Form
17-line stanzas