The Ballad of East and West

• Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet,
• Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God's great Judgment Seat;
• But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth,
• When two strong men stand face to face,
• tho' they come from the ends of the earth!
• Kamal is out with twenty men to raise the Border-side,
• And he has lifted the Colonel's mare that is the Colonel's pride:
• He has lifted her out of the stable-door between the dawn and the day,
• And turned the calkins upon her feet, and ridden her far away.
• Then up and spoke the Colonel's son that led a troop of the Guides:
• “Is there never a man of all my men can say where Kamal hides?”
• Then up and spoke Mahommed Khan, the son of the Ressaldar:
• “If ye know the track of the morning-mist, ye know where his pickets are.
• At dusk he harries the Abazai—at dawn he is into Bonair,
• But he must go by Fort Bukloh to his own place to fare,
• So if ye gallop to Fort Bukloh as fast as a bird can fly,
• By the favour of God ye may cut him off ere he win to the Tongue of Jagai.
• But if he be past the Tongue of Jagai, right swiftly turn ye then,
• For the length and the breadth of that grisly plain is sown with Kamal's men.
• There is rock to the left, and rock to the right, and low lean thorn between,
• And ye may hear a breech-bolt snick where never a man is seen.”
• The Colonel's son has taken a horse, and a raw rough dun was he,
• With the mouth of a bell and the heart of Hell
• and the head of the gallows-tree.
• The Colonel's son to the Fort has won, they bid him stay to eat—
• Who rides at the tail of a Border thief, he sits not long at his meat.
• He 's up and away from Fort Bukloh as fast as he can fly,
• Till he was aware of his father's mare in the gut of the Tongue of Jagai,
• Till he was aware of his father's mare with Kamal upon her back,
• And when he could spy the white of her eye, he made the pistol crack.
• He has fired once, he has fired twice, but the whistling ball went wide.
• “Ye shoot like a soldier,” Kamal said. “Show now if ye can ride.”
• It 's up and over the Tongue of Jagai, as blown dustdevils go,
• The dun he fled like a stag of ten, but the mare like a barren doe.
• The dun he leaned against the bit and slugged his head above,
• But the red mare played with the snaffle-bars, as a maiden plays with a glove.
• There was rock to the left and rock to the right, and low lean thorn between,
• And thrice he heard a breech-bolt snick tho' never a man was seen.
• They have ridden the low moon out of the sky, their hoofs drum up the dawn,
• The dun he went like a wounded bull, but the mare like a new-roused fawn.
• The dun he fell at a water-course—in a woful heap fell he,
• And Kamal has turned the red mare back, and pulled the rider free.
• He has knocked the pistol out of his hand—small room was there to strive,
• “'Twas only by favour of mine,” quoth he, “ye rode so long alive:
• There was not a rock for twenty mile, there was not a clump of tree,
• But covered a man of my own men with his rifle cocked on his knee.
• If I had raised my bridle-hand, as I have held it low,
• The little jackals that flee so fast were feasting all in a row:
• If I had bowed my head on my breast, as I have held it high,
• The kite that whistles above us now were gorged till she could not fly.”
• Lightly answered the Colonel's son: “Do good to bird and beast,
• But count who come for the broken meats before thou makest a feast.
• If there should follow a thousand swords to carry my bones away,
• Belike the price of a jackal's meal were more than a thief could pay.
• They will feed their horse on the standing crop,
• their men on the garnered grain,
• The thatch of the byres will serve their fires when all the cattle are slain.
• But if thou thinkest the price be fair,—thy brethren wait to sup,
• The hound is kin to the jackal-spawn,—howl, dog, and call them up!
• And if thou thinkest the price be high, in steer and gear and stack,
• Give me my father's mare again, and I 'll fight my own way back!”
• Kamal has gripped him by the hand and set him upon his feet.
• “No talk shall be of dogs,” said he, “when wolf and gray wolf meet.
• May I eat dirt if thou hast hurt of me in deed or breath;
• What dam of lances brought thee forth to jest at the dawn with Death?”
• Lightly answered the Colonel's son: “I hold by the blood of my clan:
• Take up the mare for my father's gift—by God, she has carried a man!”
• The red mare ran to the Colonel's son, and nuzzled against his breast;
• “We be two strong men,” said Kamal then, “but she loveth the younger best.
• So she shall go with a lifter's dower, my turquoise-studded rein,
• My broidered saddle and saddle-cloth, and silver stirrups twain.”
• The Colonel's son a pistol drew and held it muzzle-end,
• “Ye have taken the one from a foe,” said he;
• “will ye take the mate from a friend?”
• “A gift for a gift,” said Kamal straight; “a limb for the risk of a limb.
• Thy father has sent his son to me, I 'll send my son to him!”
• With that he whistled his only son, that dropped from a mountain-crest—
• He trod the ling like a buck in spring, and he looked like a lance in rest.
• “Now here is thy master,” Kamal said, “who leads a troop of the Guides,
• And thou must ride at his left side as shield on shoulder rides.
• Till Death or I cut loose the tie, at camp and board and bed,
• Thy life is his—thy fate it is to guard him with thy head.
• So, thou must eat the White Queen's meat, and all her foes are thine,
• And thou must harry thy father's hold for the peace of the Border-line,
• And thou must make a trooper tough and hack thy way to power—
• Belike they will raise thee to Ressaldar when I am hanged in Peshawur.”
• They have looked each other between the eyes, and there they found no fault,
• They have taken the Oath of the Brother-in-Blood on leavened bread and salt:
• They have taken the Oath of the Brother-in-Blood on fire and fresh-cut sod,
• On the hilt and the haft of the Khyber knife, and the Wondrous Names of God.
• The Colonel's son he rides the mare and Kamal's boy the dun,
• And two have come back to Fort Bukloh where there went forth but one.
• And when they drew to the Quarter-Guard, full twenty swords flew clear—
• There was not a man but carried his feud with the blood of the mountaineer.
• “Ha' done! ha' done!” said the Colonel's son.
• “Put up the steel at your sides!
• Last night ye had struck at a Border thief—
• to-night 'tis a man of the Guides!”
• Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet,
• Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God's great Judgment Seat;
• But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth,
• When two strong men stand face to face,
• tho' they come from the ends of the earth!