Ubique
There is a word you often see, pronounce it as you may--‘You bike,’ ‘you bykwe,’ ‘ubbikwe’--alludin’ to R.A.It serves ’Orse, Field, an’ Garrison as motto for a crest,An’ when you’ve found out all it means I’ll tell you ’alf the rest.
Ubique means the long-range Krupp be’ind the low-range ’ill--Ubique means you’ll pick it up an’ while you do stand still.Ubique means you’ve caught the flash an’ timed it by the sound.Ubique means five gunners’ ’ash before you’ve loosed a round.
Ubique means Blue Fuse, an’ make the ’ole to sink the trail.Ubique means stand up an’ take the Mauser’s ’alf-mile ’ail.Ubique means the crazy team not God nor man can ’old.Ubique means that ’orse’s scream which turns your innards cold!
Ubique means ‘Bank, ’Olborn, Bank--a penny all the way’--The soothin’, jingle-bump-an’-clank from day to peaceful day.Ubique means ‘They’ve caught De Wet, an’ now we shan’t be long.’Ubique means ‘I much regret, the beggar’s goin’ strong!’
Ubique means the tearin’ drift where, breech-blocks jammed with mud,The khaki muzzles duck an’ lift across the khaki flood.Ubique means the dancing plain that changes rocks to Boers.Ubique means mirage again an’ shellin’ all outdoors.
Ubique means ‘Entrain at once for Grootdefeatfontein’!Ubique means ‘Off-load your guns’--at midnight in the rain!Ubique means ‘More mounted men. Return all guns to store.’Ubique means the R.A.M.R. Infantillery Corps!
Ubique means that warnin’ grunt the perished linesman knows,When o’er ’is strung an’ sufferin’ front the shrapnel sprays ’isfoes;An’ as their firin’ dies away the ’usky whisper runsFrom lips that ’aven’t drunk all day: ‘The Guns! Thank Gawd, theGuns!’
Extreme, depressed, point-blank or short, end-first or any’ow,From Colesberg Kop to Quagga’s Poort--from Ninety-Nine till now--By what I’ve ’eard the others tell an’ I in spots ’ave seen,There’s nothin’ this side ’Eaven or ’Ell Ubique doesn’t mean!
Words in this poem
- bike n.
- A nest of wild bees, wasps, or ants; a swarm. Sir W. [Ethymol. unknown.]
- outdoors adv.
- Abread; out of the house; out of doors.
- entrain v. t.
- To draw along as a current does; as, water entrained by steam. [F. entrainer.]
- corps n.
- The human body, whether living or dead. See Corpse, 1. [F., fr. L. corpus body. See Corpse.]
- shrapnel a.
- Applied as an appellation to a kind of shell invented by Gen.
- thank n.
- A expression of gratitude; an acknowledgment expressive of a sense of favor or kindness received; obligation, claim, or desert, or gratitude; -- now generally used in the plural. [AS. Þanc, Þonc, thanks, favor, thought; akin to OS. thank favor, pleasure, thanks, D. & G. dank thanks, Icel. Þ\'94kk, Dan. tak, Sw. tack, Goth. Þagks thanks; -]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Ubique is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Five Nations, Volume II, Project Gutenberg ebook #60261; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Rudyard Kipling, Ubique, in The Five Nations, Volume II (1903), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #60261, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/kipling-five-nations-2/ubique.html, id L20273.
Form and metre
Ubique is 34 lines in 8 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is AABB, complete in 4 of its 8 stanzas. The metre is iambic heptameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).
See other poems in iambic heptameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 --AA may · r.a · crestA · restA
- 2 AABB illA · stillA · soundB · roundB
- 3 AABB trailA · ailA · oldB · coldB
- 4 AABB wayA · dayA · longB · strongB
- 5 AABB mudA · floodA · boersB · outdoorsB
- 6 --AA grootdefeatfontein · rain · storeA · corpsA
- 7 A-AB-B knowsA · is · foesA · runsB · the · gunsB
- 8 --AA any'ow · now · seenA · meanA
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic heptameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| There is a word you often see, pronounce it as you may-- | 14 | ·····/˘·˘/···· |
| ‘You bike,’ ‘you bykwe,’ ‘ubbikwe’--alludin’ to R.A. | 12 | ············ |
| It serves ’Orse, Field, an’ Garrison as motto for a crest, | 13 | ·····/˘·/˘··· |
| An’ when you’ve found out all it means I’ll tell you ’alf the rest. | 14 | ·············· |
| Ubique means the long-range Krupp be’ind the low-range ’ill-- | 12 | ············ |
| Ubique means you’ll pick it up an’ while you do stand still. | 13 | ············· |
| Ubique means you’ve caught the flash an’ timed it by the sound. | 13 | ············· |
| Ubique means five gunners’ ’ash before you’ve loosed a round. | 13 | ····/˘······· |
| Ubique means Blue Fuse, an’ make the ’ole to sink the trail. | 13 | ············· |
| Ubique means stand up an’ take the Mauser’s ’alf-mile ’ail. | 13 | ········/˘··· |
| Ubique means the crazy team not God nor man can ’old. | 13 | ····/˘······· |
| Ubique means that ’orse’s scream which turns your innards cold! | 13 | ··········/˘· |
| Ubique means ‘Bank, ’Olborn, Bank--a penny all the way’-- | 13 | ········/˘··· |
| The soothin’, jingle-bump-an’-clank from day to peaceful day. | 14 | ···/˘······/˘· |
| Ubique means ‘They’ve caught De Wet, an’ now we shan’t be long.’ | 13 | ············· |
| Ubique means ‘I much regret, the beggar’s goin’ strong!’ | 13 | ·····˘/·/˘/˘· |
| Ubique means the tearin’ drift where, breech-blocks jammed with mud, | 13 | ············· |
| The khaki muzzles duck an’ lift across the khaki flood. | 14 | ·/˘/˘···˘/·/˘· |
| Ubique means the dancing plain that changes rocks to Boers. | 13 | ····/˘··/˘··· |
| Ubique means mirage again an’ shellin’ all outdoors. | 13 | ···˘/˘/····// |
| Ubique means ‘Entrain at once for Grootdefeatfontein’! | 13 | ···˘/········ |
| Ubique means ‘Off-load your guns’--at midnight in the rain! | 13 | ········/···· |
| Ubique means ‘More mounted men. Return all guns to store.’ | 13 | ····/˘·˘/···· |
| Ubique means the R.A.M.R. Infantillery Corps! | 14 | ·············· |
| Ubique means that warnin’ grunt the perished linesman knows, | 14 | ········/˘···· |
| When o’er ’is strung an’ sufferin’ front the shrapnel sprays ’is | 14 | ··········/˘·· |
| foes; | 1 | · |
| An’ as their firin’ dies away the ’usky whisper runs | 14 | ······˘/···/˘· |
| From lips that ’aven’t drunk all day: ‘The Guns! Thank Gawd, the | 13 | ···/˘········ |
| Guns!’ | 1 | · |
| Extreme, depressed, point-blank or short, end-first or any’ow, | 13 | ˘/˘/········· |
| From Colesberg Kop to Quagga’s Poort--from Ninety-Nine till now-- | 15 | ··········/˘··· |
| By what I’ve ’eard the others tell an’ I in spots ’ave seen, | 15 | ·····/˘·····/˘· |
| There’s nothin’ this side ’Eaven or ’Ell Ubique doesn’t mean! | 14 | ·/˘········/˘· |
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