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 asks 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,And watch the wall, my darling, while the Gentlemen go by!
Running round the woodlump if you chance to findLittle 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 Pinchers 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!
Words in this poem
- clerk n.
- A clergyman or ecclesiastic. [Either OF. clerc, fr. L. clericus a priest, or AS. clerc, cleric, clerk, priest, fr. L. clericus, fr. Gr. Clergy.]
- tore n.
- The dead grass that remains on mowing land in winter and spring. Mortimer. [Probably from the root of tear; cf. W. tór a break, cut, tóri to break, cut.]
- mindful a.
- Bearing in mind; regardful; attentive; heedful; observant.
- chuck v. i.
- To make a noise resembling that of a hen when she calls her chickens; to cluck. [Imitative of the sound.]
- dainty n.
- Value; estimation; the gratification or pleasure taken in anything. [OE. deinie, dainte, deintie, deyntee, OF. deintié delicacy, orig., dignity, honor, fr. L. dignitas, fr. dignus worthy. See Deign, and cf. Dignity.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Smuggler's Song is in the public domain. This text is taken from Songs from Books, Project Gutenberg ebook #15529; 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, A Smuggler's Song, in Songs from Books (1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #15529, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/kipling-songs-from-books/a-smuggler-s-song.html, id L20421.
Form and metre
A Smuggler's Song is 36 lines in 6 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is AABB, complete in 3 of its 6 stanzas. The metre is trochaic hexameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%).
See other poems in trochaic hexameter.
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 AABB----BB feetA · streetA · lieB · byB · ponies · dark · parson · clerk · spyB · byB
- 2 --AA find · wine · playA · dayA
- 3 AABB wideA · insideA · toreB · moreB
- 4 AABB redA · saidA · chinB · beenB
- 5 AABB darkA · barkA · lieB · byB
- 6 AABB----CC chanceA · franceA · hoodB · goodB · ponies · dark · parson · clerk · lieC · byC
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 trochaic hexameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| If you wake at midnight, and hear a horse's feet, | 12 | ····/····/˘· |
| Don't go drawing back the blind, or looking in the street. | 13 | ··/˘····/˘··· |
| Them that asks no questions isn't told a lie, | 11 | ····/˘/˘··· |
| Watch the wall, my darling, while the Gentlemen go by! | 12 | ····/˘··/˘·· |
| Five and twenty ponies, | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| Trotting through the dark-- | 5 | /˘··· |
| Brandy for the Parson, | 6 | /˘··/˘ |
| 'Baccy for the Clerk; | 5 | ····· |
| Laces for a lady, letters for a spy, | 11 | /˘··/˘/˘··· |
| And watch the wall, my darling, while the Gentlemen go by! | 13 | ·····/˘··/˘·· |
| Running round the woodlump if you chance to find | 11 | /˘········· |
| Little barrels, roped and tarred, all full of brandy-wine, | 13 | /˘/˘······/˘· |
| Don't you shout to come and look, nor use 'em for your play. | 13 | ············· |
| Put the brishwood back again--and they'll be gone next day! | 13 | ·····˘/······ |
| If you see the stable-door setting open wide; | 12 | ····/˘·/˘/˘· |
| If you see a tired horse lying down inside; | 11 | ····/·/˘·˘/ |
| If your mother mends a coat cut about and tore; | 12 | ··/˘········ |
| If the lining's wet and warm--don't you ask no more! | 12 | ··/˘········ |
| If you meet King George's men, dressed in blue and red, | 12 | ····/˘······ |
| You be careful what you say, and mindful what is said. | 13 | ··/˘····/˘··· |
| If they call you 'pretty maid,' and chuck you 'neath the chin. | 13 | ····/˘······· |
| Don't you tell where no one is, nor yet where no one's been! | 13 | ············· |
| Knocks and footsteps round the house--whistles after dark-- | 12 | ··/····/˘··· |
| You've no call for running out till the house-dogs bark. | 12 | ····/˘······ |
| Trusty's here, and Pinchers here, and see how dumb they lie-- | 13 | /˘··/˘······· |
| They don't fret to follow when the Gentlemen go by! | 12 | ····/˘··/˘·· |
| If you do as you've been told, 'likely there's a chance, | 12 | ·······/˘··· |
| You'll be give a dainty doll, all the way from France, | 12 | ····/˘······ |
| With a cap of Valenciennes, and a velvet hood-- | 13 | ····˘/˘···/˘· |
| A present from the Gentlemen, along o' being good! | 12 | ·˘/··/˘˘/·/· |
| Five and twenty ponies, | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| Trotting through the dark-- | 5 | /˘··· |
| Brandy for the Parson, | 6 | /˘··/˘ |
| 'Baccy for the Clerk. | 5 | ····· |
| Them that asks no questions isn't told a lie-- | 11 | ····/˘/˘··· |
| Watch the wall, my darling, while the Gentlemen go by! | 12 | ····/˘··/˘·· |
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