I will remember what I was. I am sick of rope and chain.
I will remember my old strength and all my forest affairs.
I will not sell my back to man for a bundle of sugar-cane.
I will go out to my own kind, and the wood-folk in their lairs.
I will go out until the day, until the morning break,
out to the winds' untainted kiss, the waters' clean caress:
I will forget my ankle-ring, and snap my picket-stake.
I will revisit my lost loves, and playmates masterless!
--Toomai of the Elephants from "The Jungle Book"
Rudyard Kipling
I will remember my old strength and all my forest affairs.
I will not sell my back to man for a bundle of sugar-cane.
I will go out to my own kind, and the wood-folk in their lairs.
I will go out until the day, until the morning break,
out to the winds' untainted kiss, the waters' clean caress:
I will forget my ankle-ring, and snap my picket-stake.
I will revisit my lost loves, and playmates masterless!
--Toomai of the Elephants from "The Jungle Book"
Rudyard Kipling
1 comment:
when in ireland, i found, quite perhaps, the most amazing illustrated copy of the jungle book and had to buy it for the pictures alone. the jungle book was a great book, and if you are of the reading persuasion, you need to read it.
interesting tidbit: the stories concerning mowgli consume, at most, half the book. the other half are stories about other facets of the jungle with poetry and songs interspersed. this particular poem was the start of a story about the son of an elephant tamer, and is my favorite poem of the book. i didn't want my explanation to mar the poem itself.
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