“ক্যাঙারু , ভাই ক্যাঙারু!
তুমি অস্ট্রেলিয়ার আত্মা
এই ব্যর্থতা থেকে পরিত্রাণ
এই নির্জনতার সঙ্গী
তোমারই জন্যে তৈরি হয়েছে
পৃথিবীর এই পঞ্চম, ঘন
মহাদেশ, যেন নতুন জন্ম
হলো তার, যেন
আদিযুগে সে তো ছিল না,
(গোড়ার কাজটা ভালো লেগেছিল,
সেই প্রেরণায় ঈশ্বর, তাঁর
আপন সৃষ্টি আশীর্বাদ করেছেন)
প্রথম পাপেই উঠে এল এই
মহাদেশ, সেই অভিশাপ থেকে
আজ এ-বন্ধ্যা জঙ্গল!
ক্যাঙারু, ভাই ক্যাঙারু!
একনজরে তো অসংগতিই দেখেছি
পরমুহূর্তে গোলমাল মিটে”
Source: Geographical Memoirs On New South Wales: By Various Hands...Together With Other Papers On the Aborigines, the Geology, the Botany, the Timber, the ... of New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land
“Life is like a kangaroo. It goes up and down and sometimes will kick you in the nuts for no reason.”
“I Keep Six Honest Serving Men ..."
I keep six honest serving-men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who.
I send them over land and sea,
I send them east and west;
But after they have worked for me,
I give them all a rest.
I let them rest from nine till five,
For I am busy then,
As well as breakfast, lunch, and tea,
For they are hungry men.
But different folk have different views;
I know a person small—
She keeps ten million serving-men,
Who get no rest at all!
She sends'em abroad on her own affairs,
From the second she opens her eyes—
One million Hows, two million Wheres,
And seven million Whys!”
Source: The Elephant's Child
“Something hidden. Go and find it. Go and look behind the Ranges -- Something lost behind the Ranges. Lost and waiting for you. Go!”
“In truth, Kipling's politics are not mine. But then, it would be a poor sort of world if one were only able to read authors who expressed points of view that one agreed with entirely. It would be a bland sort of world if we could not spend time with people who thought differently, and who saw the world from a different place.”
Source: The View from the Cheap Seats: Selected Nonfiction
“If you can try to nap where someone's sitting,
Although there is another empty chair,
Then rub against his ankle without quitting
Until he rises from your favorite lair;
If you can whine and whimper by a portal
Until the bolted door is opened wide,
Then howl as if you've got a wound that's mortal
Until he comes and lets you back inside;
If you can give a guest a nasty spiking,
But purr when you are petted by a thief;
If you can find the food not to your liking
Because they put some cheese in with the beef;
If you can leave no proffered hand unbitten,
And pay no heed to any rule or ban,
then all will say you are a Cat, my kitten.
And -- which is more -- you'll make a fool of Man!”
Source: Poetry for Cats: The Definitive Anthology of Distinguished Feline Verse
“Badly-treated children have a clear notion of what they are likely to get if they betray the secrets of a prison-house before they are clear of it.”
Source: Something of Myself
“Rudyard Kipling was the only popular writer of this century who was not at the same time a thoroughly bad writer.”
Source: Essays
“Not though you die to-night,
O Sweet, and wail,
A spectre at my door,
Shall mortal Fear make Love immortal fail -- I shall but love you more,
Who, from Death's House returning,
give me still One moment's comfort in my matchless ill.”
Source: 100 Poems: Old and New
“Tous les mots d'amour de cette vie ne peuvent décrire ce que je ressens envers toi, mon amour”