The Muse Among the Motors

The Landau

Praed

Rudyard Kipling


THERE was a landau deep and wide,
    Cushioned for Sleep’s own self to sit on—
The glory of the country-side
    From Tanner’s End to Marlow Ditton.
John of the broad and brandied cheek
        (Well I recall its eau-de-vie hues! )
Drove staid Sir Ralph five days a week
        At speeds which we considered Jehu’s. . . .

But now’ poor John sleeps very sound,
    And neither hears nor smells the fuss
Of the young Squire’s nine-hundred-pound—
    Er—Mors communis omnibus.
And I who in my daily stroll
        Observe the reckless chauffeur crowd her,
Laudator temporis, extol
        The times before the Act allowed her.


The Muse Among the Motors - Contents


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