Take
up the White Man's burden--
Send
forth the best ye breed--
Go
bind your sons to exile
To
serve your captives' need;
To
wait in heavy harness,
On
fluttered folk and wild--
Your
new-caught, sullen peoples,
Half-devil
and half-child.
Take
up the White Man's Burden--
In
patience to abide,
To
veil the threat of terror
And
check the show of pride;
By
open speech and simple,
An
hundred times made plain.
To
seek another's profit,
And
work another's gain.
Take
up the White Man's burden--
The
savage wars of peace--
Fill
full the mouth of famine
And
bid the sickness cease;
And
when your goal is nearest
The
end for others sought,
Watch
Sloth and heathen Folly
Bring
all your hope to naught.
Take
up the White Man's burden--
No
tawdry lie of kings.
But
toil of serf and sweeper--
The
tale of common things.
The
ports ye shall not enter,
The
roads ye shall not tread,
Go
make them with your living,
And
mark them with your dead.
Take
up the White Man's burden--
And
reap his old reward:
The
blame of those ye better,
The
hate of those ye guard--
The
cry of hosts ye humour
(Ah,
slowly!) toward the light:--
"
Why brought ye us from bondage,
Our
loved Egyptian night! "
Take
up the White Man's burden--
Ye
dare not stoop to less--
Nor
call too loud on Freedom
To
cloak your weariness;
By
all ye cry or whisper,
By
all ye leave or do,
The
silent, sullen peoples
Shall
weigh your Gods and you.
Take
up the White Man's burden--
Have
done with childish days--
The
lightly proffered laurel,
The
easy, ungrudged praise.
Comes
now, to search your manhood
Through
all the thankless years,
Cold,
edged with dear-bought wisdom,
The
judgment of your peers!
