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THE MOTHER - LODGE
by Rudyard Kipling



There was Rundle, Station Master,
And Beazeley of the Rail
And Ackman, Commissariat,
And Donkin of the Jail;
And Blake, Conductor-Sergeant,
Our Master twice was he,
With him that kept the Europe-shop,
Old Framjee Eduljee.


Outside –
“Sergeant! Sir! Salute! Salaam!”
Inside –
“Brother,” and it doesn’t do no harm.
We met upon the Level
and we parted on the Square,
And I was Junior Deacon in my
Mother-Lodge out there!


We’d Bola Nath, Accountant,
And Saul the Aden Jew,
And Din Mohammed, draughtsman
Of the Survey Office too;
There was Babu Chuckerbutty,
And Amir Singh, the Sikh,
And Castro from the fitting-sheds,
The Roman Catholick!


We hadn't good regalia,
And our Lodge was old and bare,
But we knew the Ancient Landmarks,
And we kept them to a hair;
And looking on it backwards
It often strikes me thus,
There ain’t such things as infidels,
Except perhaps, it’s us.


For monthly, after Labour,
We’d all sit down and smoke
(We dursn’t give no banquets,
Lest a Brother’s caste were broke),
And man on man got talking
Religion and the rest,
And every man comparing
Of the God he knew the best.


So man on man got talking,
And not a Brother stirred
Till morning waked the parrots
And that dam’ brain-fever-bird;
We’d say ‘twas highly curious,
And we’d all ride home to bed,
With Mohammed, God, and Shiva
Changing pickets in our head


Full oft on Guv’ment service
This roving foot hath pressed,
And bore fraternal greetings
To the Lodges east and west,
According as commanded,
From Kohat to Singapore,
But I wish that I might see them
In my Mother-Lodge once more!


I wish that I might see them,
My Brethren black and brown,
With the trichies smelling pleasant
And the hog-darn¹ passing down;
And the old khansamah² snoring
On the bottle-khana³ floor,
Like a Master in good standing
With my Mother-Lodge once more.


Outside –
“Sergeant! Sir! Salute! Salaam!”
Inside –
“Brother,” and it doesn’t do no harm.
We met upon the Level
and we parted on the Square,
And I was Junior Deacon in my
Mother-Lodge out there!


¹ hog-darn / cigar lighter
² khansamah / butler
³ bottle-khana / pantry




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