Happy Birthday, Rudyard

Today, in Bombay in 1865, Rudyard Kipling was born. His parents sent him "back" to England to avoid the typhoid and cholera, and he used his school experiences in several of his works, the horrifying 'Baa Baa Black Sheep' and the delightful Stalky and Co. particularly. After school he went back to India and became a reporter, writing fiction and poetry in his spare time. Celebrity came after six years, and he returned to England. But he didn't like living there, and after a few years spent traveling the world, he settled in Vermont - and it was there he wrote The Jungle Book, probably his most well-known work.

Here's another:

A Carol

Our Lord Who did the Ox command
    To kneel to Judah's King,
He binds His frost upon the land  
    To ripen it for Spring --
To ripen it for Spring, good sirs,
    According to His Word.
Which well must be as ye can see --
    And who shall judge the Lord?

When we poor fenmen skate the ice
    Or shiver on the wold,
We hear the cry of a single tree
    That breaks her heart in the cold --
That breaks her heart in the cold, good sirs,
    And rendeth by the board.
Which well must be as ye can see --
    And who shall judge the Lord?

Her wood is crazed and little worth
    Excepting as to burn,
That we may warm and make our mirth
    Until the Spring return --
Until the Spring return, good sirs,
    When Christians walk abroad;
When well must be as ye can see --
    And who shall judge the Lord?

God bless the master of this house,
    And all who sleep therein!
And guard the fens from pirate folk,
    And keep us all from sin,
To walk in honesty, good sirs,
    Of thought and deed and word!
Which shall befriend our latter end....
    And who shall judge the Lord?