Willis & Angie

“On the Road to Mandalay”

By Rudyard Kipling

By the old Moulmein Pagoda, lookin’ eastward to the sea,
There's a Burma girl a settin', and I know she thinks of me;
For the wind is in the palm trees, an’ the temple bells they say:
”Come you back, you British soldier; come you back to Mandalay, come you back to Mandalay!”

Come you back to Mandalay,
Where the old Flotilla lay;
Can't you ‘ear their paddles chunkin'
From Rangoon to Mandalay?

On the road to Mandalay,
Where the flyin' fishes play,
An’ the dawn comes up like thunder
Out of China 'cross the bay.

‘Er petticoat was yaller, an’ ‘er little cap was green,
An’ ‘er name was Supiyawlat jes’ the same as Theebaw’s Queen,
An’ I seed her first a smokin’ of a whackin’ white cheroot,
An’ awastin’ Christian kisses on an ‘eathen idol’s foot, on an ‘eathen idol’s foot:

Bloomin’ idol make o’ mud—
What they called the great Gawd Budd—
Plucky lot she care for idols
When I kissed her where she stood!

On the road to Mandalay,
Where the flyin' fishes play,
An’ the dawn comes up like thunder
Out of China 'cross the bay.

Ship me somewheres east of Suez where the best is like the worst,
Where there aren't no Ten Commandments, an’ a man can raise a thirst;
For the temple bells are callin’, an’ it’s there that I would be—
By the old Moulmein Pagoda, lookin’ lazy at the sea, lookin’ lazy at the sea,

Come you back to Mandalay,
Where the old Flotilla lay;
Can't you ‘ear their paddles chunkin'
From Rangoon to Mandalay?

On the road to Mandalay,
Where the flyin' fishes play,
An’ the dawn comes up like thunder
Out of China 'cross the bay.