Explore "Half-Ballad of Waterval" by Rudyard Kipling on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
When by the labour of my 'ands / I've 'elped to pack a transport tight / With prisoners for foreign lands, / I ain't transported with delight. / I know it's only just an' right, / But yet it somehow sickens me, / For I 'ave learned at Waterval / The meanin' of captivity.
Be'ind the pegged barb-wire strands, / Beneath the tall electric light, / We used to walk in bare-'ead bands, / Explainin' 'ow we lost our fight. / An' that is what they'll do to-night / Upon the steamer out at sea, / If I 'ave learned at Waterval / The meanin' of captivity.