Explore "The Stranger" by Rudyard Kipling on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
The Stranger within my gate, / He may be true or kind. / But he does not talk my talk -- / I cannot feel his mind. / I see the face and the eyes and the mouth, / But not the soul behind.
The men of my own stock / They may do ill or well, / But they tell the lies I am wonted to, / They are used to the lies I tell. / We do not need interpreters / When we go to buy and sell.
The Stranger within my gates, / He may be evil or good, / But I cannot tell what powers control -- / What reasons sway his mood; / Nor when the Gods of his far-off land / May repossess his blood.
The men of my own stock, / Bitter bad they may be, / But, at least, they hear the things I hear, / And see the things I see; / And whatever I think of them and their likes / They think of the likes of me.
This was my father's belief / And this is also mine: / Let the corn be all one sheaf -- / And the grapes be all one vine, / Ere our children's teeth are set on edge / By bitter bread and wine.