An Old Song by Rudyard Kipling

So long as 'neath the Kalka hillsThe tonga-horn shall ring,So long as down the Solon dipThe hard-held ponies swing,So long as Tara Devi seesThe lights of Simla town,So long as Pleasure calls us up,Or Duty drives us down,If you love me as I love youWhat pair so happy as we two?

So long as Aces take the King,Or backers take the bet,So long as debt leads men to wed,Or marriage leads to debt,So long as little luncheons, Love,And scandal hold their vogue,While there is sport at AnnandaleOr whisky at Jutogh,If you love me as I love youWhat knife can cut our love in two?

So long as down the rocking floorThe raving polka spins,So long as Kitchen Lancers spurThe maddened violins,So long as through the whirling smokeWe hear the oft-told tale⁠—“Twelve hundred in the Lotteries,”And Whatshername for sale?If you love me as I love youWe'll play the game and win it too.

So long as Lust or Lucre temptStraight riders from the course,So long as with each drink we pourBlack brewage of Remorse,So long as those unloaded gunsWe keep beside the bed,Blow off, by obvious accident,The lucky owner's head,If you love me as I love youWhat can Life kill or Death undo?

So long as Death 'twixt dance and danceChills best and bravest blood,And drops the reckless rider downThe rotten, rain-soaked khud,So long as rumours from the NorthMake loving wives afraid,So long as Burma takes the boyOr typhoid kills the maid,If you love me as I love youWhat knife can cut our love in two?

By all that lights our daily lifeOr works our lifelong woe,From Boileaugunge to Simla DownsAnd those grim glades below,Where, heedless of the flying hoofAnd clamour overhead,Sleep, with the grey langur for guardOur very scornful Dead,If you love me as I love youAll Earth is servant to us two!

By Docket, Billetdoux, and File,By Mountain, Cliff, and Fir,By Fan and Sword and Office-box,By Corset, Plume, and SpurBy Riot, Revel, Waltz, and War,By Women, Work, and Bills,By all the life that fizzes inThe everlasting Hills,If you love me as I love youWhat pair so happy as we two?