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The Merchantmen

by Rudyard Kipling, 1919

1893

        King SOLOMON drew merchantmen,
          Because of his desire
        For peacocks, apes, and ivory,
          From Tarshish unto Tyre,
        With cedars out of Lebanon
          Which Hiram rafted down,
        But we be only sailormen
          That use in London town.

Coastwise—cross-seas—round the world and back again—
    Where the flaw shall head us or the full Trade suits

Published in Rudyard Kipling's Verse: Inclusive Edition, 1885-1918
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