CINERATURA

  Rudyard Kipling – The Explorer 1898 “THERE’S no sense in going further—it’s the edge of cultivation,”  So they said, and I believed it—broke my land and sowed my crop— Built my barns and strung my fences in the little border station  Tucked away below the foothills where the trails run out and stop. Till a voice, as bad as Conscience, rang interminable changes           On one everlasting Whisper day and night repeated—so: “Something hidden. Go and find it. Go and look behind the Ranges—  “Something lost behind the Ranges. Lost and waiting for you. Go!” So I went, worn out of patience; never told my nearest neighbours—  Stole away with pack and ponies—left ’em drinking in the town;          And the faith that moveth mountains didn’t seem to help my labours  As I faced the sheer main-ranges, whipping up and leading down. March by march I puzzled through ’em, turning flanks and dodging shoulders,  ...