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Rudyard Kipling - Song of the Galley SlavesRudyard Kipling - Song of the Galley Slaves
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We pulled for you when the wind was against us and the sails     were low.        Will you never let us go? We ate bread and onions when you took towns, or ran aboard     quickly when you were beaten back by the foe. The Captains walked up and down the deck in fair weather sing-     ing songs, but we were below. We fainted with our chins on the oars and you did not see that     we were idle, for we still swung to and fro.        Will you never let us go? The solt made the oar-hands like shark-skin; our knees were     cut to the bone with salt-cracks; our hair was stuck to     our foreheads; and our lips were cut to the gums, and you     whipped us because we could not row.        Will you never let us go? But, in a little time, we shall run out of the port-holes as the water     runs along the oar-blade,  and though you tell the others     to row after us you will never catch us till you catch the     oar-thresh and tie up the winds in the belly of the sail.     Aho!        Will you never let us go?
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