The Landau

by Rudyard Kipling

　　

---

There was a landau deep and wide, Cushioned for Sleep's own self to sit on, The glory of the country-side From Tanner's End to Marlow Ditton. John of the broad and brandied cheek (Well I recall its eau-de-vie hues! ) Drove staid Sir Ralph five days a week At speeds which we considered Jehu's.... But now' poor John sleeps very sound, And neither hears nor smells the fuss Of the young Squire's nine-hundred-pound, Er-Mors communis omnibus. And I who in my daily stroll Observe the reckless chauffeur crowd her, Laudator temporis, extol The times before the Act allowed her.

---

---