Ere the mother's milk had dried <br /> On my lips the Brethren came-- <br />Tore me from my nurse's side, <br /> And bestowed on me a name <br /> <br />Infamously overtrue-- <br /> Such as "Bunny," "Stinker," "Podge";-- <br />But, whatever I should do, <br /> Mine for ever in the Lodge. <br /> <br />Then they taught with palm and toe-- <br /> Then I learned with yelps and tears-- <br />All the Armoured Man should know <br /> Through his Seven Secret Years... <br /> <br />Last, oppressing as oppressed, <br /> I was loosed to go my ways <br />With a Totem on my breast <br /> Governing my nights and days-- <br /> <br />Ancient and unbribeable, <br /> By the virtue of its Name-- <br />Which, however oft I fell, <br /> Lashed me back into The Game. <br /> <br />And the World, that never knew, <br /> Saw no more beneath my chin <br />Than a patch of rainbow-hue, <br /> Mixed as Life and crude as Sin.<br /><br />Rudyard Kipling<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-totem/
