The Return (cerdd)

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1
Peace is declared, and I return
To 'Ackneystadt, but not the same;
Things 'ave transpired which made me learn
The size and meanin' of the game.
I did no more than others did,
I don't know where the change began;
I started as a average kid,
I finished as a thinkin' man.

Refrain
If England was what England seems
An' not the England of our dreams,
But only putty, brass, an' paint,
Ow quick we'd drop 'er! But she ain't!  

2
Before my gappin' mouth could speak
I 'eard it in my comrade's tone.
I saw it on my neighbour's cheek
Before I felt it flush my own.
An' last it come to me–not pride,
Nor yet conceit, but on the 'ole
(If such a term may be applied),
The makin's of a bloomin' soul.

3
Rivers at night that cluck an' jeer,
Plains which the moonshine turns to sea,
Mountains that never let you near,
An' stars to all eternity;
An' the quick-breathin' dark that fills
The 'ollows of the wilderness,
When the wind worries through the 'ills–
These may 'ave taught me more or less.

4
Towns without people, ten times took, 
An' ten times left an' burned at last;
An' starvin' dogs that come to look
For owners when a column passed;
An' quiet, 'omesick talks between
Men, met by night, you never knew
Until–'is face–by shellfire seen–
Once–an' struck off. They taught me, too.

5
The day's lay-out–the mornin' sun 
Beneath your 'at-brim as you sight; 
The dinner-'ush from noon till one,
An' the full roar that lasts till night;
An' the pore dead that look so old
An' was so young an hour ago,
An' legs tied down before they're cold–
These are the things which make you know.

6
Also Time runnin' into years–
A thousand Places left be'ind–
An' Men from both two 'emispheres 
Discussin' things of every kind; 
So much more near than I 'ad known, 
So much more great than I 'ad guessed–
An' me, like all the rest, alone–
But reachin' out to all the rest!

7
So 'ath it come to me–not pride,
Nor yet conceit, but on the 'ole 
(If such a term may be applied), 
The makin's of a bloomin' soul.
But now, discharged, I fall away
To do with little things again...
Gawd, 'oo knows all I cannot say,
Look after me in Thamesfontein! 

RefrainIf England was what England seems,An' not the England of our dreams,But only putty, brass, an' paint,'''Ow quick we'd chuck 'er! But she ain't! "The Return", The Kipling Society. Adalwyd ar 27 Ionawr 2026.
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Cerdd yn yr iaith Saesneg gan Rudyard Kipling yw "The Return'" sy'n canolbwyntio ar brofiad milwr yn dychwelyd adref ar ôl rhyfel. Mae hi'n un o'r gyfres o 16 o "Service Songs" sy'n cloi ei gyfrol The Five Nations'' (1903). Fel nifer o weithiau eraill y bardd, mae'r gerdd wedi'i lleoli o fewn cyd-destun ideolegol yr Ymerodraeth Brydeinig ac yn adlewyrchu diddordeb Kipling mewn gwladgarwch, imperialaeth, a bywyd milwrol.

Adroddir y gerdd gan filwr Prydeinig yn dychwelyd i'w gymdogaeth yn Llundain wedi diwedd Ail Ryfel y Boer. Fe'i cyflwynir fel rhywun sydd wedi dychwelyd i'w fan cychwyn daearyddol, ond sydd bellach wedi ei drawsnewid yn seicolegol ac emosiynol. Mae'r gerdd yn pwysleisio nad yw'r newid hwn yn un dramatig nac hunan-fawr, ond yn hytrach yn broses fewnol. Mae'n myfyrio ar sut mae ei brofiadau yn y drefedigaeth (De Affrica) wedi effeithio ar ei berthynas â'r famwlad (Lloegr). Defnyddir ffurfiau Affricaneg ar enwau lleoedd y ddinas—"'Ackneystadt" yn lle Hackney, a "Thamesfontein" am Afon Tafwys—gan ddynodi'r brifddinas fel rhan arall o'r ymerodraeth.Ben Grant a Kaori Nagai, "Ex-patriotism" yn Kipling and Beyond: Patriotism, Globalisation and Postcolonialism, golygwyd gan Caroline Rooney a Kaori Nagai (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010), t. 197.

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