Poem for the Day 

If you wake at midnight, and hear a horse's feet,
 Don't go drawing back the blind, or looking in the street,
 Them that ask no questions isn't told a lie.
 Watch the wall my darling while the Gentlemen go by. 

 Five and twenty ponies, 
 Trotting through the dark - 
 Brandy for the Parson, 'Baccy for the Clerk.
 Laces for a lady; letters for a spy,
 Watch the wall my darling while the Gentlemen go by! 

 Running round the woodlump if you chance to find 
 Little barrels, roped and tarred, all full of brandy-wine,
 Don't you shout to come and look, nor use 'em for your play.
 Put the brishwood back again - and they'll be gone next day ! 

 If you see the stable-door setting open wide;
 If you see a tired horse lying down inside;
 If your mother mends a coat cut about and tore;
 If the lining's wet and warm - don't you ask no more ! 

 If you meet King George's men, dressed in blue and red,
 You be careful what you say, and mindful what is said.
 If they call you " pretty maid," and chuck you 'neath the chin,
 Don't you tell where no one is, nor yet where no one's been ! 

 Knocks and footsteps round the house - whistles after dark -
 You've no call for running out till the house-dogs bark.
Trusty's here, and Pincher's here, and see how dumb they lie
They don't fret to follow when the Gentlemen go by ! 

 'If You do as you've been told, 'likely there's a chance,
 You'll be give a dainty doll, all the way from France,
 With a cap of Valenciennes, and a velvet hood - 
 A present from the Gentlemen, along 'o being good ! 

 Five and twenty ponies, 
 Trotting through the dark - 
 Brandy for the Parson, 'Baccy for the Clerk.
 Them that asks no questions isn't told a lie - 
 Watch the wall my darling while the Gentlemen go by ! 

A Smuggler's Song
Rudyard Kipling