Take up the White Man's burden -
Send forth the best ye breed -
Go bind your sons to exile
To serve your captives' need;
To wait in heavy harness
On fluttered folk and wild -
Your new-caught sullen peoples,
Half devil and half child.
Take up the White Man's burden -
In patience to abide
To veil the threat of terror
And check the show of pride;
By open speech and simple,
A hundred times made plain,
To seek another's profit,
And work another's gain.
Take up the White Man's burden -
The savage wars of peace -
Fill full the mouth of famine
And bid the sickness cease;
And when your goal is nearest
The end for others sought,
Watch Sloth and heathen Folly
Bring all your hopes to nought.
Take up the White Man's burden -
No tawdry rule of kings,
But toil of serf and sweeper -
The tale of common things.
The ports ye shall not enter,
The roads ye shall not tread,
Go make them with your living,
And mark them with your dead !
Take up the White Man's burden -
And reap his old reward,
The blame of those ye better,
The hate of those ye guard -
The cry of hosts ye humour
(Ah slowly !) towards the light:-
"Why brought ye us from bondage,
"Our loved Egyptian night ?"
Take up the White Man's burden -
Ye dare not stoop to less -
Nor call too loud on Freedom
To cloak your weariness;
By all ye cry or whisper,
By all ye leave or do,
The silent sullen peoples
Shall weigh your Gods and you.
Take up the White Man's burden -
Have done with childish days -
The lightly proffered laurel,
The easy, ungrudged praise.
Comes now, to search your
manhood
Through all the thankless years,
Cold-edged with dear-bought
wisdom,
The judgement of your peers.
Take up the White Man's burden -
Send forth the best ye breed -
Go bind your sons to exile
To serve your captives' need;
To wait in heavy harness
On fluttered folk and wild -
Your new-caught sullen peoples,
Half devil and half child.

Let not the White Man's burden

Be a guise for power and greed,
Nor bind your sons to exile
To fulfill a selfish creed.
Let us learn to serve as equals
With humility and grace,
And let not the half devil, half child
Be a label for any race.

Take up the White Man's burden -

In patience to abide
To veil the threat of terror
And check the show of pride;
By open speech and simple,
A hundred times made plain,
To seek another's profit,
And work another's gain.

The White Man's burden need not be borne,

Through patience and understanding we can adorn,
The cloak of peace to veil the threat of fear,
And check the pride that divides us here,
By honest speech and actions fair,
We can work for others' gain and truly care.

Take up the White Man's burden -

The savage wars of peace -
Fill full the mouth of famine
And bid the sickness cease;
And when your goal is nearest
The end for others sought,
Watch Sloth and heathen Folly
Bring all your hopes to nought.

Let us not take up the White Man's burden of war,

For peace cannot be achieved by violence, that's for sure,
Let us instead fill mouths with food and heal the sick,
And strive for a world where hope and justice stick,
For Sloth and Folly can bring us down,
But love and compassion will lift us from the ground.

Take up the White Man's burden -

No tawdry rule of kings,
But toil of serf and sweeper -
The tale of common things.
The ports ye shall not enter,
The roads ye shall not tread,
Go make them with your living,
And mark them with your dead !
Reject the White Man's burden,
The rule of kings we deny,
Not the toil of serf and sweeper,
But freedom for all to try;
The ports and roads we'll open,
The shackles we'll break apart,
We'll build a world together,
With love and peace at heart.

Take up the White Man's burden -

And reap his old reward,
The blame of those ye better,
The hate of those ye guard -
The cry of hosts ye humour
(Ah slowly !) towards the light:-
"Why brought ye us from bondage,
"Our loved Egyptian night ?"

With burden heavy, white man's plight

Their rule of kings, a tainted blight
Their reward, blame from those they've "saved"
Their hate, from those they guard enslaved
Their cry, towards light they slowly move
To break their bonds, their right to prove

Take up the White Man's burden -

Ye dare not stoop to less -
Nor call too loud on Freedom
To cloak your weariness;
By all ye cry or whisper,
By all ye leave or do,
The silent sullen peoples
Shall weigh your Gods and you.

Take up the White Man's burden -

Have done with childish days -
The lightly proffered laurel,
The easy, ungrudged praise.
Comes now, to search your manhood
Through all the thankless years,
Cold-edged with dear-bought wisdom,
The judgement of your peers.