154 / 259
VEJVISNING
Now praise the Gods of Time and Chance
That bring a heart’s desire,
And lay the joyous roads of France
Once more beneath the tire—
So numbered by Napoleon.
The veriest ass can spy
How Twenty takes to Bourg-Madame
And Ten is for Hendaye.
Sou’west by South—and South by W e st-
On every vine appear
Those four first cautious leaves th a t test
The temper of the year.
The dust is white at Angouleme,
The sun is warm a t Blaye;
And Twenty takes to Bourg-Madame,
And Ten is for Hendaye.
Sixteen hath fed our fighting line
From Dunkirk to Peronne,
And Thirty-nine and Twenty-nine
Can show where it has gone,
Which slant through Arras and Bapaume,
And join outside Cambrai,
While Twenty takes to Bourg-Madame,
And Ten is for Hendaye.
Broad and unbridled, mile on mile,
The highway drops her line
Past Langon down th a t gray-walled aisle
Of resin-scented pine;
And ninety to the lawless hour
The kilometres fly—
What was your pace to Bourg-Madame?
We sauntered to Idandaye!
The crops and houses spring once more
Where Thirty-seven ran,
And even ghostly Forty-four
Is all restored to man.
Oh, swift as shell-hole poppies pass
The blurring years go by,
And Twenty takes to Bourg-Madame,
And Ten is for Flendaye!
Now Funtarabia marks our goal,
And Bidass'oa shows,
At issue with each whispering shoal,
In violet, pearl and rose,
Ere crimson over ocean’s edge
The sunset-banners die.
Yes—Twenty takes to Bourg-Madame
B ut
Ten is for Hendaye!
And you desire th a t sheeted snow
Where chill Mont Louis stands?
And we the rounder gales th at blow
Full lunged across the Landes—
So you will use the Orleans Gate,
While we slip through Versailles;
Since Twenty takes to Bourg-Madame,
And Ten is for Hendaye!
Oh, praise the Gods of Time and Chance
That ease the long control,
A n d bring the glorious Soul of France
Once more to cheer our soul
W ith beauty, change and valiancy
Of sun and soil and sky,
Where Twenty takes to Bourg-Madame
A nd Ten is for Hendaye!
Ruclyard Kiplmg har ofte siden krigen fundet motiver i Frankrig, og den
franske nummerering af landevejene har inspireret ham til ovenstående lovsang
over disses vejvisende egenskab, som enhver turist føler taknemlighed for. Nr. 20
fører fra Paris til den spanske grænse ved Bourg Madame i de østlige Pyrenæer og
Nr. 10 til samme grænse ved Hendaye ved den Biscayiske bugt, og numrene er
givne på kilometer stenene.