My Boy Jack

by Rudyard Kipling

“Have you news of my boy Jack?”
Not this tide.
“When d’you think that he’ll come back?”
Not with this wind blowing, and this tide.

“Has any one else had word of him?”
Not this tide.
For what is sunk will hardly swim,
Not with this wind blowing, and this tide.

“Oh, dear, what comfort can I find?”
None this tide,
Nor any tide,
Except he did not shame his kind —
Not even with that wind blowing, and that tide.

Then hold your head up all the more,
This tide,
And every tide;
Because he was the son you bore,
And gave to that wind blowing and that tide!

John (Jack) Kipling (17 August 1897 – 27 September 1915) was the only son of British author, illustrator and poet Rudyard Kipling.

In the First World War, his father used his influence to get him a commission in the British Army despite being decisively rejected for poor eyesight.

His death at the Battle of Loos caused his family immense grief.

If you’ve not seen the film “My Boy Jack” I highly recommend it.

The Last Resting Place of the Long Lost Son Finally Found:

The grave of John Kipling was identified by Military Historian, Norm Christie, then Records Officer of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in 1992, and Kipling was officially listed as buried in St Mary’s ADS Cemetery in Haisnes.

In 2002, research by military historians Tonie and Valmai Holt suggested that this grave was not that of Kipling but of another officer, Arthur Jacob of the London Irish Rifles.

In January 2016, however, further research by Graham Parker and Joanna Legg demonstrated that the original identification of the grave was correct.

A spokesman for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission stated that it “welcomed the latest research which supports the identification of the grave of John Kipling”.