I had a poem quoted to me while in Borneo a few years ago. It was about the differences between the "white man" and the "yellow man". Apparently the author was one of the legendary poets we all hear about but his name escapes me. He did live in Borneo for many years and his wife lived there after his death.

Please let me know if anyone knows this p

Cheers
Graham Michelloem

Graham it might help if we knew the context in which you heard the poem. Also, it would help if you knew 4 or more consecutive words from the poem.
Any names come to mind, such as Fenton, or other contemporary writers. I'm guessing the author is a contemporary since the work is not yet on the web.

Les



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/11/2021 02:21AM by lg.

Hi Les and thank you for the reply.

The poem follows a theme of "the white man rushes around being busy and important and the yellow man just smiles". At the end of the poem the white man basically burns out and dies. The yellow man stands over his grave and says
"here lies an impatient man" or something to that effect.

It was related to me by a Chinese guy that I had become quite friendly with. We were talking about the different approaches to doing business in Asia and the differences between the East and West's approach to business and life in general.

I have spent 25 years studying Asia and doing business there now and I am a convert to the Asian way.

Cheers
Graham Michell

PS... I actually think it was one of the very well known poets like Kipling or one of his contemporaries. This poet did actually live in Jesselton (now Kota Kinabalu) in Borneo for a time.
Cheers
Graham

This one?


Now, it is not good for the Christian’s health to hustle the Aryan brown,
For the Christian riles, and the Aryan smiles, and he weareth the Christian down;
And the end of the fight is a tombstone white, with the name of the late deceased,
And the epitaph drear: ‘A fool lies here who tried to hustle the East.’

Solo from Libretto of 'Naulahka'
by Rudyard Kipling

Ahh...that is getting very close. Is there more to it than this part? Maybe the Chinese guy that related it to me was using some "license" and changing the Aryan to Yellow Man and Christian to White man.

I do remember it was very stirring.

I thank you so much for this help Les.

ragards

Graham

Graham, it is from a long poem by Rudyard Kipling called The Naulahka which can be found here: [www.poetryloverspage.com]


Les

I have never heard that Kipling lived in Borneo, though he mentioned Borneo in his writings. Someone else may have written a poem copying the theme from those four lines from Naulahka.

Naulahka was a novel which Kipling wrote in collaboration with his wife Caroline in 1892. I haven't read it, but suspect the poem cited above by Les is actually a compilation of separate pieces of poetry appearing in the novel. That would explain the inconsistency of style and subject matter.

Ian



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/13/2006 05:37PM by IanB.

Kipling must have liked the name, also named his house Naulahka [www.crjc.org]


Les

Give or take a spelling discrepancy !

I was told that when this poet died his wife lived in Jesselton, Borneo for many years. I am not sure whether she actually lived there full time or visited often but the locals treated her as a local. She might have even passed away while staying there but I am not sure about this part, some of these things tend to become folklore fairly quickly.

Maybe the passage quoted to me was indeed a local story with this part of the Kipling poem at the end and over time it had become intermingled (the old chinese whispers syndrome).

I will do some research and see if Kipling or his wife did live there at some time. I know Lord Mountbatten and his successor (daughter I think) had a great affection for Jesselton.

Regards
Graham

Charles Carrington's biography of Kipling makes no mention of him ever going to Borneo.

Naulahka was written in collaboration with Wolcott Balestier. Wolcott introduced Kipling to his sister Caroline during this time in London and Kipling later married her.

Naulakha means "nine lakhs" or 900 000, and the title of the novel is a mis-spelling.

And the poems are the chapter headings from the novel.

"Yum Yum, Eat'em Up"

The Wild Man of Borneo