Tag: Rudyard Kipling

Far-called, our navies melt away;

⁠On dune and headland sinks the fire:

Lo, all our pomp of yesterday

⁠Is one with Nineveh and Tyre!

Judge of the Nations, spare us yet,

Lest we forget—lest we forget!

(RECESSIONAL, Stanza 3)

Rudyard Kipling

The tumult and the shouting dies;

⁠The Captains and the Kings depart:

Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice,

⁠An humble and a contrite heart.

Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,

Lest we forget—lest we forget!

(RECESSIONAL, Stanza 2)

Rudyard Kipling

GOD of our fathers, known of old,

⁠Lord of our far-flung battle-line,

Beneath whose awful Hand we hold

⁠Dominion over palm and pine—

Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,

Lest we forget—lest we forget!

(RECESSIONAL, Stanza 1)

Rudyard Kipling

The Gods of the Copybook Headings

(Part 9)

*      *      *      *      *      *

As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man —

There are only four things certain since Social Progress began: —

That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her mire,

And the burnt Fool’s bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;

And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins

When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,

As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,

The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!

Rudyard Kipling

The Gods of the Copybook Headings

(Part 8)

Then the Gods of the Market tumbled, and their smooth-tongued wizards withdrew,

And the hearts of the meanest were humbled and began to believe it was true

That All is not Gold that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four —

And the Gods of the Copybook Headings limped up to explain it once more.

Rudyard Kipling

The Gods of the Copybook Headings

(Part 7)

In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,

By robbing selective Peter to pay for collective Paul;

But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,

And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: “If you don’t work you die.”

Rudyard Kipling

The Gods of the Copybook Headings

(Part 6)

On the first Feminian Sandstones we were promised the Fuller Life

(Which started by loving our neighbor and ended by loving his wife)

Till our women had no more children and the men lost reason and faith,

And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: “The Wages of Sin is Death.”

Rudyard Kipling

The Gods of the Copybook Headings

(Part 5)

When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace.

They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.

But when we disarmed They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe,

And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: “Stick to the Devil you know.”

Rudyard Kipling

The Gods of the Copybook Headings

(Part 4)

With the Hopes that our World is built on they were utterly out of touch.

They denied that the Moon was Stilton; they denied she was even Dutch.

They denied that Wishes were Horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings.

So we worshiped the Gods of the Market Who promised these beautiful things.

Rudyard Kipling

The Gods of the Copybook Headings

(Part 3)

We moved as the Spirit listed. They never altered their pace,

Being neither cloud nor wind-borne like the Gods of the Market-Place;

But they always caught up with our progress, and presently word would come

That a tribe had been wiped off its icefield, or the lights had gone out in Rome.

Rudyard Kipling