Rudyard Kipling

“ The people, Lord, Thy people, are good enough for me!
But when I meet with frantic folk who sinfully declare
There is no pardon for their sin, the same I will not spare
Till I have proved that Heaven and Hell which in our hearts we have
Show nothing irredeemable on either side the grave.
[117] For as we live and as we die—if utter Death there be—
The people, Lord, Thy people, are good enough for me!
Deliver me from every pride—the Middle, High, and Low—
That bars me from a brother's side, whatever pride he show. ”

“ Ere men knew our tongues apart, our one task was known—
[16] Each must mould the other's fate as he wrought his own
To this end we stirred mankind till all Earth was ours,
Till our world-end strifes begat wayside thrones and powers—
Puppets that we made or broke to bar the other's path—
Necessary, outpost folk, hirelings of our wrath
To this end we stormed the seas, tack for tack, and burst
Through the doorways of new worlds, doubtful which was first,
Hand on hilt (rememberest thou?) ready for the blow—
Sure, whatever else we met, we should meet our foe. ”

“ THE SONS OF MARTHA
The Sons of Mary seldom bother, for they have inherited that good part,
But the Sons of Martha favour their Mother of the careful soul and the troubled heart.
And because she lost her temper once, and because she was rude to the Lord her Guest,
Her Sons must wait upon Mary's Sons, world without end, reprieve, or rest.
It is their care in all the ages to take the buffet and cushion the shock.
It is their care that the gear engages; it is their care that the switches lock.
It is their care that the wheels run truly ”

“ And to serve that single issue, lest the generations fail,
The female of the species must be deadlier than the male.
She who faces Death by torture for each life beneath her breast
May not deal in doubt or pity—must not swerve for fact or jest. ”

“ To stand guard on our gates when he guessed that the watchmen had slumbered;
To win time, to turn hate, to woo folly to service and, mightily schooling
His strength to the use of his Nations, to rule as not ruling.
These were the works of our King; Earth's peace was the proof of them. ”

“ Who bade us choose that the Flesh should die
And not the living Soul!
To the God in Man displayed—
Where e'er we see that Birth,
Be love and understanding paid
As never yet on earth!
To the Spirit that moves in Man,
[37] On Whom all worlds depend,
Be Glory since our world began
And service to the end! ”

“ Wakened female of the species warring as for spouse and child.
Unprovoked and awful charges—even so the she-bear fights,
Speech that drips, corrodes, and poisons—even so the cobra bites,
Scientific vivisection of one nerve till it is raw
And the victim writhes in anguish—like the Jesuit with the squaw!
So it comes that Man the coward, when he gathers to confer
With his fellow-braves in council, dare not leave a place for her
Where, at war with Life and Conscience, he uplifts his erring hands
[134] To some God of Abstract Justice—which no woman understands. ”

“ To decree a new earth at a birth without labour or sorrow—
To declare: 'We prepare it to-day and inherit to-morrow.'
They chose themselves prophets and priests of minute understanding,
Men swift to see done, and outrun, their extremest commanding—
Of the tribe which describe with a jibe the perversions of Justice—
Panders avowed to the crowd whatsoever its lust is. ”

“ They do not teach that His Pity allows them to leave their work when they damn-well choose.
As in the thronged and the lighted ways, so in the dark and the desert they stand,
[78] Wary and watchful all their days that their brethren's days may be long in the land.
Raise ye the stone or cleave the wood to make a path more fair or flat,
Lo, it is black already with blood some Son of Martha spilled for that!
Not as a ladder from earth to Heaven, not as a witness to any creed,
But simple service simply given to his own kind in their common need. ”

“ Across a world where all men grieve, 156 A. 'I was a "have"' B. 'I was a "have-not,"' 135 After the burial-parties leave, 68 Ah! ”

“ And it passed from the roll of the Nations in headlong surrender.
[156]
JUSTICE October 1918
Across a world where all men grieve
And grieving strive the more,
The great days range like tides and leave
Our dead on every shore.
Heavy the load we undergo,
And our own hands prepare,
If we have parley with the foe,
The load our sons must bear.
Before we loose the word
That bids new worlds to birth,
Needs must we loosen first the sword
Of Justice upon earth;
Or else all else is vain
[157] Since life on earth began,
And the spent world sinks back again
Hopeless of God and Man. ”

“ We're not so old in the Army List, 48 We thought we ranked above the chance of ill, 13 We were all one heart and one race, 6 What boots it on the Gods to call? 58 'Whence comest thou, Gehazi, 109 When the Himalayan peasant meets the he-bear in his pride, 128 Who in the Realm to-day lays down dear life for the sake of a land more dear? ”

“ That the Sons of Mary may overcome it, pleasantly sleeping and unaware.
They finger death at their gloves' end where they piece and repiece the living wires.
He rears against the gates they rend: they feed him hungry behind their fires. ”

“ Give them the rest that they covet most,
And who shall next to sleep, good sirs,
In such a trench to sleep?
God rest you, peaceful gentlemen, but give us leave to pass.
[45] We go to dig a nation's grave as great as England was. ”

“ Saying: 'Peace! We have fashioned a God Which shall save us hereafter.
We ascribe all dominion to man in his factions conferring,
And have given to numbers the Name of the Wisdom unerring.'
They said: 'Who has hate in his soul? Who has envied his neighbour?
Let him arise and control both that man and his labour.'
They said: 'Who is eaten by sloth? Whose unthrift has destroyed him?
[151] He shall levy a tribute from all because none have employed him.'
They said: 'Who hath toiled? Who hath striven, and gathered possession? ”

“ They have cast their burden upon the Lord, and—the Lord He lays it on Martha's Sons!
[80]
MARY'S SON
If you stop to find out what your wages will be
And how they will clothe and feed you,
Willie, my son, don't you go on the Sea,
For the Sea will never need you.
If you ask for the reason of every command,
And argue with people about you,
Willie, my son, don't you go on the Land,
For the Land will do better without you. ”

“ When the early Jesuit fathers preached to Hurons and Choctaws,
They prayed to be delivered from the vengeance of the squaws.
'Twas the women, not the warriors, turned those stark enthusiasts pale
For the female of the species is more deadly than the male.
Man's timid heart is bursting with the things he must not say,
For the Woman that God gave him isn't his to give away;
But when hunter meets with husband, each confirms the other's tale—
[130] The female of the species is more deadly than the male. ”

“ If any question why we died,
Tell them, because our fathers lied. ”

“ Let him approach. It is proven here
Our King asks nothing of any man more than Our King himself has done.
For to him above all was Life good, above all he commanded
Her abundance full-handed.
The peculiar treasure of Kings was his for the taking:
All that men come to in dreams he inherited waking:—
His marvel of world-gathered armies—one heart and all races,
[101] His seas 'neath his keels when his war-castles foamed to their places ”

“ Let him be spoiled. He hath given full proof of transgression.'
They said. 'Who is irked by the Law? Though we may not remove it,
If he lend us his aid in this raid, we will set him above it!'
So the robber did judgment again upon such as displeased him,
The slayer, too, boasted his slain, and the judges released him.
As for their kinsmen far off, on the skirts of the nation,
They harried all earth to make sure none escaped reprobation,
They awakened unrest for a jest in their newly-won borders,
[152] And jeered at the blood of their brethren betrayed by their orders. ”

“ He broke the Oracles in two,
And bared the paltry wires and strings.
He headed desert wanderings,
He led his soul, his cause, his clan
A little from the ruck of Things.
'Once on a time there was a Man.'
Thrones, Powers, Dominions block the view
With episodes and underlings—
The meek historian deems them true
Nor heeds the song that Clio sings—
The simple central truth that stings
[95] The mob to boo, the priest to ban;
Things never yet created things—
'Once on a time there was a Man.'
A bolt is fallen from the blue. ”

“ Body and Spirit I surrendered whole
To harsh Instructors—and received a soul ...
If mortal man could change me through and through
From all I was—what may The God not do? ”

“ There are no leaders to lead us to honour, and yet without leaders we sally,
Each man reporting for duty alone, out of sight, out of reach, of his fellow.
There are no bugles to call the battalions, and yet without bugles we rally,
From the ends of the earth to the ends of the earth, to follow the Standard of Yellow! ”

“ There is but one task for all—
One life for each to give
Who stands if Freedom fall? ”

“ O Keepers of the House of old,
Or ever we were born!
One service more we dare to ask—
Pray for us, heroes, pray,
That when Fate lays on us our task
We do not shame the Day!
[6]
THE DECLARATION OF LONDON JUNE 29, 1911
('On the re-assembling of Parliament after the Coronation, the Government have no intention of allowing their followers to vote according to their convictions on the Declaration of London, but insist on a strictly party vote'—Daily Papers.) ”

“ In some places not a living soul... But at any rate the experience gained may come in useful, so I am keeping my notes written up to date in case of accidents... Death is a queer chap to live with for steady company.' Extracted from a private letter from Manchuria. ”

“ Our not repairing it made it worse.
We haven't had any tea for a week...
The bottom is out of the Universe! ”

“ Tell them, because our fathers lied. ”

“ Seven Watchmen sitting in a tower,
Watching what had come upon mankind,
Showed the Man the Glory and the Power,
And bade him shape the Kingdom to his mind. ”

“ And—certain keels for whose return the heathen look in vain.
[148]
'THE CITY OF BRASS' 1909
Here was a people whom after their works thou shalt see wept over for their lost dominion: and in this palace is the last information respecting lords collected in the dust.
The Arabian Nights
In a land that the sand overlays—the ways to her gates are untrod—
A multitude ended their days whose fates were made splendid by God,
Till they grew drunk and were smitten with madness and went to their fall,
And of these is a story written: but Allah alone knoweth all! ”