Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936). Verse: 1885–1918. 1922.

“By the Hoof of the Wild Goat”

BY the Hoof of the Wild Goat uptossed

From the cliff where she lay in the Sun

Fell the Stone

To the Tarn where the daylight is lost,

So she fell from the light of the Sun

And alone!

Now the fall was ordained from the first

With the Goat and the Cliff and the Tarn,

But the Stone

Knows only her life is accursed

As she sinks from the light of the Sun

And alone!

Oh Thou Who has builded the World,

Oh Thou Who has lighted the Sun,

Oh Thou Who has darkened the Tarn,

Judge Thou

The sin of the Stone that was hurled

By the goat from the light of the Sun,

As she sinks in the mire of the Tarn,

Even now—even now—even now!