Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

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

A Recantation

Since, answered or unheard,

We perish with the Gods and all

Things made—except the Word.

Ere certain Fate had touched a heart

By fifty years made cold,

I judged thee, Lyde, and thy art

O’erblown and over-bold.

But he—but he, of whom bereft

I suffer vacant days—

He on his shield not meanly left—

He cherished all thy lays.

Witness the magic coffer stocked

With convoluted runes

Wherein thy very voice was locked

And linked to circling tunes.

Witness thy portrait, smoke-defiled,

That decked his shelter-place.

Life seemed more present, wrote the child,

Beneath thy well-known face.

And when the grudging days restored

Him for a breath to home,

He, with fresh crowds of youth, adored

Thee making mirth in Rome.

Therefore, I humble, join the hosts,

Loyal and loud, who bow

To thee as Queen of Song—and ghosts,

For I remember how

Never more rampant rose the Hall

At thy audacious line

Than when the news came in from Gaul

Thy son had—followed mine.

But thou didst hide it in thy breast

And, capering, took the brunt

Of blaze and blare, and launched the jest

That swept next week the front.

Singer to children! Ours possessed

Sleep before noon—but thee,

Wakeful each midnight for the rest,

No holocaust shall free!

Yet they who use the Word assigned,

To hearten and make whole,

Not less than Gods have served mankind,

Though vultures rend their soul.