Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936). Verse: 1885–1918. 1922.
Rimmon
D
Bent head and shaded brow,—
Yet once again, for my father’s sake,
In Rimmon’s House I bow.
And the eunuchs howl aloud;
And the gilt, swag-bellied idol glares
Insolent over the crowd.
“Fear Him and bow the knee!”
And I watch my comrades hide their mirth
That rode to the wars with me.
And the rocks whereon we trod,
Ere we came to a scorched and a scornful land
That did not know our God;
Dead men an hundred laid—
Slain while they served His mysteries,
And that He would not aid.
For the high-priest bade us wait;
Saying He went on a journey or slept,
Or was drunk or had taken a mate.
Who ruleth Earth and Sky!
And again I bow as the censer swings
And the God Enthroned goes by.)
And the virtuous men that knelt
To the dark and the hush behind the dark
Wherein we dreamed He dwelt;
And found no more than an old
Uncleanly image girded about
The loins with scarlet and gold.
Him and his vast designs—
To be the scorn of our muleteers
And the jest of our halted lines.
In the dung and the dust He lay,
Till the priests ran and chattered awhile
And wiped Him and took Him away.
They returned to our fathers afar,
And hastily set Him afresh on His throne
Because he had won us the war.
Bent head and shaded brow—
To this dead dog, for my father’s sake,
In Rimmon’s House I bow!