Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936). Verse: 1885–1918. 1922.
Romulus and Remus
O
When first he planned his home,
What city should arise and bear
The weight and state of Rome.
Checked by the Tiber flood,
He reared a wall around his camp
Of uninspired mud.
And mocked its height and make,
He guessed the future of it all
And slew him for its sake.
Which showed him in that hour
How unbelief may bring to naught
The early steps of Power.
Of Glory, Grace, and Love—
All singers, Cæsars, artists, Popes—
Would fail if Remus throve,
And, when the fit was o’er,
Went on collecting turves and clods
To build the Wall once more!