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Home  »  Rudyard Kipling’s Verse  »  Ulster

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

Ulster

1912

  • (“Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works: their works are works of iniquity and the act of violence is in their hands.”—Isaiah lix. 6.)


  • THE DARK eleventh hour

    Draws on and sees us sold

    To every evil power

    We fought against of old.

    Rebellion, rapine, hate,

    Oppression, wrong and greed

    Are loosed to rule our fate,

    By England’s act and deed.

    The Faith in which we stand,

    The laws we made and guard,

    Our honour, lives, and land

    Are given for reward

    To Murder done by night,

    To Treason taught by day,

    To folly, sloth, and spite,

    And we are thrust away.

    The blood our fathers spilt,

    Our love, our toils, our pains,

    Are counted us for guilt,

    And only bind our chains.

    Before an Empire’s eyes

    The traitor claims his price.

    What need of further lies?

    We are the sacrifice.

    We asked no more than leave

    To reap where we had sown,

    Through good and ill to cleave

    To our own flag and throne.

    Now England’s shot and steel

    Beneath that flag must show

    How loyal hearts should kneel

    To England’s oldest foe.

    We know the war prepared

    On every peaceful home,

    We know the hells declared

    For such as serve not Rome—

    The terror, threats, and dread

    In market, hearth, and field—

    We know, when all is said,

    We perish if we yield.

    Believe, we dare not boast,

    Believe, we do not fear—

    We stand to pay the cost

    In all that men hold dear.

    What answer from the North?

    One Law, one Land, one Throne.

    If England drive us forth

    We shall not fall alone!