Land of our Birth, we pledge to thee
Our love and toil in the years to be; When we are grown and take our place, As men and women with our race. Father in Heaven who lovest all, Oh help Thy children when they call; That they may build from age to age, An undefined heritage. Teach us to bear the yoke in youth, With steadfastness and careful truth; That, in our time, Thy Grace may give The Truth whereby the Nations live. Teach us to rule ourselves alway, Controlled and cleanly night and day; That we may bring, if need arise, No maimed or worthless sacrifice. Teach us to look in all our ends, On Thee for judge, and not our friends; That we, with Thee, may walk uncowed By fear or favour of the crowd. Teach us the Strength that cannot seek, By deed or thought, to hurt the weak; That, under Thee, we may possess Man's strength to comfort man's distress. Teach us Delight in simple things, And Mirth that has no bitter springs; Forgiveness free of evil done, And Love to all men 'neath the sun! Land of our Birth, our faith, our pride, For whose dear sake our fathers died; O Motherland, we pledge to thee, Head, heart, and hand through the years to be!
0 Comments
When the Himalayan peasant meets the he-bear in his pride,
He shouts to scare the monster, who will often turn aside; But the she-bear thus accosted rends the peasant tooth and nail, For the female of the species is more deadly than the male. When Nag the basking cobra hears the careless foot of man, He will sometimes wriggle sideways and avoid it as he can; But his mate makes no such motion where she camps beside the trail, For the female of the species is more deadly than the male. When the early Jesuit fathers preached to Hurons and Choctaws, They prayed to be delivered from the vengeance of the squaws. 'Twas the women, not the warriors, turned those stark enthusiasts pale, For the female of the species is more deadly than the male. Man's timid heart is bursting with the things he must not say, For the Woman that God gave him isn't his to give away; But when the hunter meets with husband, each confirms the other's tale- The female of the species is more deadly than the male. Man, a bear in most relations-worm and savage otherwise- Man propounds negotiations, Man accepts the compromise. Very rarely will he squarely push the logic of a fact To its ultimate conclusion in unmitigated act. Fear, or foolishness, impels him, ere he lay the wicked low, To concede some form of trial even to his fiercest foe. Mirth obscene diverts his anger! Doubt and Pity oft perplex Him in dealing with an issue-to the scandal of The Sex! But the Woman that God gave him, every fibre of her frame Proves her launched for one sole issue, armed and engined for the same; And to serve that single issue, lest the generations fail, The female of the species must be deadlier than the male. She who faces Death by torture for each life beneath her breast May not deal in doubt or pity-must not swerve for fact or jest. These be purely male diversions-not in these her honour dwells. She the Other Law we live by, is that Law and nothing else. She can bring no more to living than the powers that make her great And the Mother of the Infant and the Mistress of the Mate! And when Babe and Man are lacking and she strides unclaimed to claim Her right as femme (and baron), her equipment is the same. She is wedded to convictions-in default of grosser ties; Her contentions are her children, Heaven help him who denies!- He will meet no suave discussion, but the instant, white-hot, wild, Wakened female of the species warring as for spouse and child. Unprovoked and awful changes-even so the she-bear fights, Speech that drips, corrodes, and poisons-even so the cobra bites, Scientific vivisection of one nerve till it is raw, And the victim writhes in anguish-like the Jesuit with the squaw! So it comes that Man the coward, when he gathers to confer With her fellow-braves in council, dare not leave a place for her Where, at war with Life and Conscience, he uplifts his erring hands To some God of Abstract Justice-which no woman understands. And Man knows it! Knows, moreover, that the Woman that God gave him Must command but may not govern-shall enthral but not enslave him. And She knows, because She warns him, and Her instincts never fail, That the Female of Her Species is more deadly than the Male. -Rudyard Kipling God of our fathers, known of old-
Lord of our far-flung battle line- Beneath Whose awful hand we hold Dominion over palm and pine- Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet, Lest we forget-lest we forget! The tumult and the shouting dies; The captains and the kings depart: Still stands Thine ancient Sacrifice, An humble and a contrite heart. Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet, Lest we forget-lest we forget! Far-called, our navies melt away; On dune and headland sinks the fire: Lo, all our pomp of yesterday Is one with Nineveh and Tyre! Judge of the Nations, spare us yet, Lest we forget-lest we forget! If, drunk with sight of power, we loose Wild tongues that have not Thee in awe- Such boasting as the Gentiles use Or lesser breeds without the Law- Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet, Lest we forget-lest we forget! For heathen heart that puts her trust In reeking tube and iron shard- All valiant dust that builds on dust, And guarding, calls not Thee to guard- For frantic boast and foolish word, Thy mercy on Thy people, Lord! Amen. -Rudyard Kipling |
Archives
October 2015
Categories
All
|