Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

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

“Our Fathers Also”

THRONES, Powers, Dominions, Peoples, Kings,

Are changing ’neath our hand.

Our fathers also see these things

But they do not understand.

By—they are by with mirth and tears,

Wit or the works of Desire—

Cushioned about on the kindly years

Between the wall and the fire.

The grapes are pressed, the corn is shocked—

Standeth no more to glean;

For the Gates of Love and Learning locked

When they went out between.

All lore our Lady Venus bares,

Signalled it was or told

By the dear lips long given to theirs

And longer to the mould.

All Profit, all Device, all Truth

Written it was or said

By the mighty men of their mighty youth,

Which is mighty being dead.

The film that floats before their eyes

The Temple’s Veil they call;

And the dust that on the Shewbread lies

Is holy over all.

Warn them of seas that slip our yoke

Of slow-conspiring stars—

The ancient Front of Things unbroke

But heavy with new wars?

By—they are by with mirth and tears,

Wit or the waste of Desire—

Cushioned about on the kindly years

Between the wall and the fire!