The Gods of the Copybook Headings
by
Rudyard Kipling
|
As I pass through my
incarnations in every age and race. |
I make my proper
prostrations to the Gods of the Market-Place. |
Peering through
reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall, |
And the Gods of the
Copybook Headings, I notice, outlast them all
|
We were living in
trees when they met us. They showed us each in turn
|
That Water would
certainly wet us, as Fire would certainly burn: |
But we found them
lacking in Uplift, Vision and Breadth of Mind, |
So we left them to
teach the Gorillas while we followed the March of
Mankind.
|
We moved as the
Spirit listed. They never altered their pace, |
Being neither cloud
nor wind-borne like the Gods of the Market-Place; |
But they always
caught up with our progress, and presently word would
come |
That a tribe had
been wiped off its icefield, or the lights had gone out
in Rome.
|
With the Hopes that
our World is built on they were utterly out of touch, |
They denied that the
Moon was Stilton; they denied she was even Dutch |
They denied that
Wishes were Horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings. |
So we worshipped the
Gods of the Market Who promised these beautiful things.
|
When the Cambrian
measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace. |
They swore, if we
gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would
cease. |
But when we disarmed
They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe, |
And the Gods of the
Copybook Headings said: "Stick to the Devil you
know."
|
On the first
Feminian Sandstones we were promised the Fuller Life |
(Which started by
loving our neighbour and ended by loving his wife) |
Till our women had
no more children and the men lost reason and faith, |
And the Gods of the
Copybook Headings said: "The Wages of Sin is Death."
|
In the Carboniferous
Epoch we were promised abundance for all, |
By robbing selected
Peter to pay for collective Paul; |
But, though we had
plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy |
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings
said: "If you don’t work you die."
|
Then the Gods of the
Market tumbled, and their smooth-tongued wizards
withdrew, |
And the hearts of
the meanest were humbled and began to believe it was
true |
That All is not Gold
that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four― |
And the Gods of the
Copybook Headings limped up to explain it once more.
|
As it will be in the
future, it was at the birth of Man― |
There are only four
things certain since Social Progress began:― |
That the Dog returns
to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire, |
And the burnt Fool’s
bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;
|
And that after this
is accomplished, and the brave new world begins |
When all men are
paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins, |
As surely as Water
will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn, |
The Gods of the
Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!
|
Rudyard
Kipling |
Classic Poems |
|
[ If ] [ The Way Through the Woods ] [ Danny Deever ] [ Recessional ] [ Tommy ] [ The White Man's Burden ] [ Chant-Pagan ] [ The Deep Sea Cables ] [ The Dykes ] [ Gunga Din ] [ The Gods of the Copybook Headings ] [ Fuzzy-Wuzzy ] [ The Land ] [ The Old Men ] [ My Rival ] |